EK, the renowned premium liquid cooling pioneer, proudly announces the debut of its latest masterpiece, the EK-Quantum Momentum² Aorus Z790 Master X D-RGB - Plexi. This monoblock is expertly designed for the Intel LGA 1700 socket and engineered with precision for seamless integration with the GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS MASTER X motherboard. The monoblock's addressable D-RGB LED effortlessly harmonizes with Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0 control, providing comprehensive lighting customization for each diode and ensuring a dynamic visual spectacle. This monoblock is also fully compatible with EK-Matrix7, further enhancing its versatility within EK's liquid cooling ecosystem.

EK-Quantum Momentum² Aorus Z790 Master X D-RGB - Plexi
This is a complete all-in-one (CPU and motherboard) liquid cooling solution for Intel's 12th, 13th, and 14th Gen processors. The monoblock seamlessly aligns with the LGA 1700 socket on the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Master X motherboard. The monoblock's unique design, incorporating a specialized metal cover over the I/O section, is noteworthy. This cover serves a dual purpose: it facilitates the mounting of the stock I/O cover without compromising the factory-intended RGB lighting of the motherboard while also functioning as an elegant stand for the original LCD screen.

We've made some serious claims around Framework Laptop 13 battery life improvements with the new 13th Gen Intel Core version, and now it's time to put the product to the test! We've hosted a YouTube livestream to test the battery life of the Framework Laptop 13 (13th Gen Intel Core) vs the Framework Laptop 13 (12th Gen Intel Core). The livestream started at 6 am PT yesterday (June 14) and ran until the batteries died. Both systems were set up to be a typical Performance configuration, and both were running a 1080p video in a loop in Windows 11. Full system specs are listed below, and in the YouTube description.

The two key factors to the improved battery life with the latest Framework Laptops are the new 61 Wh Battery included on i7 configurations, offering 11% greater capacity, and the designed-in efficiency improvements that 13th Gen Intel Core processors deliver.

Thermal Grizzly has developed a new Contact Frame designed specifically to fix bending issues present with Intel's latest 12th Gen, Alder Lake CPUs. Developed in partnership with overclocking extraordinaire Der8auer, the new Contact Frame promises to lower operating temperatures on Intel's Alder Lake. According to the company, this improvement is achieved by fixing that platform's independent loading mechanism (ILM), which has been proven to slightly deflect the integrated heatspreader (IHS), reducing its heat transfer capability.

As tested by Igor's Lab, the new contact frame for LGA 1700 reduced the operating temperature of Intel's Core i9-12900K by as much as 10.19 °C - from 70.48 °C without the Contact Frame and towards 60.29 °C after it was installed. The CPU was configured to run popular stress test Prime95, with Small FFT at a fixed 5 GHz frequency on its P-cores. The processor's E-cores were deactivated so as not to compromise the results, while the memory subsystem was run at DDR5-7000. Thermal Grizzly's Contact Frame isn't the only product in this category, and the company is introducing their product at €39.90 for the German and European markets (~$36). Enthusiasts have likely spent more in cooling upgrades that delivered a lesser final operating temperature improvement.