MMN 3080 – the fastest gaming rig of all our tests

Unboxing and details

With the arrival of new generation components, we had the opportunity to build our first rig, which I named MMN 3080. It is a combination of Metallic Gear, MSI and Noctua (MMN) and the key component, the new GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card in the MSI Gaming X Trio variant. In combination with the latest Core i9-10900K processor, this is the fastest gaming rig we’ve had in our editorial office.

Basic specs

Details

The first component we will take a closer look at is the Metallic Gear Neo Qube case. Since the reviews of cases are rather strengths of my colleagues, I decided to look at the case from a practical point of view and build a set for demonstration and present a few impressions from the assembly and use.

If you haven’t yet read our test of Metallic Gear Neo V2, it should be noted that this is an offshoot of Phanteks, which deals rather with affordable cases. However, Neo Qube is currently the highest unit offered.

The packaging includes instructions and a pack of screws and ties. If I may criticize something, it is the non-separation of individual types of screws between individual bags (or more environmentally friendly dividers within one bag) together with their labelling. So far, I have only encountered such a dividing in more expensive cases. This is a small thing, but it will significantly simplify and speed up the installation, when one does not have to dig through 40 screws of five different types and look for the right type in the manual.

The case in the box is relatively well protected against careless manipulation of courier companies. However, an additional protection of the glass side panel would be needed, as nothing protects it except the cardboard and a few centimeters of space in the box.

After taking the case out of the plastic pack, the greatest pleasure awaits you when assembling a new PC set, that is, peeling off the foils from the glass. However, I recommend leaving it at the very end so that you do not stain the glass with your fingerprints while assembling.

The manufacturer refers to the case as mid-tower, i.e. the classic size of ATX cases. What differs from classic cases is the concept of two chambers, and thus placement of the power supply behind the motherboard tray. I won’t beat around the bush for long and I’ll say right away that the resemblance to the popular Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic case is really big. With PC-011 Dynamic I have personal experience when I was building a rig for 5000 euros for my friend, about what we brought you a separate article. We then certainly will not avoid a comparison with this case.

At first glance, the cases are the same, but when you start noticing the details, the differences also begin to appear. An example could be a different color of the feet, the material of the front cover or a different shape of perforation on the side panel. You will also notice a significantly larger perforation on the back next to the motherboard I/O and also next to the PCIe slots. That, for example, is completely absent on Lian Li.

The difference is also visible on the front I/O, where there are up to four buttons instead of one. However, the ports are very similar with a pair of USB type A and one type C with 10 Gbps speed. Unlike Lian Li, there is a combined 3.5 mm audio jack for headphones and microphone and not two separate connectors.

There is a manufacturer’s logo on the bottom of the front panel. The PC-O11 Dynamic had this part of the case in a brushed aluminum design, which did not fit perfectly with the rest of the case.

Another difference is the pull-out plastic filter at the bottom of the ventilation, which you can remove very easily and quickly. Although I like magnetic filters, this solution is significantly better than that of Lian Li.

We’re getting to the disassembly of the case, which is quick and easy. You start at the top by removing the top panel. It is held in place by a pair of screws that you can unscrew with your fingers without having to use a screwdriver. The top panel prevents the rest of the panels from moving, it is a kind of “cap” of the case.

After its removal, you can remove the side panel, just push it up a bit. Of course, both panels have magnetic filters and the side panel has a soft insulating foam in the middle.

After removing the top cover, you can also remove the glass sides, which again can be lifted up a little. A small tip, placing the case on the back can make manipulating the glass parts easier.

The glass side panels also have a soft foam on the inside, which prevents the access of air but, above all, prevents the glass from knocking against the metal structure.

An interesting detail are the handles with which the sides hold in the frame of the case. In the case of a metal side panel, there are normal screws, in the case of glass side panels just metal protrusions.

After removing all the panels, we’re getting inside the case.

At the back you will find another removable part, which is a disk holder, also serving as a wiring cover.

