MediaTek to Add NVIDIA G-Sync Support to Monitor Scalers, Make G-Sync Displays More Accessible - Related to a, rgb, g-sync, but, cooler

MediaTek to Add NVIDIA G-Sync Support to Monitor Scalers, Make G-Sync Displays More Accessible

NVIDIA on Tuesday introduced that future monitor scalers from MediaTek will support its G-Sync technologies. NVIDIA is partnering with MediaTek to integrate its full range of G-Sync technologies into future monitors without requiring a standalone G-Sync module, which makes advanced gaming capabilities more accessible across a broader range of displays.

Traditionally, G-Sync technology relied on a dedicated G-sync module – based on an Altera FPGA – to handle syncing display refresh rates with the GPU in order to reduce screen tearing, stutter. And input lag. As a more basic solution, in 2019 NVIDIA introduced G-Sync Compatible certification and branding. Which leveraged the industry-standard VESA AdaptiveSync technology to handle variable refresh rates. In lieu of using a dedicated module, leveraging AdaptiveSync allowed for cheaper monitors, with NVIDIA's program serving as a stamp of approval that the monitor worked with NVIDIA GPUs and. Met NVIDIA's performance requirements. Still, G-Sync Compatible monitors still lack some attributes that, to date, require the dedicated G-Sync module.

Through this new partnership with MediaTek, MediaTek will bring support for all of NVIDIA's G-Sync technologies. Including the latest G-Sync Pulsar, directly into their scalers. G-Sync Pulsar enhances motion clarity and reduces ghosting, providing a smoother gaming experience. In addition to variable refresh rates and Pulsar, MediaTek-based G-Sync displays will support such aspects as variable overdrive, 12-bit color, Ultra Low Motion Blur. Low latency HDR, and Reflex Analyzer. This integration will allow more monitors to support a full range of G-Sync aspects without having to incorporate an expensive FPGA.

The first monitors to feature full G-Sync support without needing an NVIDIA module include the AOC Agon Pro AG276QSG2, Acer Predator XB273U F5. And ASUS ROG Swift 360Hz PG27AQNR. These monitors offer 360Hz refresh rates, 1440p resolution, and HDR support.

What remains to be seen is which specific MediaTek's scalers will support NVIDIA's G-Sync technology – or if the corporation is going to implement support into all of their scalers going forward. It also remains to be seen whether monitors with NVIDIA's dedicated G-Sync modules retain any advantages over displays with MediaTek's scalers.

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Sabrent Rocket nano V2 External SSD Review: Phison U18 in a Solid Offering

Sabrent's lineup of internal and external SSDs is popular among enthusiasts. The primary reason is the corporation's tendency to be among the first to market with products based on the latest controllers. While also delivering an excellent value proposition. The corporation has a long-standing relationship with Phison and adopts its controllers for many of their products. The corporation's 2 GBps-class portable SSD - the Rocket nano V2 - is based on Phison's U18 native controller, and has been available in the market for well over a year now.

Furthermore, this review takes a detailed look at the Rocket nano V2 External SSD, including an analysis of its performance consistency, power consumption. And thermal profile.

Rapid advancements in flash technology (including the development of 3D NAND and improvements in TLC reliability) have been accompanied by the appearance of faster host interfaces for external devices in the last decade. Together, they have contributed to bus-powered direct-attached storage devices growing in both storage capacity and speeds. The Type-C standard has also achieved widespread acceptance in the consumer market. Protocols such as USB Gen 2x2 / USB4 and Thunderbolt riding on top of the Type-C connector have enabled the introduction of palm-sized flash-based storage devices capable of delivering 2 GBps+ speeds.

One of the primary challenges with high-speed storage devices is the thermal aspect. Bridge-based solutions with multiple protocol conversion chips tend to dissipate more power due to the additional components. High-performance portable SSDs in the past have had no option but to use them - first, with SATA bridges, and then with NVMe bridges. The introduction of native UFD controllers capable of hitting 10 Gbps and 20 Gbps from Phison and. Silicon Motion has opened up yet another option in this category. The Crucial X6, equipped with the Phison U17, was reviewed in August 2021 and. Was one of the first retail products to surpass the SATA speeds barrier by hitting 800 MBps speeds without using a NVMe bridge. Around the same time, Silicon Motion's SM2320 powered the Kingston XS2000 to 2 GBps speeds without a bridge in the middle.

