Noctua has started teasing for the upcoming launch of their latest-generation fan design, based in more than four years of development on new materials that shed some of PBT's known weaknesses. The new fan line was first announced at Computex 2017, and at that time, the development resources poured into the project were well over more than four years and 200 test designs (we already wrote an exhaustive piece on these new fans, if you want to know more or need a refresher).

Noctua says these new fans will be twice as good as their existing ones; the company showed at Computex 2017 how a single A-series fan achieved identical temperatures to a setup which used two NF-F12 fans on the same processor, workload, and heatsink. And you thought the NF-F12 were good already, right? There's no actual release date for now, but there's a teaser image of the packaging doing the rounds already - and if that's that far along finished, then we're certainly not that far away from release. Here's hoping pricing will be competitive - but perhaps it needn't be, considering the expected performance - and the fact that Sterrox, the compound used in their manufacturing, is four times more expensive than common PBT.

FSP, one of the leading manufacturers of power supplies in the world is pleased to announce its newest advanced power supply, the Hydro PTM+. After its initial unveiling at Computex 2017, where it received massively positive response from hardware fans and PC gamers, the Hydro PTM+ 1200W is now ready to be built into PC gaming rigs across the globe.

The Hydro PTM+ was developed in cooperation with Bitspower to create a unique liquid cooled power supply that excels at its efficiency, power rating, and thermal performance. With liquid cooling enabled, up to 1400W of power can be delivered, but when power demand is below 50% loading the Hydro PTM+ remains passively cooled, remaining completely silent. On top of the fantastic power delivery and unique cooling solution, the Hydro PTM+ fits any gamers' needs, by also offering good looks. With ASUS Aura sync certified RGB lighting inside the unit and fully modular design with ribbon cables, the Hydro PTM+ is the first PSU that truly combines power, cooling, and aesthetics.

Today, Intel is releasing the specifications for the 12- to 18-core processors: Intel Core i9-7920X, Intel Core i9-7940X, Intel Core i9-7960X and the Extreme Edition Intel Core i9-7980XE processors. Announced at Computex 2017, the Intel Core X-series processor family is the most powerful, scalable and accessible high-end desktop platform offered by Intel, designed to deliver the performance needed to meet extreme computing demands for virtual reality (VR), content creation, gaming and overclocking.

The new X-series processor family is the ultimate platform for content creators and gamers. Multitasking becomes extreme mega-tasking with simultaneous, compute-intensive, multithreaded workloads aligned in purpose, powered by up to 18 cores and 36 threads. And, with up to 68 PCIe 3.0 lanes on the platform, people have the ability to expand their systems with fast SSDs, up to four discrete GFX cards and ultrafast Thunderbolt 3 solutions.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, today launched its XPG GAMMIX product series, first shown at Computex 2017. The debut consists of the GAMMIX S10 PCIe3x4 NVMe 1.2 M.2 2280 SSD, capable of 1800 MB/s read and 850MB/s write thanks to premium 3D NAND in up to 1TB capacity. The S10 features a stylish heatsink for expedited heat dissipation. It is joined by GAMMIX D10 DDR4 memory modules, which likewise boast a custom heatshield to ensure lower temperatures and more stable performance. They are offed in black and red colors, and in up to 3000 MHz factory speeds with a starting speed of 2666MHz on new Intel X299 motherboards. The GAMMIX line provides gamers, PC DIY enthusiasts, and overclockers with additional options that combine performance and design, stemming from the core XPG mission statement of ensuring better experiences.

AMD could launch some of its enthusiast-segment Ryzen Threadripper high-end desktop (HEDT) processors on July 27, 2017. On this day, you will be able to purchase PIB (retail) packages of certain models of Threadripper. You will also be able to purchase gaming desktops and workstations featuring Threadripper on this day. It is expected that AMD will launch about four SKUs, two 12-core, and two 16-core. The company could end 2017 with up to nine models. Accompanying these Ryzen Threadripper chips will be new socket TR4 (SP3r2) motherboards based on AMD X399 chipset. Some of these were showcased at AMD's Computex 2017 show.

