The annual event is approaching, computer gurus, enthusiasts and novices all alike prepare anxiously to cover the grounds of Computex 2012. Attendees seek for the most innovative technology available and exhibitors are kept on their toes to present eye-catching IT hardware and software. The time has come Computex 2012 is set for June 5th - 9th at Nangang Exhibition Hall, Taiwan. Visit Thecus at booth K0510 as new hardware and software will be presented to the public.

Thecus proudly exhibits:

• ThecusOS 5.0
• McAfee Antivirus
• TopTower Series
• Microsoft Windows Storage Servers: W Series
• V Series (Microsoft Windows 2008R2 Certified)
• Home & Small Office: Vision & EVO Series
• Thecus NVR, Visoguard

Keeping up with a trend pioneered by the likes of ASUS, ZOTAC, and others, PowerColor is working on a high-performance albeit triple-slot graphics card cooling solution called Vortex III, which the company plans to implement on upcoming Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition graphics cards. A teaser picture, which reveals quite a bit about the new cooler, was posted by DonanimHaber. The picture reveals the cooler to use a black+red color scheme matching with a black colored PCB, a design that appears to occupy three expansion slots, and three fans ventilating a large aluminum fin heatsink below them. PowerColor is likely to exhibit new graphics cards that implement the Vortex III cooling solution, at Computex 2012.

NVIDIA is readying a high-performance mobile GPU for a Computex 2012 unveiling. Called the GeForce GTX 680M, the chip is based on its trusty 28 nm GK104 silicon, but with about half its streaming multiprocessors disabled, resulting in a CUDA core count of around 768. Reference MXM boards of the chip could ship with memory options as high as 4 GB, across a 256-bit wide memory interface. With the right craftsmanship on the part of NVIDIA, the GTX 680M could end up with a power draw of 100W. A Chinese source had the opportunity to picture the reference board qualification sample, and put it through 3DMark 11, in which it was found to be roughly 37% faster than the GF114-based GeForce GTX 670M, scoring 4905 points in Performance preset. The test bed was driven by Intel Core i7-3720QM quad-core mobile processor.

HIS is ready with a fanless Radeon HD 7750 graphics card that utilizes the company's iSilence 5 cooling solution, which is used on the recently-launched HD 6670 iSilence 5. The cooler consists of a swanky-looking aluminum fin stack to which heat is conveyed by four 8 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes, which make direct contact with the GPU die. The heat is then passively dissipated by the aluminum fins.

The HIS Radeon HD 7750 iSilence 5 sticks to AMD reference clock speeds. The 28 nm "Cape Verde" GPU, in the HD 7750 configuration, packs 512 Graphics CoreNext stream processors, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 1 GB of memory. The card relies on the PCI-Express slot entirely for its power. Display outputs include one each of dual-link DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort. HIS is expected to unveil the card at Computex, after which, it joins the league of passive Radeon HD 7000 series graphics cards such as PowerColor HD 7750 Go Green and Sapphire HD 7750 Ultimate.

Zalman's Computex launch extravaganza includes three new Computer Noise Prevention System (CNPS) CPU coolers. These include the CNPS14X, a new aluminum fin twin-tower heatsink that's ventilated by a large central 140 mm fan; the CNPS9900DF, which retains the omega-shaped heat-pipe ring design of several of Zalman's iconic CNPS CPU coolers, nestled with two "ultra quiet" 120 mm fans; and a trio of closed-loop water-cooling solutions, the LQ310, LQ315, and LQ320. We will learn more about these at Computex.

Zalman wants to make serious inroads to the PSU market with three new product lines, with a total of six models. The three lines include the high capacity Platinum line with its only model, the ZM1250W Platinum (1250W), which is 80 Plus Platium compliant; the GoldRock-XG series with three models, the ZM550W-XG, ZM650W-XG, and ZM750W-XG, all of which are 80 Plus Gold compliant; to finish things up, there are two LE value series PSUs with two variants, the ZM400-LE and ZM500-LE.

Zalman entered the graphics card business in late 2011, by introducing its first products in the category, all of which are based on AMD Radeon GPUs. At Computex 2012, the Korean PC enthusiast components maker plans to launch its first GeForce graphics cards, along with a few new performance-thru-mainstream Radeon HD 7000 series parts. Among the GeForce parts launched Computex, are an NVIDIA reference design GeForce GTX 670 model, and custom-design GeForce GTX 550 Ti and GeForce GTX 560 Ti graphics cards. These parts appear to be using custom PCB designs, and Zalman's very own Z-Machine GV1000 GPU cooling solutions.

