Computex 2002 Part 1

Computex 2002 Part 1

Introduction

Going back to Taiwan for the second year in a row, I was very happy to see that Computex 2002 appeared to have suffered very little in the wake of last year's 911 tragedy and the economic slow down of late (in fact, the number of companies on display increased over last year). After a somewhat disapointing Comdex Fall 2001 in Las Vegas, this show represented an encouraging sign that Computer industry as a whole is still going strong! But enough of my thoughts, let's take a look at what ideas and products our partners have brought with them to be introduced later this year!

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     (Pic 1) This year, AMD brought their big bad Hammer ad balloon with them and placed it right above the "New York New York" mall of Taipei right next to exhibition hall 2. Intel wisely did not purchase a space here to display their planner like they did last year!

     (Pic 2) This is an inside view of hall 1, where I focused most of my attention this year. Most companies that manufacture computer components such as items we carry at PHAM Computer are located here.

     (Pic 3) Again, the show was fairly organized by grouping exhibitors according to their country of origin or their business nature. The shot here shows the hallway next to the USA Pavilion. Go USA! :-)

     (Pic 4) This is the entrance to Hall 4, and yup, that's the two archrivals going at it again! Both AMD and Intel's main booths are here although they were on different floors with Intel again taking that nice little suite on the 4th floor.

ADDA

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(Pic 5) For this year's show, ADDA was able to land a space on the corner of a hallway, giving them much more space and visibility. Unfortunately they have no new products to show nor did they have the "Air-bearing" fan to show from last year! A representative from the company has hinted that there are still more design changes and testing yet to be done before they can release the air-bearing fan. This didn't sound too optimistic, but let's hope once again that with collaboration from Intel, their dream fan can finally come true! (Pic 6) The only thing that looked out of ordinary from their booth was a system they had put together with sort of a fan switch board on top of it. Sorry guys, I know some of you want something like this but this is strictly a demo unit! :-)

(Pic 7) On display also were their fans of various sizes, which most of you are very familiar with so I don't need to go into details. (Pic 8) ADDA's specialty over the years and won them awards year after year are their superb small fans, which they have plenty to display with the smallest notebook fan measuring only 15mm. (Pic 9) Besides making fans for other OEMs and big companies, ADDA also have their own line of heatsinks and coolers, although they are not marketed for retail channel.

Avance Technologies

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Avance Technologies once again has a booth on the show floor and a private room on the second floor of the exhibition hall. And once again they have introduced what are likely to be my favorite cases for the next couple of years. (Pic 10) Getting ready to be introduced later in the fall is a vastly improved mid-tower server case with substantially more cooling capability and even more screw-less designs! Improvements were also made to the exterior designs and the cutouts for additional air circulation as compared with the current CI-70xx series cases. (Pic 11) One of the problems with Avance Technologies' previous mid-tower cases was the lack of detailed instructions on how to assemble everything together. To address this issue, they are putting the manual all over the case as stickers so users can now refer to them step by step when installing a new system.

(Pic 12) During last year's Computex, I had the opportunity to sit down and discuss ways to improve Avance Technologies' case with the founder of the company, Mr. Daniel Shyh (I've circled him in red right behind the case shot). At the time their concern was with noise reduction, but coming from a place of overclocking and modding, I suggested that they improve their case cooling with some emphasis on VGA and hard drive cooling due to ever faster GeForce's/Radeon's and high density 7200rpm drives. (Pic 13) Little did I know, all the cooling improvements I wanted to see have now been implemented! (Pic 14) And to delight customers like me even more, they showed off their sexy new outer shells for their new midi case as well. (Pic 15) Although the side window for this case is smaller than what you may have seen with other cases, it allows complete shielding for any EMI/RFI (ElectroMagnetic Interference/Radio Frequency Interference) so you can use the case without having to worry about disruption of your other electronic equipments at home or office. Currently the names of these new cases are still being finalized.

