1stPlayer Shows Off Steampunk Line of PSUs and Extension Cables

[btarunr]

1stPlayer unveiled quite a few new products this Computex, beginning with the Steampunk line of power supplies and power accessories. The Steampunk series consists of fully-modular PSUs in upper-mid range capacities such as 750W. These PSUs come in two physical variants, all-black, and white with RGB-LED illuminated 140 mm fans. Like most other PSUs launched this year, the 750W Steampunk includes two 4+4 pin EPS connectors, besides four 6+2 pin PCIe power, six SATA power, and three Molex. A single +12V rail design and most common electrical protections make for the rest of it.

1stPlayer also unveiled a series of Steampunk-branded PSU extension cables purchasable separately from the PSUs. These include colorful fiber braided sleeved individual cables of various shapes and sizes (24-pin, 8-pin EPS, 6+2-pin PCIe, etc.,), or illuminated cables with addressable RGB LED lighting up each cable.



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[Valantar]

Why on earth is this named "steampunk"? There's absolutely zero overlap between the design aesthetics of this and steampunk style. Or are they suggesting it's some sort of retrofuturistic mechanical PSU?

 

[Ferrum Master]

Why on earth is this named "steampunk"? There's absolutely zero overlap between the design aesthetics of this and steampunk style. Or are they suggesting it's some sort of retrofuturistic mechanical PSU?

Maybe the vintage pipes and whistles are actually under the hood. Passive PFC lol.

 

[Joss]

Why on earth is this named "steampunk"?

First thing I thought.
Not only there's no Steampunk inspiration anywhere, but there's hints of Art Deco in the cables box:

 

[Tomgang]

First i think. Oh how interesting, a psu designet after steampunk.


Boy dit i get fooled and got dissapointed. Its just a name brand. It lock like any other psu. I'm out.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

At least with rainbow coloured cables, the lgbtq+ community can feel well represented in the pc community

 

[Arjai]

What a disappointment.

 

[1stplayer official]

many users may have doubt about the name of our steampunk series. As our understanding, steampunk is a spirit of pursuing extreme and aesthetics. And our steampunk series is our high end series, using high end materials and standard. Nice to know we get more attention from end users.

 

[Joss]

As our understanding, steampunk is a spirit of pursuing extreme

No:

Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery

"technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam powered machinery".

industrial steam powered machinery
industrial steam powered machinery
industrial steam powered machinery

There, clear enough for you?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

No:
"technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam powered machinery".

industrial steam powered machinery
industrial steam powered machinery
industrial steam powered machinery

There, clear enough for you?

They are from china - I guess the real translation of 'steampunk' got lost in translation.

 

[1stplayer official]

They are from china - I guess the real translation of 'steampunk' got lost in translation.

we design and develop as our understanding. this 80+ gold series is 92.4% platinum efficiency.

No:
"technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam powered machinery".

industrial steam powered machinery
industrial steam powered machinery
industrial steam powered machinery

There, clear enough for you?

technology and aesthetic design

 

[Ferrum Master]

We are witnessing something interesting here. Not the first time makers itself venture here.

But this is beyond .

 

[1stplayer official]

We are witnessing something interesting here. Not the first time makers itself venture here.

But this is beyond .

would be full of fun to interact with the users.

 

[Fatalfury]

Where's 2nd player XD?

 

[1stplayer official]

Where's 2nd player XD?

how about a subbrand, lol...

 

[Valantar]

many users may have doubt about the name of our steampunk series. As our understanding, steampunk is a spirit of pursuing extreme and aesthetics. And our steampunk series is our high end series, using high end materials and standard. Nice to know we get more attention from end users.

This is a complete misunderstanding. Did anyone on your branding team try doing an image search for "steampunk design" before deciding on the name? Let me help you:

The term "steampunk" stems from a very specific genre of fiction (which can be said to be a retrofuturist/alternate history offshoot/development of cyberpunk), and relates to a very specific aesthetic based on the world-building of those works of fiction. Specifically, as @Joss said above, designs inspired by 19th-century steam-powered industrial machinery. The aesthetic involves copper, brass, leather, wood, glass and "old"-looking materials, cogs, gears and visible machinery, tubes, pipes and other implements fitting a "steam-powered" thing, a style borrowing some stylistic cues from art noveau (but with significant developments and alterations) and fantasy art and literature, a focus on hand-crafted and cobbled-together looks, and an outright avoidance of anything "modern"-looking (minimalism, squared edges, LEDs, plastic, etc.).

Your "understanding" of what the term means is entirely wrong.

It doesn't matter if the PSU is good in this case - "high performance" or as you say "technology and aesthetic design" (which is a phrasing so broad it could mean anything at all) has nothing to do with steampunk.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

My foot is more steampunk than that.

 

[Bones]

Could be in reference when you power on the system with one of these, it suddenly looks and kinda smells like a late 19th century factory in full swing, complete with smokey effects and such.

 

[jabbadap]

Uhm so Rainbows, RGBs and black boxes makes it SteamPunk. Maybe you are confusing it to Pride parade or messing it with Cyberpunk 2077 game(instead you should have take notes from bioshock franchise).

