During CES 2020, way back in January of this year, Razer had shown off a quite interesting concept. Called a modular gaming desktop, the concept has a goal to allow users to just swap-out parts on the fly and have no trouble doing so. Today, the company has officially decided to launch the Tomahawk gaming desktop. Designed for small-form-factor computing, the case of the Tomahawk PC is coming in at just 10L volume, with measurements of 210 mm x 365 mm x 150 mm. The case is an all-black aluminium silhouette with the signature Razer logo and Chroma lighting around the base. That gives it a simple look that can blend in with any environment.

When it comes to the insides, the PC features a power supply of 750 Watts that powers one of Intel's NUC Element boards that is a house for a 45 W Core i9-9980HK Coffee Lake processor with eight cores and 16 threads. When it comes to memory, it has 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD storage, paired with a 2 TB hard drive. Razer offers users to upgrade memory and storage, while the CPU is soldered to the board. You can pre-order the Razer Tomahawk PC at a price starting at $2,399.99, while if you want to equip it with something like NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, you will be paying $3,199.99. If you already have a GPU to install, then you should just order the base.

Pimax, a VR hardware manufacturer known for innovative features such as extremely wide field of view and high resolution previously demoed a prototype VR headset at CES 2020 called the Pimax 5K SUPER together with Pimax new flagship headset the Pimax 8K X. Today Pimax is announcing the general availability of the new Pimax 5K SUPER, a refreshed version of the popular Pimax 5K Plus with a wide variety of updates.

The Pimax 5K SUPER features an Industry-leading high refresh rate with a standard 160Hz and even an experimental 180Hz mode along with an updated Modular Audio Strap (MAS) that allows much greater comfort and ease of use. The headset includes the popular Pimax comfort kit face cowling, Pimax nose guard, Pimax ruggedized housing system, and Pimax VR Experience software.

Sonarworks had caught our eye back at CES 2019, when they showed off their then-still-in-progress mobile app for personalized sound signatures called True-Fi. The Latvia-based company has credentials to back all their claims, and the in-suite demo was impressive to say the least. Getting it out in the real world meant that the company had to build up their database of compatible headphones to first normalize the sound signature, and then work on the best option for recuperating R&D costs without breaking any wallets. As it turns out, the company had more insight on this at CES 2020 but are only now ready to show their retail plans in the form of SoundID.

SoundID, as both a mobile app (iOS, Android) and the new desktop SoundID Listen experience, takes over from where True-Fi started. The interface is more colorful and user-friendly to the masses, and the mobile app in the current beta form is being marketed more for profile-creation than usage, although it has the option to plug into your Spotify library. The older A/B tests are retained here, and at CES 2020 the app only had the "Core" experience. As of May, the app has new features to coincide with the desktop client's release, and read past the break for more on both.

The new VivoBook S14 (S433) & VivoBook S15 (S533) announced by ASUS at CES 2020 are now available for purchase. The pair of notebooks come with a starting price of $699 USD which includes an Intel Core i5-10210U, 8 GB DDR4, 512 GB NVMe SSD, 1080p Screen, Wi-Fi 6 and USB Type-C and can be bought from all major retailers retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg and MicroCentre. The VivoBook S14 (S433) and S15 (S533) will replace the aging VivoBook S13 (S330) and S15 (S530) released by Asus in 2018 with updated designs and processors. Asus is set to announce additional SKUs with Intel Ice Lake, 3rd generation Ryzen, and discrete GeForce MX GPUs soon.

For full specifications: ASUS VivoBook S14 (S433), ASUS VivoBook S15 (S533)

In Win has released the B1 Mini-ITX PC Chassis it first showcased at CES 2020, the B1 is a small form factor case with integrated 200 W 80 Plus Gold certified PSU and 80 mm fan. The chassis is now available to purchase for €99.99 from In Win's eStore.

