We’ve compiled a comprehensive timeline of the GPU bans, GPU smuggling, and export controls that impact NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel

The Highlights

• The US blocks exports of advanced GPUs to China to protect national security
• NVIDIA GPUs are highly sought after in China for AI processing
• Our timeline chronicles the US export controls, NVIDIA's responses, and reports of GPU smuggling

This is a comprehensive timeline of the GPU bans, smuggling, and export controls on NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, and other high-tech semiconductor products. We are publishing this as part of our stretch goals for Black Market AI GPU — a viewer-funded film made possible through support on our store, including our new “Blind Eye” T-shirt.
The below timeline accompanies our Black Market AI GPU investigation, our biggest project yet. We spent three weeks in Asia to uncover this story, including two weeks in China and one in Taiwan. We found smugglers, middlemen, and users of so-called “AI” GPUs that the United States government has banned for sale into China.

Credits

Host, Writing, Lead Editing

Steve Burke

Editing

Vitalii Makhnovets
Tim Phetdara

Editing, Graphics

Andrew Coleman

Camera

Tannen Williams

Research and Writing

Ben Benson

We are providing this timeline for free and without third-party ads for our viewers and readers. As this situation has changed frequently and now spans multiple US administrations, we may have missed a few events. However, we believe we have compiled all the major changes – especially since the start of 2025 – that are directly relevant to the story. 

We have attempted to present it as neutrally as feasible and from a place of reporting. We’ve included links to a variety of media and government sources that we believe are appropriate for establishing the timeline of events. We have included statements from NVIDIA in many cases. 

This was a huge team effort at GN and required a massive investment in travel, writing, research, and editing to complete. If you find this information valuable, we ask that you please support us directly by backing our NVIDIA AI GPU Black Market project, buying something from our GN store, or signing up for our Patreon. Thank you.

Timeline

Note on sources: Our intent is to cite primary sources, including government documents, and a variety of secondary sources. In some cases, we link only to secondary news stories. This can occur when we include articles from credible media reports but do not have primary documents to cite. 

2018 GPU Export Controls

August 2018

August 13: The US government created the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) as part of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019. The NSCAI had 15 commissioners who were nominated by Congress and the Executive Branch. The NSCAI was tasked with investigating how the United States should compete in AI in the modern age and recommending actions for Congress and the executive branch.

In the words of the original document, the commissioners “shall consider the methods and means necessary to advance the development of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and associated technologies by the United States to comprehensively address the national security and defense needs of the United States.”

• Source:
  • National Defense Bill (NSCAI section starts on page 1963)

2019 GPU Export Controls

May 2019

May 15: Citing national security risks, the US government added Huawei to its Entity List and restricted sales of Huawei’s equipment into the United States. 

• Sources:
  • Federal Register
  • Executive Order
  • Politico: Trump signs order setting stage to ban Huawei from U.S.
  • Reuters: Trump administration hits China's Huawei with one-two punch
  • Reuters: China's Huawei, 70 affiliates placed on U.S. trade blacklist

2020 GPU Export Controls

May 2020

May 19: The United States restricted semiconductor designs, chipsets, and technologies to Huawei and its foreign affiliates. 

• Sources: 
  • Department of Commerce Press Release
  • Federal Register
  • NPR: The Latest U.S. Blow To China's Huawei Could Knock Out Its Global 5G Plans

2021 GPU Export Controls

March 2021

The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) released its final report. The report provided recommendations to “advance the development of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and associated technologies to comprehensively address the national security and defense needs of the United States.”

As part of the report (page 216), the NSCAI recommended the US government and its allies “utilize targeted export controls on high-end semiconductor manufacturing equipment… to protect existing technical advantages and slow the advancement of China’s semiconductor industry.” 

Further on (page 228), the report said, “Looking across the AI stack, the hardware component of the AI stack contains the most viable targets for traditional export controls.” The report (page 231) focused on semiconductor manufacturing equipment for export control rules: “The primary U.S. export control target to constrain competitors’ AI capabilities should be sophisticated semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME) necessary to manufacture high-end chips.” 

The report mentioned export controls for GPUs (page 500) as a way “to prevent the use of

high-end U.S. AI chips in human rights violations.”

• Source: 
  • NSCAI Final Report – The PDF can be downloaded from here.

April 2021

NSCAI Commissioner Christopher Darby spoke at NVIDIA GTC about the NSCAI’s report to Congress.

• Source: 
  • GTC

October 2021

October 1: The NSCAI officially ended on October 1, 2021. 

• Source: 
  • Executive Government News

2022 GPU Export Controls

August 2022

August 31: NVIDIA filed a Form 8-K with the SEC to inform investors that the US government had immediately blocked exports of its A100 and H100 chips to China, including Hong Kong. The export controls included DGX or other systems that incorporate an A100, H100, or A100X. In the financial documents, NVIDIA said the US government informed it of the export restrictions on August 26, 2022. NVIDIA stated that its third-quarter results included up to $400 million in expected sales to China that were now uncertain due to the export restrictions.

• Sources: 
  • NVIDIA Form 8-K
  • NVIDIA Form 10-Q
  • SEC Filing

September 2022

September 1: NVIDIA filed a new Form 8-K to let customers know that the US government had offered some exemptions for certain chip exports: 

“The U.S. government has authorized exports, reexports, and in-country transfers needed to continue NVIDIA Corporation’s, or the Company’s, development of H100 integrated circuits after the Company filed its Current Report on Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on August 31, 2022. The authorization also allows the Company to perform exports needed to provide support for U.S. customers of A100 through March 1, 2023. Additionally, the U.S. government authorized A100 and H100 order fulfillment and logistics through the Company’s Hong Kong facility through September 1, 2023.”

• Source: 
  • NVIDIA Form 8-K

Following NVIDIA’s SEC filing, media outlets reported the US government ordered NVIDIA to stop selling advanced AI chips to China. 

• NVIDIA statement: 

• “We are working with our customers in China to satisfy their planned or future purchases with alternative products and may seek licenses where replacements aren’t sufficient. The only current products that the new licensing requirement applies to are A100, H100 and systems such as DGX that include them.”– NVIDIA to CNBC

• Sources:
  • CNBC: NVIDIA stock falls after U.S. government restricts chip sales to China
  • The New York Times: U.S. Restricts Sales of Sophisticated Chips to China and Russia
  • Reuters: U.S. officials order NVIDIA to halt sales of top AI chips to China
  • CNN: US orders NVIDIA and AMD to stop selling AI chips to China 
  • Associated Press: China demands US drop tech export curbs after NVIDIA warning

October 2022

October 7: The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) implemented a series of export controls to “protect US national security and foreign policy interests.” The new export controls would hinder China’s ability to build high-end semiconductors and purchase advanced chips from the US, including for development of and maintaining supercomputers. 

• Sources: 
  • Department of Commerce Release
  • Federal Register (amended on October 13)

In a briefing with reporters, the US government said the new regulations formalized the guidance previously sent to NVIDIA. The Guardian reported: 

“The new regulations will also severely restrict export of US equipment to Chinese memory chip makers and formalize letters sent to NVIDIA Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) restricting shipments to China of chips used in supercomputing systems that nations around the world rely on to develop nuclear weapons and other military technologies.”

• Sources: 
  • The Guardian: Biden administration imposes sweeping tech restrictions on China
  • The New York Times: Biden Administration Clamps Down on China’s Access to Chip Technology

November 2022 

November 7: Reuters reported that NVIDIA had created a new AI chip called the A800 GPU for the China market. The A800 would be compliant with US export controls.

• NVIDIA statement:

• “The NVIDIA A800 GPU, which went into production in Q3, is another alternative product to the NVIDIA A100 GPU for customers in China. The A800 meets the US government’s clear test for reduced export control and cannot be programmed to exceed it.” - NVIDIA to Reuters

• Sources:
  • Reuters: Exclusive: NVIDIA offers new advanced chip for China that meets U.S. export controls
  • Tom’s Hardware: NVIDIA Creates New Supercomputer Chip For Chinese Market
  • The Verge: NVIDIA’s selling a nerfed GPU in China to get around export restrictions
  • TechCrunch: NVIDIA touts a slower chip for China to avoid US ban

2023 GPU Export Controls

March 2023

March 21: Reuters reported that NVIDIA had modified the H100 to be compliant with export rules to China.

• NVIDIA’s statements to Reuters:

• “On Tuesday, the company said it has similarly developed a China-export version of its H100 chip. The new chip, called the H800, is being used by the cloud computing units of Chinese technology firms such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Baidu Inc and Tencent Holdings Ltd, a company spokesperson said.” [...]

“The NVIDIA spokesperson declined to say how the China-focused H800 differs from the H100, except that ‘our 800 series products are fully compliant with export control regulations.’” 

• Sources: 
  • Reuters: NVIDIA tweaks flagship H100 chip for export to China as H800
  • Data Center Dynamics: NVIDIA creates pared back H100 GPU for export to China, called H800

June 2023

June 27: The Wall Street Journal reported that the US government is considering expanding export controls for GPUs and AI chips to China. The US Department of Commerce did not comment to the Wall Street Journal. 

• Sources:
  • The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Considers New Curbs on AI Chip Exports to China
  • MarketWatch: White House says it’s focused on being at front end of supply chain for chips, won’t comment on report of possible new ban on exporting AI chips to China
  • Reuters: US mulls new export restriction on computing power in AI chips
  • TechCrunch: China’s AI firms might further lose chip access in new US ban

October 2023

October 17: The US Department of Commerce updated its export compliance for advanced semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The government said: 

“Today’s rules reinforce the October 7, 2022, controls to restrict the PRC’s ability to both purchase and manufacture certain high-end chips critical for military advantage. These updates are necessary to maintain the effectiveness of these controls, close loopholes, and ensure they remain durable.” 

The U.S. government has removed interconnect speed as a criterion for identifying restricted chips. Instead, it will now focus on processor performance and performance density. In a statement, the government said:

“A performance density parameter prevents the workaround of simply purchasing a larger number of smaller datacenter AI chips which, if combined, would be equally powerful as restricted chips.”

• Sources: 
  • Department of Commerce Release
  • Federal Register
  • Bureau of Industry and Security Document on Performance Density (page  21-22)
  • The Register: Biden has brought the ban hammer down on US export of AI chips to China
  • Center for Strategic & Internal Studies (posted on Oct. 18)

As part of the announcement, the administration told reporters the new restrictions affect NVIDIA’s A800 and H800 chips. A few days prior, Reuters reported that the administration would soon announce new export rules. 

• Sources:
  • Reuters: Exclusive: US tackles loopholes in curbs on AI chip exports to China
  • CNBC: U.S. curbs export of more AI chips, including NVIDIA H800, to China
  • Reuters: NVIDIA details advanced AI chips blocked by new export controls
  • Tom’s Hardware: US Prohibits Exports of NVIDIA’s A800 and H800 to China, Blacklists Chinese GPU Developers
  • The Verge: NVIDIA’s H800 AI chip for China is blocked by new export rules

October 23: NVIDIA filed a Form 8-K with the SEC that said the new export rules impact its A100, A800, H100, H800 and L40S chips. NVIDIA said it “does not anticipate that the accelerated timing of the licensing requirements will have a near-term meaningful

impact on its financial results.” 

• Sources: 
  • NVIDIA Form 8-K
  • BBC: US orders immediate halt to some AI chip exports to China, NVIDIA says
  • Tom’s Hardware: US Govt Speeds Up Export Restrictions for NVIDIA’s GPUs

December 2023

December 6: In a meeting with reporters in Singapore, NVIDIA said that it was working on new chips that comply with the government’s rules. 

• NVIDIA statement:

• “NVIDIA has been working very closely with the U.S. government to create products that comply with its regulations. Our plan now is to continue to work with the government to come up with a new set of products that comply with the new regulations that have certain limits.” – NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, as reported in Reuters

• Sources:
• Reuters: NVIDIA working closely with US to ensure new chips for China are compliant with curbs
  • Reposted in CNBC

December 28: NVIDIA released a new version of RTX 4090 for the China market. The new chip, called the GeForce RTX 4090D, would be compliant with US export control restrictions. 

• NVIDIA statements: 

• “The GeForce RTX 4090 D has been designed to fully comply with U.S. government export controls. While developing this product, we extensively engaged with the U.S. government.” - NVIDIA to Reuters

• “In 4K gaming with ray tracing and deep-learning super sampling (DLSS), the GeForce RTX 4090D is about five percent slower than the GeForce RTX 4090 and it operates like every other GeForce GPU, which can be overclocked by end users.” – NVIDIA to The Register

• Sources: 
  • Reuters: NVIDIA launches new gaming chip for China to comply with US export controls
  • The Register: NVIDIA slowed RTX 4090 GPU by 11 percent, to make it 100 percent legal for export to China
  • The Verge: NVIDIA is releasing a slower RTX 4090 in China to comply with US restrictions

2024 GPU Export Controls

February 2024

February 1: Reuters reported that NVIDIA had prepared new GPUs for China, including the H20. Several sources told Reuters that the new offerings are less powerful than similar chips from Huawei. 

