Cases, Cooling & PSU News - Page 4

ASUS China is giving away some 16-pin PCIe 5.0 power cables for its enthusiast-grade ROG Thor PSU family.

If you don't have or won't be buying NVIDIA's new flagship GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card, the new 16-pin PCIe 5.0 power cable is kinda useless for now. But if you are... well, this cable is very useful. If you are buying a next-gen GPU when they roll around with NVIDIA's new Ada Lovelace GPUs and AMD's new RDNA 3 GPUs will rock some high TDPs.

But over in China, select retailers are giving away the 600W-ready 16-pin PCIe 5.0-ready power connector with its ROG Thor I 1200W and ROG Thor II 1000W PSUs. There are limitations on this, with reports that the PCIe 5.0 power cables are only bundled with ROG Thor/Thor II PSUs that were recently purchased.

We've been hearing more and more about the next-gen PCIe 5.0-based power connectors and PCIe 5.0-ready PSUs, but now Intel has just made the largest change to industry power supply specifications since 2003 with the introduction of the ATX 3.0 specifications.

The new ATX 3.0 specifications will drive the future and unlock the full power, and full potential of next-gne hardware and components built around connectivity like PCIe 5.0. Intel has also updated its ATX12VO spec to help the PC industry with an "updated blueprint" for designing PSUs and motherboards that reduce power draw at idle, and more.

• Read more: PCIe 5.0 '12VHPWR' power connector: 150W, 300W, 450W, 600W settings

Stephen Eastman, Intel platform power specialist explained: "Power supplies based on ATX 3.0 and ATX12VO 2.0 will ensure anyone looking to get the most stable and cost optimized performance possible with highest power efficiency out of their desktop PCs will be able to do so - both now and in the future".

Cooler Master is joining in on the next-gen PCIe 5.0 power supply fun, announcing its next-gen flagship V-series PSUs with the introduction of the new V1300 Platinum and V SFX-L PSUs that both have PCIe 5.0 power connectors. Let's dive right into it.

The new flagship Cooler Master V1300 Platinum PSU looks gorgeous, rocking the new 30th Anniversary Edition design and 80 Plus platinum efficiency that's good for 1300W full load. Cooler Master is tapping high-quality Japanese 100% capacitors that have high operating temperatures of up to 50C.

Cooler Master has a hardware base single/multi-rail switch, as well as revamped PCIe cable connectivity -- there's 16AWG PCIe cables that are thicker than the standard 18AWG cables -- as well as offering 10A over 7A, with a fully modular design and huge 10-year warranty.

We thought that the new ASUS ROG Thor II PSUs would be pumping out 600W over their new 16-pin PCIe 5.0 power connector, but it looks like that 600W is now 450W.

In what seems to be some clarification on the PCIe Gen5 12-pin power connector and the 12+4-pin version, is the full spec cable with 12 pins and 4 data signal paths. These additional pins are actually required if you want to be included with the stamp of approval from PCI-SIG for the "12VHPWR High Power Connector (H+)" standard.

You'll need that big beefy PCIe 5.0 power connector for a next-gen GPU, or NVIDIA's maybe-maybe-not GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card if it ever sees the light of day. It was previously thought you'd be able to drive up to 600W of power through the PCIe 5.0 power connector, but ASUS confirmed the 12-pin PCIe 5.0 power cable "can pipe up to 600W of power to PCIe Gen 5.0 graphics cards. Get ready for the future of power delivery".

BLUETTI unveiled its next-gen NA300 and B480 expandable sodium-ion battery pack family, with a sneak peek of the future of their power storage devices at CES 2022.

The new BLUETTI NA300 represents the world's first sodium-ion solar generator, with its compatible battery pack in the new B480. BLUETTI kicks things off with 4 x 20A plugs and 1 x 30A L14-30 output port which is driven by the built-in 3000W pure sine wave inverter... enough juice to get your house up and running, and running for a while at that.

BLUETTI's current EP500 Pro has 2400W of solar input, with the new NA300 beating that by offering 3000W. BLUETTI's new NA300 is also the fastest charging solar generator, re-charging from 0-80% in just 30 minutes. How the hell is it doing that? That's thanks to the huge 6000W AC + PV dual charging technology, driving 3000W through AC, and 3000W through PV.