Cooler Master

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(Pic 16) In celebration of their 10th anniversary, this year Cooler Master produced an extravagant booth entrance that managed to draw quite a bit of attention. Thanks to their gorgeous aluminum cases, Cooler Master continues to enjoy the high-end brand image it has created a few years ago. Their full line of current aluminum cases were on full display along with some prototypes. (Pic 17, 18) Among them was an ATC-110 with full side window and an ATC-210 with VGA ventilation hole. (Pic 19, 20) There was also a new version of the very popular ATC-600, now with re-arranged front panel to include two 3.5" external drive bay and a firewire port. As always, Cooler Master's aluminum cases were one of the best looking PC cases in the show.

On display at the other end of the booth were more products that are coming later this year from Cooler Master. (Pic 21) The new slimmer rounded cables shown here happens to be a hot product for other cable manufacturers as well because they are cheaper to produce and look great at the same time. (Pic 22) Directly below the cables were displays for products that are being considered, from left to right they are a fan adapter with airflow re-direction, a pad that allows users with Socket A/370 heatsink to use it on Socket 478, and a very cool looking aluminum mouse pad to commemorate Cooler Master's 10th anniversary.

Enermax

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(Pic 23) As one of the most famous power supply maker for computer enthusiasts, I was hoping to see a boat load of new prototypes for this year's show like they have last year. (Pic 24) Unfortunately all of the aluminum cases shown were nothing new, although a new retail box for their popular CS-5190AL cases made a debut. (Pic 25) Of course, Enermax's specialty is still their famous high-wattage dual fan PSUs, and they were on full display wowing people in front of the booth.

(Pic 26) The only new product developed for this year is their new top of the line EG851AX-VH power supply, with a 650W rating and a very nicely treated aluminum enclosure. (Pic 27) To accommodate larger heatsinks and capacitors for this unit, it is longer than average ATX power supplies. So if you want one, figure to upgrade to a bigger case if you haven't already done so!

Zalman & Chieftec

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Although we do not carry their products, Zalman is one of the most interesting heatsink/cooler manufacturers. I had a good time talking with one of the reprsentatives in the booth and he was happy to show me their new ideas. Zalman's main emphasis for their coolers has always been to reduce noise as much as possible and to do this while maintaining a certain level of performance. (Pic 28) With that idea in mind, they have developed a special hood on top of the heatsink fan to direct cool air from outside of the case. (Pic 29) Their fan-less VGA cooler is also another product aimed at eliminating the noise without sacrificing cooling performance. The enormous heatsink conducts its heat away via a heat pipe to the back of the card where more airflow is available. Unfortunately this application does not include memory cooling on the VGA card...

(Pic 30) Here is another big name company that we don't have the product for, Chieftec's booth was very nice looking with this expensive wooden setup that resembles a furniture store. They actually have two nearly identical booths at the show with each at a different location (category) so it was hard to miss them! (Pic 31) At the front of Chieftec's booth, I noticed something very familiar. For a second there I thought I was looking at a Cooler Master ATC-710 case, but I soon found out that this case was actually a joint project between Cooler Master and Chieftec. So if it was up to you, which name would you rather have on this case??? :-)

Computex Babes!

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Ok guys, I know you a lot of you skipped straight to this section, but remember to go back to the beginning of this article after you are done here! (Pic 32) A very common sight I noticed during this year's Computex were the large turn outs for the shows that major manufacturers such as Gigabyte here put on. I didn't care to look at them twice until the last day, and boy, did I made a big mistake! (Pic 33) I guess these three beautiful models were the reasons why people couldn't stop shouting, "Gigabyte! Gigabyte!" (Pic 34, 35)The company with the most babes at the show was Intel by far, there was a Intel girl at almost every corner in Hall 2 (where most motherboard manufacturers are at). These Intel girls are so used to getting their pictures taken that they knew exactly how to pose when I have my camera pointed at them. (Pic 36) And of course I had to take a picture with the cutest Intel girl on the floor. :-P Overall, good job Intel! (Pic 37) CTX probably had the hardest working babe of this year's Computex, they seem to have the most frequent shows for the entire five days. (Pic 38) Ritek's booth was a magnet for photographers, I wonder why...

Go on to Part 2

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