 

[1stplayer official]

This is a complete misunderstanding. Did anyone on your branding team try doing an image search for "steampunk design" before deciding on the name? Let me help you:

The term "steampunk" stems from a very specific genre of fiction (which can be said to be a retrofuturist/alternate history offshoot/development of cyberpunk), and relates to a very specific aesthetic based on the world-building of those works of fiction. Specifically, as @Joss said above, designs inspired by 19th-century steam-powered industrial machinery. The aesthetic involves copper, brass, leather, wood, glass and "old"-looking materials, cogs, gears and visible machinery, tubes, pipes and other implements fitting a "steam-powered" thing, a style borrowing some stylistic cues from art noveau (but with significant developments and alterations) and fantasy art and literature, a focus on hand-crafted and cobbled-together looks, and an outright avoidance of anything "modern"-looking (minimalism, squared edges, LEDs, plastic, etc.).

Your "understanding" of what the term means is entirely wrong.

It doesn't matter if the PSU is good in this case - "high performance" or as you say "technology and aesthetic design" (which is a phrasing so broad it could mean anything at all) has nothing to do with steampunk.

does black widow really has a widow

 

[Fatalfury]

keeping aside the "steampunk" naming. It's a new brand and only time and user experience will tell if the the brand is really good and can produce good quality and reliable psu at reasonable price.
Also they need to compete against top brands.
Anyway.. Good luck 1stplayer.

 

[Valantar]

does black widow really has a widow

Sorry, what? Are you trying - in the most obscure fashion possible - to pose the rhetorical question of "do all names relate factually to the thing they're naming?"? If so, not only is that rather ridiculous (of course they don't), but your question falls rather flat as the black widow spider's name alludes to (among other things) the fact that some spiders kill their mates after mating. So, it's not technically a widow (I don't think spiders have the institution of marriage), but the metaphor can be argued to fit. Your question is also a blatant attempt at saying "words don't mean anything, we can call this whatever the **** we please" - which I suppose is true in terms of branding (which is always an exercise in sticking "cool" words to products, regardless of their connection), but you will still look really silly while doing it. I'm guessing the name was chosen due to some perception of "coolness", but that coolness only carries over if the name actually has a meaningful relation to the product in question - otherwise you just look like you're blindly appropriating something you have no knowledge of or relation to. Of course, there are plenty of PC components with silly, non-related names like "dragon" and the like, but they usually then either a) have some sort of dragon motif on them, or b) use the term in a metaphorical sense (as in "dragon" symbolizing power, majesty, strength, fire, etc., etc.). Steampunk is far too specific a term for such a use, as there are no such generalizable traits or characteristics related to the term. And, ultimately, if the name has no meaning, why not use a more generally appealing term, and not one that most people outside of the relevant subcultures won't even understand? Especially when the term chosen has a rather extreme association to a very specific aesthetic style which your product is nowhere near.

 

[jabbadap]

keeping aside the "steampunk" naming. It's a new brand and only time and user experience will tell if the the brand is really good and can produce good quality and reliable psu at reasonable price.
Also they need to compete against top brands.
Anyway.. Good luck 1stplayer.

Very true, it's not necessary even the most stupid branding either. Or, could you buy psu named OCZ Fatal1ty(Sounds like a device, which tries to kill you). And I agree specs sounds pretty good actually: 80lus gold and 7 year warranty(thought that very odd marketing of over platinum efficiency 80plus gold is putting me really off).

But if something is called Steampunk, the expectation would be it have even some wipes to that genre. So in short

Spoiler: Expectation

Image from: https://steampunker.ru/blog/1214.html

Spoiler: Reality

Image from: http://en.1stplayer.com/en/upload/product.php?id=106

 

[Easo]

No offense, but while we know that there is no Napoleon in the Napoleon cakes, we still know the general idea about broad terms like steampunk, gothic or scifi.
There is nothing steampunky about this. Sorry.

 

[Valantar]

Very true, it's not necessary even the most stupid branding either. Or, could you buy psu named OCZ Fatal1ty(Sounds like a device, which tries to kill you). And I agree specs sounds pretty good actually: 80lus gold and 7 year warranty(thought that very odd marketing of over platinum efficiency 80plus gold is putting me really off).

But if something is called Steampunk, the expectation would be it have even some wipes to that genre. So in short

Spoiler: Expectation

View attachment 123995
Image from: https://steampunker.ru/blog/1214.html

Spoiler: Reality

View attachment 123997
Image from: http://en.1stplayer.com/en/upload/product.php?id=106

That comparison hits the nail on the head.

As for the name, how you use the word is what matters the most. While "Fatal1ty" won't make sense unless you're familiar with the person in question, at least it doesn't allude to anything else other than something very general, and the spelling points towards this not being just any word, and would thus fall in the category "random word someone thought sounded cool, which doesn't remind me of anything else". The use of "steampunk" here is entirely unmotivated by any relation to the word itself, while the association between the word and the style it alludes to is very strong for anyone familiar with it - which (as we've seen in this thread) will cause some serious dissonance between expectations and reality. That's never a good thing unless the dissonance is in a positive manner, which ... well, it would only be for someone who hates the steampunk style, I guess.