GIGABYTE
Gigabyte
invited us to its suite in the Taipei 101 to check out its latest products, something we always look forward to given Gigabyte’s always excellent hospitality, backed by stunning views of the Taipei skyline. With it being a quiet year for motherboard and graphics card releases, we were able to pay more attention to some of the other things Gigabyte was working on, with a particular focus on Aorus branded products.
RGB RAM FOR EVERYONE
Gigabyte is entering the RAM market and showed us a very attractive kit of Aorus DDR4-3200 RGB memory. It looks quite lovely, as you’d expect, but the key take away is an additional set of dummy modules that look the same from the outside, but are there purely for aesthetics. So, if you have a 2x8GB set, you can get an additional pair of dummy modules that makes your system look as though it has four modules. It’s a great, and cost effective, way to give your system that extra bit of bling without having to splash out on four actual modules. Given the current price bubble in the RAM market, this is something we think will resonate with a lot of builders.
AORUS ENTERS THE PSU MARKET
RAM isn’t the only new market for the Aorus brand. Power supplies are another new space that the company aims to gain a foothold in. The two power supplies shown were the AP850GM and AP750GM. Both have an 80 Plus Gold certification, a fully modular design, and a single 12v rail. We were interested to hear that these PSUs are designed by Gigabyte itself. That’s an interesting thing to hear, given that many PSU vendors choose to use an established manufacturer and rebrand an existing design.
We had some extra time on hand after the suite tour and were invited to a presentation from one of the lead Aorus product designers to get a bit of the back story of the brand, and it was quite fascinating to get a bit of behind the scenes insight. Most of our readers will be familiar with the Aorus hawk logo, but it was only after having it pointed out that I personally realised that it is stylized to represent the letter G. We thought it was a hawk with a strongman arm. Hah!
GORGEOUS AORUS LAPTOPS
Laptops are getting ever more powerful and Gigabyte had its full range of Aorus laptops on display. How does the X9 DT sound, with its i9-8950HK processor (6c/12t at up to 4.8GHZ thank you very much) GTX 1080 and 144Hz G-Sync panel? Yes we want one too. The less wealthy among us have new Sabre and Aero models to choose from. The updated Aero 15 is a slim lightweight model that has been updated with the latest 8th generation processors and a GTX 1070 Max-Q GPU. With its thin bezel and CNC-milled chassis and 2kg weight, it really is a lovely looking and powerful lightweight gaming notebook.
CAN A MAC PLAY CRYSIS? YEP
One of the common messages out there is that “you can’t game on a Mac”. Gigabyte is addressing this problem with its RX 580 gaming box, which connects to a Thunderbolt 3 Port and allows you
to properly game on a Mac. You’ll need the High Sierra update to use it, but it’s great to have this option. For example, you can carry around your lightweight MacBook during the day, and then plug it into your external RX 580 at night for the best of both worlds. We hope the developer support is there as external GPUs are finally becoming viable thanks to the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3 combined with the extra grunt on offer from 8th generation CPUs in particular.
WE HOPE THE FISH MADE IT OUT OK
Computex is chock full of crazy PC mods, but one of the wackiest was on display at the Gigabyte booth. How does a submerged GPU with LIVE FISH swimming around blissfully unaware sound? The liquid surrounding the GPU was separated from the water above due to its different physical properties. We asked what the cooling liquid was and were told that it’s a nontoxic fluid not unlike what some data centers use. This is definitely one of the more unusual systems we’ve ever seen. We hope the fish are still enjoying life in a more natural habitat!
Generally the Gigabyte/Aorus display was a little quiet but still there are some exciting things to look forward to from Gigabyte.
You might have expected it to be a little quiet at MSI’s booth this year, without any major motherboard or GPU releases, but that was not the case. MSI showcased plenty of interesting wares while oozing confidence, revealing some big plans for the second half of 2018.
MSI has always been heavily focused on its gaming products and this year was no exception.
A RIPPER OF A MOTHERBOARD
While motherboards were not a focus at this year’s Computex, MSI showed off its gorgeous X399 MEG Creation motherboard, something that will be particularly tasty when paired with an equally outrageous AMD 32-core Threadripper 2 CPU. It is absolutely packed with features including an extremely capable 19-phase VRM, all the ports and slots you could reasonably use, and support for no less than seven M.2 drives! We would have liked to see five or 10GB Ethernet on a board of this spec, though even without it, we’re sure this will be a contender for the ultimate X399 motherboard when Threadripper 2 lands on the shelves later this year.
