8.6 / 10 Score Cnet Score CNET provides expert, unbiased reviews of products and services. When we assign a score, we use a scale of 1-10. Each product we score is evaluated by criteria specific to its category with most assessing pricing, quality, features and performance. Read more on: How we test Starforge Explorer III Pro $3,900 at Starforge Systems Pros Excellent performance all around
Solid connectivity
Plenty of upgrade options
Effective cooling with good dust filtration Cons Very large case
Audible fans
Prebuilt gaming PCs come in a couple of flavors. One flavor is those from big PC makers like Dell, HP and Lenovo. Their approach is typically unique cases and a lot of custom parts. Another flavor is PCs from boutique builders who combine off-the-shelf parts, sometimes paired with a custom-designed case. The Starforge Explorer III Pro is definitely that latter flavor, relying entirely on components you could buy yourself. While systems from boutique builders tend to have a price premium, the Explorer III Pro is competitive not just with big-name options but also compared with building it yourself using similar components.
The Explorer III Pro has a high-end configuration for its $3,900 price and packs its components comfortably in a massive case. Cable management and airflow are all well done, and the system has an elegance not just for its lack of gaudy RGB, but also for its consistent black color scheme. Pulling all of this off in a smaller case would have been a bit more impressive, but as it is, the Explorer III Pro delivers strong performance and value with very few compromises.
Starforge Explorer III Pro Price as reviewed $3,900 Size 68 liter (20.27 x 10 x 20.57 in/515 x 254 x 522 mm) Motherboard MSI MAG Z890 Tomahawk WiFi CPU 3900MHz Intel Core Ultra 7 265K Memory 64GB DDR5-6000 Graphics Nvidia RTX 5080 Storage 2TB NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD (boot) (T-Force TM8FFW002T) Networking 5GbE, Killer Wi-Fi 7 BE1750x 802.11be, Bluetooth 5.4 Connections Thunderbolt 4 (x2 rear), USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (x1 front, x1 rear), USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (x3 rear), USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (x2 front, x4 rear), USB 2.0 (x4 rear), 3.5mm audio connector (x1 front, x2 rear), SPDIF, 5Gb Ethernet, HDMI 2.1 FRL (x1 on motherboard, x1 on GPU), DisplayPort 2.1b (x3 on GPU) Operating system Windows 11 Pro
The Starforge Explorer III Pro comes in three configurations: Core, Pro (tested here) and Elite. All three feature similar cooling hardware with a Havn BF 360 Flow case, six total case fans, a 360mm Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 AIO CPU cooler, MSI Z890 Tomahawk Wi-Fi motherboard and Windows 11 Pro.
Joe Maldonado/CNET
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