Computex 2006 Wrap-Up: External Storage, Cooling, and More
by Gary Key on June 17, 2006 5:40 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Cooler Master
Cooler Master introduced several new or revised products at this year's show.
The iTower 930 is designed for the enthusiast with swappable 5.25 inch drive bays behind the front panel, localized cooling for the CPU and video card areas, and it features a tool-less design.
The CM Media BTX 260 is a new version of the CM 260 HTPC case with BTX support. It has an aluminum front panel with a steel chassis.
This is not your Dad's CM Stacker 830. This revised version brings the bling with everything from a custom fan and liquid cooling setup, a see through hard drive window (perfect for that windowed Raptor 150), and to top it off (literally) there's an iPod dock.
The AquaGate DuoViva is a new liquid video card cooling system designed for SLI or CrossFire based systems.
The AquaGate Viva system is actually a video card cooling system that has been converted to liquid cool your CPU with a universal retention system designed for K8 or LGA775 sockets.
The NotePal W1 series is designed to cool the larger DTR notebooks with a choice of either two or three 70mm fans powered by a USB 2.0 port on the notebook. The unit also functions as a USB hub and offers two on-board USB 2.0 ports. We lugged our 17" Widescreen notebook onto a test unit and it actually kept the bottom of the unit unusually cool compared to normal desktop usage.
Cooler Master introduced several new or revised products at this year's show.
The iTower 930 is designed for the enthusiast with swappable 5.25 inch drive bays behind the front panel, localized cooling for the CPU and video card areas, and it features a tool-less design.
The CM Media BTX 260 is a new version of the CM 260 HTPC case with BTX support. It has an aluminum front panel with a steel chassis.
This is not your Dad's CM Stacker 830. This revised version brings the bling with everything from a custom fan and liquid cooling setup, a see through hard drive window (perfect for that windowed Raptor 150), and to top it off (literally) there's an iPod dock.
The AquaGate DuoViva is a new liquid video card cooling system designed for SLI or CrossFire based systems.
The AquaGate Viva system is actually a video card cooling system that has been converted to liquid cool your CPU with a universal retention system designed for K8 or LGA775 sockets.
The NotePal W1 series is designed to cool the larger DTR notebooks with a choice of either two or three 70mm fans powered by a USB 2.0 port on the notebook. The unit also functions as a USB hub and offers two on-board USB 2.0 ports. We lugged our 17" Widescreen notebook onto a test unit and it actually kept the bottom of the unit unusually cool compared to normal desktop usage.
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VooDooAddict - Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - link
I've seen blurbs like this before for the F5000 ... Question still remains though ... what video system will be used? I'd love to see a 7900 GS or GTX in there.Kougar - Sunday, June 18, 2006 - link
That very last paragraph was worth the entire article! But thanks for the extra coverage too. ;)Don't forget to throw in some 32bit vs 64bit comparisons, since some benches are showing Conroe is finally delivering some on that potential 64bit advantage! I'm very much wondering if Vista x64 will show the same advantages over Vista x86... especially considering that the former is 4.1gb and the latter is a 3.1gb file size when I downloaded them both...
BTW, need some extra security for your luggage? I'll even offer my services for free... :D
Lord Evermore - Saturday, June 17, 2006 - link
That MR5S1, does it just plug into any old eSATA port if you get the SATA option? Seems like a sweet setup to get any RAID configuration you want, and I assume high performance using a hardware controller. How much is that gonna cost? A 3-bay unit seems like a good option they should have too, instead of only the 1, 2 and 5 bay units in the picture. 3 bays seems like just the right point for a user who wants high performance without quite going all the way to 5 drives, and it'd be a good size to hide away. Anybody else make similar products?Howard - Saturday, June 17, 2006 - link
Is that a heat piped HS I see?Gary Key - Saturday, June 17, 2006 - link
It is. I tried to get a close up with the display case open but no go. In fact, a couple of the OEM/ODM power supply manufacturers prohibted close up pictures of their products. It was strange to me as they were happy to provide brochures with bascially the same screenshots I wanted to take.
Per Hansson - Sunday, June 18, 2006 - link
Would be interesting to see how it was designed, every single watercooled PSU I've seen for example puts the primary (230VAC) and secondary (12DC and lower) diodes and mosfets on the same heatsink. They are only shielded by a thin thermal pad... So if something goes wrong there is high risk of 230VAC on the Secondary side, you can guess the effect on the computers components...Simple test; take a digital multimeter and set it to AC and measure from the chassi to the primary heatsink, on most designs you will read 160VAC... Now guess what would happen if you connected that heatsink to the other, and then imagine that the watercooled PSU I taked about above only prevents the short with a thin thermal pad...
Per Hansson - Saturday, June 17, 2006 - link
Sure looks so... I still do not understand why they have the cover on these units at a tradeshow...But it is probably to not reveal that they all use crap capacitors, everyone except Zippy and Seasonic (select models) use crap capacitors so...
Guess it's good for business when your products only hold togheter for 3 years and then start giving the computer random lockup problems due to too much ripple current being let through?!
Sigh...
Operandi - Saturday, June 17, 2006 - link
Actually all of Zalman’s PSUs are built by Forton-Source, so their definitely one of the better ones out there.Per Hansson - Sunday, June 18, 2006 - link
Yup, that is right, it is an excallent design, however it such a shame that they have to spoil it with OST and Capxon capacitors :(