• Sources:
  • Reuters: Exclusive: NVIDIA’s new China-focused AI chip set to be sold at similar price to Huawei product
  • Tom’s Hardware: New NVIDIA AI GPUs designed to get around U.S. export bans come to China — H20, L20, and L2 to fill void left by restricted models

July 2024

July 22: Reuters reported that NVIDIA is creating a new GPU for the China market based on its Blackwell chips. Sources told Reuters that the chip would be a version of the Blackwell B200. NVIDIA did not publicly disclose the specifications. 

• Sources:
  • Reuters: Exclusive: NVIDIA preparing version of new flagship AI chip for Chinese market
  • Tom’s Hardware: NVIDIA preparing a China-focused variant of its B200 Blackwell AI GPU to comply with US export regulations
  • HPCWire: NVIDIA Prepares New AI Chip for China Amid Ongoing US Export Controls

December 2024

December 2: The US government expanded rules that limit the export of high memory bandwidth (HBM) and advanced semiconductor equipment. 

The Center for Strategic & International Studies explained the new rules on HBM: 

“The December 2024 controls change that by adopting for the first time country-wide restrictions on the export of advanced HBM to China as well as an end-use and end-user controls on the sale of even less advanced versions of HBM. The goal of these controls is, unsurprisingly, to degrade China’s AI industry.” [...]

“Modern AI chips not only require a lot of memory capacity but also an extraordinary amount of memory bandwidth. Bandwidth refers to the amount of data a computer’s memory can transfer to the processor (or other components) in a given amount of time. With low-bandwidth memory, the processing power of the AI chip often sits around doing nothing while it waits for the necessary data to be retrieved from (or stored in) memory and brought to the processor’s computing resources.”

• Sources:
  • Department of Commerce Document
  • Federal Register 
  • Government Presentation
  • Center for Strategic & International Studies: Understanding the Biden Administration’s Updated Export Controls

2025 GPU Export Controls

January 2025

January 13: The US government tightened its export controls by introducing national chip caps for many countries, except for 18 allies. The new restrictions would be called the AI Diffusion Rule. The rule would go into effect in May 2025.  

• NVIDIA statement:

• “It makes no sense for the Biden White House to control everyday datacenter computers and technology that is already in gaming PCs worldwide, disguised as an anti-China move. The extreme ‘country cap’ policy will affect mainstream computers in countries around the world, doing nothing to promote national security but rather pushing the world to alternative technologies. AI is mainstream computing – ubiquitous and essential as electricity. This last-minute Biden Administration policy would be a legacy that will be criticized by U.S. industry and the global community. We would encourage President Biden to not preempt incoming President Trump by enacting a policy that will only harm the U.S. economy, set America back, and play into the hands of U.S. adversaries.” – Ned Finkle, Vice President of Government Affairs, NVIDIA, to Bloomberg (Twitter link)

• Sources: 
  • US Government Fact Sheet
  • Federal Register
  • Federal Register
  • Bloomberg: Biden to Further Limit NVIDIA AI Chip Exports in Final Push
  • Tom’s Hardware: NVIDIA and SIA fire back at US gov's new export restrictions on AI GPUs to China

February 2025

February 26: NVIDIA filed its 10-K annual report with the SEC. In the 10-K, NVIDIA revealed that Singapore was the second-largest geographical source of revenue in 2024, behind the United States. Taiwan was third, and China was fourth.

Within the report, NVIDIA said: 

“Singapore represented 18% of fiscal year 2025 total revenue based upon customer billing location. Customers use Singapore to centralize invoicing while our products are almost always shipped elsewhere. Shipments to Singapore were less than 2% of fiscal year 2025 total revenue.”

• Source:
  • NVIDIA 10-K

February 27: Speculation began about AI GPUs being smuggled from Singapore to China. In late February, authorities in Singapore arrested three people for fraud involving servers that may contain AI GPUs. Singapore’s government granted the three people bail a few weeks later.

NVIDIA declined to comment to CNBC. 

• Sources:
  • ChannelNewsAsia: 3 men charged with fraud, cases linked to alleged movement of Nvidia chips
  • CNBC: NVIDIA’s unofficial exports to China face scrutiny after arrest of silicon smugglers in Singapore
  • Tom’s Hardware: Singapore police bust major ring smuggling NVIDIA GPUs to China-based DeepSeek: Report
  • TechCrunch: Singapore grants bail for NVIDIA chip smugglers in alleged $390M fraud

April 2025

April 9: NPR reported that the US government would not add export controls for the H20 chip after NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang attended a dinner at Mar-A-Lago. The dinner reportedly cost $1 million per head. The outlet said it was unclear whether Jensen Huang met with US President Trump directly. 

NVIDIA declined to comment to NPR.

• Sources:
  • NPR: Trump administration backs off NVIDIA H20 chip crackdown after Mar-a-Lago dinner

April 15: In a SEC filing, NVIDIA said the US government sent the company new export rules on April 9. According to NVIDIA, the H20 and all chips with the H20’s memory bandwidth or interconnect bandwidth will now need licenses to export to China. NVIDIA said the new rules would cost the company $5.5 billion in charges due to current H20 chip inventory and prior sales. NVIDIA declined to comment further to the BBC. 

• Sources: 
  • NVIDIA Form 8-K
  • BBC: NVIDIA shares plunge amid $5.5bn hit over export rules to China
  • NPR: NVIDIA discloses that U.S. will limit sales of advanced chips to China after all
  • Reuters: US issues export licensing requirements for NVIDIA, AMD chips to China

April 16: The US government released an investigative report on DeepSeek and requested information from NVIDIA about its AI GPUs. Through a letter sent to NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, the US government asked NVIDIA for a list of its customers in China and many countries in Asia, including Singapore. The government requested all communication between NVIDIA and DeepSeek. 

• Sources:
  • US government press release
  • DeepSeek report
  • Government letter to Jensen Huang

The US Department of Commerce confirmed that it has issued new export control rules for AI chips. The Commerce Department provided a statement to The Wall Street Journal: 

“The Commerce Department is issuing new export licensing requirements on the NVIDIA H20, AMD MI308, and their equivalents.”

• Sources:
  • The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Confirms New Export Curbs on NVIDIA and AMD Chips

April 28: The Wall Street Journal reported that Huawei is expected to release its new AI chip, the Ascend 910D, soon. According to the Wall Street Journal’s sources, Huawei expects the Ascend 910D to be about as powerful as an NVIDIA H100. 

• Sources:
  • The Wall Street Journal: China’s Huawei Develops New AI Chip, Seeking to Match NVIDIA 
  • NetworkWorld: Huawei steps up AI chip race with Ascend 910D, targeting NVIDIA’s high ground

April 30: Anthropic, an AI startup backed by Amazon, called on the US government to increase export control restrictions to China. As part of a blog post, Anthropic said the government needs to improve its export enforcement to reduce smuggling. The company cited examples of chips being smuggled with “prosthetic baby bumps” and “live lobsters.”

In a response, NVIDIA said: 

“American firms should focus on innovation and rise to the challenge, rather than tell tall tales that large, heavy, and sensitive electronics are somehow smuggled in ‘baby bumps’ or ‘alongside live lobsters.’” – NVIDIA to CNBC

• Sources:
  • Anthropic blog post
  • CNBC: NVIDIA says Anthropic is telling ‘tall tales’ in its defense of U.S. AI chip restrictions on China
  • Tom’s Hardware: Despite NVIDIA claims, Chinese smugglers have used live lobsters and fake baby bumps to traffic chips
  • Hong Kong Customs release
  • China Customs release 

May 2025

May 1: Jensen Huang spoke with the House Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss domestic manufacturing and the importance of AI. NVIDIA posted the remarks online.

• Sources:
  • NVIDIA Newsroom Twitter Post
  • Tom’s Hardware: NVIDIA warns U.S. AI hardware export rules could backfire, empowering Huawei to define global standards

May 7: Following a report in Bloomberg, the US Department of Commerce confirmed that it will not implement the AI Diffusion Rule that was created during the prior administration. The rule would have gone into effect on May 15, 2025. 

The Department of Commerce released a statement to CNBC: 

“The Biden AI rule is overly complex, overly bureaucratic, and would stymie American innovation. We will be replacing it with a much simpler rule that unleashes American innovation and ensures American AI dominance.” 

NVIDIA released a statement: 

“We welcome the Administration’s leadership and new direction on AI policy. With the AI Diffusion Rule revoked, America will have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead the next industrial revolution and create high-paying U.S. jobs, build new U.S.-supplied infrastructure, and alleviate the trade deficit.”

• Sources: 
  • Bloomberg: Trump to Rescind Global Chip Curbs, Prep New AI Restrictions
  • Tom’s Hardware: NVIDIA celebrates dumping of Biden-era AI chip export rules — simpler new policy promised
  • CNBC: Trump administration set to end Biden’s U.S. chip export restrictions
  • NVIDIA Twitter Account

May 9: Reuters reported that NVIDIA is preparing a cut down version of the H20 for the Chinese market. Reuters sources said the chip would be ready in July. NVIDIA declined to comment. 

• Sources: 
  • Reuters: Exclusive: NVIDIA modifies H20 chip for China to overcome US export controls, sources say
  • Tom’s Hardware: NVIDIA readies cut-down HGX H20 GPU for China to comply with export control rules

May 13: The US government formally rescinded the previous administration’s AI Diffusion Rule, which was announced in January 2025. The government also announced actions to strengthen export controls for AI chips, including restrictions on using several Huawei Ascend chips

NVIDIA declined to comment to CNBC on the new export restrictions. 

• Sources:
  • US government press release 
  • BIS policy statement 
  • US government guidance on using Huawei Ascend chips
  • The Register: Trump ends Biden-era dream to cap US AI chip exports
  • Bloomberg: US Warns That Using Huawei AI Chip ‘Anywhere’ Breaks Its Rules
  • Tom’s Hardware: U.S. issues worldwide crackdown on using Huawei Ascend chips, says it violates export controls
  • CNBC: Trump administration’s next wave of China AI chip export rules are yet another obstacle for NVIDIA 

May 15: A bipartisan group of legislators introduced the Chip Security Act that is intended to stop smuggling of high-end AI chips. 

The Hill summarized the proposed legislation: “The legislation, titled the Chips Security Act, would require companies to ensure the location-verification abilities of their high-end AI chips and to report when a product has been diverted or changed location. It follows recent reports of increased smuggling of chips, including those made by NVIDIA, into China despite tight export controls.”

NVIDIA declined to comment to The Register.

• Sources: 
  • Chip Security Act text
  • The Hill: Bipartisan House lawmakers propose bill to ‘stop smuggling’ of AI chips
  • Reuters: U.S. lawmakers introduce bill to address AI chip smuggling
  • The Register: Plan to keep advanced chips from China with tracking tech gains support in Congress

May 16: The Financial Times reported that NVIDIA intends to create a research and design center in Shanghai. 

• NVIDIA statement: 

• “We are not sending any GPU designs to China to be modified to comply with export controls.” - NVIDIA to CNBC 

• Sources: 
  • Financial Times: NVIDIA plans Shanghai research centre in new commitment to China
  • CNBC: NVIDIA says it is not sending GPU designs to China after reports of new Shanghai operation

May 19: NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang told Bloomberg in a TV interview that he didn’t see any “evidence” of any AI chip diversion. Tom’s Hardware summarized Jensen Huang’s quote: 

“Governments understand that diversion is not allowed, and there’s no evidence of any AI chip diversion — recognize our data center GPUs are massive; these are massive systems. The Grace Blackwell system is nearly two tons, and so you’re not going to be shipping — you’re not going to be putting that in your pocket or your backpack anytime soon. And so, these systems are fairly easy to keep track of... but the important thing is that the countries and the companies that we sell to recognize that diversion is not allowed, and everybody would like to continue to buy NVIDIA technology, and so they very well monitor themselves very carefully and they’re quite careful about that.”

• Sources:
  • Bloomberg: NVIDIA CEO Says ‘No Evidence of Any AI Chip Diversion’
  • Tom’s Hardware: NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang says ‘There’s no evidence of any AI chip diversion’

May 21: At Computex 2025, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang called the US export controls a “failure.” He said that NVIDIA’s market share in China has dropped from 95% to 50% due to the restrictions. The Guardian quoted Jensen Huang as saying: 

“The local companies are very, very talented and very determined, and the export control gave them the spirit, the energy and the government support to accelerate their development.” [...]

“I think, all in all, the export control was a failure.” [...]

“China has a vibrant technology ecosystem, and it’s very important to realise that China has 50% of the world’s AI researchers, and China is incredibly good at software.”

• Sources: 
  • CNBC: Jensen Huang says U.S. chip restrictions have cut NVIDIA’s China market share nearly in half
  • The Guardian: US chip export controls are a ‘failure’ because they spur Chinese development, NVIDIA boss says
  • The New York Times: NVIDIA’s Chief Says U.S. Chip Controls on China Have Backfired

May 27: Reuters reported that NVIDIA plans to launch a new, cheaper Blackwell-based GPU for the China market to comply with US export rules. 

