Cobratype Elevate Legend Limited Review: A New High-End Boutique Gaming PC Peak

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For those looking to dip their toes into PC gaming, choosing a mass-produced pre-built PC from a major manufacturer can be tempting. However, these often come bundled with compromises, and while you could always build your own, that can be a daunting task. To get the best PC possible without putting in the work to assemble it DIY style, your best option may be a boutique PC builder such as Cobratype. While Cobratype may be a relative newcomer to the custom PC builder space, their machines are a highly-attractive alternative to more conventional mass-produced PCs.

Cobratype provided a sample of their gaming PC build Elevate Legend Limited for the purposes of this review. It's important to note that it is a prototype, so there may be variations in the final product. They made it clear that, while they've extensively tested this particular machine, they are still conducting tests on the overall build.

The clear goal of the Cobratype Elevate was to create a powerful gaming PC that doesn't dominate the room with neon glowing RGB lights and gaudy styling. The Elevate uses Fractal Design's new "North" case, which features a unique and distinctive front panel made from real wood, with the rest of the construction being from black metal. This includes the mesh side and top panel, which allow for excellent ventilation. The effect achieved is a remarkably subtle PC that's far more elegant and stylish than most other case designs on the market.

The focus on a clean, dark aesthetic is more than skin deep here too, as it extends to the interior components. Remove the mesh side panel to reveal a black motherboard, black case fans, black CPU cooler, GPU, RAM, and cables. The inside of the Elevate is a tapestry of midnight hues, with no hint of disfiguring RGB to intrude upon the stealthy aesthetic. Only a single indicator LED at startup illuminates, and this quickly goes dark once the Elevate is up and running.

If you prefer minimalist PCs that can blend into almost any space, there's never been a better gaming rig. It's a fairly large case at 447 x 215 x 469 mm, but its good looks make it less of a potential eyesore compared to more blatant and edgy designs. The Fractal Design North is also a great case to work in if you ever need to upgrade or replace components (and it can also be purchased on its own from Fractal Design on Amazon for around $172).

The Cobratype Elevate only takes a few seconds to boot up to the desktop, and once there navigating the system is snappy and responsive. This computer isn't phased by practically anything you throw at it.

This performance translates to real-world gaming prowess. The Elevate was able to handle "Battlefield 2042" at maximum settings, including ray tracing, and maintain frame rates between 130 fps and 144 fps. Even in the latest and most demanding games like "Star Wars: Jedi Survivor," the Elevate delivers consistent frame rates of around 60fps with maxed graphics with raytracing, only occasionally dipping lower. The computer was tested primarily using a 2560 x 1080 pixel monitor, so in cutting-edge games that push the limits of graphics fidelity, you might need to do some fancy settings footwork if you want to run them at 4K resolution or achieve consistent ultra-high framerates.

However, this is more an indictment of the poor optimization of modern AAA games than it is a critique of the Cobratype Elevate. Games like "Jedi Survivor" and "Lord of the Rings: Gollum" launch in a sorry state where even computers equipped with RTX 4090 cards struggle to run them consistently. This makes the excellent performance displayed by the Elevate in games that are a few years old like "Battlefield 2042" more indicative of its performance. The fact that it can handle "Jedi Survivor" as well as it does is a remarkable achievement. The cooling system remains quiet and effective, even under heavy loads.

When buying from a custom PC builder, it's natural to assume you'll be paying extra for the labor expended in assembling and testing the system. While you'd be able to purchase the components individually for cheaper, even if you're used to building PCs it's a massive time sink, even if the process goes without a hitch. Furthermore, with Cobratype you get a three-year standard warranty which covers three years of labor and parts, which is something you certainly don't get when you go out and build your own PC.

At $2799.99 the Elevate Legend Limited certainly isn't cheap compared to a home-built setup. However, compared to other competing custom PC builders such as Maingear, a roughly similar PC would cost far more to buy. Even more mainstream manufacturers such as Alienware charge far more for far less than Cobratype delivers. The closest off-the-shelf PC which you could walk into Best Buy and purchase is an HP Omen 40L, which is $100 cheaper at the time of writing than the Cobratype Elevate. However, the Elevate is a far higher quality product than the HP.

Overall, the Cobratype Elevate is highly attractive from a value perspective. Also, Cobratype will offer a less expensive version with the same specs as the Legend Limited version tested for this review, but with less expensive in-house brands of components, for just $2479.99. The Elevate will be highly customizable on Cobratype's website, and more powerful options will be available.