The Corsair One i300 is the latest version of the compact high-end gaming PC, featuring Intel's top-of-the-line Alder Lake Core i9 12900K and a surprisingly expensive price tag of $4,999 (the most expensive Corsair One to date). It is equipped with an impressive spec list that is sure to convince. This is a lot of cutting-edge hardware for what can only be described as a ridiculous amount of money.

For a high-end system like the Corsair One, this is a significant update, and the Intel Core i9 12900K certainly falls into that camp. This confirms that this is a gaming rig.

There is no denying the memory and storage on this rig either; DDR5 is very hard to come by right now. A 64GB trim like this one will never be in short supply for any game. It's overkill, to be sure, but it means you don't have to upgrade right away.

The NVMe SSD (an OEM Samsung drive equivalent to the 980 Pro) delivered the fastest load times I've ever seen in Final Fantasy XIV, as well as a great experience when transferring benchmark suites to the machine, being a 2TB model, It allows for plenty of room to play without the need for a second tier of storage for data.

One thing that is immediately obvious from the Corsair One i300 and has not changed much since its first appearance is the chassis. The idea that it is a beautiful PC is often said of expensive builds, but here it is genuinely justified. Not only does this machine look great on a desk, it doesn't take up a lot of space and doesn't make much noise when placed on it. Frankly, it's much smaller than you might think, only half the depth of most mid-tower systems.

This beauty is more than just skin deep. This design allows Corsair to use a single fan at the top of the unit to draw air through the system and keep everything cool. The processor and graphics card use a water-cooling loop to vent the heat, and one fan does all the hard work. This fan also spins only when needed, so for normal work, this machine is virtually silent. And even when the fan spins, it is not as loud as a typical desktop PC.

However, this design is not entirely without its problems. If you are dealing with high-end kit, the temperatures can get hot. It gets very hot. The Core i9 12900K in this build is a power-hungry chip (max power consumption 241W), and even a fairly large system with a triple-fan cooler can get hot under load. Here, the CPU temperature touched 100°C several times during the test, and we witnessed the chip throttle back as a result. Even allowing for this brief throttling, this CPU is one of the fastest machines I have ever used, ranking high in many benchmark tables.

Importantly, the graphics card did not run as hot as the CPU. Even when tested for extended periods of time with a variety of games at 4K, it ran at a maximum temperature of 75°C, and averaged much cooler than that. This means that it doesn't hinder the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti when it comes to gaming, which is exactly what you need when you're throwing this much money at a machine. Even when the fans are running at full speed, they are not noisy.

As for testing, there is certainly a lot to like, with some of the fastest benchmark results. Synthetic benchmarks such as 3DMark Port Royal, a showcase for ray tracing, have produced the best scores in the lab so far. This result was also supported by the RTX rendering of "Metro Exodus," where all cards except the RTX 3090-equipped Alienware Aurora R12 were dusted with beautifully rendered dust. except the RTX 3090-equipped Alienware Aurora R12, which was dusted with beautifully rendered dust. , which was dusted with beautiful renderings.

The important thing to note, of course, is that this PC can game, and game incredibly well: whether at 1080p or 1440p, you get high frame rates that look like they were made for esports monitors. Even if the resolution is increased to 4K, there is a good chance that many games will exceed 100 fps.

This is a beast. It is a quiet, mewling beast, but it can handle more serious games.

The Corsair One i300 can be configured in several ways, although the Core i9 12900K is the only option when it comes to CPU: instead of a 3080Ti, it can be equipped with an RTX 3080, which would limit it to 32GB of DDR5. Still, there is a stunning exaggeration that makes this 64GB system all the more appealing.

It is not an easy machine to justify to oneself, let alone others. At least in theory, it is possible to build a machine with similar specs to this one for much less money. And importantly, it won't look as good or run as cool and quiet most of the time.

Overall, the Corsair One i300 accomplishes its goal admirably. It is a compact gaming PC with the latest technology and a surprisingly sleek and, dare we say, beautiful case. It is a machine that many gamers would love to own, but few can afford it. But for those who can afford it, it is a very attractive machine.