ALL IN ON GAMING
MSI is going for broke when comes to gaming monitors, even confidently proclaiming it wants to be the highest selling curved gaming monitor brand in the world. It has signed up with the ESL Pro League as its official supplier and of course MSI had a full range of gorgeous displays on um... display. Competitive gamers are very demanding and MSI is catering to those users with the Oculux NXG251, which features a 240Hz panel with an amazing 0.5ms response time and Nvidia G-Sync support. While its 25in size and 1080p resolution might appear ordinary on paper, this is the size and resolution that competitive gamers love. We’d expect this monitor to be a real favourite for the serious pros out there.
Next up was the Optix MPG27CQ. This is a 1440p curved display with a 144Hz panel and a 1ms response time. We’re interested to see how this spec sells in the market as there’s some stiff competition from more established monitor brands.
At the other end of the spectrum is the Optix MAG491C. This high end monitor features a 49in ultra-wide 1800R curved panel with a 144Hz refresh rate. Throw in HDR support and AMD FreeSync and
you’ve got one sexy monitor.
One of the appealing and unique little nuggets on show was a 16x PCIe add in card with four M.2 slots that MSI calls the Xpander-Aero. This card makes a lot of sense as many motherboards just don’t have enough slots or PCIe lanes to handle large M.2 SSD arrays. Four drives using four PCIe lanes each means a 16x slot is fully utilised. It looks like just another graphics card and it features a relatively large twin slot cooler to help keep hot M.2 drives running at peak performance without any thermal throttling.
MSI KNOWS HOW TO MAKE a GAMING LaPTOP
Laptops with Intel’s 8th generation CPUs are finally appearing en masse and MSI had its range of updated gaming laptops on show. The GS65 Stealth Thin grabbed our attention thanks to its impressive specificiations, including 8th Gen i7 Processor, GTX 1070 GPU and 144Hz IPS thin bezel display all packed into a chassis weighing just 1.88Kg. That’s quite impressive for a notebook of this spec. It really does look lovely in the flesh too. If that isn’t enough, then maybe the monster GT75 is more appealing. It’s a desktop replacement machine with a spec that incudes, well… pretty much everything you can cram into a laptop including what MSI calls ‘multi gig Ethernet’.
One of the few non-gaming products on show was MSI’s PS42 Ultrabook. It looks the business with its brushed, all-aluminium chassis, 8th generation processor, and discrete GPU. Competition is very tough in this segment though, with laptops like the Dell XPS and even Macbooks being tough acts to follow, so much of the success of the 1.19kg PS42 will come down to pricing.
EXPANDING THE RANGE
MSI also showed off another new area it’s expanding into - cases!
The Mag Pylon in particular is a lovely yet still somewhat subtle 45-litre case with lots of tempered glass and three addressable RGB fans. We’re still waiting on pricing, but we were told it would be relatively affordable.
We’re big fans of compact PCs - as you will no doubt have discovered after reading our ITX feature. MSI’s Trident A mini gaming PC has been updated with support for the latest 8th generation processors, up to a GTX 1080 Ti, 32GB of RAM and a pair of M.2 SSDs all crammed into a 12-litre package. Not bad at all! It looks amazing, too, with its tempered glass side-panel and a healthy dose of RGB lighting. This is something we’d be proud to own.
Computex is usually chock full of interesting graphics cards, but this year there wasn’t much that was newsworthy. One of the exceptions was MSI’s Mech series AMD RX570. This new branding is ostensibly meant to separate AMD and Nvidia branded GPUs from one another - but that’s a story for another page. The result is a subtle reworking of the MSI Gaming cooler into to something that looks a little different, but is essentially the same. While the RX 570 and its siblings are far from new, they give us a peek at what MSI’s AMD graphics cards will look like going forward.
There are always a few new peripherals at MSI’s Computex booth including mechanical keyboards, headsets and mice. Overall the large and heavily trafficked MSI booth was impressive and we were left with the impression that the company is set to have a successful 2018.
Hands down, In Win displayed the most outrageous ‘case’ of any vendor at Computex 2018. It’s not so much a PC case as it is an art piece. The Z Frame is the brainchild of Chinese modder Kun Mod and it looks like something you might see in the lobby of a modern skyscraper, not unlike one that can be seen at the entrance to the Taipei Convention Centre. The Z Frame is made of 40kg of high-quality cast aluminium and is actually scheduled for limited production later in the year. The price is up in the air, but we suspect it will fall into the “you-seriously-can’t-afford-it” range.