The MaxTytan series of PSUs, which Enermax showcased at Computex 2017, will stand in as the company's flagship power supplies when they launch later into the summer. All of them feature 80+ Titanium ratings (though they're absent of the more recent and more grueling Cybenetics testing.) The Enermax MaxTytan line will include four models at 750 W, 800 W, 1050 W and 1250 W outputs. All MaxTytan PSUs support the company's DFR (dust free rotation) technology as well as fanless operation at below 55% - 60% load. The 1050 W and 1250 W models also feature Enermax' Coolergenie device for system fan control, and have an integrated power meter (this one might come in handy for those of you looking to ride the crypto wave, uh?)

The MaxTytan series feature a modular design across all models, and have 2x 4+4 CPU power connectors. The 750 W model will retail for ~$200, the 800 W will go for $210, $299 will net you 1050 W capacity and a power meter, and the 1250 W MaxTytan PSU will go for $359.

In its eagerness to showcase just how important HDR (High Dynamic Range) support is for the image quality of the future, NVIDIA set up a display booth on Computex, where it showcased the difference between SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) and HDR images. However, it looks as if the green company was a smite too eager to demonstrate just how incredible HDR image quality is, considering they needed to fiddle with the SDR screen's settings to increase the divide.

The revelation comes courtesy of Hardware Canucks, who say were granted access to the monitor settings NVIDIA used on their displays while running the demo. And as it turns out, NVIDIA had changed default factory values for brightness, contrast, and even gamma in the SDR monitor, which compromised the image quality it was actually able to convey. Resetting the monitor settings to their factory values resulted in a severely less muted image on the SDR monitor than before, which plays out on the deliberate attempt to reduce image quality on the SDR presentation. Now granted, image quality perceptions comparing SDR to HDR may fall on the personal, subjective spectrum of each viewer; however, actual brightness, contrast and gamma settings being set outside even their set factory levels (which can usually be improved upon with calibration) does make it look like someone was trying too hard to showcase HDR's prowess.

Noctua, a company well-known for the performance and acoustic characteristics of their fans (and especially for their love-it-or-hate-it brown and tan fan color scheme) has showcased their next-generation A-series fans, which took the company more than four years and 200 test designs to achieve. This is surely a case of discovering how to not make a product in 200 different ways. Noctua only had to get it right once; and it would seem they did.

Noctua are promising unparalleled performance at the A-Series noise levels. The reasons for this are varied, but one of them - perhaps the most important - comes from the fact that Noctua has ditched PBT - the plastic most commonly used in this kind of products - for a completely new compound, which the company calls Sterrox. Sterrox is a liquid crystal polymer of the same family as Kevlar. This means it has an ordered molecular structure (whereas PBT manifests a chaotic one), which means Sterrox is a much more rigid compound. This helps the fans keep their shape after spinning for long periods of time - something which happens with PBT-made fans. The chaotic structure and lower rigidity means the material deforms due to the centrifugal forces, effectively elongating the fan blades (an effect dubbed impeller creep), which means usual fan designs have to take this into account, usually by increasing the gap between the frame and the fan blades. Noctua aimed for a 0.5 mm tip clearance (much lower than the usual 1.5 or 2 mm), which results in much better air and noise performance. A narrower gap means that less air leaks through it back to the front of the fan, which allows more air to be pushed through heatsinks and radiators. And the fact that the fan blades are more rigid means they don't suffer microscopic wobbles and vibrations on the surface when spinning - hence, quieter. But how good are these new fans, really?

Patriot Memory unveiled its Singe series performance-segment SATA SSD, and its Spark series external SSD at Computex 2017. Built in the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor, the drives take advantage of the SATA 6 Gbps interface. The Spark, on the other hand, features 5 Gbps USB 3.0 interface. The company didn't talk about the NAND flash type or even the controller, but focused on their performance figures.