• NVIDIA statement: 

• "Until we settle on a new product design and receive approval from the U.S. government, we are effectively foreclosed from China's $50 billion data center market." - NVIDIA to Reuters

• Sources: 
  • Reuters: Exclusive: NVIDIA to launch cheaper Blackwell AI chip for China after US export curbs, sources say
  • SiliconANGLE: Report: NVIDIA racing to develop new, scaled-down Blackwell GPUs for China

May 28: During NVIDIA’s quarterly earnings, CEO Jensen Huang said the company was writing off unsold H20 inventory due to export controls. VentureBeat posted Jensen Huang’s quote from earnings: 

“Let me share my perspective on some topics we’re frequently asked on export control. China is one of the world’s largest AI markets and a springboard to global success with half of the world’s AI researchers based there. The platform that wins China is positioned to lead globally today. However, the $50 billion China market is effectively closed to U.S. industry. The H20 export ban ended our Hopper data center business in China. We cannot produce Hopper further to comply. As a result, we are taking a multibillion-dollar write-off on inventory that cannot be sold or repurposed. We are exploring limited ways to compete, but hopper is no longer an option.”

• Sources:
  • VentureBeat: NVIDIA CEO takes a shot at U.S. policy cutting off AI chip sales to China
  • PC Gamer: NVIDIA’s Hopper GPUs are now dead to the Chinese market after export controls that made the company take a 'multibillion-dollar write-off'

June 2025

June 12: NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang told CNN the company will no longer include sales and revenue from China in its forecasts. In a response to a question from CNN about whether the US government would lift its export controls, Jensen Huang said: 

“I’m not counting on it but, if it happens, then it will be a great bonus. I’ve told all of our investors and shareholders that, going forward, our forecasts will not include the China market.” 

• Sources:
  • CNN: NVIDIA will stop including China in its forecasts amid US chip export controls, CEO says

June 18: Several media reported on rumors about NVIDIA preparing to launch a “RTX 5090 DD” for the China market. The new card would allegedly reduce the memory specifications compared to the RTX 5090D. 

• Sources: 
  • Tom’s Hardware: NVIDIA planning new RTX 5090 'DD' variant for China — 24GB card with tweaked GPU latest attempt to comply with strict export restrictions
  • WCCFTech: NVIDIA Preps GeForce RTX 5090 DD For China As Export-Compliant Model, Reportedly Features Blackwell GB202-240 GPU

June 23: Reuters reported that DeepSeek is supporting China’s military and intelligence operations, based on an interview with a senior US State Department official. The official said DeepSeek was using “shell companies” in Southeast Asia to circumvent export restrictions. 

Reuters included comments from NVIDIA: 

“‘We do not support parties that have violated U.S. export controls or are on the U.S. entity lists,’ an NVIDIA spokesman said in a prepared statement, adding that ‘with the current export controls, we are effectively out of the China data center market, which is now served only by competitors such as Huawei.’” [...]

“‘Our review indicates that DeepSeek used lawfully acquired H800 products, not H100,’ an NVIDIA spokesman said, responding to a Reuters query about DeepSeek's alleged usage of H100 chips.” 

DeepSeek did not respond to an inquiry from Reuters. 

• Sources:
  • Reuters: Exclusive: DeepSeek aids China's military and evaded export controls, US official says
  • Asia Times: DeepSeek gets NVIDIA’s high-end GPUs via Singapore: US official

June 26: The Information reported that DeepSeek’s next AI model has been delayed due to a shortage of NVIDIA AI GPUs in China. 

• Sources:
  • The Information: DeepSeek’s Progress Stalled by U.S. Export Controls
  • Tom’s Hardware: AI disruptor DeepSeek's next-gen model delayed by NVIDIA GPU export restrictions to China — short supply of AI GPUs hinders development

July 2025

July 4: Bloomberg reported the US Department of Commerce is preparing a new export controls rule that would restrict the export of AI chips to Malaysia and Thailand. The rule’s goal would be to reduce AI chip smuggling to China. Based on its sources, Bloomberg said the export controls rule had not yet been finalized.  

• Sources: 
  • Bloomberg: US Plans AI Chip Curbs on Malaysia, Thailand Over China Concerns

July 10: Bloomberg reported that NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang met with US President Donald Trump at the White House before traveling overseas to China. NVIDIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. 

• Sources: 
  • Bloomberg: NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang Meets with Trump Ahead of CEO’s China Trip
  • Reuters: NVIDIA CEO Huang to meet Trump before China trip, source says
  • CNBC: Trump hosts Jensen Huang at White House as NVIDIA tops $4 trillion market cap

July 11: In a public letter, a bipartisan group of US senators requested NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang to avoid meeting with Chinese companies in an upcoming China trip that violate US laws or develop military applications that could undermine national security. 

Reuters included a response from NVIDIA about the senators’ letter: 

“An NVIDIA spokesperson said, ‘American wins’ when its technology sets ‘the global standard,’ and that China has one of the largest bodies of software developers in the world. AI software ‘should run best on the U.S. technology stack, encouraging nations worldwide to choose America,’ the spokesperson said.” 

• Sources: 
  • United States Senate letter to Jensen Huang
  • The Hill: Bipartisan senators press NVIDIA CEO over China trip
  • Reuters: US senators warn NVIDIA CEO about upcoming China trip
  • International Business Times: NVIDIA CEO Huang to Face Chinese Officials Over AI Export Curbs Just as Company Touches $4 Trillion Milestone

July 14: NVIDIA said it would soon resume sales of the H20 for customers in China. NVIDIA provided the following update in a blog post: 

“[Jensen] Huang also provided an update to customers, noting that NVIDIA is filing applications to sell the NVIDIA H20 GPU again. The U.S. government has assured NVIDIA that licenses will be granted, and NVIDIA hopes to start deliveries soon.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.

• Sources: 
  • NVIDIA Blog: NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Promotes AI in Washington, DC and China
  • CNN: NVIDIA says it will restart sales of a key AI chip to China, in a reversal of US restrictions
  • Reuters: Chinese firms rush to buy NVIDIA AI chips as sales set to resume
  • Associated Press: NVIDIA to resume sales of highly desired AI computer chips to China

The Malaysian government began requiring trade permits for all high-performance AI chips acquired from the United States. In a statement, the Malaysian government said: 

“The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) would like to announce that, effective immediately, all exports, tranships and transits of high-performance AI chips of US origin are subject to a Strategic Trade Permit. These powers are provided for under Section 12 of the Strategic Trade Act 2010 (STA 2010), a Catch-All Control provision which requires individuals or companies to notify the relevant authority at least 30 days before exporting, transhipping, or bringing in transit any item not expressly listed in the Strategic Items List (SIL), if the individual or company knows or have reasonable grounds to suspect the item will be misused, or used for a restricted activity.

This initiative serves to close regulatory gaps while Malaysia undertakes further review on the inclusion of high-performance AI chips of US origin into the SIL of the STA 2010. Malaysia stands firm against any attempt to circumvent export controls or engage in illicit trade activities by any individual or company, who will face strict legal action if found violating the STA 2010 or related laws.”

• Sources: 
  • Malaysia Government Release
  • Reuters: Malaysia says trade permit required for AI chips of U.S. origin
  • Bloomberg: Malaysia Controls AI Chip Exports As US Targets China Smuggling

July 15: DigiTimes reported that NVIDIA is preparing a new AI GPU for the China market, the RTX 6000D. DigiTimes claimed the card would become available in the third quarter of 2025, according to its sources in the supply chain. 

• Sources: 
  • DigiTimes: Exclusive: Jensen Huang's third visit to China in 2025; RTX 6000D aims for two million shipments
  • Tom’s Hardware: NVIDIA reportedly preparing RTX 6000D for Chinese market to comply with U.S. export controls — fabricated on TSMC N4, featuring GDDR7 memory capable of delivering 1,100 GB/s of bidirectional bandwidth

July 24: The Financial Times reported that more than $1B worth of NVIDIA’s AI chips had been smuggled to China. In response, NVIDIA said that building datacenters with “smuggled products” was a “losing proposition.” 

• NVIDIA statement: 

• “Trying to cobble together datacenters from smuggled products is a losing proposition, both technically and economically. Datacenters require service and support, which we provide only to authorized NVIDIA products.” - NVIDIA to CNBC

• Sources:
  • Financial Times: NVIDIA AI chips worth $1bn smuggled to China after Trump export controls
  • CNBC: NVIDIA addresses AI chip smuggling, says bootleg data centers are a ‘losing proposition’

July 28: The Financial Times reported that the US Commerce Department was not going to make “tough moves” to tighten export controls to China. According to the report, the US government would try to secure a better trade deal with China ahead of negotiations in Stockholm.

The Washington Post reported that several congressional members had warned the US administration against loosening its export controls for AI GPUs. NVIDIA and the US Commerce Department did reply to requests for comment to The Washington Post.

Several national security experts voiced their concern by sending a letter to the US Commerce Department. 

• Sources: 
  • Financial Times: Donald Trump freezes export controls to secure trade deal with China
  • The Washington Post: Trump’s retreat on China chip ban triggers policy spat
  • Tom’s Hardware: Trump freeze on export restrictions to China reportedly in aid of trade talks — White House seeking face-to-face with Xi Jinping as dissenters warn H20 reversal is a dangerous mis-step

July 29: Reuters reported that NVIDIA had ordered 300,000 more H20 chips from TSMC due to strong demand from its customers in China. Several weeks prior, NVIDIA said it would resume sales of the H20 chip to China.

NVIDIA declined to comment to Reuters.

• Sources: 
  • Reuters: Exclusive: NVIDIA orders 300,000 H20 chips from TSMC due to robust China demand, sources say
    • Repost in MSN
• Hot Hardware: TSMC Secures 300,000 H20 AI Chip Order As NVIDIA Boosts Supply To China

July 31: The New York Times reported that Chinese government officials asked NVIDIA for information about security risks associated with its H20 chip. NVIDIA denied having “backdoors” in its chips. 

• NVIDIA statement: 

• “Cybersecurity is critically important to us. NVIDIA does not have ‘backdoors’ in our chips that would give anyone a remote way to access or control them.” - NVIDIA to CNBC

• Sources: 

• The New York Times: China Summons NVIDIA Over ‘Backdoor Security’ Risks of A.I. Chips
• CNBC: NVIDIA denies its China-bound H20 AI chips have ‘backdoors’ after Beijing’s security concerns
• Reuters: NVIDIA says its chips have no 'backdoors' after China flags H20 security concerns
• Associated Press: China summons NVIDIA over ‘backdoor safety risks’ in H20 chips

August 2025

August 4: A government official told Bloomberg the United States is exploring adding location trackers for AI chips. Bloomberg quoted the official as saying, “There is discussion about potentially the types of software or physical changes you could make to the chips themselves to do better location-tracking.”

• Sources: 
  • Bloomberg: US Explores Location Trackers for AI Chips, Official Says
  • The Register: Uncle Sam floats tracking tech to keep AI chips out of China

August 5: In a blog post, NVIDIA said that its GPU products do not have backdoors or kill switches. 

• Sources: 
  • NVIDIA Blog: No Backdoors. No Kill Switches. No Spyware.
  • CNBC: NVIDIA says its AI chips don’t have a ‘kill switch’ after Chinese accusation

The US Department of Justice announced it had arrested two people in California for smuggling high-end GPUs to China that purportedly amount to “tens of millions of dollars’ worth of sensitive microchips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications.” The BBC reported that court documents say the shipments included the NVIDIA H100 and RTX 4090. 

• NVIDIA statement:

• “This case demonstrates that smuggling is a nonstarter. We primarily sell our products to well-known partners, including OEMs, who help us ensure that all sales comply with U.S. export control rules. Even relatively small exporters and shipments are subject to thorough review and scrutiny, and any diverted products would have no service, support, or updates.” - NVIDIA to TechCrunch

• Sources: 
  • Department of Justice release
  • Bloomberg: US Charges Chinese Nationals With NVIDIA Chips Export Breach
  • Reuters: Two Chinese nationals in California accused of illegally shipping NVIDIA AI chips to China
  • New York Post: Chinese nationals living in US charged with smuggling millions worth of NVIDIA’s powerful AI chips to Beijing
  • TechCrunch: Two arrested for smuggling AI chips to China; NVIDIA says no to kill switches
  • BBC: Chinese nationals charged with exporting NVIDIA AI chips to China

August 10: The Financial Times reported that NVIDIA would give the US government 15% of its revenue from H20 chip sales from customers in China. The deal is reportedly part of an agreement that would allow NVIDIA to acquire export licenses from the Commerce Department in order to sell the H20 chip in China. AMD would be subject to the same rules for the MI308. 

• NVIDIA statement: 

• “We follow rules the U.S. government sets for our participation in worldwide markets. While we haven’t shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide. America cannot repeat 5G and lose telecommunication leadership. America’s AI tech stack can be the world’s standard if we race.” - NVIDIA to the Associated Press

• Sources:
  • Financial Times: NVIDIA and AMD to pay 15% of China chip sale revenues to US government
  • The Associated Press: NVIDIA and AMD to pay 15% of China chip sale revenue to US government in an unusual agreement
  • The New York Times: U.S. Government to Take Cut of NVIDIA and AMD A.I. Chip Sales to China
  • BBC: NVIDIA and AMD to pay 15% of China chip sales to US

August 11: According to a report in Bloomberg, US President Trump said he was open to allowing NVIDIA to sell a modified Blackwell chip for the China market. The US President also said that he has negotiated with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang about the deal to allow H20 sales in China. 

