MSI has a tendency to go all out with a wide range of surprising products, prototypes, and exotic hardware each Computex—and this year's show is no exception. Not least because it's currently showing off a titanium that feels like it'll last until the end of time, among many other weird and wonderful delights.
MSI was keen to stress that the RTX 5090 32G Suprim Titanium Edition SOC is merely a prototype for now, an experimentation of material tech that might lead to titanium-shrouded cards of the future. Titanium is something of a wonder material for durability, although for reasons I'm not quite sure of, MSI has decided to colour it gold.
Because, err, nothing says titanium like a gold finish. Anyway, it might stand a chance of giving the a run for its money in the bling stakes, but given titanium's legendary lasting power, it may simply win out in the mega-unobtainable-graphics-card stakes by sheer war of attrition.
Moving on to something you'll actually be able to buy very soon, how about the MEG Coreliquid E13 series liquid cooler? It's got a six-inch LCD display that magnetically attaches in either horizontal or vertical orientation to the top of the water block, and makes for something of a showstopping addition to the middle of a PC.
Particularly when it's sat inside MSI's mega case, the MEG Maestro 900 series. I'm not lying when I say it nearly made me jump when I first walked into a room with it on display, as it's pretty much the most imposing case I've ever seen in person.
Its massive frame supports a three-sided tempered glass window that looks more fishtank-like than any other I've seen, with diamond chamfered edges on the outer, removable pieces. It has lighting (of course) delivered through LED light strips on the top of bottom, which creates a somewhat subtle effect.
It's about the only thing subtle about it, though. Not one for the shrinking violets, this, especially when equipped with two internal screens displaying all sorts of flashing information. You can also take out the internal tray to build the main bones of your rig, then position it back in the case in four different orientations. Clever, that.
There's no pricing yet, unfortunately, but I'll hazard a guess and say it's not cheap. Call me psychic, if you must.
Should the Maestro be a bit much, there's always the MAG Pano 130R PZ White, which MSI is using to show off a single MAG Vision Lite 12 display—as opposed to the two used in the Maestro build above. It's a 12.3 inch panel with 1920 x 720 resolution that connects over USB 2.0, either through a pin header or a Type-A port, and comes with a stand so you can position it outside of the case as a separate display entirely.
To show off your... no I'm not quite sure what I would use it for, either—although it'd be very sci-fi to have a dedicated screen [[link]] on your desktop displaying exactly what's going on with your hardware at all times. Or I could display my [[link]] work Slack messages on it, just to feel an air of superiority over my beloved colleagues.
Anyway, hook it in to either case internally, or stand it on your desk and enjoy the view. I like the flexibility on offer here, something MSI seems to be taking into account with many of its components these days.
Speaking of all-white components, MSI has also taken the wraps off of three new Mini-ITX motherboards, the B850I, B860I, and B870I Edge TI WiFi range. The B870I comes with three M.2 slots thanks to a five-in-one expansion card that plugs into a socket on the board.
I asked to see [[link]] one plugged in and was pleased to see it didn't reach much above the height of the rear IO box, meaning that you could still cram three NVMe SSDs into a teeny, tiny case without sacrificing precious internal space, should you so wish.
Chatting with one of the engineers, I also learned that MSI has to pick the PCB material carefully for white mobos, as "ultra white" materials can actually slow down some of the trace paths when implemented incorrectly. The more you know.
Oh, and before I forget—how about this for an oddity? MSI is experimenting with designs for a new version of its Cyclone cooling system, complete with built-in screen.
I'm kinda in love with the circular airflow layout, as it reminds me of Zalman CPU coolers of old. They were big copper beasties that looked great, but, in my experience, had a tendency to underdeliver on the actual cooling.
MSI knows a thing or two about keeping things chill, though, so I'd keep an eye on this one. Coming to a system near you at some point in the future? Perhaps, I'd wager.
And to finish things off, how about a couple of super-speedy gaming mice? The MSI Versa 300 wireless and Versa 500 wireless squeakers have been refreshed with 8K polling rates, with the latter getting a Hall effect scroll wheel to boot.
Both are ultra-light, ultra-fast, and make me feel every bit of my 37 years. Those fast twitch reflexes have gone, folks. You kids have fun though, ya hear?
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