Showcasing an exquisitely curved, streamlined design, the B1 is a desk showpiece whether standing vertically or horizontally. The strong ABS plastic rings encompass all sides except the rear I/O, cleverly hiding the ventilated areas. Meanwhile, the tinted tempered glass cover provides a clear view of the internals, great for users who enjoy a splash of RGB flair. It's ideal for stylish office PCs, HTPCs or home PCs for work, internet use and light gaming. It's a tiny footprint and can easily be dropped into a backpack or luggage for transportation if needed.

Visiting Bitspower at CES or Computex is a real adventure of sorts in terms of not knowing what to expect. Last year, for example, we were greeted to LN2 pots of all things, in addition to new blocks and fans that made their way to the retail market over the subsequent months. It was also interesting to take a look back at the concept of the Premium Summit M CPU block from last year, knowing what it turned out now. This year, the company hosted us again at CES and had a large hotel suite full of products- refreshes, and new alike. We take a look at their offerings here, and be sure to read past the break for more.

The very first thing we saw was a distribution plate/case hybrid, which Bitspower wants to bring out as a test bench case later this year. There have been other such executions come out recently, including some at CES from other companies, and this is a natural extension of the distro plate development that has caught the mind of several custom watercooling companies for one reason or another. This particular version uses two Xylem DDC pumps with Bitspower heatsinks, and has four large feet to prop up the finished build horizontally for testing/display. Bitspower expects to introduce the finalized version at Computex later this year, and are seeking feedback from our readers on what features they would like to see here.

CES might be over, but our coverage from the event continues. TechPowerUp prides itself on visiting a lot of brands, big and small, and bringing to you our first-hand account of everything new. EK Waterblocks, or simply EKWB henceforth, had a large room in the Mandalay Bay with a big open window spanning the room, which made for challenging photography, but a well-laid out open plan made it easy for us to go over the various product segments they had to display. This post will go briefly over them, but keep in mind that nearly all products showcased do not have set retail availability info just yet.

The very first thing that caught our eyes was their new line of AIO cooling solutions, now simply called EK-AIO. These are the successors to the EK-MLC Phoenix, and the EK-Predator from before, both of which did not really change the status quo of the pre-filled AIO CPU cooling market. EK hopes that the new series, of which again they are working to finalizing the design before committing to a release window and pricing information, will change this. As with most of their new products, the EK-AIO coolers integrate RGB support with 9 dRGB LEDs in the pump/block and more on the EK-Vardar RGB fans that are used on the radiator itself. The EK-AIO series is planned to come in 120/240/360 mm radiator size options, with 1/2/3 fans respectively. Read past the break for more from the Slovenian watercooling brand.

Fortron's consumer brand, FSP, brought a handful new power products to CES 2020, besides its already launched CMT710 premium gaming chassis, the Hydro G Pro premium modular PSU from mid-2019, and Dagger Pro SFX PSUs. The inconspicuous-looking FSP500-30AKB looks like a cheap OEM-included PSU with rear 80 mm exhaust, which comes included with your case, and which you immediately discard. Only that it's possibly the most innovative thing FSP brought to CES. This PSU is being designed for Intel's upcoming PC spec that does away with the 5 V, 5 Vsb, and 3.3 V power domains altogether.

The pure-12 V PSU has only two domains: +12 V and +12 Vsb. What this means is a goodbye to the bulky 24-pin ATX power connector. The PSU only feeds 12 V to your motherboard, which uses onboard VRM and DC-to-DC switching to put out the lower voltage domains, including power for your SATA storage devices. The 24-pin connector is effectively reduced to a new 10-pin connector that only has 12 V and 12 Vsb cabling. Other cables include 8-pin EPS connectors for your CPU VRM, and 6+2 pin PCIe connectors for your graphics cards. EPS and PCIe power are purely 12 V-based standards already. The 5-pin connector is less than half as thick as your 24-pin connector, and 2 pins wider than an EPS connector. Some of the more premium PSUs may user thicker gauge wires for this connector.