Products based on Silicon Motion's SM2320 have gained a lot of consumer mindshare because they have typically been able to hit the interface speed limits for sequential accesses in both the 10 Gbps and. 20 Gbps categories. Phison's U17 and U18 were introduced with slightly lower peak performance numbers, and. Despite vendors like Crucial picking them up for the X6, the products didn't make any waves. The best implementation of Phison's U17, in our opinion, was seen in the OWC Envoy Pro Mini. The introduction of faster flash has since allowed portable SSDs (PSSDs) based on the Phison's native UFD controllers to hit higher speeds. As a result, we have seen an uptick in their adoption. Products such as the PNY EliteX-PRO, Sabrent Rocket Nano v2, and the Corsair EX100U are based on the Phison U18 controller. The EliteX-PRO's performance was nothing to write home about. We reached out to Sabrent for a sample of the Rocket nano V2 to determine if it could be the 'OWC Envoy Pro Mini equivalent' for the U18 controller.

The PNY EliteX-PRO, Corsair EX100U. And the Sabrent Rocket nano V2 all use the same hardware platform - Phison's U18 controller with 128L 3D TLC NAND from SK hynix. However, the firmware configuration, thermal solution, and case design are significantly different.

The Rocket nano V2 is small at approx. 72mm x 32mm x 14mm, but has a solid feel to it, thanks to its aluminum construction and 50g weight. The drive has a silicone cover that lends it protection against dents and scratches on the metal segment while also providing for a limited amount of ruggedness.

The Rocket nano V2 support passthrough. As shown in the CrystalDiskInfo screenshots below. Despite TRIM not being noted in the functions list, we found a NTFS volume on the PSSD successfully processing TRIM commands from Windows. All functions such as temperature read outs worked well.

Passthrough - CrystalDiskInfo Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Kingston XS2000 2TB Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Kingston XS2000 2TB Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB.

In relation to this, the table below presents a comparative view of the specifications of the different portable SSDs presented in this review.

Comparative Direct-Attached Storage Devices Configuration Aspect Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB Kingston XS2000 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB Kingston XS2000 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB Downstream Port Native Flash Native Flash Upstream Port USB Gen 2x2 Type-C USB Gen 2x2 Type-C (Female) Bridge Chip Phison U18 Silicon Motion SM2320 Power Bus Powered Bus Powered Use Case Compact and rugged 2GBps-class portable SSD in a pocketable form-factor 2GBps-class, IP66-rated, rugged palm-sized high-performance portable SSD with hardware encryption and a Type-C interface Physical Dimensions mm x mm x mm mm x mm x mm Weight 50 grams (without cable) 80 grams Cable 30 cm USB Gen 2x2 Type-C to Type-C.

30 cm USB Gen 2 Type-C to Type-A 30 cm USB Gen 2 Type-C to Type-C.

Attached Type-C female to Type-A male adapter (resultant Type-C to Type-A cable length : cm) Passthrough Yes Yes UASP Support Yes Yes TRIM Passthrough Yes Yes Hardware Encryption Not Available Yes Evaluated Storage SK hynix 128L 3D TLC YMTC 128L 3D TLC (packaged by Longsys) Price USD 182 $240 Review Link Sabrent Rocket nano V2 External SSD 2TB Review Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Review.

Prior to looking at the benchmark numbers, power consumption, and thermal solution effectiveness. A description of the testbed setup and evaluation methodology is provided.

Testbed Setup and Evaluation Methodology.

Direct-attached storage devices (including thumb drives) are evaluated using the Quartz Canyon NUC (essentially, the Xeon / ECC version of the Ghost Canyon NUC) configured with 2x 16GB DDR4-2667 ECC SODIMMs and a PCIe x4 NVMe SSD - the IM2P33E8 1TB from ADATA.

The most attractive aspect of the Quartz Canyon NUC is the presence of two PCIe slots (electrically, x16 and x4) for add-in cards. In the absence of a discrete GPU - for which there is no need in a DAS testbed - both slots are available. In fact, we also added a spare SanDisk Extreme PRO NVMe SSD to the CPU direct-attached 22110 slot in the baseboard in order to avoid DMI bottlenecks when evaluating Thunderbolt 3 devices. This still allows for two add-in cards operating at x8 (x16 electrical) and x4 (x4 electrical). Since the Quartz Canyon NUC doesn't have a native USB Gen 2x2 port, Silverstone's SST-ECU06 add-in card was installed in the x4 slot. All non-Thunderbolt devices are tested using the Type-C port enabled by the SST-ECU06.

The specifications of the testbed are summarized in the table below:

The 2021 AnandTech DAS Testbed Configuration System Intel Quartz Canyon NUC9vXQNX CPU Intel Xeon E-2286M Memory ADATA Industrial AD4B3200716G22.