ASUS has already unleashed its new ROG Thor PSU family, but there's a new ASUS ROG Loki SFX-L PSU that will be ready for next-gen SFF gaming PSUs with 16-pin PCIe 5.0 power connectors ready to handle 600W GPUs.

The new ROG Loki PSUs use the same high-quality components that power the inside of the higher-end ROG Thor PSUs, but crams them all into an SFX-L form factor, ready to power new Mini-ITX gaming PCs. The new ASUS ROG Loki PSUs will be available in 750W, 850W, 1000W, and 1200W versions, with 80 PLUS Titanium certification, and more.

ASUS ROG engineers worked night and day on maintaining the heat inside of the ROG Loki PSUs, finding a solution that dissipated the heat generated inside of the super-dense PSU. The team eventually revamped the PCB design and cooling system, which ensured stable, reliable power into the ROG Loki PSU and all of your PC components.

CyberPowerPC had one of the most unique concept PC cases at CES 2022 with a huge tease of its "KINETIC" case, that intelligently adjusts the ventilation on the front of the case in real-time... like, it moves as if it were alive, and it's freaking awesome. Check it out:

Eric Cheung, Chief Executive Officer, CyberPowerPC said: "We are entering 2022 with some of our most sophisticated and elegant designs ever. For discriminating gamers our PC Master Builders are ready to hand-build and test new gaming PCs that are ultra-clean, streamlined, and deliver maximum performance for those who want something truly unique".

The CyberPowerPC KINETIC case has 18 individually controlled articulating vents that work with the temperature inside of your PC in real-time, and then open and close the vents when required to allow more or less airflow into the KINETIC case. The patent-pending parametric design can also detect environmental changes around your case, and adjust as it needs.

Intel's new RM1 stock cooler for its new 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" processors has been tested, with the new 12th Gen Core 65C CPU series launching in January 2022 with these spiffy new RM1 stock coolers. Check it out:

The cooler was tested by the team at 163, with Intel's new "Laminar RM1" stock cooler tested with the unreleased mid-range Core i5-12400 processor -- a new 6-core, 12-thread Alder Lake CPU -- with the power consumption averaging out at 81W, peaking at 89C.

In an 8-minute FPU stress test in AIDA64, the Intel Core i5-12400 cooled with the new RM1 stock cooler had an average CPU temp of 70C, and peak temperature of 75W -- with the fan speed at 3100RPM and reported to be "audible". There's no RGB lighting here, as the higher-end RH1 stock cooler will have RGB lighting and better thermal performance.

Xiaomi has just unveiled its next-gen cooling technology dubbed Loop LiquidCool Technology, which is over twice as good at cooling devices as regular vapor chamber-based cooling.

The new Xiaomi Loop LiquidCool Technology borrows from cooling solutions and technologies used in the aerospace industry, where the company is using a capillary effect which drags liquid cooling agent to the heat source, vaporizes it, and then disperses the heat efficiently towards the cooling area -- it will continue this until the agent confesses, and then it is captured through a unidirectional closed-loop channel.

When compared to traditional vapor chamber cooling technology, Xiaomi's new Loop LiquidCool Technology will have 2x the cooling capacity, and "ranks as the most efficient smartphone cooling solution".

Update: Uh, so this isn't the new 12-pin PCIe 5.0 power connector... (full update in the story below)

We first heard whispers, then saw purported photos, then had it confirmed with new PSUs and now we have it clear as day: the new 12-pin PCIe 5.0 power connector.

The latest and greatest Intel 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" CPUs are here with the new Z690 chipset, unleashing DDR5 memory and PCIe 5.0 connectivity to millions of people across the planet. The new PCIe 5.0 standard comes with its own new tricks: a new PCI-Express Gen5 Molex Micro-Fit 3.0 cable.

This connector is rated up to 9A at 12V, meaning the 12-pin PCIe power connector can handle up to 648W of power running through it. From a specifications standpoint, the new 12-pin connector is good for up to 600W of power. The new ASUS ROG Thor 1000W Platinum II PSU for example has a 12-pin PCIe cable bundled and can "pipe up to 600W of power to PCIe Gen 5.0 graphics cards" of the future.