Probably the most fundamental difference compared to the Lian Li case is the possibility to place a Mini ITX board on the back, while the PC-O11 Dynamic had room only for the second power supply. In Neo Qube, you can have two actual builds, but you must take into account that you will need either integrated graphics in the processor or graphics card with half the size, as the slots in the back are only half-sized. So much for the basic description of the case, let’s look at the build.

With the arrival of new generation components, we had the opportunity to build our first rig, which I named MMN 3080. It is a combination of Metallic Gear, MSI and Noctua (MMN) and the key component, the new GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card in the MSI Gaming X Trio variant. In combination with the latest Core i9-10900K processor, this is the fastest gaming rig we’ve had in our editorial office.

Basic specs

Details

We have installed the above-mentioned components inside the case and you can see the result in the pictures below.

One difference compared to the Lian Li case, which we have not mentioned yet, is the LED strip on the front of the case, which supports probably all applications of the motherboard manufacturers and thus complements the RGB scheme of other components.

The fastest gaming build we’ve tested is a bold statement, what does the MMN 3080 hide under the hood? The most important component is the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB in MSI Gaming X Trio variant. Perhaps the most expected graphics card of recent times has been provided to us for a few short moments that we couldn’t miss. In the next chapters, therefore, you will find traditional graphics performance tests as the first tasting, before we publish reviews of RTX 3000 graphics on a new sophisticated testing methodology.

To get the most out of the card, the brain of the build is Intel Core i9-10900K, which, as you know from the review, still offers slightly better game performance than Ryzen. However, we eagerly await the arrival of the new generation from AMD, which can befit the red team. The processor is mounted on the MSI MEG Z490 Ace motherboard, which we have looked at in our comparison test.

The memory is taken care of by four 8 GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB 3600 MHz with Samsung B-die chips and 1 TB Adata XPG Gammix S11 Pro. The cooling is provided by a 360 mm AiO cooler MSI MAG CoreLiquid 360R and six Noctua fans, namely 140 mm NF-A14 PWM and NF-S12A PWM in the Chromax edition.

A small detail about the location of the upper fans: If you would like to mount a trio of 140 mm fans just like us, the ones on the sides will only have to manage with a pair of screws. This also applies to 360 mm radiators. The mounting holes simply do not extend to the edges of the case.

The rear panel for disks will serve as a cover for the cabling, which in our case was not given much attention due to time constraints. The ideal solution would, of course, be hand-made braided cables with the exact length to the components.

The last component in the build is, of course, the power supply that provides power to the entire system. It is SeaSonic Prime 1300 W with 80Plus Gold, which complements the gold theme of the Ace motherboard. Let’s take a look at the test results that this build has achieved. I’m curious about it myself.

With the arrival of new generation components, we had the opportunity to build our first rig, which I named MMN 3080. It is a combination of Metallic Gear, MSI and Noctua (MMN) and the key component, the new GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card in the MSI Gaming X Trio variant. In combination with the latest Core i9-10900K processor, this is the fastest gaming rig we’ve had in our editorial office.

Rendering, Geekbench

We will only deal with graphic tests. We have tested the CPU in the review and the motherboard test. Testing the same thing for the third time didn’t make sense, but the performance of the new graphics card interests everyone, including us. In Geekbench Compute we see a 35% increase in the score compared to the build with RTX 2080 Ti and 60/66% against PC with RTX 2080 Super.

3D/PCMark and Unigine Heaven/Superposition

The combined PCMark 10 test shows balanced results between rigs with RTX 3080/2080 Ti/2080 Super. However, this test evaluates the overall performance and it is surprising that 6 cores won over 10/12 cores.

Firestrike no longer comes as a surprise and MMN 3080 shows a clear dominance with a score above 30,000 points, which is the highest measured for me so far. This is an increase of 11% and 28% over builds with 2080 Ti and 2080S.

In TimeSpy, the difference has risen even further, with 3080 already winning by 27 and 45%.

Sky Diver had the same score in the case of competing builds, so MMN 3080 achieves a similarly 24% higher score.

