NZXT Flexes Upgraded Desktop Gaming PC Rentals Starting At $59 Per Month
For the past several months, NZXT’s been low-key offering to rent fully assembled desktop gaming PCs with RTX hardware inside for a monthly fee. The program is called Flex and you might not have heard it, because for whatever reason, it hasn’t garnered a lot of attention. It is an interesting proposition, though, and all three configs offered have now been upgraded with a slight bump in price for two of the models.
The program works by letting interested gamers select from one of three gaming PC setups: Player: One Flex, Player: Two Flex, or Player: Three Flex. It’s a month-to-month subscription with no long-term obligation or associated early termination fee.
What it’s not, however, is a rent-to-own program. NZXT maintains ownership of the hardware at all times, a tidbit that has its pros and cons. On the negative side, the money spent on renting a desktop can’t be recouped, in full or in part, by reselling the hardware since the renter doesn’t own it. However, the upshot is that the renter bears no responsibility (outside of negligence), so if a part goes bad, NZXT will take care of the issue on its dime.
To that end, Flex users receive a lifetime warranty (which essentially means NZXT will back the build for as long as you rent it). NZXT also offers upgrades every two years. In that sense, the desktop is never obsolete, so long as the program (and your subscription) remains active.
The Player: One Flex tier costs $59 per month and comes configured with an Intel Core i5-14400F processor (10C/16T, up to 4.7GHz, 20MB L3 cache), 16GB of DDR5 memory, a GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card, and 500GB M.2 solid state drive (SSD) all packed in NZXT’s H5 chassis. Previously, this tier included a Core i5-12400F and GeForce RTX 3050.
Next up is the Player: Two Flex configuration for $119 per month, which comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X processor (6C/12T, up to 4.6GHz, 32MB L3 cache), 16GB of DDR4-3200 memory, GeForce RTX 4070 Super graphics card, and 1TB M.2 SSD assembled in NZXT’s H5 Elite enclosure. The previous version of this tier included the same CPU but a non-Super GeForce RTX 4070.
Finally, the Player: Three Flex tier costs $169 per month and includes a Core i7-13700KF processor (16C/24T, up to 5.4GHz, 30MB L3 cache), 32GB of DDR5-5600 RAM, GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super GPU, and 1TB M.2 SSD inside an H7 Flow case. All three configs can be rented in white or black colorways. Likewise, the previous config offered the same CPU but a non-Ti GeForce RTX 4070.
Over a two-year period, the accumulated costs are $1,416 for the Player: One tier, $2,856 for the Player: Two tier, and $4,096 for the Player: Three tier. Note that when the program first launched, the Player: One and Two tiers each ran $10 less per month at $49 and $109, respectively. Our assumption is that users who opt to upgrade after two years will pay whatever rate is current at the time (we’ve reached out to NZXT for clarification and are awaiting a response. EDIT: NZXT tells us that "Flex customers are eligible to receive a PC upgrade after two years and will maintain their same rate as long as they remain in the same tier. If they choose to change tiers, their rate will change to whatever the current rate is at that time. However, if a customer decides they do not want a PC upgrade for any reason, they will maintain the same rate.").
The challenge for NZXT is convincing users that renting is better than buying a prebuilt or going the DIY route. To be fair, though, the Flex rental is another option—not the sole option—and NZXT will happily build and sell you a gaming PC, too. In fact, you can purchase the same configs from NZXT, with the Player: One config priced at $829, the Player: Two setup running $1,599, and the Player: Three system priced at $2,299.
Additionally, NZXT’s Flex program faces a bit of competition in the cloud gaming space, such as NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW service, which enables playing games on cheap and low-power devices, even a Chromebook, since the gruntwork is offloaded to gaming pods in the cloud. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but something worth noting.
Regardless, it’s nice that gamers have various options to choose from. In this case, the Flex program can make sense for someone who doesn’t want the upfront cost of a complete system. It’s not for everyone, obviously, but we’re sure there’s a market for this.
One thing to note, though—at the time of this writing, the configs on NZXT's Flex page still show the older specs as opposed to the newer ones that were emailed to us, but at the higher price points outlined above. You'll want to make sure those get updated before placing an order (or reach to NZXT to clarify that you'll receive an upgraded config).
