Cases, Cooling & PSU - Page 14

Antec is another company I always get excited about visiting. Having reviewed quite a bit of Antec products in the past, we wanted to see what they had to offer during our trip to Taipei, Taiwan for Computex 2023. In the image above, you will notice the Performance FT 1 case that we had previously reviewed, and loved. Antec is releasing a white version soon with ARGB fans and lighting, as well as one without. Available in Q3 2023, price of about $159.99 US.

The Cannon, while not new, was on display with a really high-end Intel build, complete with a custom hardline water-cooling loop.

The NeoEco line is getting a few more ATX 3.0 PSUs added to the product line, the NE850G M, NE1000G M, and the NE1300G M. All NeoEco PSUs come with a 10-year warranty and are 80 Plus Gold rated. A single 12VHPWR connector is also present on every model in the NeoEco series of PSUs. Available July 2023.

bequiet! Is a company I always get excited about visiting, this time I even was offered a beer before we started the booth tour, so I couldn't pass that up. Having reviewed be quiet! products in the past, we wanted to see what they had to offer during our trip to Taipei, Taiwan for Computex 2023.

The Dark Base Pro 901 is the successor to the greatly renowned Dark Base 900, this time with improvements in aRGB, 5.24" drive support, with pre-installed Silent Wings 4 fans, along with many other new features.

The Dark Base 701 is aimed at builders who want some style and flair. The open mesh design for high airflow and performance. Includes three pre-installed Silent Wings and 4 140mm PWM fans. An integrated fan controller with a PWM motherboard sync option is also included. PWM and an RGB hub for up to eight fans and two aRGB components. RGB lighting with an integrated RGB controller for a stunning look. The motherboard tray has an inverted layout if desired. Tempered glass side panel to allow a superb view of system components. Available in black or white.

Montech is a newcomer when it comes to Computex, but having reviewed a few Montech products we wanted to see what they had to offer during our trip to Taipei, Taiwan for Computex 2023.

The King 95 can accommodate two 360mm radiators while having support for a single 280mm radiator on the side.

Available November 2023, $109 - $159.

During Computex 2023 in Taipei, Taiwan, Lian Li was there to show off some of their new products, mainly PC cases, which they are quite well known for.

The SUP 01 Mid Tower ATX case can accommodate a front-mounted GPU via a special bracket. Mesh is also present on the front as well as the back side panel to allow for ample airflow. An ARG strip runs along the top of the bottom shroud for accent lighting. An aRGB PCIe 4.0 riser cable will also be included.

UNI FAN SL-INF Reverse blade

During Computex 2023 in Taipei, Taiwan, Corsair has shown off some of their new water cooling gear from their HydroX line. A new GPU waterblock, new CPU water blocks, as well as a few new pump reservoirs.

The first HydroX product that we noticed was the new hybrid XG3 GPU waterblock. Constructed of plastic with an axial fan in the center of the waterblock, thus allowing for additional cooling to the GPU VRAM and VRMs underneath.

These new water blocks are Corair's second series of water blocks, which as a facelift, feature a clear top or an IPS LCD screen that runs at 30FPS at 480x480 resolution.

While we were at Computex 2023 here in Taipei, Taiwan, we couldn't help but notice the massive case suspended in the air in front of the InWin booth. Now InWin has been making some interesting choices in the chassis market for quite some time already, and for Computex 2023, there is no exception. One interesting choice is the MOD FREE case design.

Yep, that is the new MOD FREE case that InWin has announced for Computex 2023. Featuring a very modular approach, the MOD FREE looks like it could accommodate your current build and your future ones for many builds to come.

Can you guess how many systems are in this monstrosity? The answer is three. Yes, that's right - three mITX motherboards, all complete with high-end NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs and full-size ATX power supplies. This makes me think about breaking them apart for LAN parties.

FSP, one of the early pioneers of PSUs in the computer industry, while at Computex 2023 in Taipei, Taiwan, has released a 2500-watt abomination of a PSU. This high-end PSU is more geared toward edge computing, server, and workstation environments. The Cannon Pro, model number FSP2500-52AGPBI, is a powerhouse of a PSU, which is why it's needed for such heavy workloads to ensure stability.

Coming in the ATX form factor, measuring 150 x 200 x 86mm, the Cannon Pro still is a big boi; however not much bigger than FSP's own Hydro PTM Pro 1650-watt. The most notable features include the 80 Plus Platinum certification, ATX 3.0 with PCIe Gen 5 support, which enables four of the latest power-hungry RTX 4090s GPUs to run smoothly without issue; this would also suggest that there are four 16-pin 12VHPWR connections to provide good clean stable power.

Typically up until now, only around 1600-watt PSUs were available due to many electrical system constraints. Still, somehow FSP has managed to find a way to bust through that issue leaving it wide open. Running a single 12V rail, the Cannon Pro delivers 2500 watts with a little over 208 amps; however, it is only recommended to run on 200 to 240-volt systems.

A gaming PC built with good cable management is the direct result of skill, experience, and art because you're looking at a system where components, fans, RGB headers, and anything in-between has some sort of cable that requires being connected to either the motherboard or power supply. And wrangling all of those cables is no easy feat.

This is where Corsair's new iCUE LINK Smart Component Ecosystem fits in, which is all about simplifying the DIY PC building process through a reversible single-cable with a built-in micro-controller that can link, chain, and connect to a System Hub. According to Corsair, it will help to eliminate "nests of wires, connection hubs, PWM and RGB splitters cluttering up your case."

At Computex 2023, we checked out a few different Corsair builds using the new iCUE Link system, and the results were as impressive as you'd expect. Even in the tidiest builds, there's usually a hidden nest of cables all grouped together at the back of the case like a mini server rack.

SFF cases have been all the rage lately, and it seems Fractal is launching yet another mITX case that might tickle your pickle. The Terra, which seems to have the same Scandinavian design elements as the company's North case, is a 10.4L mITX SFF case that is more akin to the sandwich style of an SFF case.

The internals of the Terra features a movable spine with seven pre-marked positions, allowing the use of every possible space available. This allows support for triple-slot GPUs, up to 322 x 72 x 131 or 322 x 62 x 145mm, with a CPU height clearance of 48mm. A max CPU height clearance of 77mm is achievable by using a GPU sized at 322 x 43 x 145 or 322 x 33 x 145mm. A PCIe 4.0 x16 riser cable is also included.

The Terra also supports larger SFX-L power supplies, while water-cooling support is limited to a single 120mm radiator if a shorter 200mm GPU is installed. The Terra can accommodate two 2.5" SSDs, however, one must be sacrificed if an SFX-L power supply is used. Made from 8mm thick anodized aluminum, walnut front trim, and gull-wing action side panels, it sure makes for some of Terra's most exciting features.

While at Computex 2023, we found ourselves at the XPG booth and found this monstrosity. Who would want to run four RTX 4090s at 100% load? Well, this is just to show how robust their flagship PSU is; XPG decided it was time to max out its Fusion 1600w ATX 3.0 PSU fully.

In the picture above, you can see via XPG's Prime software showing the DC Output wattage, which has surpassed 1800 watts and actually hitting up to 2000 watts at times for brief periods in the millisecond range.

Also, the efficiency of this load, which is generated with a ChatGPT application on the left-hand side, as well as running four instances of Furmark, is at 90% while maintaining about a 33C temperature, which is equally impressive in its own right.