Computex 2008 - The Roundup

[Rob Williams]

In our last Computex article, I am taking a look at a slew of products from a few different companies that had a lot to offer, such as OCZ, Thermaltake, ECS, Gigabyte, Foxconn and others. Included is a look at numerous motherboards, video cards and even some power supplies.

You can check out the article here and discuss it here.

[MakubeX]

So many pretty new toys I wish I could play with.

[Greg King]

Seriously, motherboard manufacturers are SO frickin' out of this world when it comes to making decent looking motherboards, it's unbelievable. ASUS, DFI (arguable) and now Foxconn with their lineup of Quantum Force boards are the only ones that I think even put any time at all into the aesthetics of their products.

That DFI 790i motherboard look delicious and it's the one 790i board I have been waiting for. It's great that DFI is getting back into the enthusiast motherboard market completely again. I know they never really left but they did drop off it seemed. As completely stupid as I think paying $300+ for a motherboard is, I want this DFI board.

I have had a huge crush on Zalman for their 9500 and 9700 coolers and run a 9700 on my personal computer at home so like Rob, I am curious to see this new 9900 on the Techgage bench to see how it performs. Personally I hope they clean up the appearance before releasing it because it's flat out fugly (my personal opinion).

I still think it's disheartening to see companies continue to push crazy ass power supplies. While arguably the most important part of any PC (in regards to it being able to completely kill a system when it dies), power supplies to me should be simple and reliable without much more in terms of showiness. Let's figure out a way to make them more power efficient instead of seeing how many homes we can power with a single PSU. I love HIPER's power supplies because they are simple, efficient (as efficient as others I should say) and with their perforated bodies, they cool well too. Those military green units are WAY to over the top for me.

Thermaltake has some good looking water gear coming up.

For the love of Christ, can we stop marketing Fatal1ty?!?

I love you OCZ Jessica.

OCZ has a pair of great looking keyboards but can they dethrone my Saitek Eclipse II? If Saitek would make a wireless Eclipse II, I would consider changing my name to something of their choosing (not a chance in hell). OCZ's thumb drive looks nice too but seriously, can't we figure out, with today's composites, how to make a thumb drive enclosure that fits comfortably inside my jeans pockets and doesn't make my look perpetually aroused? I carry a 4GB OCZ Rally2 drive and it's thin, freakishly durable and fast. These large "indestructible" drives are marketing only it seems. As nice as their new their Fortress looks, how many people want to field the same "are you happy to see me?" question time and time again?

Seriously, Gigabyte, do you need that massive heatsink? It looks like this Zalman GPU cooler.

Foxconn has seriously got it going on! How sick does that G45 board look at the bottom of the Foxconn page?

I am still a member of the church of DFI but is that external heatsink really necessary?

OCZ Jessica!

[Kougar]

DFI does design some good looking boards, and they've done so again...

This is the first I've heard of the Zalman 9900. I think I know why... it looks like a toilet with the lid down...

[Rob Williams]

Greg, kudos on such a robust post, haha.

Originally Posted by Kougar

This is the first I've heard of the Zalman 9900. I think I know why... it looks like a toilet with the lid down...

I'd hate to sit on that toilet. And I agree, it does look foolish. The middle ring shouldn't be there are all, or at least not look so generic.