Razer had an interesting outing at CES 2020. There were no new PC gaming peripherals, other than Star Wars "storm trooper" co-branded Kraken, Goliathus, and Atheris; but three interesting exhibits. To begin with, Razer Kishi is an adjustable, split game controller for smartphones. The controller's two ends (meant for your left and right hands, wrap around the two ends of your smartphone. You get two analog thumbsticks, a D-pad, four action buttons, and four triggers. The Razer Gamepad app lets you map the controller to your smartphone over Bluetooth, and provides custom button mapping. The company also showed off Arctech line of smartphone sleeves that are designed to dissipate heat.

Having made its mark as a leading gaming notebook vendor, Razer is turning its attention to pre-built gaming desktops, and we saw one of its first creations, the Tomahawk SFF. Much like Apple, Razer has a serious focus on form as much as function, and that's evident with the aluminium CNC precision-milled chassis with tempered glass side-panels, and a size that's fit both for desks and the living room.

The ThinkPad brand from Lenovo has always represented serious business on the move, right from its IBM origins. At CES 2020, the company unveiled what is possibly the best foldable PC design we've seen till date, the ThinkPad X1 Fold. The X1 Fold is a 13.3-inch tablet that folds perfectly along the middle to either a book-like orientation, or as a laptop, in which the top half becomes the display, and the bottom half your keyboard of whichever possible layout. If a touchscreen keyboard doesn't appeal to you, you can dock an accessory that has a physical keyboard and trackpad.

Under the hood of the X1 Fold is an Intel "Lakefield" Hybrid x86 SoC that combines high-performance and high-efficiency x86 cores and dynamically allots workload to them while power-gating on the fly (a la ARM big.LITTLE). When it comes out mid-2020 (likely a Computex 2020 launch), the ThinkPad X1 Fold will be driven by Windows 10X, a new operating system Microsoft is designing specifically for dual-screen mobile computing devices. The Flex 5G is Lenovo's first business notebook with an integrated 5G modem (in addition to Wi-Fi 6), so you can enjoy high-speed mobile Internet on the move. Lastly, we spotted the Lenovo Ducati notebook, a co-branded product of the company's MotoGP team sponsorship.

Home and small-business networking solutions major D-Link brought a constellation of 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) products to CES 2020, making the standard's mainstreaming. The company's new lineup includes everything from affordable mainstream Wi-Fi 6 routers to high-end routers for gaming, home mesh kits, and plug-in range extenders. The company also unveiled innovative new 5G routers. These are Wi-Fi 6 routers in which instead of just a 1 GbE wired WAN uplink, you connect to the Internet over 5G mobile networks. This makes your Internet access extremely portable and convenient.

The DWR-2010, DWP-1020, and DWR-978 are D-Link's first 5G-to-802.11ax solutions. The DWR-2010 is a 5G NR "Enhanced Gateway," supporting up to 4 Gbps 5G downlink over 5G NR sub-6 GHz, 802.11ax downstream, and a wired switch that features one 2.5 GbE and three 1 GbE LAN downlinks, and a 1 GbE WAN uplink. The DWR-978 is a 5G gateway with up to 1 Gbps 5G downlink, 802.11ac (up to 2600 Mbps) downlink Wi-Fi, four 1 GbE LAN, and one 1 GbE WAN. There's also an outdoor gateway for your lawn, which supports 5G NR Sub-6 GHz, a stellar 5 GbE LAN port, and can withstand a temperature range from -45°C to 55°C, and offers IP45 water resistance. The three will initially only be available through mobile network service providers and not off-the-shelf.

A new find this CES 2020 is Martiantec, a new tech entrant that wants to reinvent the keyboard and mouse as we know it. Their eyeball magnet is what they call the "Martian 104 prototype keyboard" (a working title). Its design involves the physical compartmentalization of every key into interconnected nodes that make up a mesh. The keycap surrounds each node.

This design ensures that no dirt accumulates between keys over time. The Martian 104 comes in several glossy, bright colors. Under the hood(s), this membrane keyboard uses a single piece fiberglass PCB that's been heavily perforated. Each key in this otherwise standard 104-key QWERTY keyset is re-programmable. Martiantec also showed us a prototype wireless mouse, with little else to go off aside from the images below.More pictures follow.