Tests focused on RTX and DLSS functions show an increase of 65–69% compared to the 2080S rig.

We are also introducing a new type of test that focuses on the newer version of DLSS 2.0 with Performance mode. So far, this is only a sample value, gradually other devices will be added to this graph.

Unigine Heaven gaming tests again show higher performance of our build against the competition, namely by 20/51% in Full HD and 20/53% in 2K.

The latest Unigine Superposition graphics tests do not change the dominance of the MMN 3080. It gained a 24/55% lead in Full HD and 24/56% in 4K.

With the arrival of new generation components, we had the opportunity to build our first rig, which I named MMN 3080. It is a combination of Metallic Gear, MSI and Noctua (MMN) and the key component, the new GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card in the MSI Gaming X Trio variant. In combination with the latest Core i9-10900K processor, this is the fastest gaming rig we’ve had in our editorial office.

Gaming tests – Full HD

In GTA, the MMN 3080 has a 19/42% lead over builds with 2080 Ti and 2080S.

In Far Cry, the difference from 2080 Ti is the same, but against 2080S it increased to 66%.

In the Odyssey, the differences are slightly lower with values of 17 and 45%.

SOTTR again shows a 19% lead over 2080 Ti and 55% over 2080S.

So far, the biggest increase can be seen in Metro, where the MMN 3080 is 69% stronger than the 2080S build.

When RTX is on, the difference in Metro is the same, i.e. a 69% increase over the 2080S.

With the arrival of new generation components, we had the opportunity to build our first rig, which I named MMN 3080. It is a combination of Metallic Gear, MSI and Noctua (MMN) and the key component, the new GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card in the MSI Gaming X Trio variant. In combination with the latest Core i9-10900K processor, this is the fastest gaming rig we’ve had in our editorial office.

Gaming tests– 4K

We have less 4K values, as until now it only made sense for desktops with stronger graphics cards. The MMN 3080 in GTA achieves 33% higher average fps than the build with 2080 Ti and 62% against 2080S.

In Far Cry, the difference is also greater than in Full HD, namely 27 and 56%.

Odyssey again shows smaller differences than other titles, 20 and 58% lead of the MMN 3080.

SOTTR shows the power of 3080 in 4K and the difference compared to 2080 Ti increased to 38%. The lead over 2080S is 55%.

In Metro in 4K, our build is up to 72% faster than the competition with the 2080S.

When RTX was on, the difference in Metro was reduced to 67%, which is the difference between laggy 25 fps and 41 fps. The difference is therefore very noticable.

With the arrival of new generation components, we had the opportunity to build our first rig, which I named MMN 3080. It is a combination of Metallic Gear, MSI and Noctua (MMN) and the key component, the new GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card in the MSI Gaming X Trio variant. In combination with the latest Core i9-10900K processor, this is the fastest gaming rig we’ve had in our editorial office.

Rating

The MMN3080 build shows the first look at the new generation of desktops for the end of 2020/2021. The RTX 3080 shows a significant increase in performance over the RTX 2080 Super, from 40 to 70% depending on the title and test. The novelty is not ashamed of comparisons with the previous gaming king RTX 2080 Ti, which it beat about 15–30%, again depending on the test. We will deal with Ampere graphics in detail in the new revised methodology, which we will introduce soon, so take the presented values as a stepping stone and not as a final goodbye to this topic.

As for the case, I was pleasantly surprised and I must say that I like it more than its twin from Lian Li. There are a few things finalized and a few mm larger dimensions make it easier to work with cabling or oversized components. In addition, it is 10–20 euros cheaper than Lian Li. It convinced me so much that I wanted to build a rig for myself inside of it. But maybe next time.

You can buy this PC case at our partner’s website at czc.cz for 2,990 Czk/110 Eur

English translation and edit by Lukáš Terényi

• Contents
• Unboxing and details
• Configuration
• Geekbench Compute, 3D/PCMark and Unigine Heaven/Superposition
• Gaming tests – Full HD
• Gaming tests – 4K
• Rating