• Sources:
  • Bloomberg: Trump Open to NVIDIA Selling Scaled-Back Blackwell Chip to China
  • The Register: Trump seeing green as he weighs deal to allow NVIDIA Blackwell GPU sales to China
  • NPR: Trump says NVIDIA will hand the U.S. 15% of its H20 chip sales to China
  • Reuters: Trump opens door to sales of version of NVIDIA’s next-gen AI chips in China
    • Repost in MSN

August 12: Bloomberg reported that Chinese officials had “urged local companies” to avoid purchasing and using NVIDIA’s H20 chip, especially for national security and government work. According to Bloomberg, China questioned companies whether they had found security problems with NVIDIA’s chips.  

Bloomberg included commentary from NVIDIA: 

“AMD declined to comment, while NVIDIA said in a statement that ‘the H20 is not a military product or for government infrastructure.’ China has ample supplies of domestic chips, NVIDIA said, and ‘won’t and never has relied on American chips for government operations.’

• Sources:
  • Bloomberg: China Urges Firms Not to Use NVIDIA H20 Chips In New Guidance
  • Reuters: China cautions tech firms over NVIDIA H20 AI chip purchases, sources say

CNBC reported that the Trump Administration was still working on the details for how to implement the 15% export tax on NVIDIA and AMD for selling certain chips to China. 

• NVIDIA statement:

• “We follow rules the U.S. government sets for our participation in worldwide markets.” - NVIDIA to CNBC

• Sources:
  • CNBC: White House says it’s working out legality of NVIDIA and AMD China chip deals
  • Tom’s Hardware: White House confirms it's still figuring out the legality of the revenue-sharing NVIDIA and AMD deal for China GPU sales — 'The legality of it, the mechanics of it, is still being ironed out'

August 13: Reuters reported that US officials have covertly placed “location-tracking devices” in targeted shipments with advanced chips in an effort to catch chip smuggling to China. Unnamed sources told Reuters that the tracking devices had been placed in shipments of OEM servers, including from Dell and Supermicro. 

NVIDIA declined to comment to Reuters. 

• Sources: 
  • Reuters: Exclusive: US embeds trackers in AI chip shipments to catch diversions to China, sources say
  • Tom’s Hardware: U.S. authorities allegedly placed secret tracking devices in AI chip shipments to China — report claims targeted shipments from Dell and Super Micro containing NVIDIA and AMD chips had trackers in packaging and servers themselves

TweakTown: US authorities secretly place location tracking devices in targeted AI chip shipments to China

We’ve rounded up the best PC cases we saw at Computex 2025

The Highlights

• Thermalright is known for making a ton of cheap coolers and its trying that strategy with cases, starting with a $45 one
• SilverStone’s FLP02 is a retro-themed case that features 5.25” bay covers that resemble floppy drives
• Cooler Master showed off its MF cases, which offer a modular approach to case design
• Hyte’x X50 is the company’s most mechanically complicated product to manufacture to-date
• Lian Li is embedding fans into its case’s glass front panels

Table of Contents

• AutoTOC

Intro

During our Computex 2025 trip, we saw numerous case announcements. In this story, we’ve rounded up the most promising cases.

The showstopper this year was Silverstone’s FLP02, which is a retro-themed PC case with a functioning real turbo button, molded 5 and a ¼-inch drive bay covers that resemble floppies, and a throwback look with modern compatibility.    
Corsair also made bold moves. It had a case that split its radiator chamber into its own isolated compartment.

Thermalright is also threatening the case industry the same way it did to the cooler industry by bringing a $45 MicroATX case to the market.

Editor's note: This was originally published on June 1, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.

Credits

Host, Writing, Editing

Steve Burke

Camera, Editing

Mike Gaglione

Camera

Vitalii Makhnovets

Editing

Tim Phetdara
Andrew Coleman

Writing, Web Editing

Jimmy Thang

Cooler Master is back on the scene, too, introducing its MF series of cases.  

HAVN has the BF360, which couples a heavy focus on fan design and case-thermal engineering to content with Hyte’s X50, for what each company hopes will be the top performing case on thermal charts. 

This story will re-cap some of the best cases that we think are coming out over the next few months. We’ll, of course, have to review these cases as they launch, which means we’ll have a busy year with cases. We also plan on running a story on the best cases of 2025 at the end of the year, which will include all of our test data. For now, we’re looking at the best cases from Computex 2025. 

Thermalright TR M10

Thermalright is best known for making a ton of cheap coolers. The company is applying that strategy to their first case, which they announced at Computex. Thermalright revealed its TR M10 MicroATX case, which will start at $45 and scale up to $65 for a model that includes an LCD and a digital display. Neither variant will include fans. 

The case has good cable management depth and simple cable-management passthroughs without BTF support. It also has heavily ventilated panels everywhere. The TR M10 fits 3x120mm side-mounted fans for intake and can technically fit fans at the top of the power-supply shroud. This is made somewhat more viable, although distance is a challenge, by all of the holes punched through the floor of the case and even the drive cages.

The more expensive $65 variant will feature an RGB digital display at the front that’s capable of spitting out basic numbers or seven-segment text. Externally, the case is simple. Thermalright has punched holes everywhere including the company’s logo on the side panel. The case also has a glass front and side. 

Thermalright has added shiny plastic accents to the top and front. It's intended to look like brushed aluminum, though we don’t think it looks like that. The ventilation everywhere is at least promising for thermal performance at its price. 

If the company is able to apply its CPU cooler model to cases, it will be a major price disruption for the case industry. 

Silverstone

SilverStone FLP02

Up next: SilverStone’s FLP02 gets our next spot in this round-up. The retro-themed case is an actual real attempt at a modern computer case, not just some meme, while preserving aspects of cases from the late 80s and early 90s. Its clearest downside is limited cooling capabilities, with the clearest upside being the reason it has limitations in cooling: It’s true to the era while modernizing compatibility. The SilverStone FLP02 is a looks-first case, but not in the usual way. 

The case builds upon Silverstone’s FLP01 smaller form factor case, which was originally an April Fool’s joke, and deploys a functional retro theming: The front panel features 5.25” bay covers that resemble floppy drives and include functional levers for removal. The bays can be used as typical. Below these molded covers, there’s a functional I/O panel with a power switch and reset button, both controllable by the key lock which prevents accidental usage, which is more of a call-back to the old days. With the key in the unlocked position, the switches can be used as normal power/reset buttons. There’s also a Turbo Button, which controls fan speed. In theory, someone crafty could rewire it for use with something else. Above the stack of 5.25” bay covers is a covered set of modern USB and 3.5mm I/O for audio.

The box doesn’t have a ton of airflow. The bottom-front of the case has largely blocked-off intake and support for a fan below the drive cages is really the main place you’re bringing air in. Have no illusions: This will be a poor performer in our thermal benchmarking compared to other cases and that’s the trade-off they’ve chosen, so the objective would be to configure the build in a way where cooling can brute force past restrictive panels. The front panel supports two 120mm fans, depending on drive layout, the top supports 3x 120 or 2x 140 fans, the rear can fit a 120 or 140.

The top panel is also relatively low porosity while still allowing more air movement than the cases this is inspired by. The top can accommodate liquid cooling radiators, including the 360 shown installed. This is the type of case where you’d probably want to use a liquid cooler to help overcome limitations of airflow.

Internally, the tooling for the FLP02 is the same as SilverStone’s existing series of SETA Q1, H1, and D1 series cases. 

SilverStone expects to sell the case for 200 EUR. US pricing was in flux due to variable tariffs, with an expectation of $220 USD pricing.

LD05

The company also had more contemporary cases, like the LD05 fishtank case. The LD05 has heavily ventilated lower panels and a ventilated side panel to get air into the system. This is more of a traditional design by today’s standards. SilverStone plans to ship it with 3x 120 ARGB fans included and wants to hit $100, depending on tariffs, for a budget-focused airflow case with the glass look to it.

Cooler Master

Cooler Master MF Cases

Cooler Master’s back in it this year. The company had a ton of cases. We’ll focus on the modularity offered by the MF series and will recap the others at the end of the section.

For the MF series, which we’ve decided means “Motherf*ckin,” Cooler Master has the MF600, MF500, and MF400 cases as pre-configured options of an otherwise totally modular approach to case design. The MF series will use a set of 8 corners and 12 columns, meaning that each case starts as a box of parts that can get screwed together into a case. These columns and corners will couple with a rails system internally to build the motherboard tray, allowing the cases to be reconfigured into nearly any layout. That includes inverted, mirrored or flipped, standard ATX, and also different form factors altogether.

Initially, Cooler Master plans to sell these as pre-configured, fully assembled cases by using the modular parts. In the future, the company wants to offer the ability for users to customize the build on a web interface, at which point the build instructions would go to Cooler Master’s new Los Angeles-based assembly team in the US.

As for what’s being sold sometime this year, the MF400 through 600 will be varying sizes and layouts. 

The MF600 is the largest of these, with 3x 140 fans and 1x 120 fan included. Price target is $200, tariffs notwithstanding. The MF600 has an all aluminum look to it, though uses a mix of materials for the chassis. Externally, Cooler Master has done well to blend the columns, corners, and panels to create something that has a less-gamer aesthetic to it. The front-to-back flow design is classic and should work well. Internally, the motherboard tray is basically a giant hole with some rails and slats across for support. This means a weaker tray structurally, but one which is more versatile (as shown in the reconfiguration with different orientations).

The pre-configured MF500 should be $165 and will have 2x 200mm fans and 1x 120mm fan, a much finer mesh front, and I/O on the bottom of the front panel. Going with the 2x 200s is a classic Cooler Master move that we’re looking forward to testing. 

The MF400 is micro-ATX, and so it’s smaller, with a lower price target at $150 for the same 2x 200 and 1x 120 configuration. It still uses 8 corners and 12 columns.

Cooler Master also debuted its new Cosmos cases, including a special edition variation with the NVIDIA DGX style front panel and another with ductwork for air cooling. We are currently critical of the special edition’s liquid cooling configuration and question how well it’ll work, though the size of the radiator should brute force performance (since it’s using 4x 180mm fans). It’s just that they’re blowing straight into a motherboard and wall. 

The company also showcased its “Elite” series of budget cases, featuring a tragedy of naming that doesn’t have much rhyme or reason for the model numbers. 

It also had a new Q500 Core following the Q500 series styling. The Q500 Core is supposed to be $60 to $70 and is made entirely of steel. It’ll include 3D print source files for modifications and can fit up to a 360mm radiator, but it’s not our focus today.

Hyte

Hyte X50

Hyte showcased its new X50 case, which is its most mechanically complicated product to manufacture to-date. The X50 uses a bubbly external look while attempting to be the highest-performing case on benchmark charts. Hyte uses a front panel that’s perforated all the way around the apex of the turn, leaving only a small strip at the mounting point for rigidity. The case also has louvered slats at the back, including for the PCIe slots, which add mechanical and manufacturing complexity but strengthen the chassis structure while improving airflow performance. Hyte noted that its intent, which we’ll test in our review, is to help project air away from the system, highlighting that there’s always focus on reducing intake impedance but noting that exhaust impedance is similarly important.

The louvered approach means that PCIe slot covers keep all of their original steel (rather than being removed like a typical slot cover), but the gaps are created by punching the steel outward and twisting at the joint. This keeps rigidity while theoretically reducing exhaust impedance.

The case is almost entirely steel. Internally, the power supply shroud is steel, the motherboard tray (as usual) is steel, and the walls are mostly steel. The floor and some connecting pieces are plastic, but its presence is overall mitigated.

Hyte has a few styles of feet for the X50, including what the company refers to as “paws” (shown as the rounded feet) on some color models, with bars for models like the white case.

The case can have either a laminated so-called “acoustic glass” side panel or a full-on mesh panel that’s focused on cooling performance. 

The top-mounted PSU shroud will help by enabling more bottom intake by getting the PSU out of the way, in addition to using the power supply as another fan to help guide air through the system. With a fully mesh panel, this should also help bring air into the computer from outside.

We’ll see how the case does in our review, but from a manufacturing and engineering standpoint, it already gets credit for overcoming challenges with going as mesh-heavy as the case is. You can learn more in our interview with Product Director Rob Teller in the X50 coverage from Computex. We spend a lot of time talking about Hyte’s tens of thousands of dollars of failed samples, where the company walked us through all the trial-and-error of front panels before it finally figured out how to manufacture the panel the company wanted. The case should be priced for $120 with mesh and $150 with glass pre-tariff.

Lian Li

Lian Li had a relatively large breakthrough this year with its ongoing attempts to figure out how to embed fans in glass front panels. This has historically been challenging since it results in lower yields and broken glass, or in the worst case, just less surface area available for intake since a larger border has to remain for structural reasons.

The Lian Li Lancool 217 Infinity and Lancool 4 cases both make use of this new approach to fans-in-glass, effectively mixing mesh grates in front of the fans with the tempered glass look.

The Lancool 217 Infinity is a Lancool 217 (check out our review here) including all of the tooling for the case internals. The only exception where tooling changed was to the front panel, enabling the infinity mirror effect with LEDs and the support for mounting the glass panel. The only other change is to IO, where Lian Li made it optionally mountable to the top or bottom side. The case will ship with 2x 170mm front fans in the glass and one rear-mounted fan. It should ship at $120.