Plextor showed off its very recently announced M9P line of premium PCI-Express NVMe SSDs at CES 2020. The M9P Plus comes in both half-height add-in card (AIC) form-factor, and a more conventional M.2-2280 form-factor. In both, it leverages PCI-Express 3.0 x4 along with the NVMe 1.3 protocol. At the heart of these drives is the Marvell 88SS1092 "Eldora Plus" controller that has 8 flash channels. This controller is paired with Kioxia 96-layer 3D TLC NAND flash (BiCS 4), and a DDR4 DRAM cache.

With capacities of 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB, the M9P offers sequential reads of up to 3,400 MB/s, with up to 2,200 MB/s writes (up to 1,700 MB/s writes for the 256 GB variant). Endurance (TBW) for the three models are proportionately rated at 160 TB, 320 TB, and 640 TB. The 256 GB variant of the M.2-2280 model is priced at $51, the 512 GB variant at $81, and the 1 TB variant at $135. The AIC equivalents are priced at roughly $15 premiums over these prices, and in addition to the convenience of AIC (easier to swap in a test bench), they feature some RGB LED embellishments.

EVGA unveiled a pair of entry-thru-mainstream power supply series at CES 2020. These include the BA series at the very bottom of EVGA's pile, an the B5 series that combines a mainstream feature set with some aspirational features such as fully modular cabling. The BA series will eventually replace the BR series. We spotted a 600 W model, although the lineup could include 450 W, 500 W, and 600 W models. The BA is 80 Plus Bronze certified, and features a single +12V rail design, along with fixed, sleeved cabling that includes flat black ribbon-type cables for all connectors except the 24-pin ATX and 4+4 pin EPS.

The B5 series is slightly more upscale, in that it features fully modular cabling, and comes in capacities of up to 750 W. The B5 series succeeds the B3 series from the current product stack, and comes with updated innards, and possibly a quieter 135 mm fan. The 750 W model includes two 8-pin EPS connectors, in addition to four 6+2 pin PCIe power. EVGA is backing both the BA and B5 series with 5-year warranties.

During the CES 2020, we stopped by iBuyPower's booth, where we were shown a work in progress for an ambient lighting solution for your living room which mimics the setup of a 5.1 surround sound audio solution. It is a WIFI connected lighting setup, which enables you to adjust lighting based on what is playing on the TV or adjust it to suit your mood. The shown implementation did not include any speakers, but that is an option being considered. In addition to the 5 channels being placed traditionally around your TV, there is one square element that is intended to go on the ceiling, but as each light required separate power this could be an issue with very few living rooms coming with a plug in the ceiling to accommodate this. The whole setup can be controlled via software on your PC or an app on your phone, but as this is just a first version of the whole setup, things are prone to change before it hits retail as well. That said, while some may have had enough of the RGB craze, the lighting was quite immersive and could be interesting for gamers or movie aficionados.

CORSAIR introduced us to their small form factor Capellix LEDs, co-developed with Primax, at CES last year and has since been utilizing them in memory and peripheral products alike. So it was just a natural next step for them to find a way to include them into their cases, and the company took to CES 2020 to show off a traditional retail case which has been covered with a film encompassing these LEDs.

The glass panels are lined with a thin, transparent film so that you are able to have a matrix of these RGB LEDs on the backside without any easily visible wires, which makes for quite a unique look. This implementation does require a lot of more complex wiring relative to a standard LED strip, tiny as it still may be spatially, which currently limits the number of LEDs that could be embedded in such a removable panel, but the result is attention-grabbing regardless. There is no concrete launch date or pricing for this, and CORSAIR is still deciding if they will include these on current cases as a special edition or for future enclosure products. That said, the implementation at CES already looked pretty clean externally and, a fun fact is, you can touch them on the backside of the glass panel and will not get zapped.

