I recently wrote a review for the ROG STRIX Scope II RX Optical Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, part of a complete gaming package ASUS sent us to try out. It included an ROG STRIX SG27ACS Ultra-fast Gaming Monitor, the ROG Delta S Gaming Headset, the ROG X Aimlab Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition gaming mouse, the ROG Sheath mouse pad, an ROG Raikiri Pro Gaming controller, and the ROG G22CH Gaming Desktop, the topic of this write up, and for now, I’ll be offering my initial impressions.

I was a little surprised with this one. The shipping packaging is quite large and fairly heavy, so I was certainly not expecting something so small. The whole PC is a mere 11.5 x 32.3 x 28.69cm, so it’s quite small, but as I’ve said before, it’s not the size that counts. There are two options available, both of which look to offer an incredible gaming experience, with the only difference between the two being the CPU.

The cheaper option comes with an Intel Core i7-14700F processor, however, we were given the bee’s knees – the model with the Intel Core i9-14900KF 24-core processor. Both options come with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX4070 DUAL 12GB GDDR6X graphics cards, offering a total of three DisplayPorts and a single HDMI connection.

They come with 16GB of DDR5 SO-DIMM RAM over two slots, supporting up to 32GB, and each has a 1TB M.2 NVMe Solid State Drive, so on paper, they should perform admirably.

The design, while compact, maintains the somewhat aggressive ROG aesthetic I’ve grown to love, with deliberate separation of the off-black panels and stylised cut-outs backed by mesh to aid in airflow.

The front panel is enhanced by Aura-Sync compatible RGB strip lighting, while the distinct ROG eye logo glows from within on one side, standing proud on the liquid cooler’s pump. You’re also given a translucent almost-black plastic panel that can offer some additional insight into the inner workings, easily switched out by removing a couple of screws.

Firing up and getting the included licence for Windows 11 Home up and running was nice and quick, allowing me to get right into downloading and installing the usual list of benchmark software and games I frequently play to test a system. My only concern here is that while Star Citizen has a minimum RAM recommendation of 16GB, it really needs 32GB, but for most games, what’s included should be plenty.

Armoury Crate gives you complete control over RGB effects, and by using the combination of Republic of Gamers products listed above, I was able to watch everything change as one. It was quite the sight to behold.

It can also be used to tweak the settings within the PC, allowing you to adjust the overall performance of the system should you not be satisfied with the out-of-the-box performance, and as ever, this is incredibly intuitive and easy to use.

With a 14th Gen Intel Core-series processor, either an i7 or an i9, a 12GB RTX4070 GPU, 16GB DDR5 RAM and 1TB HDD, the ROG G22CH Gaming Desktop looks to be a very capable setup.

While it doesn’t seem to offer much in the way of expanding on existing internals, it offers a stylish footprint that won’t take up a huge amount of space, and I look forward to pushing it as far as I can, so look forward to my full write-up in the weeks to come.

Written by: Mathew Lindner