Easier installation? Yes, that’s why it’s done. Daisy-chaining fans using contacts in their frames is great, but it often also comes with pitfalls that reduce “cooling efficiency”. Manufacturers deal with this in different ways. One does it technically one way, another differently. In any case, they know that a frame that is too thick means less space for the blades. And that does not improve airflow per unit of noise. Read more “Fan frame daisy-chaining trend. When is it (not) helpful”
There are a few things we’ve previously said were in the works at HWCooling that, in the end, are unlikely to materialize. This isn’t anything dramatic, nor something we promised in a way that would harm anyone, but at least looking ahead, it’s unrealistic that we would not only complete some projects, but even have the space to properly start working on them. Let’s go through them one by one. Read more “Project cancellations: Fan encyclopedia scrapped”
PC cases from Fractal Design’s Pop Air lineup are now arriving with the number “2” (Pop 2 Air). In addition to maintaining attractive pricing, this brings a modernized interior, new features, and new Aspect fans. Yes, this series is not ending and will continue, including Pop 2 Air cases with an “X” suffix. Fractal Design bases these fans on the proven aerodynamic impeller design of the Momentum (RGB) fans. Read more “New Fractal Design Pop 2 Air cases come with… new fans as well”
Recently, we reported that Nvidia has likely canceled the new GeForce RTX 5000 Super graphics cards planned for this year, and that the wait for the 6000 generation will also be long, as it is expected to arrive only in H2 2027. For gamers, the situation may get even worse, as the company is now reportedly reducing production of currently available graphics cards as well. A resulting shortage could then push retail prices higher. Read more “Nvidia to cut GPU production by 20%—RTX 5070 Ti going MIA?”
At CES 2026, AMD officially announced thew Ryzen AI 400 series processors for laptops, a refresh of the Ryzen AI 300 lineup still based on the Zen 5 architecture, and a new flagship gaming CPU, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D. As to when these products would actually go on sale, the company only referred to later part of the current quarter. Actual launch days info has leaked now though, and the good news is that the wait should not be long. Read more “Gorgon Point APUs and Ryzen 7 9850X3D launch dates revealed”
At Computex 2025, DeepCool unveiled two products that arguably drew more attention than anything else in its booth: the Spartacus 360 liquid cooler and the CL6600 PC cases. One represents the very peak of cooling performance in DeepCool’s current portfolio, while the other embraces a design trend that has recently gained traction—cases with wood-inspired elements. Read more “Few liquid coolers and cases? DeepCool Spartacus 360 and CL6600”
NAND flash has become significantly more expensive, while DRAM prices have surged even more dramatically. DRAM is used as cache in higher-end drives and modules and cheaper SSDs will therefore become more important than ever—especially those that do not require DRAM. “DRAMless” SSDs have improved considerably in recent years, but a new PCIe 5.0 controller from Phison could push them even further—practically to high-end levels. Read more “Phison E37T controller: Affordable Gen5 SSDs with 15 GB/s speeds”
It is widely known that the AI boom has triggered massive DRAM shortages—including GDDR6 and GDDR7. Unfortunately, it appears that one of the consequences will be the cancellation of new gaming graphics cards Nvidia had planned for this year. The so-called “Super” cards were expected to be expected at CES 2026, but that did not happen and according to sources from Asia, Nvidia has completely halted the plans. Read more “GeForce RTX 5000 Super not coming, Blackwell refresh plan shelved”
The updated Noctua roadmap brings changes that will certainly not please fans of silent cooling and black aesthetics. The Chromax version of the NF-A12x25 G2 has been pushed back. Likewise, the compact PSU being developed in cooperation with Seasonic is shifting its arrival by another quarter. Fortunately, development of Noctua’s first AIO and the collaboration with Antec remain relatively stable, and the planned market entry is a positive signal. Read more “Changes to Noctua’s roadmap. Hardware plan from January 2026”
The long-anticipated 30 mm-thick fan in the 140 mm format has become reality. Albeit with a delay, Phanteks has finally expanded its official sales page to include the long-awaited new model—T30-140. The geometric foundation is derived from one size smaller “ready-to-wear size” of the T30-120 fan. The expectation of attractive results is therefore well grounded. The “legendary” T30 fan series has at last grown to include a bigger brother. Read more “Phanteks T30-140 fan finally on the market”
A year ago, Western Digital, who historically associated with mechanical (magnetic) HDD technology but then expanded into SSDs as well, announced the SSD business would move under the Sandisk name. WD acquired this formerly independent NAND and SSD manufacturer ten years ago. It took a while, but now this change is happening for real—all SSDs are being renamed, so let’s take a look at what names you should now be searching for. Read more “Say Goodbye to WD SSDs. You’ll find them as Sandisk products now”
AMD’s Tuesday CES 2026 keynote was entirely dominated by artificial intelligence hype. While it wasn’t completely devoid of hardware announcements, it focused mainly on servers and the enterprise market. Surprisingly, what many of you may have been waiting for—new Ryzen processors—did not happen (just like last year with the Radeon RX 9000). However, a new flagship gaming CPU was silently launched at the time: the Ryzen 7 9850X3D. Read more “Ryzen 7 9850X3D is here: 3D V-Cache for games and 5.6 GHz clock”
Regular, monthly riddles will continue into 2026 as well. This time connected with the DeepCool brand. Their product portfolio is very close to our focus, which makes the search for what you see in the photo details all the more interesting. At the end of the year, we will evaluate everything and see the results. For now, however, it is time to solve the first January challenge. And as with the others, the most successful solvers will be rewarded. Read more “DeepCool Riddle (1/2026). Can you guess what’s in the photo?”
In December, Microsoft promised that Windows 11 would focus on performance, including in games, during 2026. One of the coming optimizations concerns disk encryption. Microsoft currently uses software algorithms for BitLocker disk encryption, which have certain performance limitations and can increase laptop power consumption. This year, Windows will gain more efficient hardware accelerated encryption—but there is a complication. Read more “Windows 11 gets hardware disk encryption on Intel Panther Lake”
Last night, Nvidia held their keynote ahead of CES 2026, which—as usually—only focused on AI, robotics and large enterprises market rather than consumer PCs and devices. Even so, the company does have something new for gamers. The company is introducing a new generation of their AI-based game rendering—DLSS 4.5. It places even greater emphasis on interpolated frame generation, but improvements go beyond that as well. Read more “DLSS 4.5 brings 6× frame generation and better image quality”
Perhaps the most popular benchmark in reviews and CPU performance measurements is Cinebench, which simulates 3D rendering in Maxon’s professional Cinema 4D software and can be used as a metrics for comparing CPUs. Since version R23, it also benchmarks Apple Arm processors. Maxon has now released a new version, Cinebench 2026, which works better with the latest processors and GPUs and also includes an interesting new mode. Read more “Cinebench 2026 is here: New benchmark especially suited to Ryzen”
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