Liquid Cooling On A PSU? FSP Will Release One At Computex 2017

FSP, among others, is going to show off a liquid-cooled PSU next week at Computex. The Hydro PTM+ was created in collaboration with Bitspower, a well-known company in liquid cooling solutions for PC systems.

This isn't the first time we've seen a liquid-cooled PSU. DeepCool showed off a prototype liquid-cooled PSU during Computex 2016, although it seems that it won't make it to mass production. Some years ago, Koolance actually released a water-cooled PSU (model number: PSU-1300ATX-12N), but it ultimately wasn't successful because of its huge price tag. Back in 2001, Koolance was also the first company to offer a water-cooled PSU. It was self-contained, meaning that it could work independently without the need for other water cooling parts, as opposed to the PSU-1300ATX-12N unit, which required an existing Koolance water cooling system.

Thus, although FSP isn't actually the first company to offer a liquid-cooled PSU, the Hydro PTM+ will definitely be the first mass-produced PSU of its kind. FSP is a major PSU OEM with increased manufacturing capacity.

FSP didn't release much information on this unit, unfortunately--it's just a tease before the full unveiling at Computex. At that time, we'll certainly learn more about price, availability, power specs, and so on. What we do know now is that the Hydro PTM+ will be 80 PLUS Platinum certified, it features LED lighting, and its liquid-cooling system will provide a boost only to the PSU's capacity, allowing it to reach 1.4kW from the 1.2kW nominal capacity.

The Hydro PTM+ looks to integrate a silent mode that allows the delivery of half of the PSU's normal capacity (600W) without employing the cooling fan; thus, the PSU will remain completely silent in this mode.

As you can suss out from the PSU's photo, it employs a normal cooling fan; the liquid-cooling system is used only to enhance the cooling capacity to enable the 200W power output increase. Therefore, contrary to the older Koolance PSUs that used only water cooling, the new Hydro PTM+ utilizes a hybrid solution, with the liquid-cooling part playing a secondary role.

To be frank, we're not sure this is particularly compelling, and in our opinion, if the price of this unit is too high, we don't believe that it will have enough sales volume to cover its design and production cost. Even so, it will certainly raise FSP's profile because it's a product that doesn't follow the standard guidelines and enthusiasts something more for those who are willing to pay for it.