Day four (here’s day one, two, and three) of my spectacular Computex trip (sponsored by ECS, to whom I will be forever grateful!) brought me to Nangang again. My first stop was at the ECS booth. Afterwards I headed out onto the showfloor with no plan or scheduled appointments, to see what I could see.
ASUS
My first stop was at the extremely large ASUS booth. They were showing off every conceivable product line, from motherboards to notebooks, ultrathins to tablets, accessories, and more. Of everything I saw, the motherboard mods got my attention. They were all based on the ASUS Sabertooth Z77.
ASUS Sabertooth Z77 Motherboard @ Computex 2012
The mods were amazing:
The other super impressive thing at the ASUS booth was the Transformer Pad Infinity. This Tegra-powered Android tablet has a gorgeous 1920×1200 IPS+ display and a keyboard/battery dock. I spoke with a rep and he mentioned a July US release date.
AKASA
After ASUS, we visited with Akasa, a PC component manufacturer that isn’t really big in the US (it’s a UK thing). They have started distributing through FrozenCPU, however, so they may start appearing on your “potential vendors to check out” list. One of the most exciting things I saw at the Akasa booth was the Euler, a passive-cooling, direct-contact Mini-ITX case (the entire case contacts the CPU and acts as a heatsink). It was surprisingly heavy, attractive, and really damned good-looking:
The Akasa Cypher case
They also showed off a really slick LED lighting strip system:
It had an IR remote that made changing the LED colors quick and easy. It was a lot of fun to goof around with.
ICY DOCK
My next visit was with ICY DOCK, who was showing off some really nice add-on hard drive enclosures:
These would sit in your full ATX 5.25″ bays and offer additional cooling options for your drives.
ROSEWILL
From there it was on to Rosewill, who was showing off … some stuff.. I forget.
Oh, maybe they had a 1600w PSU and a pretty nice case, the Blackhawk Ultra, with 9 front drive bays:
Rosewill Blackhawk Ultra case at Computex
Rosewill is one of those companies that makes a little bit of everything. They have home networking stuff, cleaning stuff, server stuff, home theater components, surge protectors, and so on… but honestly, the nerd in me was most excited about Rosewill’s pretty extensive computer builder toolkits. They had a ton of awesome tools, including a nice IR thermometer and a wide selection of kits, from small to extremely comprehensive. Good stuff.
After Rosewill, I visited with GEIL.
GEIL
Today I learned GEIL actually stands for Golden Emperor International Limited. I love Taiwanese company names. They’re so grandiose.
GEIL was showing off three separate product lines, and all of them were pretty damned exciting. First up, they had their line of gaming peripherals, from their Epic Gear brand. They had a dual sensor mouse (both optical and laser), to accommodate gamers who feel that one type or another is better for certain types of games. They exist, and now Epic Gear has a mouse for them. It’s called the Meduza:
Epic Gear MEDUZA dual sensor mouse at Computex
They were also showing off the very attractive Dezimator gaming keyboard, featuring a choice of either Cherry Brown or Cherry Red switches, a built-in dust cover, and a detachable cord. At the price, $139 USD coming around Q3, it seems like it will be a serious competitor.
Epic Gear DEZIMATOR mechanical gaming keyboard
They also showed off the Scorpios mouse bungee (a mouse bungee is one of those things that once you use it, you can never go back), and the Hybrid pad, which has a composite surface optimized for both optical and laser sensors. It also had a very satisfyingly thick, non-slip rubber back. It’s not going anywhere.
Epic Gear Scorpios mouse bungee
Epic Gear Hybrid Pad mouse pad
From there, I went to the next area of the GEIL booth, which is their memory. We all know GEIL ram; they were showing off several sticks of their Corsa, Veloce, and Evo lines, but the most interesting thing there was the Evo Cyclone; the fan has LEDs that shows the temps and fan speeds:
They also showed off their testing methodology: chambers of test equipment with lines of modules in them; any module that fails is recovered and scrapped. Only those that pass are sold:
Last, I went to their third area, the ThorTech power supply brand showcase.
ThorTech, like Corsair, has a DSP-controlled power supply. What’s different is that ThorTech has a patent for a hardware interface for it (the Corsair variant is limited to software interface).
This interface will be available on their Thunderbolt 850, 1000, and 1200w PSU models.
Cool stuff. After I left the triple-booth of GEIL, it was on to In Win.
In Win
In Win had some really amazing cases and some neat power supplies on display.
Their new GREENME Power Supplies represent a new green ethos within the company; every possible aspect of the power supply manufacturing is as eco-friendly as possible. Recycled materials, every single piece of packaging, and even the paint on the shrouds is biodegradable. The press kit was printed on recycled paper using soy-based inks. The slogan is “I care, I do!” They claim it’s more than a product, “It’s a state of mind” for the entire production process, from manufacture to sales. “Our goal … to create a bigger change with every subsequent step we take towards greater environmental responsibility.” For every GREENME PSU sold, In Win donates $1 to the World Wildlife Foundation.
For 80 Plus Gold, they had their Commander III PSUs as well:
But hey, we don’t go to In Win to see their power supplies; we go to see their insane case designs. In that area, they did not fail to disappoint. Here’s the H-Frame:
In Win H-Frame in pink/blue and black/orange
And here’s the H-frame blown apart:
Sheer craziness.
They also had a case with a built-in mini-fridge:
Oh In Win...
There was more. I met a guy who recognized my SLAPPA MASK backpack, and started asking me if I could put him in touch with the manufacturer so he could distribute them, I saw countless hot women modeling various components, I saw some amazing typical Taiwanese company names (Ducky Channel? Donguan PowerKiwi Electronics Co. Ltd?), and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and variety of vendors showing off their latest and greatest on the showfloor.
Ducky Channel!
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