Cybertron CLX Ra System Review: A Luxury Dual GTX 1080 Killer Gaming Rig

Performance Summary:

Straight and to the point, the Cybertron CLX Ra is the fastest, custom built gaming PC we've ever tested, period. Not that we're surprised—this monster system comes packing an Intel Core i7-6950X processor with two factory overclocked MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Gaming X graphics cards in SLI. Obviously general purpose computing chores and productivity tasks are easily handled by the CLX Ra, but so is gaming at 4K with all the visual settings cranked up. And if that weren't enough, there's the potential for the CLX Ra to get even faster over time, when NVIDIA formally launches its GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards.

It may seem as though the outcome of this evaluation was rigged from the beginning, as this is the first gaming desktop to arrive at HotHardware for testing with two GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card inside. Combined with the other hardware, it was a foregone conclusion that this setup would set benchmark records and leave other systems we've tested to date in the dust. Fair enough, but there's more to paying a premium for a boutique than just raw performance. There's the craftsmanship to consider, along with cooling, noise, and stability.

Cybertron hits it out of the park on all fronts here. The cable management in the CLX Ra is as good as we've seen with nary a stray wire to be found. Even the section behind the motherboard tray received some cable management TLC—all wiring is tightly bundled and neatly tucked out of the way. That's not something to be taken for granted with the amount of hardware in this thing, including two graphics cards, a dozen cooling fans, water pumps and reservoirs and LED lighting.


Cybertron's CLX Ra epitomizes what you expect when paying a premium for a boutique build stuffed to the gills with high end hardware. It is not uncommon to receive a system like this and run into issues along the way. Sometimes it is a minor thing, such as having to re-seat a graphics card that jostled loose during shipping, and other times it can be a bigger deal, like an unstable overclock. Other than the choice of chassis, which requires removing the side panel to access the motherboard's rear I/O ports, we did not run into any issues with the Ra, major or minor.

Throughout this review we often compared the CLX Ra to Maingear's Rush X99. That's because up until now that was the fastest pre-built system we've tested. Not anymore. That distinction now belongs to the Cybertron CLX Ra, which won almost every benchmark battle. Like the Rush, the CLX Ra isn't for the faint of wallet with a price tag of over $5,500 as configured (pricing starts at $1,400), though to put that into perspective, the Rush X99 we reviewed ran almost twice as much at nearly $9,900. Granted it had a more elaborate liquid cooling setup with hard line tubing, but the bottom line is that the CLX Ra is a gorgeous looking system that runs faster and costs several thousand dollars less, at least in terms of the configs we were sent. You can of course dial in different configurations with both manufacturers, but regardless, well played, Cybertron.

Record setting performance Excellent cable management A show worthy system Relatively quiet cooling High end component selection There's headroom here for upgrades	Pricey in the config we tested High power consumption Inconvenient rear IO access