Cases, Cooling & PSU News

Tech channel Gear Seekers has reviewed PC cases and other hardware for over seven years. Over that time, the channel has put together countless great-looking builds while offering expert advice to consumers and case makers on what works and doesn't. The channel's latest isn't another detailed look at a new chassis or GPU. Instead, it's presenting its first collaboration - the Montech x Gear Seekers KING 95 ULTRA.

In May of this year, we reviewed Montech's King 95 Pro, which earned an award for its affordable price point, thermal performance, support for two PSUs simultaneously, and excellent cable management. The philosophy behind the KING 95 ULTRA was to take the initial design and ramp up the style and aesthetics with premium components, including aluminum for the front panel.

It also comes equipped with six pre-installed fans and an RGB controller to make the installation and build process as simple as possible. According to Gear Seekers, once the motherboard, cooler, and power supply are all installed - you're essentially good to go. And it's a Limited Edition release with only 2,024 units worldwide.

Regarding PC chassis and case designs, we're currently in the era of panoramic views or tempered glass on the front and side in a 'fishbowl-like' design. Earlier this year at Computex 2024, we saw many of these types of cases, and most of them looked great.

The new GameMax N80, from the gamer-focused PC hardware maker GameMax, presents a unique spin on this design by featuring two compartments with independent cooling. The design looks to give the power supply its little case, which sits underneath the panoramic compartment that houses all the main stuff like motherboard, memory, CPU, and GPU.

According to GameMax, having a separate upper chamber allows colder, fresh air to enter, which in turn improves cooling. The GameMax N80 ships with six ARGB PWM fans for total coverage. As seen in the images, it's a looker with stylish rounded corners and a single piece of curved glass wrapping around the side and front of the case.

ASUS has just announced its new ROG Strix Platinum PSUs that arrive in 1200W, 1000W, and 850W models that are ready for your new gaming PC build.

The new ASUS ROG Strix Platinum PSUs are high-efficiency power supplies, raising the bar with lower connection temperatures, intelligence wattage delivery, ATX 3.1 with Intel lab testing, and a huge 10-year warranty in 1200W, 1000W, and 850W PSU forms.

ASUS is using its GPU-First intelligent voltage stabilizer (IVS) inside of its new ROG Strix Platinum PSU series, ensuring that a high-end overclocked graphics card always has the stable power it requires to perform at peak capacity during intense gaming sessions with up to 45% more stable power flow to the GPU versus not having the stabilizer inside of the PSU.

A few months ago, Lian Li introduced a new compact and stylish PC case, the A3-mATX, with a design created in collaboration with Daniel Hansen from DAN Cases. Although the compact case is designed for Micro-ATX and Mini-ATX motherboards, it also supports 4.5-slot GPUs up to 415mm in length - which means you could install a GeForce RTX 4090 or RTX 4080 SUPER graphics card.

Lian Li has announced a new variant that replaces the front plastic panel with wooden slats over the fine mesh. The Wooden Edition looks fantastic and is reminiscent of some of Fractal Design's minimalist cases, like the popular North. We're starting to see more wood paneling on PC cases, and it's not hard to see why - it adds a nice contrast to the tempered glass with the RGB lighting aesthetic that has become the norm.

Outside of the new look, the Wooden Edition A3-mATX design remains the same, with support for ATX/SFX/SFX-L and the new LIAN LI Edge PSU (which earned an award at Computex 2024) and coolers with up to a 360mm radiator size. There's also room for an impressive 10 x 120mm fans.

We got our first look at Antec's new flagship FLUX PRO Full Tower case at Computex 2024 and were quietly impressed by the use of high-quality mesh, tempered glass, and wood paneling. With the product pages for the FLUX Pro and FLUX Pro White variants now live, Antex has provided full specs and details on what to expect from its 'exceptional' and 'luxury' design.

As a modern case, the FLUX PRO incorporates a multidirectional vent design. This means you have dual vertical and horizontal airflow with enough mesh to ensure that all your internal components "remain cool under pressure." Dust filtration is also available, thanks to the fine 1.2mm mesh panels on the front and lower sides. This is all part of the Flow Luxury, F-LUX, or FLUX Platform, and the case ships with six fans - including four high-quality Tranquil 140mm PWM fans.