The Lancool 4 is more complicated and is entirely new tooling. The case still uses the 4-door approach that the Lancool series has become known for, so the left side features a large sheet of glass resting on top of a mesh plate that opens separately. The mesh plate allows intake through fans mounted in the bottom of the case (or just the GPU), with lower panel side mounting available for 120mm fans. The panels open with a button release mechanism to allow them to separately lock. The right side also features glass and steel, with a clear line of sight through the other side of the front of the case. A cable cover door can be screwed down to hide the cable management.

A pogo pin setup allows the front panel to transfer power without use of a cable, followed by a mix of painted glass and plastic covers to hide cables daisy chaining the fans. Lian Li is considering including 3x 140x30mm front fans and 3x 120x25 side fans, with a pricing target at $130 including all 6 of these fans. This would be extremely competitive if they can do it. Lian Li has committed on camera with us to a 5-year warranty for the fans.

Lian Li had a few honorable mentions at the show: Its O11 Mini V2 made an appearance and manages to cram an ATX power supply into the case by punching out space in the side panel. The Mini V2 should be $90 without fans and $100 with 5x 120 fans. The Dan Case B4 was also an interesting showing, mostly for its ability to attach feet and switch to a much higher volume vertical orientation. It makes use of the space provided by the feet by also including a radiator extension chamber to support a 360mm radiator on the side. More interestingly to us, the Vector 100 and Vector 100 Mini cases are extremely cheap. The Vector 100 Mini micro-ATX case is intended to sell for $45 without fans, making it a direct competitor to Thermalright’s new mATX case. 

Antec x Noctua

Antec and Noctua are up next in a collaboration. The companies are working together to manufacture an alternative to the Antec Flux Pro except with Noctua fans. The Flux Pro was already a chart-topper in our case benchmarks and reviews and has been a high performer, so Antec isn’t changing much beyond colors and what fans are included.

The companies will do a like-for-like swap of 6 Noctua fans in place of the 6 Antec fans, switching to 4x 140mm NF-A14 G2 fans and 2x 120mm NF-A12 G2 fans for the shroud top. 

The case price is still being finalized, but it’ll be expensive. We’d expect to see this fall in the range of the $300s to $400s somewhere, as the case itself is typically around $180 before the Noctua fans.

Most of the time was spent on coloring the brown panels and grommets to match the fans as closely as possible.

Antec also had some other stuff, like the company’s new Antec 900, which is based on the case of the same name from decades ago.

The case had 2 variants. One of them included 2x200mm Noctua fans at the front. 

HAVN BF360

We toured the HAVN testing lab in Taiwan to look at the company’s new BF360 case, following-up the HS420 that we previously reviewed overall positively. In addition to a 40+ page presentation from its thermal engineer detailing all the various testing performed to prepare the new case and fans for launch, we also got a look at the new BF360 and its fans. We appreciated the time the company spent to demonstrate all of its testing and engineering, as most companies don’t make thermal engineers readily available.

HAVN’s new BF360 aims to be highly competitive for case thermals and has dedicated a significant amount of that toward fine-tuning the fans. We’ll see how it does in testing later in the year, of course. The case will use 2x 180mm fans at 40mm thickness in the front, helping with higher static pressure performance. In testing, HAVN experimented with positioning these front fans higher versus lower on the front panel, settling to mostly bias them slightly up in the case. This should help push more air straight into the GPU, which gets further tuning from a “ramp” shaped at the front of the PSU shroud. HAVN tested numerous shroud ramp types and shapes, finding ultimately that a wide, relatively modestly angled ramp provided the best performance with the fewest acoustic trade-offs.

The panels are heavy-duty and designed with similar attention to detail as the HS420. The case has tuned placement of the structural struts in the panels to reduce impedance to flow, with wide enough top mounting to support more 180mm fans without additional fan mount rail obstructions if going the larger route. 

HAVN has brought over smaller attention to detail embellishments on this case from the HS 420, including molded text in the plastic cable routing channels to guide novice users to potentially optimal routing pathways. For looks, HAVN is going for white and black, but with a faked stone-looking front panel. Pulling that front panel reveals the steel plate above the top 180mm fan, serving to prevent re-circulation and force air intake through the ideal channels.

For the fans, HAVN experimented with fans up to 52mm thick, but ultimately settled on 40mm thick options for a balance of thickness and performance. All of HAVN’s new fans use larger bearings, which it says helps to stabilize the blade during rotation. HAVN also has notched the leading edge of the blades to help capture and force air through the blades, although we’d need to see A/B testing to know how much that really matters.

Corsair

Corsair’s Computex showing this year was much stronger than some of its prior years. The company seems to be pushing hard after the relatively good reception of its FRAME 4000D cases and is expanding the scope of the FRAME series, but also making some radical cooling changes to its new cases.

Corsair showed its new FRAME 5000D with LCD panel, its Air 5400 with effectively three chambers that completely isolate front radiator air from the rest of the system, and it had a prototype FRAME 4000D with a power board from Singularity PCs.

The FRAME 5000D is a larger 4000D and we’ll likely test it soon enough, so we’ll skip that one and focus on the most unique of these.

The Corsair Air 5400 uses a separate chamber for a front-mounted radiator, which involves running the tubes across effectively shop brush bristles for tube routing. This means that the radiator, likely used for the CPU cooler, would pull air in externally and then propel it out of the case immediately by following an interior curved wall. The air never gets into the main chamber, which means it doesn’t increase local ambient temperature. Likewise, as a downside, this means less airflow over ignored components like the VRM or system memory. 

The bottom of the case uses a duct to guide air straight in from bottom intake, then points it straight at the GPU. Corsair claims that its A/B testing of this ductwork creates about a 1-2 degree improvement in GPU thermals versus testing without it. Likewise, there’s another top-mounted duct that could encase top fans to provide some cooling to the rest of the motherboard, although flow-through cooling from a GPU would also push air into the memory. It’ll be warmed, but that’s better than no airflow.

The rear can technically fit a 120mm fan with an adapter, but there’s no real reason to mount one. It’ll blow nearly half the air straight into a curved glass wall, potentially causing noise issues but definitely limiting thermal benefits.

Overall, the case is a riskier attempt at a new design that we don’t often see from Corsair. We’re looking forward to thermal testing on it.

The FRAME 4000D Prototype is also worth showing here: The power board at the back doesn’t provide any logging functionality (like you might find with an Elmor Labs Benchtable), but does offer cable routing by funneling all the connectors through a rear-mounted PCB. 

Like everyone else, they had other cases present, such as an open frame case, but we’ll point you toward our Computex news coverage for that.

Thermaltake

Thermaltake also had a lot at the show. For cases, its IX700 enclosure was being used in an immersion cooling system, which was mostly just cool to see. 

The more consumer-focused cases for our audience would include the View 390 Air, the TR200, and the TR300.

The TR200 and TR300 introduce larger versions of the mini-ITX TR100, just with micro-ATX support in one and ATX support in the other. Micro-ATX seems to be taking off more this year in the case market.

The View 390 Air uses a curved tempered glass panel around the top and side, with options for up to 200mm fans at the front. Thermaltake hasn’t yet finalized the stock fan configuration, but has finalized the price: It’s trying to hit $150 pre-tariff and the company thinks it can include 2 fans at that price. They mentioned to us options of either 2x 200s at the front or 2x 120s at the back or side. We’d favor the 2x 200s, mostly because users with liquid coolers will already be getting 120s, and 120s are also more common just in bins of parts from seasoned PC builders.

The case can fit fans along the right side panel as well, with 2x 120 rear exhaust fans available optionally at the back. Two can fit here because the optional screen location, found above the motherboard tray, makes the case taller and provides the clearance for a second fan.

The front panel design uses a brick pattern with a high porosity, which might actually make this fairly competitive thermally, depending on the fan configuration.

Phanteks

Phanteks was also present at the show. Phanteks had the budget-focused G370A ATX case and its XT M3 micro-ATX case. The G370A makes compromises to hit a price target of $60 while including 3x 120 RGB M25 fans. Phanteks described it as a smaller version of the G400 case. The case can fit SSI-EEB boards, though they’d block all the cable management routing aside from the highest pass-throughs, and is otherwise about as standard and plain as a case can be. The goal is price on this one.

You can learn more about the XT M3 in our Phanteks Computex coverage.

Tryx

Tryx was also present at Computex. The new Flova case is currently a concept, but Tryx is experimenting with trying to get a crossflow fan integrated with axial fans in the case. The idea would be to shove a crossflow (or transverse) fan in the space that could traditionally be used for larger front fans, which would then provide a more even, laminar flow along the top edge of the GPU and nearest the glass. Crossflow fans aren’t necessarily the best at this type of cooling, but could definitely be tuned to be competitive with enough research and care. We saw it work in the Meshless AIO mini-ITX case previously.

For now, this is an experiment that we’re excited about because we want to test something different. We have an animation showing how these work in our Meshless AIO case video review, in case you want to learn more of the science.

Montech

As for Montech, the company had a ton of cases present and will be launching them over the next year or so, with some out in Q2 2026.

For this article, we’ll just keep it short and focus on the cheapest cases from Montech that are coming out the soonest, as the others are all still being finalized:

The X5 and X5M are Montech’s newest budget-focused cases. The case is supposed to be $60 for the micro-ATX X5M and $70-$75 on the X5 ATX case. These cases use a wavy, ventilated mesh front panel. The X5 intends to include 3x 140 fans and 1x 120 stock, with an optional 2x 120 fans for the top of the shroud (which would have limited benefit due to the panel styling). The $60 X5M will include 4x 120 fans.

In Win

In Win’s cases were mostly too early in development to get into detail on. The company didn’t have prices or fan configurations ready, so we’ll skip all of those until they’re closer to ready. 

The one we can close on though is In Win’s Chronomancy, which was its 40-year anniversary case design. It’s not really meant to be sold. They expect to make around 40 units, fittingly, but it’s just kind of cool.

The case uses an IR wand with gestures to open the exterior aluminum shell, close it, open the other chamber, or adjust the volume level of various music tracks baked into the case with its included speaker. Manufacturing the case is a nightmare, using a large and thick sheet of acrylic that gets laser engraved and then slowly bent. The aluminum panels also require bending, with the front using a stainless steel and the base using large aluminum pillars.

Inside, the Chronomancy does actually hold a computer, but it’s obviously secondary to the design.

We take a look at ID-Cooling’s new air and liquid coolers, which aim to balance quality and value with their designs

The Highlights

• ID-Cooling’s A720 AD and A720 TD represent the company’s attempt to fix its acoustic problems while being affordable
• ID Cooling has a range of liquid coolers from low-end to high-end starting around $80 to $100 for 360mm coolers
• The company’s SL360 V2 Plus cooler interestingly uses a larger radiator than it does fans

Table of Contents

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Intro

We visited ID-Cooling’s booth at Computex 2025 and the company showed off scented paste…and a bunch of coolers.

Looking at the company’s product at the trade show, we found ID-Cooling’s products to be more expensive than Thermalright's, but they’re cheaper than others in the market. This places them somewhere in the middle but the company is trying to keep quality levels in focus for some of their designs.

Editor's note: This was originally published on May 24, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.

Credits

Host

Steve Burke

Camera, Video Editing

Mike Gaglione
Vitalii Makhnovets

Writing, Web Editing

Jimmy Thang

A720 AD 

ID-Cooling has updated its A720. It’s calling it the A720 AD and it’s targeting the higher-end market but still trying to be affordable at around $70. It represents a serious overhaul from the A720 that we’ve tested before, which was one of the top performers for its price. It was competitive with Noctua and was cheaper. The updated A720 now has pogo pins to deliver power to the fan. This means the fan doesn’t have a cable. 

ID-Cooling has also soldered the finstack to the heatpipes. This is something a couple companies are doing now. Some of them claim that this offers no performance improvement whereas others do claim a performance uplift. ID-Cooling says that, in a like-for-like scenario comparing the old A720 with the new one, the company is seeing about a 2 degree improvement at 280 watts. 

The A720 AD uses PBT fans. The most expensive fans typically use LCP, which uses a liquid crystal material in the middle for the blades. Sometimes they’ll do LCP for the inner and the outer part of the fan. This is what Noctua has done for its super expensive fans where the company is trying to get the tip-to-frame clearance as small as possible, hitting clearance numbers like .6mm or .8mm. This low of a clearance requires LCP or metal. ID-Cooling is using PBT, which helps with the price. The company tells us it’s supposed to be 30% fiberglass reinforced, which helps maintain the rigidity as the fan blades stretch towards the inner walls of the frame over time. 

620 AD

We tested ID-Cooling’s 620 in the past as well. It competed pretty closely with ID-Cooling’s older AK620, but the company showed off its new 620 AD. Like the A720 AD, the company is soldering the fin stack to the heatpipes so there’s some improvement from that and it also moves to a newer fan design. 

We asked ID-Cooling what is the biggest thing it’s trying to change with its revised coolers, and the company told us acoustics is the number 1 complaint it got. So the company has reshaped its blades to feature a more gradual curve to mitigate this issue. ID-Cooling has also changed the blade angle at the hub. We aim to test all of this as soon as it becomes available. It will be $55 and the company hasn’t announced a release date yet. We imagine it might come out around Q4. 