The Singe comes in 240 GB and 480 GB capacities, and offers sequential transfer speeds of up to 555 MB/s reads, with up to 500 MB/s writes, and up to 70,000 IOPS 4K random read/write performance. The Spark, on the other hand, comes in a wider variety of capacities - 120 GB, 240 GB, 480 GB, and 960 GB; and offers performance of up to 465 MB/s reads, with up to 460 MB/s writes. It uses a single cable for both power and host connectivity.

Cooler Master celebrated 25 years of excellence recently, and took to the Computex 2017 stage to announce the much awaited successor to the Cosmos line of PC cases. The new Cosmos C700P is a concept case of their re-imagining of the Cosmos line of premium cases, and takes on the DNA of Cooler Master's Master Concept 2.0 modularity - the motherboard tray itself is removable for increased comfort in putting your rig together, and they even give you the possibility to invert the motherboard tray.

Cooler Master also showcased their more premium MasterCase H500P at Computex 2017, showing a wealth of materials and crafting capability that are seldom seen in other cases. The H500P is set as a reimagining of Cooler Master's HAF series, purpose-built for high airflow. Compared to the HAF series it replaces, the H500P makes use of a trimmer profile. The polygonal frame and 200 mm RGB fans serve as a testament for the high airflow these cases are supposed to deliver, while the polygonal frame gives the case a high quality, 3D-printed exoskeleton look.

At this year's Computex, Cooler Master showed off their hardware-quarantining PC cases in the MasterBox family. The first model we'll be bringing up is the MasterBox Q300T, which straddles the line between a PC case and art, with its angled surfaces and angled resting position. This is quite an interesting piece, and is meant to be integrated with your decor as much as with your gaming hardware.

At Computex 2017, Thermaltake, the company which makes giantly oversized PC cases, took to the stage to continue doing what it does best. The Level 20 TItanium clearly is at the top of its class: a concept design chassis with a "don't touch me, don't photograph me" attitude which was nevertheless captured by intrepid reporters who like to live dangerously. This is a great looking case, and is sure to dominate any environment it finds itself in.

At Computex 2017, Teamgroup put on a show with their products, hoping to place itself in consumers' eyes as having all the latest technologies they could possibly want. Starting with their SSD, there's the heatspreader-equipped M.2 NVMe SSD T-Force Cardea, an MLC SSD (so, a dying breed) with either 240 or 480 GB capacity, which includes a beefy red heatsink to reduce throttling possibilities.

At5 Computex 2017, Sharkoon took the opportunity to set customer's eyes on their AM5 case, which features a modular front panel that can be swapped at will (provided you acquire the other options.) One of the most interesting characteristics of this case is that it will be sold in two options with differing materials for the side panels: one with an acrylic sheet, which is already a well-known material for those who want to gorge their eyes on their hardware; or with soundproof panels, which make sure not a whisper from your system's cooling can escape the confines of your case (at least from this particular side.)

Other characteristics are as usual, with a maximum 40 cm length for the graphics card, 16.7 cm for the CPU cooler, 20.5 cm for the power supply, support for 2x 140 mm fans on the front panel (pre-installed) or one of those 240 mm radiators; 1x 120 mm fan support on the back of the chassis; and up to 3x 120 mm fans or 2x 140 mm on the top of the case (we posit 280 mm AIOs can also be fit there).

Raijintek took to the stage to showcase, among other products, their Orcus AIO. Water cooling is all the rage these days, and the company is hoping this 240 mm unit will be the one to sway you to their camp. A rotating blade is included in the design, which rotates according to the waterflow of the system. LED lighting pimps the reservoir, which they call "the heart" of the system, and Raijintek is also calling to your attention the "extremely polish surface of water block". The fans on the radiator also include LED lighting, and the pump makes use of both a graphite pipe and a ceramic axis. The fans can speed at up to 3800 RPM, give or take 10%.

