Computex 2013: Cases, Storage, Motherboards, And More

Rosewill At Computex 2013

Rosewill had a ton of new products on display at this year's Computex. The company is working hard to transcend its Newegg house-brand roots. For starters, the Stealth chassis reps showed off to us is an attractive, tool-free design that prioritizes easy access with a hard drive dock up top (like the Blackhawk cases), 1/2" of cable management space in the back, and three 120 mm fans. It should be available toward the end of this year for $70.

The company's Throne chassis was announced at CES, though a new gunmetal color showed up at Computex. The black model with red LEDs should be available in July, a while version with blue LEDs is expected in a few months, and the gunmetal chassis will show up later this year. If you hadn't previously heard about this one, it's an EATX upgrade from Rosewill's Thor with an interchangeable hinge, four controllers able to handle four fans each, and one inch of cable management space in the back. Vents up top are adjustable for airflow and appearance. The case supports two 140 mm intake fans in front, two under those top vents, and one exhaust fan in the back. Rosewill says its Throne will sell for $180.

Rosewill had a custom-painted Throne on display called AirRunner. The side panels are adorned with gold leaf; it's no wonder the company didn't want anyone touching this exhibition piece.

Next, we were introduced to the Neutron, an enclosure designed to house a mini-ITX motherboard. It offers one externally-facing 5.25" bay for an optical drive and four 3.5" bays for hard drives. The motherboard tray is mounted horizontally and comes off with one screw. The side bezels (with USB ports and the power button) are interchangeable, facilitating some degree of customization. Rosewill bundles two 140 mm fans in front and one on the back. You can even use liquid cooling if you want.

The last case Rosewill's reps showed off for us was called the Rise. It's distinguished by a very short 17" front-to-back length, while still offering the height of a full tower. Its optical drive slots are mounted above the motherboard, while it puts the power supply underneath to facilitate that horizontal constriction. To demonstrate the way this looks in practice, three GeForce GTX Titan cards were installed in SLI, all fitting perfectly. Airflow through the case is facilitated by two 140 mm fans in front, one up top, and an exhaust fan in the back, though the demo system employed liquid cooling instead. Expect this one to be available later in 2013 for $160 or so.

Rosewill also introduced us to its Silent Night-series power supplies, which are fully modular and fanless. The 500 and 600 W models should show up in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

The Epoch is Rosewill's first digital power supply brand, including 850, 1000, and 1200 W models. They come with a mini-USB 2.4 GHz wireless dongle that transmits data to the PC. The software UI that corresponds to the power supply is attractive, allowing you to monitor fan speeds, efficiency, and voltages.

At the top of Rosewill's power supply hierarchy is the 80 PLUS Platinum-rated Tachyon family, available in 1000 and 1200 W models, and the 80 PLUS Gold-rated Capstone at 1000 and 1300 W.

Rosewill also introduced new mechanical keyboards at the show. The company claims its RK-9200 is the world's first dual-LED mechanical keyboard, with red and green backlit keys and four lighting modes. It comes with a braided, removable USB cable and is available with Cherry MX Blue, Brown, Red, or Black switches. It should be available soon for about $140.

The compact RK-9000 and RK-9100 are also coming in the latter half of this year. The -9000 has dedicated function keys, while the -9100 does not, instead offering backlit red LEDs. These keyboards are also bundled with a removable braided USB cable.

Of course, what are new keyboards without mice? The optical RM-9100 has three profiles, on-board memory, and four settings from 800 to 8200. Expect it to arrive in the second half of this year. The RM-9000 is programmable, has removable weights, adjustable colors, and a resolution range between 400 to 3200 DPI. Both mice should sell for around $40.

Rosewill also offers wireless routers. The T900N-X is a dual-band 802.11n model a few months out, though we already know it'll sell in the $90 range. The T1750AC-X is a 2x2 (450) and 3x3 (1300) 802.11ac router with two USB ports, coming in the second half of 2013.

Finally, we saw the upcoming Aiolos Plus cooler with four direct-contact heat pipes. Unfortunately, the company doesn't have an estimated price for it yet, but expects it to show up sometime in the second half of the year as well.