Moving back to the real world, one of our three personal favourite cases was the In Win 915. This gorgeous case features a minimalist design, with curved front and rear anodised aluminium panels, while the side features a darkened tempered glass panel so you can still show off the components within. The top cover of the case is flush with the rest when it’s powered off, but a section of it rises up when the PC is in use, though there’s a button to manually move it up and down if you prefer. There’s a subtle touch of RGB lighting on the front too.
RETRO IS RAD
InWin had another truly unique case on display, the 307. The entire front fascia of the case is covered with addressable RGB pixels that can display a whole range of different pre-set images. We particularly like the Pac Man demo. It can also do some cool things like display the time, and it can even read from an inbuilt microphone to react to music. It’s very original, and a lovely idea. InWin has an application it calls Glow, which allows you to create your own images and animations. It’s a delightfully retro looking piece of kit and we’re sure 307 owners will spend many an hour tinkering away. InWin says the 307 is on schedule for release in Q3.
ITX lovers will want to look at the A1, which is a lovely little case with an anodised aluminium shell and tempered glass panels. It has an optional Qi wireless charger, which means you can place your smartphone on top of it for convenient charging. It is due for release about around now.
InWin really do produce some quality gear. It showed off some power supplies and even a range of PC-carrying backpacks. It’s the cases that really grabbed our attention though. Every one of the cases on display gave the impression that they are built to last, look great, and have a bit of flair that we love to see.
Thermal take always shows off a large booth at Computex, packed with its latest and greatest wares. It’s not hard to miss either as TT really do go all out with expansive RGB displays that sit just beyond the entrance doors on the second floor at the Nangang Exhibition Center.
TT AREN’T TEENAGERS ANYMORE
Thermaltake is celebrating its 20th anniversary and it’s produced an entire line of premium cases to mark the occasion. The Level 20 series features four models. They all make use of quality tempered glass and are perfect if you want to show off the innards of your PC. The Level 20 VT is the smallest of the bunch, being designed for MicroATX systems. Next up is a personal favourite, the Level 20 XT, which can house a full ATX motherboard laid out horizontally. The Level 20 GT RGB is the most ‘normal’ looking of the series, has a traditional ATX layout, and makes use of lovely looking 200mm Riing fans. The top of the line is the Level 20 (no suffix). This beast features separate chambers for different components and clearly draws inspiration the Level 10 case from about a decade ago.
We wouldn’t normally associate Thermatake with subtlety, but it can do that too. It had an as yet unnamed prototype that had an almost featureless aluminium grey shell around the front and top, yet still had a dark tempered glass side panel that really did look great. We hope Thermaltake push forward with production on this one.
TT is really into tempered glass, open frame designs that are perfect for showing off components and custom water loops. The Core P90 and Core P5 really epitomise this look. After all - what’s the point of investing hundreds of dollars into a custom water loop if you can hardly see it? The Core series will show off all aspects of your loop off beautifully.
NEW RIING FANS BECAUSE RGB
Thermaltake’s Riing range of RGB fans has proven to be very popular, but it seems they aren’t blingy enough - so TT is releasing the Riing Duo and Riing Trio. As the name suggests, these fans come with additional RGB rings so if you really want to go all Studio-54-laserlight-show, these are fans you’ll want to look at.
THERE ARE MODS AND THEN THERE ARE *MODS*
Thermaltake’s booth featured some of the most extreme mods on display at this year’s Computex. There was a futuristic war plane that had all the components really well integrated into it. Clearly a lot of though and consideration went into this one and the result was one of the most wellbuilt custom pieces of PC artwork that we’ve ever seen.
SAY HELLO TT
Thermaltake’s sub brand, TTesports was well represented with a bunch of new mice and keyboards on show. One we took particular interest in was the new TT Premium X1 RGB Cherry MX gaming keyboard. These premium branded products represent TT’s concerted effort to move right into the top tier of the market, which is no easy thing. The X1 Keyboard features Cherry MX Speed Silver switches, though there will also be a Blue switch variant available. It feels great to the touch, with bulletproof build quality readily apparent. We’re interested to see how this one goes against stiff competition.
