Computex 2002 Part 2

Computex 2002 Part 2

Shuttle

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A lot of people may know Shuttle only as a motherboard maker, but last year with their introduction of a barebones PC, the SV24, they have now focused more of their attention on mini PCs. (Pic 39) Unfortunately, small and stylish computers such as the ones on display may not be coming to us in the US anytime soon. A representative from Shuttle told me that the markets in US don't have enough demand for more expensive mini PC as we tend to be more cost conscious. (Pic 40) Personally I would like to have something like that chrome case sitting in my office. (Pic 41) Again, I don't know about having a purple cube sitting on my desk but I bet some of you will like it!

Y.S. Tech & Vantec

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(Pic 42) The new TMD fan was of course the main attraction this year at Y.S. Tech's booth. On display were three variations of casing, on the bottom left is the one already on the market, the polished steel frame. Then there is the black painted metal frame which Y.S. Tech plans to make for OEMs that need the fans in darker colors. The one I was most interested in was the one with clear frame; it lets people see the inner workings of this innovative fan. Like many things at the show however, they have no plans to make TMD fans in such version. I spent about 10 minutes trying to convince them otherwise, to no avail... (Pic 43) An elaborate setup was shown by Y.S. Tech to demonstrate its TMD fan's performance/noise advantage over a conventional fan. Some people may think having a smaller center hub in a fan is purely a gimmick, but an engineer from the company had a lot to say about the benefits of it being an application for CPU cooling. A monitor next to this setup could actually show how airflow is being directed by the TMD fan to flow across the middle of their heatsink.

(Pic 44) Vantec had a modest booth located at the end of the hall way, most of the stuff shown are already available for sale with the exception of their new heatsinks utilizing the above mentioned Y.S. Tech TMD fans. (Pic 45) Although they look similar, one is designed for Socket 478 Pentium 4 while the other is for Socket A AMD processors. A very strange design (in my opinion) about these heatsinks is that the centers are solid blocks with fins spreading out from them. This seems to have negated the TMD fan's ability to flow air across the center, but I was assured by Vantec's chief designer that every bit of the airflow are being utilized fully. I was still skeptical about his claims, but I guess we will wait until the test results come out!

Sparkle Power (FSP Group)

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As one of the biggest power supply manufacturers, the FSP group and its subsidiary, Sparkle Power has enjoyed a lot of success as a supplier of OEM products to other companies. It is no wonder that they have little recognition in the end user/computer enthusiasts market as they don't have any cool looking dual fan models like Enermax. (Pic 46) Just to prove that they are still number one when it comes to making power supplies, FSP showed off their most powerful desktop model yet with a 520W aluminum-cased power supply. (Pic 47) And don't confuse the two views of this baby as they are taken from opposite sides, there are really three fans on it! From what I was told, we should expect to see it available in the fall.

(Pic 48) For people running workstations and mini servers, they also had a 550W to show as this will satisfy their need for a hard working power supply. (Pic 49) Another new power supply on display was their 460W 24pin model, which is already on sale. Both of these models are again, aimed at OEMs but I am pretty sure they will also get plenty of attention from enthusiasts.

Thermaltake

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(Pic 50) Thermaltake's booth was located on the second floor of exhibition Hall 1, in a buyers only area. I am not sure why they decided to exclude journalists this year by moving into this area, but I guess it doesn't matter as I was a legitimate buyer who happens to do some reporting! :-) (Pic 51) The GeForce4 copper heatsink is now on sale already in the US, but the packaging was first revealed here at the show along with the final packaging of their upcoming round cables. (Pic 52) Right next to their GeForce4 copper heatsink, they were proud to display all the other GeForce4 heatsinks they've made for other VGA card makers. This comes as no surprise as Thermaltake was the maker of the heatsink on NVIDIA's reference GeForce4 card.

(Pic 53) Although I still don't like the name "HardCano," Thermaltake seems to have no problems with it as they continue to add to this product line with HardCano 6 and 7. These front panels add Firewire and USB 2.0 ports to either a front fan/fan control or temp LCD/fan control. (Pic 54) The most successful line of products Thermaltake has so far are their Volcano coolers and to make sure this continues, they've added Volcano 8, 9, and 10! From left to right, we have the Volcano 9, a Volcano 7 with the new Smart Fan 2, then there is the versatile Volcano 10, an all copper heatsink that can be used in three different applications (Athlon XP, K8, and P4), and the Volcano 8, a slim Socket A heatsink with soldered copper base.

