If you’re a fan of branding deals based on Neon Genesis Evangelion, this has been a good week. MSI has teamed up with Evangelion eProject, a new esports brand that “incorporates an Evangelion feel into gaming devices and PC peripherals,” to launch a line of Eva-branded PC gear. And boy, it is as purple as the day is long.
The MSI x Evangelion e: Project Collection includes a motherboard, AIO liquid cooler, power supply, and PC case. Each item’s look uses that classic purple and green color palette based on EVA-Unit 1, the giant mech piloted by Shinji Ikari, the protagonist of Hideaki Anno’s confusing anime masterpiece. And as you can see from the teaser trailer above, this is most definitely aimed at folks who have A Cruel Angel’s Thesis as a ring tone.
Here’s a list of the EVA gear, which is just MSI’s MAG series components deck out with all the EVA Unit 1 trappings:
All these components are pretty good if you want to build yourself a modest mid-range build, though the A650 power supply seems a little underpowered for our tastes. It’s pretty quiet, which is a plus. The case itself is a beaut, assuming you don’t mind sizeable Japanese lettering, a giant mech on the side, and some purple. The pricing on the components isn’t as high as I thought it would be. I was almost sure we were going to pay an EVA tax.
If this article gives you a bit of deja vu, I don’t blame you. We recently covered the super limited launch of Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 O24G Evangelion Edition, which went on preorder in Taiwan. I find it very irresponsible of the two companies to release EVA hardware in the same week because I can’t reuse the same ‘get in the robot, Shinji’ joke. Woe is me.
If you actually want to see how this stuff looks outside of a flashy CG trailer, MSI held a livestream where they put together one system using these components, and it does look awesome.
The e: Project Collection is out now at various online retailers. I could not spot any pricing or availability on the power supply. If you do decide to build your own EVA PC, the links below will help you pick the best components for it.