The 620AD offers 3 different levels for the RAM clearance on the front, which can be adjusted and clipped in. 

The outside fan is 28mm and the inside fan is 30mm. This allows the cooler to maintain a higher static pressure through the fin stack, especially with the dual-tower fin stacks. 

410 TD 

ID-Cooling already has its 410 series of coolers, but the company showed off its 410 TD at Computex. The TD stands for temperature display. This does increase the price a little and will supposedly make the 410 TD a $35 cooler.  It has a temperature digital display that shows the CPU temp. The finstack thickness has also changed with the TD model moving to 50mm. The heatpipes are all using a composite powder and groove style. 

It’s also made changes to the cold plate where ID-Cooling is trying to push the 4 heatpipes as close together as possible. It’s not as impressive as we saw at Scythe’s Computex booth, where Scythe basically conjoined them all into one direct touch pad, but they’re getting closer.  

ID-Cooling Liquid Coolers

ID-Cooling showed off a bunch of liquid coolers at Computex 2025, though not as much as at Thermalright’s booth.

SL 360 V2+

One of the liquid coolers, the SL 360 V2+,  immediately jumped out at us because its fans are a different width than the radiator. That’s abnormal. The fans are 120mm but the radiator measures 140mm wide and it was done to incorporate LED lights on the sides of the fans. 

To compensate for the smaller fans, ID-Cooling has added 2 water channels. ID-Cooling also added more liquid. Between the tank and the extra channels, it ends up with 36g more liquid. The propylene glycol percentage is around 15%. The reason that’s important is that the more distilled water there is in the loops, the better the cooling performance is. Propylene glycol helps with things like cold storage, transit, freight, and cold temperatures, but going too high with that compromises performance. 15% is a little on the lower end, which is a good thing for performance. The fans are AP120s and are 28mm thick. ID-Cooling tells us the cooler will have a 6-year warranty and that the surface area has been increased by about 15% compared to traditional 360 setups due to the size change. The cooler is supposed to be $190 when it comes out. 

Unfortunately, the cooler doesn’t come with an offset bracket, and we’ve requested that ID-Cooling include one. 

ID-Cooling informed us that there’s a .5mm gap between the bottom of the microfins and the bottom of the cold plate. Lian Li is experimenting with .3. The downside to that, or  something smaller, is there could be more flex/more weakness. The upside is the performance will be better because you’re getting the liquid and the microfins closer to the heat source, which is the CPU IHS.  

FX 360 TD Black  

At $80, the FX 360 TD Black is the cheapest liquid cooler ID-Cooling showed off. It offers a 360mm cooling setup that’s 27mm thick, which is standard. 

With an LCD screen, it’s $90. And it’s a 240x240 screen. 

DX 360

The company’s DX 360 liquid cooler offers a thicker 38mm radiator. It’s supposed to be $120 with its 2.8-inch LCD screen. Launch is TBD. 

DX 360 GDL 

We saw a prototype of the DX 360 GDL at the show. The key thing about this liquid cooler is that it has very short 100mm-length tubes. They go out from the block and go right into the radiator. The downside to this design is that it forces you to put your radiator at the top, which can be problematic in a super-tall case. The benefit to this design is that it looks clean.

ID-Cooling has also added 82 grams of additional liquid by changing the radiator size, which is 130mm wide and has 120mm fans that are 27mm thick. 

Its cap is also magnetic and pulls right off, which exposes the top of the tubes and the rest of the cooler’s block.

We take a look at Thermaltake’s full immersion cooling setup and several new cases that include the View 390 Air, TR200, TR300, and more

The Highlights

• Thermaltake’s full immersion cooling setup uses liquid and comically large hoses coupled with a massive radiator system
• Thermaltake’s upcoming View 390 Air case looks promising and offers a curved glass side panel
• The company’s TR200 and TR300 are budget friendly cases that include a TFT display panel on the front
• Thermaltake’s Mine Cube looks very reminiscent of another popular IP and offers a cooler block with 4 screens

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Intro

We visited Thermaltake’s booth at Computex 2025 and the company showed off its Immersion Cooling system, View 390 Air case, “Minecube” cooler, and TR200/TR300 cases.

Editor's note: This was originally published on May 20, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.

Credits

Host

Steve Burke

Camera, Video Editing

Mike Gaglione
Vitalii Makhnovets

Writing, Web Editing

Jimmy Thang

Immersion Cooling

At the show floor, the company showed off a setup that offers 50 liters of “immersion cooling” within their new IX700 case. Immersion cooling means that the system is in liquid. The liquid is PA2, which is one of the more economical solutions, but is still expensive. Thermaltake tells us it's between $20 to $30 per liter.

The liquid is piped through 2 gigantic pipes, which Thermaltake tells us is rated for 20 bar. That’s insane. It then connects to a massive 4-radiator system. Overall, it’s a showcase for an enterprise solution, but it’s super cool. 

The PC had its CPU, an Intel Xeon w9-3495X, and GPU both at 100% load. CPU core temperature clocked in at about 60 degrees C and the GPU was about 64 degrees C. We estimate that the room the computer was in felt about 23 degrees C. 

The system is running 4 pumps and 4 radiators using a 4x420mm setup that are 64mm thick. Thermaltake is thinking that its immersion cooling setup will be a build-to-order enterprise solution. Taking a closer look at the radiators, they felt warm when we put our hands next to them.  

The system uses dielectric fluid, which means it’s non conductive. 

The hoses for the system seem overkill and we don’t know what industry they come from. 

View 390 Air

The View 390 Air is a $150 case. The company is thinking about including 2 fans for that price, but the company is still deciding between offering 2 fans in the front or in the back. In our opinion, Thermaltake should provide the 2x200mm fans in the front as users are less likely to already have those.   

The case’s glass side panel provides a solid wall all the way around the case. The glass measures 4-5mm thick, which is very large glass. Interestingly, closing off the top panel can work better for CPU thermals sometimes. The reason is that when you push air in, it’s not able to escape through the top.   

There is a screen that’s mounted above the motherboard, which is optional. If you don’t buy the screen version, there’s just a steel plate there instead. 

The case has spots for 3 sunken 120mm fans at the bottom and room for 3 fans on the side. We do like seeing the option for 2 fans in the back when there’s room for it, but it does make the case taller.   

TR100

The company showed off several different color SKUs of the TR100, which is a case that’s already out on the market. 

TR200 and TR300

Thermaltake also showed off its TR200 micro-ATX case. It’s supposed to be $80.

The TR300, meanwhile, is a $100 case. 

Neither case has a riser, which means the GPU is normally installed. Both cases use a newer TFT display panel on the front, which Thermaltake says offers better brightness and sharper resolution than their prior panels. 

The company also showed off a prototype wood front panel. 

Looking inside the TR300, we can see a lot of Yeston-inspired marketing material on the pump block. In addition, the case also has a closed-off side near its front that tries to obscure the power supply and its cables because the PSU is mounted to the front and is rotated on its side. Unfortunately, this design does limit options for intake fans in the front. The case relies on bottom intake fans and some on the side. Again, unfortunately, the bottom of the TR300 is not that elevated though the TR200 does have more room to breathe, which we liked seeing. 

Thermaltake is looking at a Q3 launch for both cases. 

Mine Cube

The font and aesthetics of the Mine Cube might look familiar, but is legally distinct... The Mine Cube is a cooler block with 4-sided screens, which includes the top and 3 sides. It sits on top of a VRM fan and RAM fan. 

One feedback we offered was that there was no vent on the north side to allow air to hit the VRM from this angle.

Internally, the block cover has some slats. The unit we saw only was able to get in air through one side, but we looked at a really early prototype. Users can orient the Mine Cube to whatever position they want. 

There’s a couple challenges for Thermaltake to overcome here. The first of which involves software, particularly if you want to try and link the screens in any way. The unit we saw at Computex had a character moving from one screen to the next. The other main challenge pertains to cost, especially as it comes to controlling the screens. To address this, Thermaltake has gone to a single IC to control all 4 screens. Regardless, the 360mm model, which is the only one we know of at the moment, still ends up around $350. When we asked them about the technological challenges of trying to drive 4 screens through a liquid cooler, the company said it was “not making it $600,” which is a totally valid answer. 

Thermaltake is targeting an August release for the Mine Cube. 

Project Edge

Thermaltake also showed off an early prototype of its Project Edge set of fans, which offers a series of progressing screens. The company thinks this is where the future of fans might be. To add some context here, Lian Li makes a bunch of money selling fans with LCDs on them. Now the direction might be LCDs on the side of fans.

We take a look at TRYX’s new Flova ATX case, updated LUCA L70, Turris air cooler, which features a 5-inch 720p screen, and more

The Highlights

• TRYX showed off its new Flova ATX case, which uses a crossflow cooling solution
• TRYX’s Turris air cooler offers a 5-inch 720p screen
• TRYX has made several improvements to its updated LUCA L70, which we originally called a disaster

Table of Contents

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Intro

We visited Tryx’s booth at Computex 2025 and the company showed off a bold new case design that features a crossflow fan plus two axial fans at the front. The company also showed off its updated Panorama cooler and LUCA L70 case as well as a new case and cooler.

Editor's note: This was originally published on May 24, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.

Credits

Host

Steve Burke

Camera, Video Editing

Mike Gaglione
Vitalii Makhnovets

Writing, Web Editing

Jimmy Thang

TRYX Crossflow Flova ATX Case

We produced a story on the meshless AIO Mini-ITX PC, which used a crossflow fan, and it was a very interesting product. Now Tryx is shoving crossflow fans into an ATX case its calling the Flova. 

Crossflow fans are separated by disks. These disks cut across and create blocks of fan blades. The fan blades run along the whole length of the fan with a very slight angle to them. The point of a crossflow design is that air can enter tangentially to the axis of the fan and then it gets spat out, effectively, perpendicularly. This is a less directed flow. Axial fan blades slice through the air and push it. There’s a bit of a buffering effect from that. The downside is that there’s less targeted flow. The upside is that it’s a more laminar flow and it’s also sort of a gentler flow across a larger area. 

The Flova is supposed to be around $140, which is dependent on the tariff situation. TRYX is thinking of including the crossflow fan and a 120mm rear fan. 

The case has a fabric on the side and front, which gives it a little Fractal vibe. TRYX is going to have to figure out the porosity here as it looks like it can’t breathe too well. That’s the biggest downside to the design at the moment, but the unit we looked at was just a prototype. 

The rest of the case is very traditional. The Flova has a ventilated shroud top. The front of the case can support 120mm or 140mm fans, but using 140mm fans would force the crossflow fans out.  

The downside to this crossflow fan design is that it reduces the maximum size of the axial fans on the front. The unit we saw at Computex coupled the crossflow fans with 120mm ones. Without the crossflow fans, TRYX says it thinks it could fit 200mm fans in the front and definitely 160mm ones and maybe 180mm fans. This poses an interesting A/B testing scenario: For instance, do 120mm fans coupled with crossflow ones perform better than just 200mm fans? We don’t have those answers at the moment. 

We can conceivably see, with a really good crossflow fan design and implementation, there’s a possibility that TRYX is able to improve the cooling performance across the CPU and GPU. It’s really going to depend on how the company tunes for acoustics because crossflow fans can be noisy with their drum motors, which, in this instance, are located at the very end near the power cable. In our testing, it can make some higher frequency noises. It also runs at a higher RPM. The unit we saw was running around 2,400 RPM. The benefit is that the case is able to pull in air through the front and side. The crossflow fans are also a little closer to the front of the video card and should help with GPU performance, but will depend on how TRYX engineers it. 

The company is saying that the case will arrive later this year. We think TRYX will need to spend time on the acoustic testing to find solutions to contain some of the noise. The fans aren’t THAT loud, but they are a different type of noise than what most people are used to. We’re excited about testing it and have no idea on how it will perform thermally vs something like exclusive 140mm fans on the front. 

TRYX Turris Air Cooler

Next up, we looked at TRYX’s upcoming Turris air cooler, which isn’t due out until probably early next year. We’re told Turris means something like “hurricane.” The cooler uses 6x6mm centered copper powder heat pipes. The cooler’s fin stacks are soldered to the heat pipes. That’s not a new thing but we’re seeing more of it in the higher-end heat sinks. Everybody seems to be chasing these microscopic differences now to compete with each other, which is a good thing. We’re starting to see this in the $50-$100 cooler range. 

The fans are polybutylene terephthalate and are glass-fiber reinforced. Rather than LCP, which is way more expensive, they’re going with the PBT solution and that helps to keep costs down. The downside is that the blade tips can’t be as close to the frame.

The cooler also has a top plate that features a 5-inch 720p screen on top. TRYX tells us it goes up to 400 nits of brightness. The display uses a pogo pin solution.  

The fan speeds on the cooler differ from each other. The inner fan goes up to 1,850 RPM whereas the outer fan is about 50 RPM lower. We imagine this was done for beat frequency control to reduce some of the annoying humming noise.

The cooler also has an offset mount that’s pretty cool. Down the middle of the fin stack, where it mounts to the IHS, there’s an offset for Intel or AM5. 

