Hardware Computex 2016 - Day 3

I know this is going to go down about as well as a Muhammad joke in a french cartoon, but..it all looks rather boring really. Don't get me wrong, I like flashy lights and 'racing' heatsinks as much as the next guy, but where is the new stuff? Tech just seems so stale to me right now. It looks exactly the same as last years stuff.

 

That 800W Titanium SFX-L Silverstone, just, surely the greatest thing at the show and the best PSU to ever exist, can't wait until q4.

JR

 

I think that it may not be radically new stuff, but the quality definitely seems to have levelled up of late. Just look at those Cooler Master PSUs for instance: the internals look a lot better than those of other PSUs I have seen in the past. They're almost like high-end hifi components now.

 

The ROG cooling looks very cool. But what exites me the most is the M2.

Not specifically those units, but the fact it's getting more common that it must drive the price down sooner than later!

I need one for my ITX build...... got a RAID-0 SSD as main workhorse. Would be lovely to have an M2 as "quick storage", while the REAL storage gets moved to my NAS.

Right now it's sitting on an old (but still healthy) 500GB WD Black....

 

I quite like that Riotoro stuff. Saw a review of one of them recently, a decent case it seems !

Wow factor? definitely the Asus stand. Man, some of that stuff looks incredible

 

2 questions have arisen with this report maybe you know the answers:

1. Why do I need to see what my PSU is doing on my mobile phone away from the pc? Server machines, maybe, but my personal machine??!!

2. Why does the 8Pack Awesome machine have RAM in slots down near the PSU and water cooling? Any ideas what is going on there?

-J

 

Second, mini-itx system

 

Why?

Is this like the starter engine on old bulldozers? You have to boot the its system in order to get enough power to boot the main one?

 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ because it can.

Why spend 10k on a PC in the first place?

 

Going off on a tangent here. ..

I was thinking about that as I was reading some of the project logs tonight. The big name, really impressive mods always seem to be built to house high end water cooled multiple GPS systems. Does it have to be this way though? Is a really well done case mod any less impressive if it contains a Celeron on air rather than a quartet of 1080s? It seems to me that the quality of the modding should be divorced for thexample contents of the finished case.

 

That's largely the fault of simple minded PC enthusiasts IMO.

They see big dollar signs and think it's impressive, as such manufacturers are happy to keep this status quo going. When you speak to other modders, whilst we almost all have fairly overkill PCs, we don't find it interesting.

A big factor here is the idea of value. So many people only value the inside of a PC, i.e the only thing that matters is what makes it to the monitor. As such, putting tonnes of effort and likely personal expense into a build that isn't already really high end seems a waste. I've had this thrown at me many times now. People say sure I could have gone with that mod, case and aesthetics, or I could have picked up a better CPU/GPUs for the same price. Similarly, if a mod isn't using the latest hardware, people dismiss it as already being obsolete.

I think if you ask most modders what their favourite builds of all time are, they'll be fairly distinct from the hardware used. Like I have no clue what went into the WMD, Orac3 or any of Attila's builds, but they sit right at the top of my lists. A lot of modders love ITX builds for this reason. It becomes more about the mod itself and less about the hardware. It's a nice feeling knowing people appreciate your work and not just the components you used.

 

The 8Pack is a stunning build with 3 closed loops, layered waterloops in acryl, added min-itx with his own wc cooling loop, note the custom bridge going to the CPU of the mini-itx. The custom Red acryl loop with outside white loop, the 8pack fan guards, custom 8pack front panel, etc etc.

I honestly believe this is the most wicked water-cooled build I have ever seen. It is just absolutely jaw-dropping!

 

Yeah it was really something to behold in the flesh. But it does sort of suffer from one defect, you do have to know how much work is required in order to appreciate it. Anybody who's tried machining acrylic blocks for a PC understands how much effort and planning is required, for not only the design and construction, but the installation too. But that's also the drawback, if you haven't done that or had similar enough experiences, it's hard to appreciate (obviously not impossible, just the overlap isn't huge).

It certainly didn't have crowds around it at Computex, usually just a few passionate modders gawking. It's like some odd mix of OTT and understated if you know what I mean? That said I thought it was cool AF.

 

Well tbh even if I spent 10k on a gaming machine I would still be mindful of electricity. And that 8 pack rig will chew it like there's no tomorrow. So maybe the ITX rig could be kicked in and used for your general PC duties to save on power?

I mean yeah, if you were spending 10k on a rig you probably wipe your arse with £50 notes any way but even if I had that sort of money I would still be mindful of the planet.

In fact I am currently trying to turn one of my rigs into an uber low power rig that I can use for pretty much most of the day, then flick the switch on my gaming rig (which is all overclocked and does use some power). So the ITX idea to me is a good one. Smaller boards often use less power, there are fewer ram sticks and so on and if you stuck to the onboard GPU you would save at least 75-150w by cutting out a low end GPU.

 

@vault-tec. It's is not just spending 10k on a 'Ready to Run' machine. You forget all the hours of custom design work, it is not like you can get parts from the hardware store and put it in the case. (i wish)

Like Maki says, if you are not into modding. people probably not going to notice the details of this build and also not know how much work it takes to build such masterpiece. They would just be like, 'oh nice a water cooling rig, wow look at the price' and walk along...

 

There's no way the end user gives two shits about leccy when they drop 10k on a custom gaming machine.

I think from the modding standpoint most real fans of home-builds don't care that it has xyz kit in it. Sponsored ones usually spend more time advertising the hardware than they do actually making and styling the mod.

 

He was speaking from an environmental rather than cost perspective.

 

It's usually have a different perspective on what's excessive.

 

Yeah that. I would want to lower my footprint, even if I had 10k to spend on a rig.

Obiwan - not sure what that post was about? I'm perfectly aware of what goes into a 10k rig.