White ASUS ROG Helios Strix Z490 System
Up Close
The Strix LC 360 AIO has excellent build quality and gorgeous looks, perfectly fitting in with our theme here. What we particularly like is that it has a silent fan profile, because low noise is something we’re striving for here. Sure we want plenty of performance, but having that performance without having to endure the aural equivalent of sitting next to a vacuum cleaner is uppermost in our minds.
Mmm a vertically mounted ROG Strix RTX 2080Ti in white. It’s so pretty we want to take it home and introduce it to our family. You already know how powerful this card is, but we’re gonna show you a few gaming benchmarks in a minute just in case it’s slipped your mind.
There is no point in having a cutaway for your PSU if you don’t also go with a white one to blend in and the Strix 850W is not only available in this colour but matches the ROG font on the PSU cover.
As well as the Corsair drive we’ve used the white Corsair Dominator Platinum for our DDR4. There is a reason that it sells in such huge quantities and in this build that minimalist aesthetic really looks spectacular and in keeping with the overall theme.
With a vertically mounted GPU it is worth spending that little bit extra to get cables that blend in with your theme. No matter what you do with your cable management some of them – the ATX 24pin, PCIe power and CPU 8 pin – just cannot be hidden well enough to get away with standard ones. Pretty.
We will never stop telling you to make more of an effort with you cable management. Just because it’s out of sight doesn’t mean you can just stuff it all around the back and pretend you’re an ostrich. It doesn’t take very long and significantly improves the points you get in the ‘attention to detail’ category. It’s a good habit to get into.
Here is a close up look at the white ROG ecosystem in all its glory. Yes the exhaust fan is black, hush. Funny how with all the colour options available on modern RGB setups that a lot of the best effects can be had from subtle colour shifting. Nearly everything here is using white LEDs except the ROG 360 cooler pump. It helps draw the eye, because even the best GPU doesn’t look that amazing given how much cooling it has to do. Whereas a pump and radiator combo hides those fans up at the top.