Among the new Radeon HD 7000 series graphics cards slated for Computex, are the already-unveiled VF3000-cooled HD 7950, a VF3000-cooled Radeon HD 7870, a GV1000-cooled Radeon HD 7850, a VF1000-cooled Radeon HD 7770, and a VF900-cooled Radeon HD 7750. All five Radeon parts use custom PCB designs that are colored Zalman's signature shade of blue.

ROCCAT Studios, the German manufacturer of professional gaming equipment, is ready to roll out an impressive line-up of new products at E3 in Los Angeles on June 7 and at Computex in Taipei on June 5.

High on the list is the ROCCAT Kone XTD Max Customization Gaming Mouse - the new incarnation of the legendary ROCCAT Kone[+]. Equipped with the latest technological gaming innovations and an 8200 DPI Pro Aim R3 laser sensor - as well as being loaded with the full power of ROCCAT software - the Kone XTD is expected to surpass its famous predecessor and claim supremacy in the field of laser gaming mice. The "Next Gen" Kone is expected to hit shelves internationally early October 2012.

Even as NVIDIA is on the verge of unveiling its GeForce GTX 690 dual-GPU graphics card, at GeForce LAN Shanghai, AMD is in no hurry. Its competitive graphics card to the GTX 690, the Radeon HD 7990 "New Zealand", will be kept under the wraps till Computex 2012 (early June), DonanimHaber learned. Radeon HD 7990 will pack two completely unlocked 28 nm "Tahiti" GPUs, a total of 4,096 Graphics CoreNext stream processors, 6 GB of GDDR5 memory, and the ability to drive 6-monitor Eyefinity, out of the box.

ASUS Zenbook is perhaps the closest the Ultrabook has gone to Apple's MacBook Air in terms of features and aesthetics. Its makers are saving its successor for the Computex spotlight. It is reported that the second-generation Zenbook will be driven by Intel "Ivy Bridge" Core processor, its compatible 7-series platform, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M discrete graphics. It will feature NVIDIA Optimus technology that marshals graphics loads between the discrete GPU and Intel HD 4000 graphics, to minimize power draw when on light graphics loads.

ASUS decided to bail on this year's edition of CeBIT, Europe's biggest consumer electronics and computer expo, held annually in Hanover, Germany. It has reportedly scrapped plans of setting up a booth there. What makes this big news is that it's ASUS - the single biggest vendor of PC motherboards, a notable vendor of notebooks, netbooks, and other computer hardware. Perhaps it's the timing of CeBIT that ASUS isn't quite liking, which falls right in between CES, held in early-January, in the US; and Computex, held mid-year in Taiwan, home of most computer hardware manufacturers, including ASUS. CES and Computex both have a fair attendance of European press anyway. No other companies similar to ASUS have reported to scrap their CeBIT plans. ASRock and Biostar have plans to set up small booths.

We got our first glimpse of the next major update of the iconic Cosmos case from Cooler Master, the Cosmos II, in as early as June, as the Computex event was wrapping up. It still had some rough edges, and we were then told that a market launch was expected in the September~October time-frame. That of course, never happened, and the only other time we saw this elusive case was when it was chosen to house the MaximumPC Dream Machine 2011, in July. Alas, even as this year draws to a close, there's no sign of the Cosmos II anywhere. That was, until Cooler Master sent a press and subscriber email last week (dated 10th December), pointing out that the official launch was about 24 days away, or the 3rd of January, 2012. Just in time to hog some CES limelight.

Zalman announced its latest high-end CPU air cooler, the CNPS12X. This beast was first shown to public at this year's Computex trade-show, back in early June. Between then and now, the CNPS12X got some important retention module changes that make it fully compatible with the upcoming LGA2011 socket on which "Sandy Bridge-E" Core i7 processors are based, as well as AMD AM3+ and FM1. Measuring 151 x 132 x 154 mm (L x W x H), and weighing exactly 1 kg, the CNPS12X uses a design that's essentially identical to that of the NH-D14 from Noctua, that of two fin stacks. It's just that the stacks here are somewhat circular in shape, and that the CNPS12X uses three fans: an intake (before the first stack), a conveyer (between the two stacks), and an exhaust (after the second stack). All three fans are 120 mm in size, and are illuminated by blue LEDs.

