Just days before E3 2016 kicks off in Los Angeles, iBuyPower has introduced a hot new desktop called the Element that should have PC gamers clamoring for it. It fuses function and fashion together into one strikingly beautiful product, sporting the company’s dazzling Smart Lighting technology and proudly showcasing the tasty innards that can be seen through an edge-to-edge tempered-glass panel.
“When designing our first glass system, safety and durability were our highest concerns,” the company says. “Tempered is much stronger than standard glass, and breaks into smaller, more blunted pieces, meaning less risk to the user if the unthinkable happens. This treatment also leaves the side panel more resistant to scratches and other blemishes.”
According to iBuyPower, the Element desktop PC has tempered glass on the front, too, revealing two 120mm “Arc Halo” fans that spill red illumination against the desktop’s dark steel chassis. There’s another glowing red 120mm fan mounted on the back, and a regular fan mounted on the bottom for the power supply, which is shrouded to improve airflow and reduce the buildup of dust. There’s even space behind the motherboard, ensuring that airflow keeps the most important components extremely cool.
The specs show that the Element measures 7.8 x 17.5 x 17 inches and weighs between 10 and 25 pounds. It’s capable of housing all graphics cards provided by Nvidia and AMD partners, and can play host to three 2.5-inch drives and three more 3.5-inch drives (or 2.5-inch drives if you prefer). The chassis itself supports Mini-ITX, MicroATX, and ATX motherboards just in case you’re in the mood to rip everything out down the road and start over from scratch.
The Element desktop is offered in three distinct flavors starting at $899. The cheapest of the trio is the Element AMD FX model consisting of an AMD FX-6300 processor, an AMD Radeon R9 380 graphics card with 4GB of onboard memory, 8GB of DDR3 system memory clocked at 1,866MHz, and a 1TB hard drive. All of this is packed on an MSI 970A SLI Krait Edition motherboard, which does support AMD CrossFire configurations despite its name.
Next up is the Element Intel Z170 model with a starting price of $1,379. This version sports an Intel Core i7-6700K processor, a Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 graphics card with 4GB of onboard memory, 8GB of DDR4 system memory clocked at 2,800MHz, and a 1TB hard drive. Powering this rig is the Z170A SLI Plus motherboard from MSI.
Finally, iBuyPower is serving up the Element Intel X99 Special with a starting price of $1,709. This version is packed with an Intel Core i7-5820K processor, a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card with 8GB of onboard memory, 8GB of DDR4 system memory clocked at 2,800MHz, one 256GB SSD (for the OS), and one 1TB hard drive (for storage). Backing this beefy system is the X99A SLI Plus motherboard from MSI.
In taking a closer look at the customization options, case lighting and LED fan lighting is not built into the base configurations. A 350-watt power supply seems to be the standard across all three models, but the company is currently tossing in an upgrade to a 700-watt Standard 80 Plus Bronze power supply at no additional cost. We recommend that customers grab that upgrade when checking out, especially when the GTX 1080 Founders Edition graphics card is thrown into the mix — for an extra $653.
To customize and grab your new Element desktop from iBuyPower, head here.
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