Tryx Stage

The company also had an update to its Panorama cooler, which it’s calling the Tryx “Stage.” It’s going to be $200 for a 360mm solution with ARGB fans. It seems to be geared for all of the figurine collectors out there. We think it pairs well with Yeston video cards and Cooler Master’s Stage case as it will allow you to put all of your waifus (or husbandus) into the computer. 

LUCA L70 (Updated)

The company updated its LUCA L70, which we initially called a disaster and criticized its strength and structure. Outwardly, it looks pretty much the same, but TRYX has made some changes to the design. 

Taking a look at the back of the case, the company has added an extra hole to help with 3 and 1/2 -inch drive support, where there was an issue with that previously. The updated case also moves the 2 and ½-inch holes up, which was done to allow you to access the SATA connectors. We previously complained about how you couldn’t get into the SATA connector once the drive is installed so that change is supposed to fix that issue. 

TRYX also revamped the bottom front button of the case, which we called out for feeling mushy previously. It feels better now. 

Another change the case makes is that it adds pogo pins for the front fans. This gets the cable off of the front panel, which is good.  

The company says it’s also strengthened one of the front corners of the case.

The updated LUCA L70 also uses some guide pins inside of the glass and adds a screw to the glass panel, which secures it better. 

Panorama WB (Water Block)

When we were at TRYX’s Computex booth, the company showed off its new water block, the Panorama WB, one of which was supposedly signed by Jensen Huang. It comes with a Panorama screen, which has a VRM fan inside. The water block is designed for open-loop coolers and not AIO ones. There’s also software that allows users to adjust colors. The Panorama WB will cost $240.

Arc Vision Case

The last thing we looked at from TRYX was the company’s new Arc Vision case. The interesting thing about the case is that it comes with an optional screen in the front corner, which would pair well with a Panorama cooler. The front screen is sunken in a bit, which TRYX tells us was done to protect it from unintentional scratches from users and in shipping. The version of the case with a screen is targeting $240 and TRYX tells us that the Arc Vision’s screen will be able to communicate with the Panorama cooler. The example the company talked about was having Mario enter a pipe in one screen and exiting it on the other screen. We’re guessing for legal reasons, TRYX didn’t show that at its Computex booth. 

The less expensive model of the case won’t come with the screen and will cost around $120. 

The cases are supposed to have 4x120mm fans included. Our understanding is that it will have 3 fans on the side and 1 in the rear. 

Another interesting thing about the case is that it has a scooped shroud, which should help boost the air up into the rest of the case but we’ll need to verify that in our testing. 

There’s a lightbar included in the case and 3 of the fans are reverse blade. The case has 4mm-thick glass.

We looked at Scythe’s Scycopter liquid cooler, Magoroku air cooler, Big Shuriken 4, and more

The Highlights

• Scythe showed off its liquid cooler, which is currently going by the working name “Scycopter”
• The Magoruku is a $50 CPU cooler that’s supposed to be relatively high performing with 6x6mm heat pipes coupled with a nickel-plated copper cold plate
• We talked to Scythe about the news of its European branch closing down

Table of Contents

• AutoTOC

Intro

We visited Scythe’s booth at Computex 2025 and the company showed off several new coolers, including a mockup of a liquid cooler. Our visit comes off the heels of the news that Scythe will be closing its European branch, which we discussed with the company.

Editor's note: This was originally published on May 22, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.

Credits

Host

Steve Burke

Camera, Video Editing

Mike Gaglione
Vitalii Makhnovets

Writing, Web Editing

Jimmy Thang

Scythe Liquid Cooler

To our knowledge, we saw Scythe’s first liquid cooler at the show. We spoke with Kitagawa-san, lead designer at Scythe, who told us that he spent about the last year studying liquid coolers. 

The company also showed us a 3D-printed prototype peg with a piece of tape underneath it, which allows you to essentially stick it to any fan you want. A fan can then socket on top of the cooler and be angled to shoot air down toward the VRM or RAM, etc. 

The working name of the liquid cooler is the “Scycopter,” which is really cool and is a combination of Scythe and helicopter. Currently, the radiator thickness is pretty standard at 27mm, but that might change. 

The standard pump block will have an option that will allow you to install a fan on top of it. 

For the fins, the pitch is .1mm. That makes them pretty close together. Scythe also tells us that the total height of the copper coldplate is 1.6mm. 

Magoruku

We showed Scythe’s Magoruku CPU cooler at last year’s Computex, but it’s coming out now. It’s supposed to be $50, but the company tells us that it might be able to bring it down to $44 in the US depending on market conditions. 

The Magoruku is supposed to be a relatively high-performing, mid-range/budget cooler. Scythe is going with a flat nickel-plated copper for its cold plate coupled with 6x6mm heat pipes. 

The company is using 2x120mm “Wonder Tornado” fans as Scythe calls them. They are 25mm-thick fans and use metal brackets to adjust the fan height. 

Mugen 6 TUF

The Mugen 6 TUF is an ASUS-themed version of the CPU cooler. 

Big Shuriken 4

Scythe also showed off its Big Shuriken 4 CPU cooler, which the company also showed last year, but is now about final. It has cut-outs on the side of the fan, which Scythe says helps with performance as it allows air to escape from the sides. 

One of the things that Scythe is trying to figure out with the Big Shuriken 4 is whether to make it all black or ARGB. 

Scythe Closing Its European Branch

In regards to Scythe’s closed European branch, it sounds like the company is restructuring and moving operations to Taiwan. Scythe tells us it will still ship and sell to European customers.

We cover Phanteks’ new G370A budget case, the XT M3, and the Evolv X2 Matrix

The Highlights

• Phanteks’ new X2 Matrix case has 900 LEDs and is aiming to be around $200
• Phanteks’ G370A is a $60 case that includes 3x120mm fans
• The company has a new T30-140 fan that required 6 years of engineering to make

Table of Contents

• AutoTOC

Intro

We visited Phanteks’ suite at Computex 2025 and the company showed off several cases along with a fan that took the company roughly 6 years to make.

Editor's note: This was originally published on May 21, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.

Credits

Host

Steve Burke

Camera, Video Editing

Mike Gaglione
Vitalii Makhnovets

Writing, Web Editing

Jimmy Thang

Phanteks Matrix Cases

We’ve talked about Phanteks’ X2 case in the past but the company was showing off its new Matrix version, which has matrix LEDs. The X2 Matrix has 900 LEDs in a 10x90 layout. It’s supposed to be about $30 to $40 more expensive than the base X2, which means it should end up around $200.  

The interesting thing about the case is that the LEDs wrap around the chassis. In terms of communication, the LEDs connect to the motherboard via USB 2.0 and use SATA for power. This allows Phanteks to bypass a WinRing 0 type situation. 

Another Matrix case had 600 of them in a 10x60 LED configuration and is supposed to be about $120. 

Phanteks also has software that allows you to reconfigure what the LEDs display. When we got to the company’s suite, it had been programmed to say, “Gamers Nexus here,” which was cool to see. 

We also saw that the LEDs can also be used to highlight CPU temperature. 

Phanteks G370A

Phanteks also showed off its G370A case, which is a $60 case that includes 3x120mm fans in the front coupled with a mesh front that offers 38% hole porosity. The company tells us that manufacturing typically offers around 25% porosity.  

It has a glass side panel and the back side panel of the case is just steel and has no ventilation. 

Taking a look at the placement of the front fans, we asked Phanteks why they weren’t higher on the case so the bottom fan could get more exposure to the bottom power supply shroud area and the answer the company gave us was simply clearance for a 360mm radiator at the top. 

There’s not a lot of room for the air coming into the shroud. Some of it will go through the cable pass-through if it’s empty. 

The back of the case features a drive mount.

XTM3

The company also showed off a Micro ATX case called the XTM3. It comes with 3 fans and is $70. For its front panel, it has a unique punch out for its fans. 

The top panel is part standard ventilation but it does have one side that provides less airflow, which covers where the PSU would exhaust out of. The side panel does have punch-outs for the PSU, however. We don’t test power supplies, though that may change in the future. Power supplies can take a lot of thermal abuse, however, so we’re not super concerned here.  

The case should be shipping in the next month or so and is 39.5 liters, which includes the feet. We appreciate that as not a lot of companies will factor that in. 

There’s also a lot of cable management depth on the back and the case also supports BTF. In addition, there’s a panel that clamps down all of the power supply cables. 

T30 Fan

Phanteks’ T30 fan took the company 6 years to make and is a 140mm fan. The company is competing with Noctua in the high-end fan space, but is going for a grey theme instead of brown. 

Phanteks CTO Tenzin Rongen Interview

Finally, we interviewed Phanteks CTO Tenzin Rongen to discuss technical details behind the company’s long-developed fans. Make sure to check it out in our video.

Silverstone made the best case of Computex 2025 -- and it's actually shipping

The Highlights

• The FLP02 case is Silverstone's latest in its now growing lineup of retro-themed computer cases
• The FLP02 will be sold for around $220, if all things go as planned, or just under 200 EUR
• It includes modern features, like 360mm radiator support, but also mixes in old throwbacks

Table of Contents

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Intro

We visited Silverstone’s booth at Computex 2025 and walked away thinking we saw the best case of the show.

Editor's note: This was originally published on May 21, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.

Credits

Host

Steve Burke

Editing, Camera

Mike Gaglione
Vitalii Makhnovets

Writing, Web Editing

Jimmy Thang

Silverstone FLP02

Our favorite case happens to be Silverstone’s retro-inspired, beige FLP02. Its old theme may look like an April Fool’s joke, but it’s definitely going into mass production. The case evokes the look of computers along the 286 through 486 era along with some of the early Pentium PCs. 

The case has a red power switch on the front along with a reset button, which actually follows the front lock. The turbo button, on the other hand, adjusts the fan speed. The number display indicates how fast the fans are going.

The FLP02 case is based on existing tooling. 

Internally, the case is set up pretty normal in some ways. The power supply shroud is present and on the bottom, and it’s punctured on the top for airflow. Back in the olden days, the PSU would be in the top. The FLP02 also has 5.25 hard drive cage support.

The switches on the front of the case, which represent floppy drives, are actually functional. Releasing the lock allows the slot cover to come out. 

Silverstone tells us the mechanism here that we saw at Computex is actually very difficult to manufacture so the company will probably create a stronger and more resilient mechanism with the company showing us a 3D printed mock-up of one.  

Internally, the back of the case has a 120mm fan, but it can fit a 140mm one. The top of the FLP02 can fit a 360mm radiator. The case also has a vertical GPU mount option, though it’s only for a 2-slot wide mount, which restricts what kind of card you can put in it. The FLP02 also has a vertical GPU support, which is obviously a more modern feature.   

For inspiration, Silverstone told us it Googled old computers and chose bits and pieces that it liked for the case’s design.  

Older computer cases wouldn’t have had a lot of ventilation on the front, but the FLP02 has some ventilation on the front bottom. Its top panel is also ventilated and has a dust filter. The top of the case also has options for multiple radiator sizes.   

The back side of the case has all of the modern cable management options so it ends up being a mix of design from both old and new. 

In terms of pricing, Silverstone says it will probably be $220, but that’s based on the current tariff situation. In the European market, the company is looking at around or less than 200 Euros. 

The case is also hiding some more modern features, like the front-panel USB ports, under covers to keep the immersion that the case is old. 

We plan on reviewing the case when it comes out. 

Silverstone LD05

Switching gears, Silverstone’s LD05 is a more modern fish-tank style ATX case that’s trying to hit a $100 price point, which is, again, dependent on the tariff situation. The company plans on providing 3x120mm ARGB fans. In terms of fan-mount locations, there are 2 on the side and a fan on the back. And there’s also space on the top for either 120mm or 140mm fans. The build we saw had 3x120mm ones.

The case has a heavily ventilated power supply shroud, which also has a hard-drive cage within it, which is also perforated. 

Speaking of perforations, the back side panel is also perforated. 

The backside has some cable management space. It’s pretty standard. The LD05 also has white cables that try to match the case itself. The color isn’t an exact match, however.  

Silverstone Alta T1

The Alta T1 is a case we saw at last year’s Computex and Silverstone tells us it will be over a grand. 

Silverstone Alta T2

We saw a version of the T2 case last year. In terms of pricing, the T2 will be about $1,000. It has an aluminum shell. When we pulled off its bottom side panel at Computex, it revealed 1 of 2 installed power supplies in the system we looked at. The other PSU is right behind it. The shroud area also has drive mounts in the middle and the front. The case itself has a ton of drive cage options. The T2 essentially acts like a home-server rendering farm of sorts. It’s got 11 slots for PCIe devices, making it one of the larger cases on the market for PCIe support.  

The case’s rail system allows you to basically mount whatever you want wherever you want.

The top front of the case has a canted angle, which has a plate that pulls off. There’s also another plate on the front bottom that pulls off and reveals the interior of the case. 

The T2 we saw also had 180mm fans installed in it. 

Silverstone Home Server Interview

We also interviewed Tony from Silverstone, where he walked us through some of the company’s home-server style cases. Make sure you check out that interview in our video.