The fans seem to be using 3-pin (voltage) method of speed control. Supplied with the cooler are three RC5 intermediate resistors, which make the fans spin at speeds between 850 and 1100 RPM with as low as 22 dBA noise output. Without the RC5, the fans spin between 950 and 1200 RPM, with at least 24 dBA noise output. The heatsink is made almost entirely of dark nickel-plated copper, with certain aluminum parts. Heat is conveyed to the two copper fin stacks by six nickel-plated copper heat pipes, that make direct contact with the CPU at base. Zalman did not give out pricing and availability information.

Leading memory storage brand, SP/Silicon Power, today announces the launch of the Touch 835 USB flash drive. The delicate product weighing only 4.5g strikes a modern impression with a starlight blue color and a metallic look. SP adopted a metal sandblasting technique for the coating of Touch 835, protecting the surface from scratches as well as adding a high quality finish. It is dustproof, shockproof, waterproof, and it comes in a variety of capacities, spanning from 2GB to 16GB.

Once a PC enthusiast-centric company, OCZ is taking the solid state drive business seriously, across all market segments, consumer-thru-enterprise. The company now has SSDs in nearly all form-factors, making use of nearly all industry standard interfaces, it even has its own high-bandwidth interface modelled. Some of its highest performance SSDs are in the PCI-Express addon card form-factor, that include SSDs with transfer rates well within the gigabyte per second range.

OCZ CEO Ryan Petersen will be holding a conference call with the press later today, in which he will be talking about the company's enterprise SSD business, and unveil a new PCI-Express SSD, called Z-Drive R4. Z-Drive is OCZ's enterprise PCI-E SSD targeted at systems in which throughput is everything. The Z-Drive R4 was spotted at this year's Computex event, it is essentially a PCI-Express 2.0 x8 addon card that has an 8-port SATA 6 Gb/s controller, driving eight, yes, eight SSD subunits in RAID 0. Each subunit consists of a SandForce SF-2281 controller with its own NAND flash memory. As with all compound SSDs, the RAID 0 volume is completely abstract to the host machine.

LG Electronics (LG) will be unveiling its first all-in-one PC which will feature the innovative Film-type Patterned Retarder (FPR) display, found in its popular CINEMA 3D TVs. The LG V300, developed in partnership with Intel, will be unveiled at Computex 2011, Asia's largest IT exhibition, in Taipei from May 31 to June 4.

The LG V300 will come with an impressive list of features including 2nd Generation Intel Core processors, 3D FPR display, In Plane Switching (IPS) screen technology that creates a stunning 178-degree viewing angle and a triple camera system for superb multitouch capability.

OCZ displayed a new Fatal1ty-branded 1000W modular PSU at this year's Computex. The PSU bears 80 Plus Gold efficiency rating, and is fit for gaming PCs with up to three graphics cards, or "hardcore gamers", as the placard puts it. The PSU is partially modular, i.e., essential connectors such as 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS are fixed to the unit, while everything else, is detachable. OCZ is said to be using special cables that are flatter and a lot more flexible, to reach around tight spots in the case. The unit is cooled by a 130 mm fan that is red LED-illuminated. It is backed by a 5 year PowerSwap warranty by OCZ.

Thermaltake brought out its big guns in the field of PSUs at this year's Computex, with the Toughpower XT GOLD 1475W. As the name suggests, it's 80 Plus Gold efficiency rating compliant. Mind you, 1475W isn't its peak power, but continuous power guaranteed 24x7 @ 50°C. Further, the PSU uses a single massive 12V rail design to deliver that kind of power. The Toughpower XT GOLD 1475W is partially modular, with an angled 24-pin ATX connector and two 8-pin EPS connectors being fixed, and the rest let up for cable management. Thermaltake will back these beasts with 7 year warranty once released.

During the first day of Computex 2011, three legendary overclockers, Shamino, Fredyama and Young Pro smashed the super Pi 32M record at the G.Skill booth. They achieved incredible Super Pi 32M time of 5min 33.172s with amazing ram speed of DDR3 2340MHz CL6-9-6-25 1T. This is the fastest Super Pi 32M record recorded using the latest Intel LGA 1155 platforms. This amazing score was achieved with top in-line hardware, G.Skill DDR3 2400MHz CL8 4GB (2GBx2) PI memory, ASUS ROG Maximus IV Extreme motherboard and Intel 2600K CPU.

