Computex 2001, Taipei Taiwan. As one of the most important computer show in the world, this is the place you want to be if you want to take a peek at the products coming in the next few years. Naturally, this would also be the show to scout for potential products for PHAM Computer! Computex Taipei was huge, so most people (or maybe it was just me) don't have time to carefully browse through all the companies that were present. Luckily the show organizer made our lives a little easier by grouping companies and manufacturers into different categories such as "Communications," "peripherals," "displays," etc... Being from PHAM Computer, I focused primary on the "Components" category where most of our partners are present.
Computex was hosted by 3 TWTC (Taiwan World Trade Center) halls plus private displays at the nearby Hyatt Hotel for those buyers who are truly serious about a company's products. The first pic above on the left shows Hall 2 located next to "New York New York" of Taipei. Yup, as you would expect form a big company, Intel's presence at the show was very very big. The two pics above on the right show the inside of Hall 1. This is where most of my time were spent.
Cooper Case
This display by Topower, a power supply manufacturer, caught my attention early on during the show. Although their colored dual fan power supply looked nice, it was something else that drew most people's attention. You see that case on the right? That thing is made out of copper! I guess we all know someone was going to make one soon but this was a bit of a surprise to see at this booth. As it turned out, Topower did not make the case, rather they borrowed it from a Japanese manufacturer. Unfortunately I took a bad picture of it and now I can't even see the company name! Hopefully they remember to call back because we did leave our information with them. Let's keep our finger tips crossed!
*Update* Thanks to Dennis Day, now we know who makes the copper case. Click here for the link.
Aluminum Cases by Everyone
At this show, if you are a case manufacturer and you don't have an aluminum case to show then you are the minority here. For those that don't offer Aluminum, they either have unique designs and features (eg. Avance Technologies and ChiefTech shown above in the first pic from the left) or very attractive prices for OEM buyers. The second pic from the right shows a manufacturer named, "ACME of Computek INT'L CORP" they were the ones behind our Enermax CS-A1QX-06 cases. The pic on the far right is Lian-Li, one of the leading manufacturer in Aluminum cases, almost everything they have in the show were made from aluminum.
The Real Alpha Killer?
If you are into CPU cooling then the name Alpha Novatech of Japan should be very familiar to you (Alpha was not present at the show). Their high quality forged aluminum construction is unparalleled in the industry and although there are heatsinks that have proved to perfrom better, very few can match their price/quality/performance. So what is the best way to beat Alpha? The guys at Malico Inc. have decided to beat Alpha at their own game, by becoming the second manufacturer to make heatsink out of forged aluminum and copper bottom. As you can see from the pics above, Malico's heatsinks look very much like Alphas, a representative told me that they are definitely aiming their guns at Alpha. He showed me their version of the Socket A/370 heatsink (1st pic above from the right), which also look like a shorter Alpha PEP66, and pointed out the higher number of fins they were able to pack into the base. They also have an ingenious clip design (sorry no pics) that lets you install the heatsink on the CPU evenly before seating the CPU into the socket base. Those of you with big fingers will find their clips a blessing. They promise to have lower price than Alpha so this is a company to watch out for!
ADDA's "Air Bearing" Fan
Our fan manufacturing partner, ADDA Corp. showed off the world's first Air bearing fans. Air bearing has been in development at ADDA for a couple of years now
and has already obtained patents from Germany, Japan, and China. These air bearing fans are primary designed for laptop computers, ADDA claims that this design will make the fans quieter, more reliable, and more energy efficient. The 25x25x10mm air bearing fan spinning at a blistering 12000rpm produces 24dBA compared with their conventional bearing system at 29.1dBA! Prices are unknown at this moment, we will see air bearing fans up to 50mm in size. Unfortunately, they have no plans to implement this technology into their larger fans (this maybe a technical problem), but I hope they change their minds soon!
Avance Technologies
Avance Technologies is probably the best case manufacturer that gets little attention. The owner of this company, Mr. Seh (don't know if I got the translation right) designs the cases and is the man behind all the unique innovation we have come to expect from his company. As a perfectionist, he constantly makes improvements to his existing cases despite the high cost for doing so. For our own records, the Avance CI-7004 ATX case we sell at PHAM Computer went through 4 revisions within one year. You probably can't find any other case manufacturers that strives for perfection like them. I was also invited to see their prototype case in a separate room (sorry no pics), it had a front two-bay 3.5" drive bracket that was designed to minimize noise and vibration and a CPU cooling duct. The case also sports all the improvements we will see in their next shipment of their CI series cases including a more sturdy and replaceable side panel clip and other improvements. There was so little noise coming out of the prototype machine that I had to listen with my ear next to the power supply! The new quiet parts should be available for sell individually and the price will be low as I was told. Their target is to have a late summer release.
