Cooler Master at computex 2013
Cooler Master had a large presence at Computex. We’ll start with its V850 power supply, built for the company by the highly-regarded PSU manufacturer, Seasonic. There was an in-booth demo of power consumption running Windows comparing the V850 to an 80 PLUS-rated competitor. Naturally, Cooler Master's supply was using almost 10 W less. The premise was that 80 PLUS' specification isn't as strict at the lowest and highest levels of draw. So, the company fine-tuned its design to better-optimize for low consumption.
We also caught a glimpse of a fan and LED controller that should make it to market by the end of year.
It’s hard to see the details on the backlit display, but Cooler Master's Quickfire XT is the company's new mechanical keyboard. This is an old-school, no-nonsense design for fans of Cherry MX Blue, Red, Brown, or Green switches.
The company’s new SF-17 laptop cooler is similar to the now-discontinued SF-19. It supports up to 17” laptops and employs two 140 mm fans driven by USB to keep heat dissipated.
There’s a new flavor of the renowned Cosmos case, called the Cosmos SE. It’s essentially a smaller version of the Cosmos 2, and features improved radiator support (360 mm up front, 240 mm up top, and 120 mm around back). It also has two hidden SSD bays in the rear of the case.
The new N200 microATX chassis is a simple, classic design. It supports a 240 mm radiator in front, and the top fan slot can be closed with a magnetic cover if you want. It will also become available as the Silencio 352 version, which is very similar, but optimized for quiet operation and equipped with a lot of foam padding.
Cooler Master’s Elite 120 mini-ITX case has already received a lot of positive attention. But the company decided to add some significant upgrades for its new Elite 130. Airflow is improved significantly, thanks to blockages moved away from the front of the enclosure. The 130 supports water cooling with enough space to install a radiator. As you can see on the left, the case has ample space for large graphics cards (that's a Radeon HD 7990 installed, ready to cook everything else once the side panels are dropped into place). Essentially, the case can handle standard-sized components, except for the motherboard, of course. Expect this enclosure to fall in the $60 range when it becomes available.
A new family of JetFlo 120 fans comes with red, blue, or no LEDs. The screw holes are completely supported by rubber pads to minimize vibration, unlike some fans that use rubber pads around the edges, but are screwed directly into the fan frame, transmitting some of the vibrations anyway. They're rated for 95 CFM, though Cooler Master's rep claims to have seen more than 100 CFM at the high setting. And the company bundles adapters for more customized selection of quiet- or performance-optimized airflow.
Cooler Master is updating its V8 cooler with a vapor chamber base. Designated the V8 GTS, the new iteration is equipped with red LEDs to add some bling.
The Geminii mini is designed to fit within the same dimensions as Intel’s reference cooler, guaranteeing compatibility with small form factor platforms, while providing better thermal performance than Intel's stock solution.
The Hyper 103 is the company’s newest budget solution. One of the improvements is a beveled fin design to improve airflow. We look forward to testing the Hyper 103, as the Hyper TX is already known in our lab for providing good cooling performance at a low price.
Cooler Master is introducing a new line of closed-loop water coolers. Called the Nepton 280 and 140, these products are differentiated by the size of their radiators. They come equipped with the new JetFlo fans introduced above.
The Seidon 120D is an interesting closed loop liquid cooled, with two 120 mm radiators sandwiching a single fan. This purportedly delivers cooling capacity comparable to a 240 mm radiator in a smaller footprint, though we'll be interested to see how the one fan affects performance.