The Iris Optical RGB is a right-handed, value-oriented mouse that feels good in the hand, with textured grips on either side. It has a pair of macro keys and a DPI switch. The price is the impressive thing. We heard that 60 bucks is close to the mark.
Our older – cough, hello - more mature readers might remember some of the legendary cases Lian-Li released ten or 15 years ago. While Lian Li doesn’t have the profile of the likes of Thermaltake or Corsair these days, it never went away, and the company was proudly displaying some lovely cases at this year’s show.
LIAN LI GOES BACK TO ITS ROOTS
A real contender for the most impressive case at this year’s Computex was the Lian Li Lancool One. This lovely case hearkens back to classic Lian Li designs from the past with its brushed aluminium finish combined with a hint of RGB lighting and a spectacular darkened tempered glass side-panel. This last point is particularly impressive as the dark panel hides almost all ambient light and allows RGB lit components inside to look very colourful, yet a lot less bright. The effect has to be seen to be appreciated. We weren’t able to get a pricing estimate, but we don’t think this one will break the bank.
The PC-011 Dynamic case also impressed us with its innovative design and capabilities. Its primary design consideration is cooling ability - it can easily house multiple large cooling radiators and dual PSUs. Lots of tempered glass and a highly modular design make it a really compelling case for a budding modder or a water cooling enthusiast. Lian Li also had a PC-011 with a Razer theme that looked pretty spectacular too.
Lian Li has been showing various iterations of its desk PC for a few years, but it appears as though the DK-06 is finally getting close to being production ready. Desk form-factor chassis that house a PC have been shown off by case modders since modding began, and many users have expressed a desire to buy something similar for themselves. The DK-06 is remarkably sturdy and it can even move up and down for use in a sitting or standing position. Lian Li tells us the unit should be available in Q4 with a steep $US999 price. It will be interesting to see if it can gain some traction in the market.
Hopefully we get to see it in Australia.
LIAN LI CAN BLING IT UP TOO
One of the cool little things on display were Lian Li’s Strimer RGB cables. They are essentially 24-pin or 8-pin power extension cables that feature RGB lighting. The idea is you route your PSU cables behind the motherboard tray and use the extensions to connect to the motherboard and graphics card. It’s a nice little accessory that makes your power cables look a lot more impressive. There’s even a small controller that can produce some different effects. Very cool!
You can always count on Cooler Master to unveil a bunch of cool gear and at this year’s Computex there was a lot to feast our eyes upon.
IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT RGB, JUST MOST OF IT
Computex is full of amazing cases of every shape and size, but one of our three personal favourites from this year was Cooler Master’s Master Case SL600M. The focus of this case is silent operation, and it adopts a novel design that eschews front and rear case fans in favour of a bottom-to-top thermal design, like a chimney, and has a funky motion detection system that turns some reactive lighting on when it senses movement. It also has a gorgeous aluminium finish with a tempered glass side-panel. This is the kind of case that would look equally at home housing a sophisticated workstation, or a decked out RGB gaming rig. I want one.
If you want a bit more bling, perhaps the Master Case H500M is more your style. This lovely looking case is the opposite of subtle - it’s big and bold and is capable of keeping even the hottest systems cool. It’s covered in tempered glass and features four giant 200mm fans at the front and top of the case. These are RGB addressable, making this is a case that is highly suited to a user who wants to show off their PC’s innards with lots of RGB lighting.
The top of the range is the Cosmos 700M, and it held pride of place at the entrance to the case section of the Cooler Master booth. If you want your PC to make a real statement, then this is one you’ll love to have as a conversation piece. It can swallow even the most badass PC components, has a flexible internal layout, and a controller on the front that can sync up and control the RGB lighting of an entire system. Oh and it’s truly built like a battleship.
COOLER MASTER MASTER STROKE?
In bit of a blast from the past, Cooler Master revealed a thermoelectric/ closed loop hybrid cooler. Peltier coolers aim to bring casae temperature to sub ambient levels, but were traditionally applied directly to the CPU, leading to condensation issues. In the case of the Cooler Master prototype, the Peltier cools the liquid sealed inside the AIO part of the cooler. The cooler was on display and working well, though the power consumption of the unit was high. We were told 150w just for the cooler alone. If you want to overclock to the max, this might be something worth looking at compared to the expense and complexity of a custom water cooling loop. Availability is tentatively scheduled for Q4.
