by A player in the market for a pre-built gaming PC might head to Google and be drawn to Alienware or HP Omen. They’re not bad systems, but they tend to come with proprietary parts or aren’t upgradable. When you buy a finished PC from a real PC retailer, you’re getting components off the shelf. That gives you options and upgrade potential.
Mwave is one of the largest PC retailers in Australia. It sells systems ranging from business machines and NUCs to high-end slot machines. And that’s what I have on hand today. The Alpha Gaming PC Mwave Respawn Ninja Beast Mode (opens in new tab) sure comes with a beast of a spec.
If you have looked at our Intel Core i9 13900K (opens in new tab) and GeForce RTX 4090 (opens in new tab) reviews, you will know that they are the top choice for a high-end gaming PC. You’ll also need serious cooling to tame it all, a large case to house it, a quality power supply, and a large SSD to store a large library of games. The Alpha has it all.
Of course, you can expect to pay a pretty penny for the privilege of owning this aptly named beast, but at AU$7,699 it’s not an unreasonable price considering the caliber of the components inside. However, if the price is a bit off-putting, you’re more than free to swap out whatever components you want and Mwave’s PC configurator (opens in new tab) is one of the best in the business. For example, if the 4090 is overkill for your needs, you can go for an RTX 30-series card or a weaker CPU. It’s an excellent system and worth checking out.
But I digress. I’m here to check out the Respawn Ninja Beast Mode Alpha (I think I’ll call it the Alpha for short). Is it worthy of your hard-earned dollar? On paper that would be a yes, but first let’s see how this top-notch machine works.
Mwave Respawn Ninja Beast Mode Alpha specifications
CPU: Intel Core i9 13900K
Cooling: EKWB 360mm AIO
Motherboard chipset: Z790
Memory: 32GB (2x 16GB) DDR5-5600
Graphic: Asus TUF GeForce RTX 4090 OC Edition
Storage: Seagate 520 2TB NVMe SSD
Perfomance: Thermaltake ToughPower 1200W
Warranty: 2 years
Price: AU$7,699 (opens in new tab)
This Mwave build comes with the Intel i9-13900K CPU mentioned above. It’s a great gaming chip, but it’s also good at everything else including multitasking, streaming, content creation or anything else you want to throw at it. It’s a hot and power-hungry CPU, though, and it needs every bit of cooling that the EKWB 360mm liquid cooler can give it.
The system comes with an Asus Prime Z790-A motherboard. The board looks great. It packs four M.2 slots and a powerful 16+1 phase VRM, which is more than enough to power the 13900K without unduly taxing the board’s heatsinks.
The board’s I/O cannot compete with top-shelf boards. You don’t get USB4 or 10G LAN, but it’s good enough for a board in its price range. Key features include Wi-Fi 6E, 2.5G LAN and a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C port.
The graphics card is an Asus TUF GeForce RTX 4090 and this thing is a beast. It has a massive radiator and when used with all the surrounding fans it stays cool at all times. We saw a maximum GPU temperature of 65 degrees, which is excellent for a 450W graphics card.
You get 2 x 16GB of memory, specifically Corsair RGB DDR5-5600 C36, and it’s a great value kit. You can add more if you want, but going to 64GB or 6000MHz or higher won’t have a noticeable impact on gaming performance.
The SSD is a Seagate FireCuda 520 2TB. It’s not the fastest drive currently available, and perhaps one of the weaker links in such a highly specialized system, while it’s no turtle. A decent NVMe SSD is essential for fast system boots, game load times, and overall system responsiveness. The 520 might appear slower on synthetic tests, but it’ll blow any SATA SSD away, and at 2TB, it’s big enough to store all your apps and an extensive gaming library.
The case is an absolute beauty. The Lian-Li O11 Dynamic EVO is perfect for housing a high-end system. Notice the placement of the front USB and audio ports. Their lower placement means the system is better placed on a desk than underneath where they are pretty much out of reach.
Mwave equipped the system with seven Lian Li SL-Infinity 120mm fans, with three more attached to the EKWB 360mm AIO cooler. This means you have high airflow, which is essential to produce 13900K and 4090 heat.
Check out the gallery below. If you love RGB and can customize it, you’ll love Beast Mode Alpha. I downloaded the Lian Li app and quickly played with the RGB settings. Or if you prefer, you can use the Asus Aura Sync app.
picture 1 from 8th
So, on paper, the Mwave Respawn Ninja Beast Mode Alpha Gaming PC has some fantastic specs. Knowing the capabilities of its core hardware, we have a pretty good idea of ​​how it’s going to perform.
This system is designed for 4K gaming.
We’re comparing it to a few other systems, although they’re all RTX 30 systems with 12th Gen processors and the lower-spec Ryzen 5000 series. In fairness, they’re also a lot cheaper. The exception is the Alienware Aurora R13 (opens in new tab) which was tested with a 12900KF and RTX 3090 and was priced up to $7,999. It’s a good indication of how much leap the 13th Gen and RTX 4090 have made.
system speed
Yes, the Alpha is a fast PC! It blows away the Aftershock Ultracore’s 12th Gen 12900KF and Ryzen 5800X3D (opens in new tab) in system benchmarks, but has one major weakness. The CPU easily hits 100c, and while it stays quiet all the time, it’s a little to calm.
I had to install the Lian Li Control App to control the fan speed. This gave me full access to the fan hysteresis control, allowing fan speeds to ramp up when needed. It really is a must-have app as I couldn’t control the fans from either the Asus AI suite or the BIOS.
Synthetic and 1440p gaming performance
Make sure you have at least a high refresh rate of 1440p or ultrawide to get the most out of the beast. A game like Metro Exodus with all ray tracing settings still tops out at over 120 FPS. And it’s almost twice as fast as a 3090 in Cyberpunk 2077. Nice!
4K gaming performance
This system is designed for 4K gaming. Cyberpunk 2077 is actually playable with DLSS on maximum settings. RTX 30 cards delivered a slideshow in comparison. And if you don’t mind resetting the ray tracing settings, every single game delivers over 120 FPS. And it’s hard to see this system struggling in any game for at least a few years, at least until the RTX 50 series and maybe even next-gen consoles come out.
The games of 2023 will be home with the animal alpha, there’s no doubt about that.
I’m really impressed with the Alpha’s build quality and component selection.
The Mwave Respawn Ninja Beast Mode Alpha costs a lot, but compared to the RTX 4090 pre-built by PC Case Gear and Scorptec, it’s a solid value. You’re getting a lot for your AU$7,699, but this is still one a lot of Money, and building a similarly specified system yourself is a cheaper option.
But a DIY build versus a pre-built one is like comparing apples to oranges. This is a system for users who want a PC with top-of-the-line specs and just want to start playing without having to assemble and troubleshoot it. It looks like a PC you built yourself, not just another custom Alienware system off the shelf by Harvey Norman. Such systems work, but they lack the personal touch.
As someone who has built a lot of systems I am really impressed with the Alpha’s build quality and component selection. It’s a superbly built PC, with impeccable cable management and attention to detail, and that alone will be reason enough for a wealthy gamer to splash out the cash and get Mwave to build it for them.
No system is perfect. Personally I’d be tempted to go down to 13700K for easier cooling and a higher spec motherboard would be welcome, but with a 13900K and RTX 4090 in one system plus all the other extras at a very competitive price I have no problem with it , it recommended this system. The Respawn Ninja Beast Model Alpha is an aptly named machine for PC gamers looking for a top-end PC to play without worrying about the hassle of building your own PC.