For those wanting complete control over cooling and lighting, the FLUX PRO Full Tower case also features a built-in ARGB and PWM Fan Control Hub and integrated temperature displays for both CPU and GPU for real-time performance monitoring.

LG Electronics wants to make Life Good in the data center market, with the South Korean giant expanding its production to cash in on the AI boom.

How? LG recently said at its Investors Forum write-up that "in the HVAC sector, LG leads the high-efficiency market with its advanced inverter and heat pump technologies, and it is actively targeting the cooling systems market for AI data centers, where demand is surging".

LG expanded on this, saying that the LGE chiller business is on track to become a unicorn (a privately owned startup company that has a valuation of over $1 billion, and isn't listed on the stock market) in 3 years, and now sees new opportunities -- big money -- in the data center business, cooling data centers.

Corsair has just launched its new family of next-generation AIO CPU coolers, the new iCUE LINK TITAN RX RGB. Check them out:

The new Corsair iCUE LINK TITAN RX RGB AIO coolers have new levels of performance, a slick new look, and unique iCUE LINK connectivity, which makes for the best-performing cooler that the company has ever made. Corsair says they poured "thousands of hours" into the in-house engineering, and years of experience bringing award-winning CPU coolers to market have culminated in the new iCUE LINK TITAN RX RGB, a generational breakthrough in cooling that "sets a new standard for the industry".

The company explains that the phenomenal performance of its new TITAN RX RGB cooler is found within the new FlowDrive cooling engine, which is powered by a 3-phase motor that improves power efficiency, quieter operation, and a higher flow rate than its predecessors.

If you've ever bought a power supply (PSU) for your PC, you're probably familiar with the various 80 PLUS ratings with different tiers like Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Titanium. The whole' 80 PLUS' label refers to independent testing and certification that the power supply has at least 80% efficiency at different load levels. There's a lot more to it than that, but most PSUs on the market carry one of the many different 80 PLUs certification stickers.

Corsair has now stated that it's moving away from the 80 PLUS certification for the more detailed power supply certification that comes from Cybenetics. According to Corsair, modern power supplies require more detailed certification that expands beyond efficiency.

However, Corsair says that Cybenetics' efficiency profiles and testing better reflect real-world usage. "Cybenetics' testing methodology produces thousands of data points across all loads," Corsair writes. "Rather than the handful of measurements produced during 80 PLUS testing, ensuring more accurate results."

Cooler Master says its new fanless power supplies are ready to handle NVIDIA's next-gen ultra-enthusiast GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card.

The company's new X Silent Edge Platinum 850W Fanless PSU costs $488 and is on Amazon right now, with 'confirmed' support for NVIDIA's current-gen Ada Lovelace-based flagship GeForce RTX 4090, as well as support for the next-gen Blackwell-based ultra-flagship GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card.

I checked the listing and it's right there in black and white "support RTX 4090/5090" and while this could be a mistake, I highly doubt it as PSU manufacturers would be one of the key parts of making sure their PSUs can handle the fastest graphics card on the planet, especially after the 12VHPWR power connector debacle over the RTX 40 series GPUs.

Fractal Design's North mid-tower computer case is still relatively new, but its minimal design mix with stylish wood paneling has made it an instant classic among builders. The Fractal Design North case is pure style and class for those looking for something that is the polar opposite of a glass paneled case showcasing a range of RGB-lit components - and per our review, it has excellent cooling to boot.

At Computex 2024, the company showcased a fun new creation called Project: North Pi, which took the North design and shrunk it down for tiny Raspberry Pi devices. DIY Raspberry Pi systems have been a go-to for many years, as they are brilliant for creating low-power, compact, and efficient media players, emulation boxes, or mini PCs that can handle most basic tasks.

What may have been a fun little showpiece for Computex has now become a reality. Fractal Design is leaning into the DIY spirit of Raspberry Pi devices by making Project: North Pi available to everyone to download as 3D-print files.