Cooler Master is big on peripherals, and one of the most interesting things we came across was the MM830 mouse. At a glance, it looks like a standard mouse, but there’s a small LED panel on the left side. When used in combination with Cooler Master’s software, it can display things like your game information (ammo count, number of kills, etc.) or system information. It sounds a bit gimmicky, but if you’re a righty, a quick glance at the mouse could be useful for grabbing some on-the-fly information. We look forward to giving it a real world test.
Cooler Master also had an interesting display with a live DJ banging away on his pads. His music was linked up to a series of monitors and RGB components which happily reacted to just about every nuance of his music. Quite impressive really.
The Cooler Master booth was impressive as always. Our visit seemed to coincide with the visits of about a thousand other groups so it was a bit hectic. Perhaps this is a good omen for Cooler Master. It definitely had our interest and the company is all set for an exciting 2018.
In years past Adata was a bit boring, with things like unsexy USB drives or SD cards featuring prominently. This year was very different, and Adata is quickly establishing itself as a competitive, top-tier gaming brand.
ADATA IS PLAYING WITH THE BEST NOW
One of the areas Adata has really lifted its game is in the ar ea of performance NVMe SSDs. Brands like Samsung or Western Digital might get the lion’s share of NVMe attention, but Adata is right there too. We actually have a review of the Adata Gammix S11 elsewhere in this issue, and it’s one of very few drives that comes with a proper integrated heat spreader.
Adata also showed off an RGB M.2 drive cooler. Yes, you read that right. Everything else has RGB lighting on it, so why not an SSD. Actually, M.2 cooling is a bit of an untapped market as some of them can get VERY hot, which is why we’re seeing an explosion of motherboard-based solutions for the problem. Adata claims the XPG Storm cooler will improve temperatures by up to 25 per cent, so if your SSD is running into throttling issues, it could be worth a look.
RAM THAT LOOKS THE GOODS
Another area where Adata is really impressing is with its RAM range. We were super impressed with the water-cooled Spectrix D80 memory. You wouldn’t normally associate world records with Adata, but how does DDR4-5531 sound? Yes, that’s with liquid nitrogen, but don’t forget that these are RGB modules that typically don’t perform as well as non-RGB memory. Adata plans to release the Spectrix D80 at speeds of up to DDR4-5000. Amazing! It looks really good, too.
The Spectrix D80 wasn’t the only noteworthy RAM kit. The Spectrix D41 is a worldlier offering, though it too is available at speeds up to DDR45000. G.Skill and Corsair may have a real market advantage when it comes to OC reputation, but it seems clear that Adata is ready to step up and be counted amongst it bigger competitors.
Though not particularly sexy, Adata showed us a ruggedised external hard drive, the HD830. It conforms to a series of military standards for shock, dust and waterproofing, and so on. The Adata rep actually encouraged us to toss it onto the concrete show floor. Whether this particular sample was working or not, we don’t know, but it was a bit of fun nonetheless.
As one of the biggest names in the industry, we always expect a good showing from Corsair and this year was no exception. Corsair didn’t have a booth on the usual show floors, instead renting out a penthouse suite on the top floor for the Taipei Grand Hyatt. In rooms normally occupied by celebrities and foreign leaders, we were shown a dazzling array of products with RGB everywhere, beautifully modded systems, and lots of goodies we’d be proud to show off in our own personal systems.
POWER SUPPLIES FOR EVERYONE
Every year Corsair has new power supplies on show and this year we were shown a new budget friendly range of PSUs the Vengeance series. These are aimed at the mainstream market and come in 650w and 750w capacities with an 80 Plus Silver rating. A silver rating might not grab the attention much, but as budget offerings they will sell well. Alternatively, if you’re into small form factor systems, the SF600 Platinum range will be right up your alley. These are fully modular and ship with an SFX to ATX bracket for housing in a larger case. Yummy. Both series are expected in Julyish. The Crystal 280X (overleaf) is a lovely looking case, but its positively microscopic compared to the behemoth Obsidian 1000D. This monster case can house two systems and is marketed as being perfect for a game streamer. The front panel alone can support two 480mm radiators, or eight fans. Yes, just in the front panel alone. Needless to say, the configuration options are endless. This is one of the biggest and baddest PC cases on the market.
The all new HS70 headset made an appearance. This is a supremely comfortable wireless gaming headset that features a detachable microphone, virtual 7.1 surround sound and up to 16 hours of battery life, or it can be connected via USB for simultaneous use and recharging. It is on sale now at an attractive price and we hope to have a review in the not too distant future.