Corsair One i160 Gaming PC Review: A 12 litre machine with a Core i9-9900K and RTX 2080 Ti

If you are looking for a state-of-the-art gaming PC and do not want to compromise on performance, then an Intel CPU and NVIDIA GPU is a good place to start, with both OEMs currently offering some of the most powerful gaming hardware that money can buy. Clearly, Corsair thought the same, with it cramming a Core i9-9900K and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti into a 12-litre chassis. The company has been able to do so thanks to a custom all-in-one (AIO) cooler, which comprises of two radiators and a 140 mm fan that sits at the top of the case. The fan draws air through two sides of the device, effectively turning the chassis into a chimney to cool the two radiators. The concept works, although our tests will reveal if there are any flaws in its design.

A gaming PC needs more than a powerful CPU and GPU though, with Corsair including 32 GB of DDR4-2666 RAM and 2.5 TB of storage. Disappointingly, it is 2.5 TB of combined storage, as Corsair has paired a 512 GB M.2 2280 SSD with a 2 TB 2.5-inch HDD, the latter of which we did not expect to see in a device that retails for almost US$3,399.99.

The One i160 can be ordered directly from Corsair, which preinstalls all components, including the CPU and GPU. The company does not sell the case or patented cooling solution separately though, so you must buy the One i160 if you want either of these.

If your budget does not stretch to nearly US$3,500, then Corsair also sells the One i140, which retails for US$2,799.99. The One i40 comes with a Core i7-9700K, GeForce RTX 2080, 32 GB of RAM, a 480 GB SSD and a 2 TB HDD. The company sells the One i165 too, which has double the SSD storage and a Windows 10 Pro licence for US$100 more than the One i160. The One i140 and i160 come with Windows 10 Home licenses, for reference.

As mentioned earlier, the One i160 has a 12-litre case, which Corsair has built mostly using aluminium. Our review unit looks and feels premium, with its understated black finish juxtaposed with two long RGB strips down the front panel. Corsair preinstalls its in-house iCUE software for customising the RGB lighting to your preferences.

The One i160 weighs almost 7.5 kg, which you may not have expected considering how compact it is. However, this heft adds to the premium feel in our opinion. Incidentally, Corsair has maximised heat dissipation too.

We also subjected our review unit to a looped Cinebench R15 Multi 64Bit benchmark to see how it maintained its CPU performance under prolonged load. As we suspected, the Core i9-9900K can only partially exploit its turbo clock speeds in such a small chassis, with CB R15 Multi 64Bit scores steadily dropping from a high of 1,919 points in the second pass-through to a low of 1,864 points in the seventh. However, the system then rallied to 1,886 points before slumping to 1,812 points. Benchmark scores fluctuated thereafter between 1,804 and 1,847 points, with the system stabilising at around 1,840 points by the end of the benchmark loop. Overall, the One i160 generally scores around 100 points lower than our Core i9-9900K-powered testbench.

The Core i9-9900K performed as expected during our CB R15 Multi 64Bit tests. The CPU even occasionally reached 5.0 GHz, at which it consumed 125 W. However, generally it drew around 95 W during our CB R15 Multi 64Bit loop, with it dropping from 125 W after the ninth benchmark loop.

Corsair not only equips the One i160 with a powerful CPU but also the best gaming GPU currently on the market. Specifically, the One i160 comes with an MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti VENTUS OC, although Corsair has modified the GPU to fit it within such a compact case. It has also incorporated its patented AIO.

The Core i9-9900K and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti perform exceptionally well in synthetic benchmarks, only falling short to our NVIDIA TITAN RTX test system in some tests. We paired the latter with an AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, which holds the GPU back somewhat, and this allows the One i160 to triumph in 3DMark 11.

The One i160 is powerful enough to play all modern triple-A games smoothly in 4K at maximum graphics, although some titles like Anno 1800 and Metro Exodus average below 60 FPS. The TITAN RTX would outperform the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti here but for its weaker CPU, although the difference between the two in games like Call of Duty Black Ops 4 is only 1 FPS at 4K and maximum graphics.

We also subjected our review unit to a prolonged gaming test to assess its performance under sustained load. We used The Witcher 3 for this, which we set at 1080p, ultra-graphics and left running for an hour. We did not move the character during this time and measured any changes in FPS. The system dropped around 5 FPS by the end of the test but still ran at around 131 FPS, so you should not notice any throttling when gaming.