Thermaltake (continued)

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Thermaltake is always on full throttle when it comes to releasing new products so here we go on more of their goodies coming soon! (Pic 55) The original Memory Cooling Kit was very well received and if you look at some of the high end memories on sale now, you will see that memory heat spreaders are often standard equipments. The logical step to improve on the original kit is of course making it all copper and that's what was shown along with their shinny new Thin-Wing kit for BGA memories on VGA cards. On the right we also see the final packaging for the new Smart Fan 2, which now includes not only a temperature sensor but also a manual fan speed adjuster. (Pic 56) A Kool-Box was shown again this year after it made its debut at last year's fall Comdex, and once again, they are not sure if they will release this in the US as most of us here seem to be happy buying parts separately.

(Pic 57) The new Xaser II PC case was the main focus of Thermaltake's booth this year and both the black metal version and the silver aluminum version were present to show off the distinctive front panel design. As most of you can already tell, these are the same 710 series sold by Cooler Master, Antec, Enermax, and Chieftech. Now that they have new cases, it was only logical that Thermaltake has its own power supplies to go with them as well. (Pic 58) The plan is to release them in versions ranging from 300W all the way up to 400W, like the one shown here. (Pic 59) A jumbo plasma screen at their booth was playing a very interesting flash cartoon they've made of their mascot, Ttboy. I have to admit it's a little corny, but you guys should definitely check it out here!

Topower

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(Pic 60) Topower is also another major player in the power supply manufacturing business and it definitely shows as its booth was bigger than both FSP Group and Enermax. (Pic 61) At first glance I thought they were displaying Enermax power supplies on their top shelf, but looking closely they actually have more colors and even their retail boxes come in more variety than Enermax. (Pic 62, 63) At the middle of the booth, Topower used two rotating platform to display their top of the line 520W desktop power supply, redundant power, clear case power supply and their custom paint jobs. Sorry, that Spiderman power supply isn't for sale!

Living Mall & KimChi Burger

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     Although not computer related, above are some of the pictures taken outside of Computex in Taipei, Taiwan which I thought were interesting. In Part 1 of this article, we had the Computex babes for the guys, so it is only fair that we have something for the gals!! (Pic 64) This is an outside shot of the largest mall in Asia, called the "Living Mall." It has an interesting architecture of a giant round sphere covered by an 11 story tall building. (Pic 65) Here are two shots from the 10th floor; you can see that there are two super long escalators that go in and out of the sphere, where more shops can be found. (Pic 66) Every floor of this mall has its own theme and type of shops, on the very top floor there is even a night club where you can hang out and dance after you are done shopping! (Pic 67) Of course a good mall wouldn't be complete if it didn't have a food court, and Living Mall's food court is located in the basement with a huge dinning area that can house up to 500 hungry shoppers. Similar to the Computex show, soccer ball decorations can be seen all over the place during that time (June) in Taiwan because of the 2002 World Cup Korea/Japan.

     (Pic 68) For those of you that love to eat at McDonald's, here is a menu that we will never see in the US, a Kimchi Cheeseburger to celebrate the World Cup! For those of you that don't know what Kimchi is, click here. (Pic 69) I like Kimchi so naturally I had to buy one to try, but just like in the US, McDonald's menu always look more tasty and full than it really is. Just look at the few pieces of cabbage they slap on this thing compared to the one on the menu! So how did it taste? Well... if you like Kimchi, you will probably think its okay, but if you don't, then it will probably gross you out.

Wrap Up

     Here we have come to the end of our Computex 2002 report; hopefully you have enjoyed it as much as I did. Like at every trade shows, there are many more companies I could have shown but I hope the few I picked are the ones you don't see covered elsewhere. In closing I would like to thank the manufacturers and companies that let me snap pictures at their booth and took the time to answer all my questions. (I know it is difficult for them to believe a 25 year old could possibly be a serious buyer when he logs around with a digital camera.) Until then, see you all again next year!

End - 3 thumbs up for Computex 2002!

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