Origin PC Neuron 4000X review: A powerful and clean 12th-gen gaming PC

Origin PC has been building top-tier gaming rigs for over a decade now, and the attention to detail the company demonstrates in its releases is on par with the best of them. There was a time when Origin PC featured custom chassis designs, like the Genesis series of years past, which only Origin had in their lineup. Since its acquisition by Corsair, however, there has been a shift in design philosophy that has gone well and has been beneficial to both Origin PC and its customers. This integration with Corsair has allowed Origin to create a tight-knit ecosystem within its gaming PC lineup, and that’s very much exemplified in the Origin PC NEURON 4000X system we’re going to show you here.

The Origin PC NEURON series is available in a variety of Corsair 4000 series cases, with solid, mesh, or tempered glass front and side panels. We initially had some issues with airflow with the solid tempered glass front panel option sent to us for review, but Origin PC has this NEURON 4000X loaded with fans in every available spot it should so be able to move a lot of air. The starting price for the NEURON series is $2,299, with an Intel Core i9-11700K and GeForce RTX 3060 on board. However, the model we tested is loaded with an Alder Lake-based 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900K and a Bodacious ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080Ti. This CPU and GPU combo, along with many other upgrades, bumps the price of this system up to $4,797.

Does the performance and user experience with this fully loaded NEURON 4000X Origin PC justify the asking price? Well, that’s what we’re going to find out…

Origin PC NEURON 4000X Specifications and Features

At the heart of the Origin PC NEURON 4000X that we’re going to show you here is the 12th generation Intel Core i9-12900K processor, residing in the LGA 1700 socket of the MSI MPG Z690 Force WiFi DDR5 motherboard. The Core i9-12900K is one of the fastest gaming processors available and packs 8 high performance cores with HyperThreading as well as 8 low efficiency cores to handle lighter workloads, totaling 16 cores and 24 threads of processing power. If you’d rather go a different route and scale things down a bit, Origin PC also offers other Alder Lake CPUs as well as 11th Gen Rocket Lake CPUs. If you prefer AMD Ryzen processors, Origin PC has you covered too with plenty of configurations available. When it comes to cooling the NEURON, Origin offers several options, ranging from a single 120mm AIO to a 360mm AIO, while our review system came with the Corsair iCUE H100i Elite LCD. Capellix, which offers fun customization capabilities.

A new feature in the 12th Gen Intel Core series is support for DDR5 memory, and Origin PC is bringing the fire here. The NEURON 4000X we had was equipped with 32 GB of Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB modules in a 2×16 GB configuration running at 5200 MHz. While the NEURON can be toned down with non-RGB Vengeance modules, even those kits have a nice heatsink on them, so no bare RAM here. Storage on our NEURON 4000X is handled by two different drives. The primary storage uses a fast Corsair 1TB MP600 CORE Gen4 drive that hosts the Windows 11 operating system. The secondary drive is a bit tamer, the Samsung 870 QVO Series 2TB drive. There are also options to spin disks, if you need large capacity mass storage.

While the NEURON can be outfitted with a variety of GPUs, including the mainstream GeForce RTX 3060, ours comes with the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. This particular model comes with a beefy cooler with a triple-fan design, plenty of RGB lighting, and two 8-pin PCIe power connections. The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is a bit faster overall than the RTX 3080 and often rivals the RTX 3090, just with 12GB of RAM instead of the RTX 3090’s 24GB. If you prefer an AMD Radeon, Origin has you covered too. – Radeon RX 6000 Series cards are available as an option, ranging from the Radeon RX 6700 XT to the RX 6900 XT.

Network connectivity is handled by the MSI MPG Z690 Force’s built-in Intel Wi-Fi 6E and 2.5G multi-gigabit wired Ethernet. It’s great to see old gigabit connections banished from motherboards in favor of multi-gig ethernet and wireless connectivity was fast, stable and often indistinguishable from a wired connection.

Cases can be a controversial topic for some PC gamers. Often, system integrators like Alienware or HP Omen use a proprietary case designed for their specific needs, which may or may not provide headroom for future upgrades. In the case of the Origin PC Neuron 4000X, the decision to use the Corsair 4000 series was a good one. The Corsair 4000 series gives users the option to choose between three different panel options (including tempered glass, like our review sample) and the Corsair 4000 series is a reasonably sized mid-tower that isn’t too bulky , but still offers room to grow. Fan mounting options are plentiful and the ability to mount 6 x 120mm fans or 4 x 140mm fans with up to 360mm AIO in the front or 280mm AIO on the roof provides great flexibility for the present and the future. Cable management with this case is excellent thanks to a lower PSU compartment and ample space behind the motherboard tray. Don’t let that detract from the fact that Origin PC is masterful when it comes to cable management – this was an expertly designed build.

While the rear I/O is highly dependent on the motherboard and graphics card combination used, we still need to highlight our setup. The ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti gave us three display ports and a pair of HDMI outputs, more than enough options for almost any situation. Motherboard I/O was also plentiful. The system had four USB 2.0 ports, five USB 3.2 (Type-A) ports, and a single Gen 2×3 Type-C. There’s a single RJ-45 port and a pair of WiFi antenna mounts as well as Realtek ALC4080 5.1 audio outputs with SPDIF. Although there is an HDMI output and a display port in the motherboard’s I/O array, these are strictly for the CPU’s integrated graphics. Front I/O is fairly limited, with the case having a combo mic/headphone jack, a single USB 3.2 Type-C, and a single USB 3.2 Type-A port.

One of the many things Origin PC is known for has got to be its iconic shipping crates. The Origin PC Neuron 4000X came in a massive wooden crate, and for what it’s worth, having to remove the top panel to get in was pretty awesome. Inside the crate, the system is surrounded by firm yet flexible soft-cell foam that keeps the system as secure as possible. A separate care kit is stored on top of the crate which contains all additional cables and manuals. The system has also been wrapped in an expandable sleeve to keep it dust and scratch free. But the real nice touch is inside the case, where there’s an expanding foam insert that secures the graphics card and cooler in place, so it’s a worry-free shipping experience.

PC Origin software experience

As is the case with most boutique systems, Origin PC keeps pre-installed bloatware to an absolute minimum. The Neuron comes with Windows 11 out of the box, and aside from the operating system itself, there’s not much to report beyond Corsair’s iCUE and MSI Center. Both of these apps are pretty easy to navigate and don’t harass users with incessant pop-ups. MSI Center helps manage driver and firmware updates and offers a plethora of hardware status information, while Corsair iCUE offers full RGB lighting and fan control across the entire PC Origin NEURON 4000X, plus additional hardware information.

With this tour of the Origin PC NEURON 4000X out of the way, it’s time to move on and see how well the system performs in our gaming and application test suite…