The PC is widely regarded as a working tool or a quite uninspired gaming instrument. Looking at the design, your girlfriend would never rate it over one of the slim and clean looking consoles. But now PC-enthusiasts see some light at the end of the home zone. With the LEET systems, Steiger Dynamics developed a concept that should lead the PC from the darkness of the 2 square meter gaming chamber into the bright living room, a place where no high-end PC has gone before!
- Nerdstyle meets concept living
- Steiger Dynamics Leet Core – Technical data
- The Couchmaster lapdesk
- Conclusion
Nerdstyle meets concept living
The design of the LEET does not remind you of the slim consoles of Sony and Microsoft, but a PC system never looked better. Clean and competent on the one hand, on the other one you clearly see the inventors´ knowledge in case modding. The top is transparent and allows great views of the interior. After pressing the power button, the graphics card, water cooling system etc. are covered by atmospheric pink and blue colors. Jaw drop guaranteed.
Furthermore a display on the system front grabs your attention. Selectable screens show useful system information like hard disk space, usage, temperatures and core clock speed. This is definitively one more thing that makes the LEET a very special system and will spread excitement around your guests. A media screen for displaying progress on movies and music is already planned. New versions of the system monitor apps are available on the Steiger Dynamics homepage for download.
Both color compositions (space black and royal silver) perfectly fit in every surrounding, looking clean and professional without being extremely artful. The branding “Core” is written on the LEET.
The “Core” edition – as you can guess – is completely designed to suit the hardcore gamers’ needs. Therefore you can expect an immense pack of CPU and graphic power that will make next gen and future games fluid.
Steiger Dynamics LEET Core (basic configuration) – Technical data
| Motherboard (Intel) | ASUS Z690M-PLUS D4 PRIME, Z690 Chipset, Micro-ATX, DDR4 memory, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1 x Intel 1Gb Ethernet, 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x DisplayPort 1.4, 7.1 3.5mm Audio Jacks |
| Processor (Intel) | Intel i5-12600KF 12th Gen Unlocked – 10 Core / 16 Thread, 4.9 GHz Turbo, 20MB Cache |
| Memory | 16 GB (2x 8 GB) 3600 DDR4, Dual-Channel |
| Graphics card | EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3, ULTRA HYDRO COPPER GAMING, 10 GB, 1800 MHz Boost Clock, 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, ARGB LED, HDCP 2.3, 4K/120p and 8K/60p, LHR, silent in idle |
| Audio | HDMI / DisplayPort lossless bitstreaming (multi-channel / ATMOS) / front and rear 3.5mm HD Audio Jacks / USB (for DAC) |
| M.2 SSD – System Drive | 500 GB WD Blue SN570 NVMe SSD (read/write speed (MB/s): 2600/1800), silent |
| Optical Drive | 16X Blu-ray Disc Writer – Reads and Writes to BD (incl. QL XL)/DVD/CD, M-DISC |
| Connectivity | Front Panel – 2 x USB 3.1, SDHC Card Reader, 3.5mm HD Audio In/Out Back Panel – USB, Audio, Display and Network connectors. See motherboard and graphics card description for details Integrated Bluetooth Integrated Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n |
| Power supply | EVGA, Corsair or Seasonic 850 Watt Gold, 100-250V, semi-passive fan: silent in idle, quiet under load |
| Interior cabling | Standard Power Supply and SATA Drive Cables with Custom Cable Management |
| CPU Cooling | Ultra-quiet LEET™ 360mm high-flow Custom Liquid Cooling for CPU and one Graphics Card (1″ Single + 1″ Dual-Radiator with 3x all-black NOCTUA NF-A12x25 PWM fans and vibration decouplers) |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows 11 – 64-Bit, maximum privacy settings enabled |
The LEET-Systems are available in different editions with customizable components. The absolute edge of performance is bundled in the “Reference” edition. Composed to enforce exciting results, there is a lot of headroom for overclocking to push the system from lightspeed to beyond warp!
Based on the defined models of Core and Reference, you can upgrade your system hardware by a configurator and make your LEET a composition of your own.
But unlike other hardware configurators, there is no wide selection of different manufacturers, but a fine view on quality upgrades fitting perfectly to the other hardware parts. For this reason benchmarking is quite different, but we can say that the Core edition never shows lags or inconsistent frame rates in games and applications. Booting the system (including user initialization) is quiet and takes less than 26 seconds. The water cooling system works without noise even at high usage, making it the ideal companion for establishing a home cinema or using it as a media box in your living room.
Couchmaster – Easy couchsurfing?
Without a doubt, cables are the true enemy when it comes to comfort and living room style. But support is on the way. The Couchmaster turns your living room into the media headquarters of your home. With an integrated 6x USB 3.0 Hub and a dedicated space for the mouse, keyboard and a cool drink, the Couchmaster will make you feel like Kirk on the bridge of the USS Enterprise.
ℹ️ You can add a Couchmaster lapdesk to your LEET Core starting from $179.00.
Working, surfing and gaming on the couch is comfortable without multiple cables around. But if you tend to make a lot of body movements while gaming, keeping the Couchmaster in place can be tricky and might give you the feeling of being jailed at times. Easy working and surfing works like a charm normally. Of course, the Couchmaster is a separate product. It works with the LEET as well as with any other PC system.
Conclusion
The LEET systems are not built to rock the mass market, but Steiger Dynamics has never had this in mind. It is more of a product from PC enthusiasts in L.A., to PC enthusiasts worldwide. They clearly address high-end consumers and home cinema fans with a taste for something very special. You see this in the selection of quality hardware components. Pure, Core and Reference as well as the personal compositions are strictly based on performance without any bottlenecks. All this magic is surrounded by an outstanding case that doesn´t resemble the traditional tower models and surprises your guests with features like the digital status monitor. The Couchmaster is sold separately and completes the LEET experience.
So everyone looking for top-notch system inside and outside will get a real performance monster, miles ahead of the next-gen consoles by Sony and Microsoft. Blu-Ray player, cable TV box, home server, NAS and gaming console – all things you can imagine are bundled. It´’s everything but casual and it has its price. But you are missing the plurality and flexibility of Windows PCs in a compact look you never seen before. For many true gamers and home theater enthusiasts it will be worth the price.
