Gelid Cooling Gets Slim for Computex 2014

Editor's Note: While Computex took place last week and all of the news announcements are behind us, we're still sorting through hundreds of in-person meetings and demonstrations, picking out just a few more of the most interesting items we saw up close.

A frequent participant in our big-air CPU cooling roundups, Gelid took the opposite marketing approach for Computex 2014 with the introduction of its Slim Silence series. Most unusual among these is also the first Socket AM1-specific cooler we've seen, the Slim Silence AM1.

The firm also has a square-mount socket for Intel processors that's only 26 mm tall, called the Slim26, that's designed for 1U enclosures. Both slim coolers are rated for 65W TDP.

If you're just looking for a thin tower cooler to fit your Mini-ITX build, Gelid has you covered with its 9CM Fan Tower.

All three slim coolers appear to be OEM parts, so we suggest keeping an eye on vendors who offer these if you're interested.

Also on display was the firm's new "PCI Slot Fan Holder" with two included slim fans. While the inclusion of fans makes the product name sound a little understated, the firm's marketing certainly wasn't. It claims to be first in this market. We'll let readers argue about the one way it is first, and the nine ways it isn't.

Remember when enthusiasts said that cable sleeves were meant to bundle together that spaghetti-mess of individual wires? In a remarkable turn of function following form, one of Gelid's new individually-sleeved power cables was on display right next to its similarly new CAT.7 10G network cable.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
  • DarkSable
    I like the fan holder, though with cases getting smaller and smaller, case fans are doing the same thing.

    Also don't care all that much for individually sleeved cables - I would much much rather have a good looking ribbon cable.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    13471860 said:
    I like the fan holder, though with cases getting smaller and smaller, case fans are doing the same thing.

    Also don't care all that much for individually sleeved cables - I would much much rather have a good looking ribbon cable.
    Since I've been in the forums since dirt was the next new thing, I've followed the progression. First thing everyone wanted was round ATA cables to "improve aiflow" because the cable laying across the air pathway was bad. I pointed out that I liked to fold my flat cables up against the drive cage, and suddenly I was enemy #1.

    About the same time people started talking about sleeves for power cables to keep them from getting tangled. Of course those had to be round too.

    Then a non-manufacturer...I think maybe it was Ultra (Tigerdirect's brand), started ordering power supplies with ribbon cables. Oh, they were sooooo soft and flexible. Some people noticed that they were easier to install. Others noticed they weren't round.

    If people could only begin to make logical choices about these things we wouldn't be taking this step backwards with individually sleeved wires, and we would have super-flexible power ribbons.
    Reply
  • DarkSable
    13478494 said:
    Since I've been in the forums since dirt was the next new thing, I've followed the progression. First thing everyone wanted was round ATA cables to "improve aiflow" because the cable laying across the air pathway was bad. I pointed out that I liked to fold my flat cables up against the drive cage, and suddenly I was enemy #1.

    About the same time people started talking about sleeves for power cables to keep them from getting tangled. Of course those had to be round too.

    Then a non-manufacturer...I think maybe it was Ultra (Tigerdirect's brand), started ordering power supplies with ribbon cables. Oh, they were sooooo soft and flexible. Some people noticed that they were easier to install. Others noticed they weren't round.

    If people could only begin to make logical choices about these things we wouldn't be taking this step backwards with individually sleeved wires, and we would have super-flexible power ribbons.

    But of course - everybody follows the trends in PC building - it's worse than fashion.
    And god forbid you try to fight against it with rational sense, or even proof.

    One day we'll get there, but it's going to take a long, circuitous path... and might not stay there very long.
    Reply