Zotac's 11.46L PC Packs an RTX 5080 for $2,647, No RAM or OS

A desktop RTX 5080 in an 11.46-liter box

Zotac's pitch is simple: desktop-class graphics without a desktop-sized tower.

Most small PCs that claim gaming chops rely on laptop GPUs, which carry lower power limits and less memory bandwidth. Zotac is doing something different. The Magnus One Ultra uses a full desktop RTX 5080 with 16GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 960GB/s of bandwidth. That's the same GPU you'd slot into a mid-tower build, just crammed into an 11.46-liter chassis measuring 126 x 365.5 x 249mm and weighing around 6.34kg.

The CPU is no slouch either. Intel's Core Ultra 7 265 runs 20 cores at a 2.4GHz base with a 5.3GHz boost. Zotac claims this is one of the smallest systems to pair a desktop RTX 5080 with a desktop Intel Core Ultra chip—a meaningful distinction, since many compact gaming PCs use mobile silicon that looks similar on a spec sheet but performs differently under sustained load.

Cooling an RTX 5080 rated at 360W inside 11.46 liters is the real engineering challenge. Zotac fits an 850W power supply, which leaves roughly 490W for the CPU, motherboard, and peripherals. That's workable, but it doesn't leave much headroom for overclocking or a future GPU swap. The company hasn't detailed its cooling design, so how the system handles sustained loads in a case this small remains an open question.

The $2,647 starting price is misleading

Zotac's entry-level Magnus One Ultra is barebones, and that word is doing a lot of work.

The ¥418,000 (about $2,647) starting price gets you the chassis, motherboard, CPU, GPU, and power supply. It does not include RAM, storage, or an operating system. Add those yourself and the real cost climbs fast. A 16GB DDR5 kit, a 1TB NVMe SSD, and a Windows 11 license will set you back roughly $200–$300 depending on your choices, pushing the practical entry point past $2,900.

Zotac's own pre-configured models show where the pricing goes. A version with 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and Windows 11 Pro costs ¥522,500 (about $3,309). Bumping to 32GB or 64GB of RAM with the same 1TB drive brings the price to ¥561,000 (~$3,552) and ¥654,500 (~$4,144). The top model with 96GB of RAM hits ¥750,200 (~$4,750). There's also a Windows model with 32GB of RAM and two 1TB SSDs at ¥588,500 (~$3,727).

For context, building a desktop with an RTX 5080 and a comparable Intel CPU typically lands around $2,200–$2,500 before peripherals, depending on component choices. You're paying a premium for the small footprint, and that premium is steep. The Magnus One Ultra makes sense for someone who values desk space or portability over raw value—not for someone chasing the best price-to-performance ratio. If you're weighing compact power against price, our review of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Gen 11 shows how a $2,500 laptop with an RTX 5060 stacks up.

Connectivity and expansion: more than you'd expect

Small cases usually mean fewer ports. Zotac went the other way.

The Magnus One Ultra offers two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots with a maximum of 96GB, running at DDR5-6400 for CSODIMM and DDR5-5600 for SODIMM. Storage expansion comes through two M.2 slots—one PCIe 5.0 x4 and one PCIe 4.0 x4. That's a reasonable amount of flexibility for a system this size, though accessing those slots may require partial disassembly.

Display outputs are unusually generous: three DisplayPort 2.1b, one HDMI 2.1b, one HDMI 2.0, and a DisplayPort-compatible Thunderbolt 4 port. Zotac says the system can drive up to six displays total, or four simultaneous 4K displays directly from the dedicated GPU. With Display Stream Compression, DisplayPort 2.1b supports 4K at 480Hz or 8K at 165Hz. The HDMI 2.1b port handles 4K at 480Hz or 8K at 120Hz.

Networking includes Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, one 5Gbps Ethernet port, and one 1Gbps Ethernet port. There are eight USB ports (four USB 3.2 Gen 2, four USB 3.2 Gen 1), a UHS-II SD card reader, and audio inputs. For a compact workstation or a living-room gaming PC, that's a lot of connectivity in a small box.

Availability and pricing for US, UK, and EU buyers

Zotac has announced Japanese pricing, but US, UK, and EU availability hasn't been confirmed. Based on the yen-to-dollar conversion, the barebones model would land around $2,647 before taxes and import duties. European buyers should expect VAT to push that higher—likely north of €2,800 depending on the country. UK pricing, if it arrives, would likely sit around £2,400–£2,600 before VAT.

The bigger question is whether Zotac will sell the barebones configuration outside Japan. Many system builders limit barebones SKUs to specific regions, and the pre-configured models are the ones that typically get global distribution. If you're in the US or EU and want the cheapest entry point, you may be waiting—or paying for a pre-built model you don't need.

The Magnus One Ultra is a niche product executed with real ambition. It proves you can fit a desktop RTX 5080 into 11.46 liters without obvious compromises on paper. But the barebones pricing model asks buyers to absorb the cost of components Zotac could have bundled, and the result is a system that costs more than it should. If you need a small PC with genuine desktop graphics, it's worth a look—just bring your own RAM.