When you’re in the market for a gaming PC, you have several options. You could opt for a mass-produced prebuilt system from brands like Alienware, or splurge on a premium boutique build. The Origin Millennium offers a middle ground. It's undeniably a high-end gaming system, yet it doesn't boast the quirky, bold designs typical of systems from Maingear or Falcon Northwest. The Origin Millennium is a robust, custom-ordered gaming rig that uses standard components. It's something you could theoretically build yourself, but without the hassle of cable routing. And yes, be prepared for the challenge of lugging a hefty wooden crate up to your apartment, as I experienced firsthand.

Purchasing Guide

While the Origin Millennium starts at $2,788, this basic model comes with an Intel Core i5-14600K and no discrete graphics card – certainly not worth the price tag. However, on Origin's website, you can tailor the system with a wide array of components. Just remember, the more powerful the setup, the higher the cost.

Origin Millennium – Photos

View 8 ImagesDesign and Features

The Origin Millennium is a big computer, housed in a full-tower ATX case that Origin has made even more imposing with steel bars on all four corners. The case alone weighs 33 pounds, and that's before adding heavy components like the MSI RTX 5090 Gaming Trio, a power supply, and a 360mm AIO. Combined with the wooden crate it ships in, moving this beast to my third-floor walkup was a two-person job.

The corner metal bars create a unique challenge when accessing the system. Although the configuration I received won't need upgrading for years, occasional maintenance is necessary. However, the metal bar at the back left corner interferes with the smooth removal of the glass side panel. When I first opened the system to remove a styrofoam insert, I winced as the glass hit that metal bar.

To be fair, these bars can be removed with allen bolts, but it's an extra step that shouldn't be necessary for a PC of this caliber.

Once inside, the build is incredibly spacious. Even with a massive 14-inch graphics card, there's ample room for excellent airflow. Wires are minimal and neatly managed behind the motherboard tray, routed through grommets to where they need to be connected. Origin's cable management is top-notch.

However, in their pursuit of hiding wires, Origin made an unusual choice. The case has three 120mm intake fans in the front, but their power cables and front panel connectors are routed underneath the system. This creates a large bundle of wires outside the computer, which could be both ingenious and risky. It's effective for cable management but could lead to damage if the wires get caught.

When configuring the system, you can choose to mount the front ports and power button on the top or bottom. My unit had everything on the bottom, ideal for desk setups, but the top option is great for living room or under-desk placements.

The front panel includes four USB-A and one USB-C port, which is ample. The back of the Origin Millennium I tested, equipped with the Asus ROG Crosshair X870E Hero, offers four USB-C ports, six USB-A ports, two Ethernet ports, and an HDMI for onboard graphics. The RTX 5090 adds three DisplayPort and one HDMI, standard for Blackwell GPUs.

All in the Configuration

While the configuration I received is impressive, it's likely overkill for most users. Fortunately, Origin PC allows you to customize your system to your exact specifications. You could spend $7,241 on the high-end setup I reviewed, but there's no need to go that far.

A more balanced option might be an AMD Ryzen 5 9600X, 32GB of RAM, and an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, which still supports 4K gaming at a more reasonable $3,392. It's still pricey for a gaming PC, but that's the nature of this level of performance.

Building this mid-range version yourself would cost around $2,397, meaning you're paying about a thousand dollars for Origin to assemble it. For the high-end configuration, you could source parts for approximately $6,506 on PCPartPicker. Either way, you're investing significantly in having the system built.

That premium might seem steep, but it's not just about assembly. Origin offers a standard one-year warranty, plus lifetime support. This means free customer service for any future issues, and even free upgrades if you pay for new parts.

The wooden crate, while cumbersome, is a unique feature of Origin's shipping method, offering unparalleled protection for your PC. Just be ready for the extra shipping costs and weight.

Whether this is worth the extra expense depends on your comfort with building and maintaining a PC and the time you're willing to invest. Origin's excellent cable management is a significant plus.

Performance

Corsair equipped my Origin Millennium with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, and 64GB of RAM, making it a powerhouse for gaming. Given the investment, it needs to perform exceptionally.

At 4K, the system delivered over 100 fps in nearly every game I tested, without frame generation. Only two games fell short: Assassins Creed Shadows at 75 fps and Metro Exodus at 97 fps. The latter is understandable as a ray-traced workload tested without upscaling, as it only supports an older version of DLSS.

For Assassins Creed Shadows, 75 fps is a solid baseline that makes the game highly playable. You can boost this further with frame generation, increasing the frame rate to 132 fps, though at the cost of increased latency from 33ms to 42ms. This jump in latency might be noticeable for some, but it's generally fine for single-player games.

Cyberpunk 2077 showed similar results. With the Ray Tracing Ultra preset and DLSS in performance mode, the system achieved 127 fps with 23ms latency without frame generation. With Multi-Frame Generation set to 4x, the frame rate soared to 373 fps, with latency only increasing to 28ms, surpassing the capabilities of my 240Hz monitor.

Even without frame generation, 127 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 is remarkable. With this configuration, there's no need to compromise on image quality for any current game, even the most demanding ones without frame generation.