We take a look at Corsair’s upcoming i600 pre-built PC, Air 5400 case, Frame 4000D prototype, and more

The Highlights

• Corsair’s i600 pre-built PC is a new revision on the company’s i500 and overhauls its GPU cooler and CPU radiator
• The Corsair Air 5400 is an airflow-targeted case that has air ducts on the top and bottom of its chassis
• Corsair has partnered with Singularity to develop the Frame 4000D prototype, which has an interesting power board that handles cable management

Table of Contents

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Intro

We visited Corsair’s suite at Computex 2025 and liked some of the stuff the company had to show. 

Editor's note: This was originally published on May 21, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.

Credits

Host

Steve Burke

Camera, Video Editing

Mike Gaglione
Vitalii Makhnovets

Writing, Web Editing

Jimmy Thang

Corsair Air 5400

Corsair will release its Air 5400, which is an airflow-targeted case. On the back side of the case is a giant hole, which couples with a front-mounted radiator that will allow the case to shove air straight out of it. This design allows it to focus air flow for the GPU entirely from its own set of fans at the bottom of the case. 

This is probably the most interesting case from Corsair we saw at Computex this year. It should be around $220, though that’s dependent on the everchanging tariff situation. 

Internally, the Air 5400 has a duct at the bottom where the case has 3x120mm fans (the entire case is actually set up to support all 120mm fans, which simplifies things). The duct is there to guide air into the GPU. Corsair claims that the case is getting about a 1-2 degree improvement with the duct in a like-for-like test. 

If you do end up with a front radiator, then a potential area that gets abandoned in terms of airflow might be around the VRM area and some of the board components like system memory.  

There are mounts for fans up on top of the case along with an additional duct. 

Looking at the back of the case, there are 2 holes on the back, which is surprising for a 120mm fan. The spacing doesn’t look like it would fit a 120mm fan, but Corsair’s plan is to include a bracket that would adapt a 120mm fan here and would actually cut out into the glass area on the back, which would make you lose about 40% of the fan. This should help but raises some questions about whether it may cause acoustic issues when you partially blast air into a glass wall. 

Speaking of glass, the Air 5400’s glass is laminated. A couple companies are doing this now. Corsair says this helps the glass stay more put together to prevent shattering. 

Looking at the back side panel, there’s a big acrylic sheet coupled with an area where air can escape. 

Opening up the back panel, there’s a huge amount of cable-management depth. You can also see that the motherboard tray is punctured all of the way through. This causes concerns around structural rigidity, but Corsair is using a .8mm thick steel, which helps a little bit here. The company has also strengthened the case’s top panel compared to Corsair’s 4000D case, which received negative feedback in that area. 

The Air 5400 is set to be priced at $220 with 3x120mm fans included. 

i600

Corsair is updating its i500 pre-built PC, which we hated, with its upcoming i600, and the company has improved it a lot. 

The i500’s GPU cooling solution had basically no contact with any of the power components. The i600, on the other hand, has massive overhauls here. The case itself has only slightly changed, but the changes made accommodate larger radiators. The block for the video card, including the power components, is totally different in a way that looks promising. 

The stuff that jumped out to us right away about the i600 is the fin stacks for the VRM, which is connected to a shared copper nickel-plated base plate for the GPU and memory. Everything is connected to the same base plate, which is connected to the liquid cooler. This means all of the heat gets dumped into the liquid cooler. There’s pros and cons to this design. The pro is that all of the other components get cooled better. The downside is that the GPU itself is sharing the heat dissipation capacity with all of the other components in the cooler. This means you typically see some increase in the GPU temperature as a result. There’s ups and downs to this approach. It doesn’t necessarily mean one solution is better than the other as long as it’s all cooled. 

The i600 has copper bars, which contact the MOSFETs. Otherwise, it’s very similar to the i500. 

Corsair has also modified its CPU cooler radiator, where the company has moved its tanks off to the side. The tubes are also running in a different direction. Corsair is also moving to 25mm thick fans, where previously they had the slimmer 15mm fans. That extra 10mm will help with pressure and performance a lot. 

We plan on doing a review of the PC as soon as we buy one.

Corsair Frame 4000D

We saw a prototype of Corsair’s Frame 4000D, where the company changed a few things. Corsair partnered with Singularity for its powerboard. It’s somewhat similar to Elmore’s BENCHLAB, with the exception of it not logging power. With the case, you basically run all of the power cables into the power board and then route them to their final locations. We count 10 fan headers here along with a bunch of RGB headers. There’s a lot of possibilities with this. Currently, it’s mostly being used as a cable-management tool, but you could, in theory, expand this to include more switches, like fan-control switches. We would really like to see current monitoring. It would make it more expensive but that could be a potentially useful direction to go in where you could monitor on the 12VHPWR, for instance, which would become a great marketing point for Corsair and would be very useful for end users. 

The front panel is also different as it has a die-cut edge now.  

The power supply setup is also different here with Corsair doing an acrylic wall for the PSU instead of steel. The challenge here is that plastic is an incredibly good insulator. This could raise some ESD (electrostatic discharge) concerns and may cause the PSU to lose some of the shielding that steel provides.
As a part of this design, Corsair has customized the caps and PCBs so that they get nice color matching. It looks pretty nice. 

3D Printing

Corsair was telling us how for its upcoming 4000D and its Frame series cases, it was getting into 3D printable panels and pieces. 

They showed us how one Corsair employee 3D printed a shroud-like duct, which takes air in through the bottom and shoves it up into where the pump and reservoir are in the image above. These 3D print files are available on Corsair’s account on Printables.  

Corsair 5000D

We didn’t care too much about it but Corsair also showed off its new 5000D that has a screen on it, which is a thing companies are doing now. 

They also had a 5000D case without the screen, which is a larger variant of the Frame 4000D case. Corsair says that it should be priced around $180, but that’s in flux with the tariffs situation.  

Corsair Open Concept

Corsair’s open concept at Computex is using some of the same Frame components, where the company is trying to make the Frame series modular and represents an open frame. 

There’s also an option for fan mounts as well. The company showed a gigantic radiator tower at the show, which is pretty cool to see.

Cooler Master is doing some really interesting stuff with its new cases

The Highlights

• Cooler Master’s upcoming MF600, MF500, and MF400 reconfigurable frame cases are assembled from columns and corners
• The company also showed off interesting stone facade case front panels
• Cooler Master is working on a “GPU” with Asus

Table of Contents

• AutoTOC

Intro

We visited Cooler Master’s booth at Computex 2025 where the company showed off several new cases. Arguably the most interesting one is a modular case. It comes with, we believe, 8 corners and 12 columns.

Editor's note: This was originally published on May 20, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.

Credits

Host

Steve Burke

Camera, Video Editing

Mike Gaglione
Vitalii Makhnovets

Writing, Web Editing

Jimmy Thang

Cooler Master MF Cases

The case comes with a front panel that has a dust filter in it. 

With it all assembled, it looks like the cases in the image above. The cases are the MF series, with the largest one being the MF600, which we assume translates to “Motherf***ing 600.” There’s also the MF500 and the smaller MF400. 

Initially, Cooler Master is basically going to be selling pre-configured models. Eventually, the company wants to allow people to customize the case on their site and have it assembled and shipped from around the City of Industry. It’s pretty cool as it’s a fully modular approach.

The side panels are secured to the case via magnets, which is actually a nice touch. 

Internally, the MF600 we saw came with 3x140mm fans on the front and 1x120mm fan on the back. The motherboard tray is pretty standard for the most part. Exceptions include a rail system that provides numerous holes for screws to go in, which allows Cooler Master to reconfigure things. 

Inside the case towards the back, there’s also a rail system, which forms bits and pieces of the motherboard tray that allow for more customizability. 

Cooler Master has been kind of on-and-off in the DIY space over the years where they’ve had some really big wins and some really big losses. They were also kind of absent for a while, but these MF cases represent a better showing from what we’ve seen in a while from the company. 

According to Cooler Master, a pre-configured MF600 is supposed to cost $200. We expect to test and review the case. 

The MF500 is supposed to go for $165 and includes 2x200mm fans in the front and 1x120mm fan in the back. 

The smallest MF case, the MF600, which is a very large micro ATX box, is going for $150. In terms of fans, it has 2x120mm ones at the bottom coupled with a 1x120mm fan in the rear.  

Cooler Master also showed off different panel types they’re experimenting with. One of them included a facade-style stone. 

One of the pre-built MF cases we looked at had stuff flipped around in an inverted layout. One of the benefits of its rail system allows the case to have a bar that screws in which can support the GPU. Looking into this system, you can see that the PSU is at the bottom next to a bottom intake fan. 

Updated Cosmos

Cooler Master’s updated Cosmos has the NVIDIA-like DGX style front. 

We also saw a variant of the Cosmos with thermal baffles in it. We have some criticisms of its execution, but overall, it’s an interesting idea.  

The way the baffles are designed, Cooler Master is trying to bring air straight in through its channels. There’s a channel for the CPU that exposes the fin stack and Cooler Master's V8 CPU cooler. It conveys an idea similar to an engine cover. 

The GPU has a separate baffle beneath the CPU one. The company is trying to isolate air flow. In theory, this should work well and we would love this idea applied to more affordable cases, like the MF series, especially since they’re already kind of configurable. 

Looking at the back, fans can be mounted on the rear, which can help pull air out. 

We also saw another variant of the Cosmos case running liquid cooling with a distro block. It was coupled with 4x180mm fans and a “720” radiator, which pulled air into the case. Unfortunately, the air is blowing straight into the wall of a motherboard tray, but Cooler Master says the plan is to pull the air up and out of the case with additional 180mm fans on the top and to move the PSU towards the bottom of the case. 

Looking closer at the front of the special edition of the Cosmos cases, we can see the NVIDIA DGX shroud, which Cooler Master manufactures. It’s essentially like a sponge-like mesh. 

The special edition of the Cosmos doesn’t have a price yet, but the non-special edition variant is supposed to be around $400, which is before any potential tariffs. 

Cooler Master Coolers

Cooler Master showed off some CPU air coolers that had some 3D heat pipes, which had more heat pipes protruding from the center. 

The company also showed off its V8 cooler and a full-metal fan. The fan’s blades and frame are both aluminum.  

Cooler Master Elite Series Cases

Cooler Master does some really cool sh*t but has a branding problem. For instance, the company’s “Elite” series cases, shown in the image above, are actually budget cases. From left to right, we believe they are called the Elite 482 ($50), Elite 600 ($65), Elite 490 Wood ($50), Elite 691 Wood ($60), Elite 693 ($60), Elite 692 ($70), Elite 302 ($40), and Elite 502 ($60). Our advice to Cooler Master here is for them to unf*ck these names.

Most of the Elite series cases don’t come with fans with the exception of the Elite 302 and Elite 502, which come with 3 ARGB fans. 

MF360

Next up are Cooler Master’s MF360 cases, which conveys that you can see inside the case from all sides. While it’s going to have some thermal challenges, to give the company credit, it’s actually really good looking. 

The MF360 is a showcase fish-tank style PC that you can see through from both sides. Inside the case, we saw a distro block and tubes routed through on both sides.

Cooling X

The case in the image above, which goes by "Cooling X,” and uses the company’s new MF frame system. If you look at the corner, you can see the individual columns. At Computex, we saw it as a pre-built system.

The top of the case has a magnetically attached panel, which just pulls right off. The panel itself provides really good porosity and the material is pretty nice. Removing the top panel exposes 2 offset fans. The back fan tries to pull in air with the front fan trying to exhaust air out of the top, which is why they’re offset. That’s kind of cool to see.  

Cooler Master Fans

Cooler Master showed off all-aluminum fans, which include the blades and frame. The MF120 XT is a 120mm model, is supposed to be $35, and the company says it goes up to 4,000 RPM. 

The fan’s RPM can also be button-controlled via an external remote and it uses a dual-ball-bearing solution. 

Cooler Master’s mixed fans, which use plastic blades coupled with an aluminum frame, come with fluid dynamic bearings (FDBs). The clearance between the fan blade tip and the frame is important as the smaller that clearance is, the better performance you get. The major downside is that as the fan ages, it can start to clip the interior of the frame. Having it too close can also negatively impact yields. The solution to this is LCP, which is incredibly expensive, or metal, because it doesn’t deform, but that’s also expensive. Right now, Cooler Master says it’s about a .8mm distance, which is pretty good. The company is targeting 0.6mm by the time the fan launches. 

Cooler Master Video Card Shroud

Cooler Master also showed off some video cards, which is not something the company is typically involved with. 

Cooler Master created a GPU shroud with adjustable slats that can accommodate 15-30mm fans. This solution is geared towards pre-built PCs and isn’t planned to be sold separately.

Examining one of the fans, we saw a standard 25mm-thick fan, which Cooler Master’s GPU shroud solution can adjust to via different notch options.

Cooler Master is also using a vapor chamber, which is supported by 8x8mm heat pipes running through the shroud and a gigantic fin stack. In total, it weighs almost 7 pounds (3.2 kilograms).

Cooler Master claims that, in terms of cooling, it performs similar to the 4-fan Astral solution at lower noise levels, but we don’t have those numbers. 

With 4,000 RPM fans running on a 600-watt heat load, Cooler Master claims a 5090 will run at about 49 degrees C or so for the GPU.