PC gaming's top hardware vendors at the International CES this week unveiled desktop and laptop equipment that will chew through the 2016 lineup of graphical showcases. They even showed off some Rift-ready rigs, with the consumer version of the virtual reality headset set to ship soon.
Some of the most-awaited games include the ambitious Hitman game, a new Deus Ex game, Tom Clancy's The Division, and maybe even Star Citizen.
Thanks to Intel finally releasing its Skylake family of processors a few months before CES 2016, the hardware vendors have had time to put together gaming laptops and PCs that are actually a full step ahead of what was shown last year.
We've rounded up four of the best rigs exhibited at the CES 2016.
Laptops
Razer Stealth Ultrabook
The Stealth ironically boasts two Intel Skylake chips, an Intel Core i7-6500U Dual-Core Processor clocked in at 2.5/3.1 GHz and Intel HD Graphics 520 GPU.
Along with options for various sizes of solid state storage space, consumers can pick from one of the two touchscreen display resolutions for the Stealth. One display is 4K, with a pixel count of 3,840 x 2,160, and the other is a step down at 2,560 x 1,440 Quad HD resolution.
The base model of this ultrabook starts at $999, with options available to push that price up to $1,599 where budgets allow. To keep the prices down, Razer has adopted a new "direct-to-consumer program."
"By way of its direct-to-consumer program, the Razer Blade Stealth is priced significantly less than comparable systems from other manufacturers," says the company.
GT72S Tobii
It'll come bundled with a free copy of The Division, an action RPG that's set to launch on Mar. 8. But this laptop's headlining feature is the Tobii eye-tracking camera that's built into its face.
Last year, Tobii offered eye tracking tech to consumers for the first time, states Oscar Werner, president of Tobii Tech. Now the tech, supported by a handful of AAA games, is available in a laptop for the first time.
"No matter their first interaction, the response was the same: this feels like the future," says Oscar Werner.
For those who can't see purchasing this without specs, MSI has yet to reveal all that's inside the GT72S Tobii.
Desktops
Alienware X51 R3
So the long-awaited Oculus Rift headset went up for preorder on Tuesday, bearing a shocking sticker that reads $599 and a ship date that keeps moving deeper into the calendar. For those not bothered by the price and refuse to be bothered with building a rig, Alienware's X51 R3 series has a $1,249 solution.
The version of the X51 R3 with the Oculus-recommended Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 can run the virtual reality headset right out of the box. It includes 6th generation Intel Core processors, 8 GB of RAM and a fresh copy of Windows 10.
ROG GT51
It's ready for the Rift and whatever comes after that. In its full form, this rig comes with two Nvidia GeForce GTX Titans running in concert in SLI and an Intel Core i7-6700K.
The ROG GT51 comes with all of the software needed to overclock processors and cloak hard drives.
To keep all of that cool, Asus has given extra attention to the ROG GT51's case. The chassis' cooling system has a "dedicated air tunnel" that uses natural convection to efficiently manage temperature.
"It has an aggressively designed ATX chassis with an Armor Titanium and Plasma Copper finish, a transparent side window, and customizable lighting effects that showcase up to 8 million colors," Asus says.
The ROG GT51 will come in a range of build, so consumers can get one that suits their needs.
As far as price and release date go, Asus isn't ready to talk about those just yet.