Reeven may be a relatively little-known company, but I know for a fact they are one of the PC cooling companies offering one of the highest bang-for-buck ratio products in the Reeven Justice II (it's actually better than some AIOs; you should check the out.) The company makes use of a pretty distinct design language with their yellow-bladed fans (which they have recently built upon with the RGB Kiran.)

The coolers showcased by the company include the tower coolers Reeven Hans, a slim 120 mm cooler which includes a RGB Kiran fan and the Justice II, which builds upon the company's Justice while improving thermal characteristics. This is a high TDP design, black coated product, which looks gorgeous next to the yellow fans. The six heatpipe design helps this be one of the most effective tower air coolers in the market. Finally, the Ouranos Aero ends the scale on the tower coolers, being a 140 mm tower cooler (bigger than both the Hans and the Justice), and is especially designed for overclockers. The dual fan design ensures a greater airflow (and thus, higher heat dissipation capability.)

Two of the more unique mass-market designs on show on Computex 2017 have to be the Phanteks EVOLV Shift and Shift X SFF cases. These are the essence of a tower case (though they can also lie on their side like a roman citizen at dinner time, if you are so inclined.) These are aluminum and tempered-glass crafted cases, with a ridiculous 17 (W) x 27 (D) x 48 (H) cm footprint on the Shift. The Shift X is the taller solution of the two, with a 65 cm height. These little cases than could support water cooling and component placement in multiple orientations, and include an integrated RGB controller to boot.

The front I/O contains just two USB 3.0 ports, but it's the interior which shines. Phanteks managed to cram a lot into such a compact form-factor. Motherboards will have to be of the mini-ITX type, there's no way around that; however, there's also with support for 2x PCI slots, and the Shift X brings support for 2x internal 3.5" and 2x 2.5" drives (you can also mount 2.5" solutions on the 3.5" bays, mind you.) It also supports PS2 PSUs, while the smaller Shift has to cut one of the 3.5" bays, and only supports SFF PSUs. However, for their sizes, both Shifts support 3x 120 mm and 3x 140 mm fans on the front of the case, and 1x 120 mm, 1x 140 mm fans on the bottom. The EVOLV Shift will retail for $110, while the Shift X brings that number up to $160.

At Computex 2017, Patriot put on a scorching show with their high-speed M.2 2280 NVMe SSDs, the Patriot Scorch. These leverage a Phison 5008-E8 controller to deliver up to 1200 MB/s reads and 800 MB/s writes at a 240 GB capacity. This controller is one of the only budget solutions to include a multi-core processor at its heart, which bodes well to the Scorch's rated speeds. MTBF operation is rated at over 2,000,000 hours, which is more than you'll ever need in your lifetime (and if it isn't, you really have to tell me your secret.) The Scorch will utilize Toshiba's 64-layer BiCS FLASH with 3-bits per cell (TLC) memory, which should decrease their cost, which should help Patriot release these Scorch SSDs on Q3 of this year, with a touted "attractive, budget" pricing.

ID-Cooling went on to Computex to showcase not only their air and liquid cooling solutions (for which they're really known for), but also to showcase systems fully equipped with the company's cooling portfolio (those are bonuses to the displayed at the end of this piece, though.)

Starting with the essence of life, ID-Cooling showcased their Frostflow+ 120, 240, and 280 products (whose numbering and naming scheme, as you might have guessed, inform the length of the radiator employed.) Their Frostflow+ 280 solution is certainly the most interesting, if only because of the usage of two PWM-controlled 140 mm fans to cool a 280 mm radiator. There's "premium sleeved tubing" here, as well as a high performance water pump design (but aren't they all). The Frostflow+ 240 is a more mundane, dual 120 mm fan solution, which nevertheless keeps all the features from the more premium (and better-performing) 280. The Frostflow+ 120 makes do with a "solid built" 120 mm radiator, and is apparently the only solution to incorporate any kind of LED lighting - namely, white in the pump cover. All fo these water cooling solutions are universally compatible with both Intel and AMD systems. All the units make use of a copper plate to make contact with your central processing unit of choice.