The "Zen 2" based Ryzen 4000-series mobile processors and Threadripper 3990X HEDT chip dominated headlines throughout AMD's CES 2020 event, but an important product announcement slipped past us: the mobile Athlon 3000 Gold and 3000 Silver families of entry-level mobile SoCs. These are 15-Watt SoCs targeting low-cost ultraportables, convertibles, and straight up Windows x64 tablets, competing against Intel's Pentium Gold 5000U "Whiskey Lake" and Pentium Silver "Gemini Lake Refresh" series. The family currently only consists of two SKUs, the Athlon Gold 3150U and Athlon Silver 3050U.

The two chips are based on the "Dali" silicon, and feature "Zen" CPU cores. The Athlon Gold 3150U features a 2-core/4-thread "Zen" CPU clocked at 2.40 GHz with 3.30 GHz boost. The Athlon Silver 3050U, on the other hand, is configured with a 2-core/2-thread CPU clocked at 2.30 GHz with 3.20 GHz boost. The CPUs on both models is configured with 4 MB of L3 cache, which takes their "total cache" (L2 + L3) figure up to 5 MB. The iGPU on the 3150U is a Radeon Vega 3 with 192 stream processors, clocked at 1.00 GHz. The one on the 3050U, is AMD's smallest, with just 2 compute units, working up to 128 stream processors, but the engine clock is set at 1.10 GHz.

Ausounds is a newcomer to the audio market as a retail product provider, but the founders have decades of experience in the music industry, and have been creating audio solutions for musicians for a while now. The company invited us to check out the brand, as well as their new products, at CES 2020 and we obliged as we usually do in an attempt to shine more light on relatively unknown companies in addition to the mainstream ones. They took the time to introduce their new AU-X active noise cancelling planar magnetic driver headphones to us, which feature 54 mm planar drivers on each earcup and four noise cancelling microphones working in a hybrid mode to allow up to 28 dB of ANC. The headphones are tuned for a transparent frequency response combined with a large soundstage and, in my limited testing, offered excellent discerning of the mid-high tones, especially when it comes to jazz and classical music.

The AU-X ANC Planar headphones have dual microphones also for calling/audio out, an included battery of 800 mAh for a rated 25 hours of battery life which the company claims is on the conservative side (think closer to 28 hours), and touch controls on the earcups for volume and media playback. Bluetooth 5.0 and 3.5 mm aux inputs complement the headphones for portability, and AptX-HD + Hi-Res certification round off the headphones which are rated for a 20 Hz-40 KHz frequency response, 32 Ω impedance, an SPL of 98 +/- 3 dB, and 280 grams in mass with protein leather earpads similar to those in the Bose QC35. The AU-X headphones cost $299.95 and will ship in March 2020. Read past the break for more on their equally new AU-Stream Hybrid earbuds.

We were impressed with SecureData's offerings for the encrypted portable storage market in the form of the SecureDrive BT and SecureUSB BT, and the company took to CES 2020 to announce their latest and greatest in the form of the SecureDrive Duo that combines Bluetooth app-based encryption we saw with the previous drives, as well as keypad-based encryption for on-the-go modification. The new drive retains also all the features of the BT lineup, including FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certification and secure device management. We expect this first of its kind drive to be made available in a variety of storage sizes in both HDD and SSD formats as with the SecureDrive BT, when it is made available for purchase later this year.

MSI at CES 2020 presented the "world's very first" laptop with a built-in display that uses Mini LED technology, called the Creator 17. Equipped with a 17-inch, 4K panel, the Creator 17 is a charming portable content creator PC. Incorporating the new Mini LED technology, this laptop's display outshines every commercial laptop screen. With a maximum peak brightness of up to 1000 nits, it beats most of the competition. Capable of displaying 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, this laptop screen is ready for displaying all of the HDR content you can throw at it.

When it comes to the Mini LED technology itself, it allows individual LEDs inside the screen to be less than 2 mm in size, which is very small and allows for some creative solutions. For example, MSI used this advantage to enable the display to have 240 local dimming zones, representing a big improvement in this size range compared to IPS. Another big improvement that Mini LED brings is that HDR content will get an upgrade as well. Due to the nature of Mini LEDs, the display can achieve a very distinguishing level of contrast between dark and bright areas. CPU support includes options of Intel's 10th generation Core i9 processor, while the GPU option is unknown. For storage, there are slots for two NVMe PCIe 3.0 M.2 SSDs and one M.2 SATA SSD slot.