Weren't we all both surprised and touched that Noctua gave away free mounting kit upgrades to all owners of compatible Noctua coolers, when the industry was waking up to LGA1366 from LGA775? Noctua plans a similar move, giving away LGA2011 mounting kits to owners of Noctua coolers (any cooler released after 2005). The company showed off its LGA2011 mounting kit prototype at Computex. The kit builds on the SecuFirm 2 design, and lets you install Noctua heatsinks on socket LGA2011 motherboards that seat Sandy Bridge-E processors. Any user of a Noctua CPU heatsink released after 2005 with a proof of purchase will get the kit free of charge. Even otherwise, the kit will be sold at a nominal price, like it did with the LGA1366 mounting kit.

ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih has unveiled the highly-anticipated Padfone along with the latest ASUS innovations, which include new UX Series notebooks, redesigned N Series notebooks with SonicMaster audio technology, the revolutionary and versatile Eee Pad Memo 3D, ultra-thin Eee PC X101 netbooks, and unique home entertainment devices such as the motion-sensing WAVI Xtion and the 27" All-in-One high-definition ET2700XVT desktop PC. With "Break the Rules, Innovation Beyond Expectations" as the dominant theme this year, Mr. Shih has reiterated the company's strength in cutting-edge designs and superior engineering skills to help bring users the devices of their dreams. "Breaking the rules and changing the status quo are the keys to our success, and we strive to offer customers an experience that surpasses their expectations," said Mr. Shih.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, announces the Company has set a new benchmark of 1 million 4K write IOPS with a Z-Drive R4 equipped 3U Colfax International Server based on a Supermicro platform, which features 7.2TB of MLC storage. As the fastest performing single server solution on the market, this Z-Drive R4 equipped platform significantly accelerates demanding transactional workloads and reduces latency across a broad array of enterprise applications.

"The Z-Drive R4 enables our data center clients to maximize performance in the industry standard 4K file size, and this achievement with Colfax International demonstrates the raw performance benefits and latency reductions that OCZ PCIe SSDs can deliver over multi-terabyte device densities in a single 3U server," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology Group. "We are proud to enable our clients to deliver servers and storage arrays which provide the highest performance, maximum capacity, and lowest latency available to data centers today."

TYAN, an industry-leading server platform provider, and a subsidiary of MiTAC International Corp. will display a full line-up of cloud computing solutions that meet the increasing demand for higher density and lower power consumption at Computex 2011. TYAN will also provide a live demonstration of the FT77-B7015, a GPU Computing platform that features up to eight NVIDIA Tesla M2050 GPU computing processors in a 4U enclosure, at the TYAN booth (#407).

"Cloud Computing has changed the enterprise server landscape," said Albert Mu, Vice President and General Manager of TYAN Business Unit at Mitac International Corp. "TYAN is now positioned to lead the industry with high-density server solutions that meet the demand for more computing power and lower power consumption - at higher densities."

Team Group Inc. will be announcing four new C series flash drive disks C111/C112/C113/C114 at 2011 Computex Taipei, covering both the mainstream USB 2.0 and new generation USB 3.0 high speed interface. Team Group Inc. has the most diverse and comprehensive interfaces and designs in its UFD product line, ranging from low, middle to high-end flash drive disks. With eye-catching designs and wide selections, Team Group aims to win consumers' hearts.

MSI, the global leading brand in All-in-One PC, will be showcasing its new range of All-in-One PCs - which feature vivid color and emphasize environmentally-friendly "green" business capabilities and "smart" digital lifestyle enhancement - at the Computex Taipei 2011 exhibition. Impressed by the energy-saving, lightweight, environmentally-friendly potential of LED panel, MSI is leading the way by incorporating LED-backlit LCD display technology into its All-in-One PCs, together with multi-touch touch-screen function and full-HD resolution, marking the beginning of a new era in PC visual performance and ease of use.

MSI's new LED All-in-One PCs - the Wind Top AE2211G, AE2211 and AP2011 - feature enhanced energy-saving characteristics, rich colors and impressive brightness that are sure to make them a major focus of attention at this year's Computex show. As part of its efforts to facilitate easy synchronization for today's digital lifestyles, MSI is now incorporating personal cloud concept applications - Smart Media Link and Smart Sync - into its products. The cloud computing enabled All-in-One PCs that MSI will be showcasing at Computex 2011 make it possible for consumers to share audiovisual entertainment content conveniently over the Internet using touch-screen control. MSI's Wind Top AE2410 and AE2070 All-in-One PCs (which are equipped with the ultra-powerful second-generation Intel Core i3/i5 processor), as well as the AE2230, which employs AMD's latest Sabine platform, all use MSI's unique Wind Touch 4 touch-screen user interface software, which will also be a big draw at this year's Computex.