Cooler Master took to the stage on Computex 2017 showcasing its solutions for every gamer's needs, from the RGB-crazed one to the serious, twitch-shooter.

On to keyboards first, we have the Cooler Master Masterkeys PRO L RGB, which manages to fit both Cherry MX switches and a full RGB solution that can radiate 16.7 million colors. There's also on-the-fly macros and profile support, with the Fn key getting a whole lot of love. All in a sleek, minimalistic design, if you ignore the screaming LEDs. The Masterkeys PRO S is essentially the same, but lacking the number pad. The Masterkeys S, on the other hand, eschews the RGB lighting, lacks profile support and on-the-fly switching, and also ditches the number pad. The minimalistic design is somewhat destroyed by the bright, screaming, angry red WASD keys, but there's no denying you'll be hard-pressed to confuse them with other, non life-saving movement keys.

At Computex 2017, ASUS showcased the first Ryzen-powered laptop, which the company had already teased a while back. The STRIX brings to an end a period of lacking competition in the laptop space; before this, if you wanted a high-performance gaming (or even professional-grade) laptop, you went with one with an Intel processor inside, or not at all. AMD is back in the fold, and Ryzen was the one who rose to the challenge.

The ROG STRIX GL702ZC packs a Ryzen 7 1700 8-core, 16-thread CPU; the absence of an X there isn't a typo, considering AMD themselves say the company's XFR (eXtended Frequency Range) is meant to accelerate CPU speeds under the right thermal conditions (and headroom), which a laptop almost surely wouldn't have.) This is a full desktop CPU (and I stress, an 8-core, 16-thread one) running inside a laptop. And this laptop dresses itself fully in red, with the graphics workhorse being an RX 580. The RX 580 is a great 1080p card, so it will feel right at home on the ROG STRIX GL702ZC's 17.3", 1080p IPS panel with FreeSync support. Let's just hope this is the first in a wave of AMD-powered laptops. We'll be here to see what happens with Ryzen-based APUs closer to the end of the year.

At Computex 2017, Galaxy showcased two of its most premium graphics cards based on NVIDIA's GTX 1080 Ti chip. The GTX 1080 Ti OC Lab Edition features a Hall of Fame branded waterblock of appealing design, even if the colored power cables on the left of the unit do break the pleasing color scheme. The card features 3x 8-pin power connectors, for those of you who like to run wild with your overclocks. From the box, this card features a base 1569 MHz clock and a 1683 MHz Boost.

The second graphics card showcased by the company is the GTX 1080 Ti HOF Limited Edition, which makes use of the same 3x 8-pin power connectors, but sheds the waterblock for a triple-fan cooling solution. Strangely, this card features higher out-of-the-box clocks than the waterblock-equipped version, at 1645 MHz base and 1759 MHz boost. There is a LUMIN X branding on the cooler shroud, which indicates the usage of Galaxy's lighting system. It also features an LCD screen for graphics card status information, like operating temperature and current clocks and voltages.

Fractal Design, which recently announced their new Celsius S24 and Celsius S26 lines of AIO liquid cooling solutions, took to Computex 2017 to showcase their latest answer to an enthusiast's needs. The two models differ on radiator size, with the S24 materializing as a 240 mm piece, while the S36 is, expectedly, a 360 mm one. These feature integrated sound dampening, standardized G1/4" fittings, and discrete cabling for the radiator fans, with 2x or 3x 4-pin PWM fan headers on the radiator.

ECS took to Computex to showcase seven different motherboards from both AMD and Intel. First up we have the Z270 Lightsaber, which is great at deflecting laser blaster shots. It's an LGA 1151 socket motherboard, features 8-channel audio courtesy of a Realtek ALC 1150 audio chip, a Killer E2500 Gigabit controller, 1x M.2 slot with support for SATA, NVMe, and Intel Optane. There are 3x PCIe x16 slots, which work at x8 x8 x4 when all slots are populated, as is usual with Z270 motherboards.