ASRock at CES 2020 showcased their newfound commitment to AMD APUs and CPUs in the form of their new 1-liter Jupiter A320 mini-PC and the A320-M motherboard. The A320-M motherboard supports up to 65 W AMD APUs, features dual SODIMM memory sticks support, includes 1x NVMe M.2 storage slot and 1x SATA. Video outputs include 2x HDMI and one D-Sub.

ASRock also showcased their Jupiter A320 Mini-PC, which was previously an Intel-only product but will now be offered with AMD innards as well. Offering support for up to 65 W AMD APUs, the Jupiter A320 offers 2x NVMe M.2 storage expansion, 1x SATA, and 8x USB (including 2x Type C and 2x Type-A in the front panel). Video output is taken care of by 1x DisplayPort or 1x HDMI.

Silverstone at CES 2020 took the opportunity to showcase selections of their portfolio for the media, ranging from PC cases in major form-factors, PSUs, and a range of "ease-of-life" and aesthetic-driven accessories. Accessory-wise, there's a range of SSD-related products, such as the MS09 stick, which allows conversion of an M.2 SSD to what basically amounts to a USB 3.1 pen drive; other products in this category include the MS09-Mini and the MS11, which improves support for the NVMe protocol. The ECM26 is a PCIe adapter for M.2 sticks, while the Silverstone TP02-M2 presents itself as a heatsink for installation on non-passive-cooled M.2 SSDs.

Continuing the SSD accessories galore, there are a number of other solutions, including a tool-less NMVe to PCIe adapter (ECM21-E), an ARGB powered one (ECM24-ARGB, which includes a heatsink), a simpler, non-ARGB one with a heatsink (ECM23), and my personal favorite, a docking station for a barebones M.2 drive you may have around, in the form of the TS16 station. The presence of a Power button very surely means this can't be hot-swapped - the risk of data-loss is real.

Korean DRAM and NAND flash giant SK Hynix brought its latest memory innovations to the 2020 International CES. The star attraction at their booth was the "4D NAND" technology, and some of the first client-segment SSDs based on it. As a concept, 4D NAND surfaced way back in August 2018, and no, it doesn't involve the 4th dimension. Traditional 3D NAND chips use charge-trap flash (CTF) stacks spatially located next to a peripheral block that's responsible for wiring out all of those CTF stacks. In 4D NAND, the peripheral block is stacked along with the CTF stack itself, conserving real-estate on the 2-D plane (which can then be spent on increasing density). We caught two 128-layer 4D NAND-based client-segment drives inbound for 2020, the Platinum P31 M.2 NVMe, and Gold P31 M.2 NVMe. The already launched Gold S31 SATA drive was also there.

Crucial at CES 2020 showcased their upcoming changes to their memory portfolio, with their Crucial Ballistix lineup being condensed into just three brands: Ballistix, Ballistix RGB, and Ballistix MAX. These lineups replace the company's Ballistix Sport, Tactical, and Elite products under a redesigned portfolio and aesthetic language.

Ballistix will be the mainstream memory solutions, ranging through speeds from 2400 MHz to 3600 MHz and densities of 4 GB to 32 GB. The new, modernized aluminium heatspreader design is available in black, red, or white colors, and in DIMM or SODIMM form-factors. Ballistix RGB are basically the same sticks, but with an added 8 zones and 16 LEDs of RGB lighting to the heatspreader via usage of a diffuser.

Phanteks today launches three new products: the new Eclipse P300A case, D120 Distribution Plate, and the Evolv Sound Mini speakers.

ECLIPSE P300A
Small in size and big on features, the Phanteks Eclipse P300A brings high airflow performance in a compact ATX chassis. The P300A features the Ultra-Fine Performance mesh delivering the best performance while keeping dust from entering the system. With support for standard-sized hardware in a compact size, installation is intuitive and convenient. The Eclipse P300A delivers quality and high airflow performance with exceptional value.