If you’re in the market for a new PC and don’t want to build your own gaming rig, you’ve probably come across at least a couple of models sold by the brand Cobratype. But, are these prebuilt PCs well-built, and are they priced fairly?
In this brand review of Cobratype we’ll take a high-level look at this prebuilt manufacturer and determine whether their products are worth your consideration.
About Cobratype
Cobratype is a prebuilt PC manufacturer based out of Des Moines, Iowa in the United States. Unlike some brands such as Apex Gaming PCs or Skytech Gaming, Cobratype doesn’t offer fully customizable rigs, instead opting to offer a wide selection of preselected configurations.
It appears that Cobratype was started by brothers Cory and Jordan Briggs around October of 2013, and since then it’s grown into a sizable operation. They have an online store, but the bulk of their sales are via their Amazon store.
Cobratype Review: Are They Legit?
In truth, it’s extremely difficult to find any substantial volume of reviews on Cobratype, which is the most important thing to do when trying to ascertain defect rate. Most of their Amazon listings haven’t been up for very long, so they haven’t had time to accumulate very many reviews, negative or positive.
They don’t have any Better Business Bureau reviews and don’t appear on any websites of a similar nature.
However, at the time of writing they have 42 total reviews on Newegg over the trailing year, the best volume we were able to find on any platform. You can view their Newegg store here to see their current product selection and ratings.
Across these 42 reviews they average 4.4 stars, a very respectable score. With this high of a score, it’s fairly safe to say that Cobratype is a legitimate brand, even considering the relatively small sample size.
Moreover, the few ratings they’ve accrued on Amazon are largely positive. Hopefully we’ll get a better picture of Cobratype’s product quality as time goes by, but they appear to be on par with most major brands in terms of quality, per customer reviews.
Product Selection
At the time of writing, Cobratype sells gaming PCs starting at $569.99 with their APU-only Ryzen 5 5600G Canebrake Warrior.
On the high end, their systems go at least into the $3000-plus price range, with models such as the Python Immortal, Wutu Legend, and Elevate Royal all surpassing this price point. Of course, these rigs are all decked out with the highest-end, latest-gen processors and GPUs from Intel, AMD, and Nvidia and include liquid cooling loops and other premium features.
Within their site, PCs are divided into four categories: Starter, Pro, Premium, and Elite. These are categorized by price range, and start out at roughly $570, $1700, $2300, and $2800, respectively.
Build Quality
When looking at prebuilt PC stalwarts like CyberPowerPC, HP, and Skytech Gaming, Cobratype is comparatively tiny. One upside that goes with this is that they aren’t large enough to have their own proprietary parts, so the components you get are generally the same kind you would buy yourself.
From the looks of their stock photos, Cobratype makes heavy use of brand-name components from companies including Corsair, Nvidia (their Founder’s Edition video cards), PNY, Apevia, Noctua, and more.
One thing we like to see is that their website’s PC offerings almost exclusively use major components (CPUs and GPUs) from the latest two generations; many of their PCs feature Ryzen 7000-series or Intel 13th-gen CPUs and Ryzen 7000-series or Nvidia 40-series GPUs.
A good chunk of their Amazon offerings are based on RTX 30-series GPUs, which is perfectly acceptable as these video cards are able to strike one of the best balances between price and performance.
However, we don’t love seeing that they’re still using Intel 10th-gen chips from early 2020. These are becoming more obsolete by the day, and while they’re still decent CPUs Cobratype doesn’t appear to offer any discount for the downgrade (more on that later).
Pricing
Cobratype’s PCs feature name-brand parts and appear to be very solidly constructed, but the downside is that they charge a substantial premium for this quality. For example, the Cobratype Anaconda with a Core i9-10900F, RTX 3060, and 32GB of DDR4 RAM is $1450 at the time of writing.
Compare this to HP’s Victus 15L, Lenovo’s IdeaCentre Gaming 5i, or Asus’ ROG Strix G15, all of which have the RTX 3060 and the newer, more powerful Core i7-12700F, and cost at least $200 less than Cobratype’s offering at the moment. As you can see, older-gen CPUs don’t typically offer very great value, as they often contribute more to a prebuilt’s MSRP than they bring to the table in performance.
Essentially, you’re paying $200-plus for the upgrade to an AIO instead of an air cooler, with a slight CPU downgrade tacked on (in comparison to these other models we’ve mentioned). Note that there are also quite a few RTX 3060 rigs available now for less than $800 (like ViprTech’s Rebel), which just have a less-potent CPU.
Most of Cobratype’s older-generation offerings are like this, with them banking on a Core i9 denomination shrouding the fact that the CPU is actually weaker than newer i7 models. However, some of their PCs with newer technology are priced well enough that the cost is justifiable, considering the high-quality parts, abundant case fans, and liquid cooler.
For example, their own Canebrake configuration with an RTX 3060 and Core i7-12700F (not unlike the ones we discussed earlier) is currently around $1250. The cheapest systems we’ve found with a comparable configuration is HP’s RX 6600 XT, Ryzen 7 5700G-equipped gaming rig, which currently sells at $929.99 and offers virtually the same performance.
The ~$300 uptick in cost for Cobratype’s offering over HP is easily justifiable; the chassis is far nicer, looks better, has remarkably better airflow, and the rig is outfitted with an AIO cooler versus HP’s air cooler. All things considered then, this Canebrake configuration is priced to sell. You could certainly get a higher-performing rig for the same price, but you’d be trading off build and component quality for raw performance.
This sums up Cobratype’s prices pretty well. If you’re going to buy a PC from them, you should almost never reach for a system with anything older than an RTX 30-series or RX 6000-series GPU, or an Intel 12th-gen or Ryzen 5000-series CPU. If you stick with recent hardware, many of Cobratype’s PCs are priced very well.
For instance, the Cobratype Python with a Core i9-13900KF and RTX 4090 is currently $3500, and looking at the market as a whole that’s pretty much what that configuration goes for within any brand. Cobratype’s is one of the best-looking of these, so if you’re going to spend an exorbitant amount on a gaming rig, a lot of arguments could be made for this model.
Cobratype Brand Review: Final Thoughts
While we always recommend building your own gaming PC if possible, we recognize that this isn’t always a viable option. If you’re going to buy a prebuilt PC and you’re considering a Cobratype model, here’s how things shake out (in our opinion, at least):
If you’re on a somewhat tight budget and want the best performance money can buy, and you’re willing to make some concessions in regards to aesthetics, Cobratype’s probably not the way to go. Buying a prebuilt from brands like HP, Lenovo, iBuyPower, or other industry leaders will typically net you the highest framerate with the lowest cost.
If looks are important to you and you have a couple hundred bucks worth of wiggle-room, a Cobratype rig could be a great option. You’ll pay a bit more for the looks, airflow, and name-brand components, but you’ll have a PC you can be proud of.
Just make sure to shop around before making any final decisions. Many PCs go on sale from time to time, and you might be able to find an even better deal that’s of equal quality.
Alternatives: Other Brand Reviews
Finally, feel free to check out our reviews of other gaming PC brands to compare alternatives.