DDR4-3200 ECC @ 22-22-22-52 OS Drive ADATA Industrial IM2P33E8 NVMe 1TB Secondary Drive SanDisk Extreme PRO NVMe 3D SSD 1TB Add-on Card SilverStone Tek SST-ECU06 USB Gen 2x2 Type-C Host OS Windows 10 Enterprise x64 (21H1) Thanks to ADATA, Intel. And SilverStone Tek for the build components.

The testbed hardware is only one segment of the evaluation. Over the last few years, the typical direct-attached storage workloads for memory cards have also evolved. High bit-rate 4K videos at 60fps have become quite common, and 8K videos are starting to make an appearance. Game install sizes have also grown steadily even in portable game consoles, thanks to high resolution textures and artwork. Keeping these in mind, our evaluation scheme for portable SSDs and UFDs involves multiple workloads which are described in detail in the corresponding sections.

Synthetic workloads using CrystalDiskMark and ATTO.

Real-world access traces using PCMark 10's storage benchmark.

Custom robocopy workloads reflective of typical DAS usage.

Additionally, in the next couple of sections. We have an overview of the performance of the Sabrent Rocket nano V2 in these benchmarks. Prior to providing concluding remarks, we have some observations on the drives' power consumption numbers and thermal solution also.

Synthetic Benchmarks - ATTO and. CrystalDiskMark.

Benchmarks such as ATTO and CrystalDiskMark help provide a quick look at the performance of the direct-attached storage device. The results translate to the instantaneous performance numbers that consumers can expect for specific workloads, but. Do not account for changes in behavior when the unit is subject to long-term conditioning and/or thermal throttling. Yet another use of these synthetic benchmarks is the ability to gather information regarding support for specific storage device elements that affect performance.

Sabrent states transfer speeds of 1500 MBps, and. That is backed up by the ATTO benchmarks provided below. ATTO benchmarking is restricted to a single configuration in terms of queue depth, and is only representative of a small sub-set of real-world workloads. It does allow the visualization of change in transfer rates as the I/O size changes, with optimal performance being reached around 512 KB for a queue depth of 4.

ATTO Benchmarks TOP: Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Kingston XS2000 2TB BOTTOM: Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Kingston XS2000 2TB Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB.

CrystalDiskMark uses four different access traces for reads and. Writes over a configurable region size. Two of the traces are sequential accesses, while two are 4K random accesses. Internally, CrystalDiskMark uses the Microsoft DiskSpd storage testing tool. The 'Seq128K Q32T1' sequential traces use 128K block size with a queue depth of 32 from a single thread, while the '4K Q32T16' one does random 4K accesses with the same queue configuration. But from multiple threads. The 'Seq1M' traces use a 1MiB block size. The plain 'Rnd4K' one uses only a single queue and single thread . Comparing the '4K Q32T16' and '4K Q1T1' numbers can quickly tell us whether the storage device supports NCQ (native command queuing) / UASP (USB-attached SCSI protocol). If the numbers for the two access traces are in the same ballpark, NCQ / UASP is not supported. This assumes that the host port / drivers on the PC support UASP.

CrystalDiskMark Benchmarks TOP: Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Kingston XS2000 2TB BOTTOM: Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Kingston XS2000 2TB Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB.

Building on these developments, the performance of the Rocket nano V2 in these two synthetic benchmarks closely mirrors that of the PNY EliteX-PRO. Give the similarity in the platforms, it is not surprising. Overall, for small data spans such as 32 GB, the SM2320-based PSSDs surpass the performance of the U18-based ones.

AnandTech DAS Suite - Benchmarking for Performance Consistency.

Our testing methodology for storage bridges / direct-attached storage units takes into consideration the usual use-case for such devices. A description of the AnandTech DAS Suite and its components is available here.

Audio and Video Read Audio and Video Write Blu-ray Folder Read Blu-ray Folder Write Disk-to-Disk Read Disk-to-Disk Write ISOs Read ISOs Write Photos and Documents Read Photos and. Documents Write Expand All.

It can be seen that there is no significant gulf in the numbers between the different units for most workloads. For all practical purposes, the average user will notice no difference between them in the course of normal usage, but. Power individuals may find the SM2320-based PSSDs and bridge-based PSSDs superior for casual transfers. Power individuals may want to dig deeper to understand the limits of each device. To address this concern, we also instrumented our evaluation scheme for determining performance consistency.

Aspects influencing the performance consistency include SLC caching and. Thermal throttling / firmware caps on access rates to avoid overheating. This is critical for power consumers, as the last thing that they want to see when copying over 100s of GB of data is the transfer rate going down to USB speeds.

In addition to tracking the instantaneous read and write speeds of the DAS when processing the AnandTech DAS Suite. The temperature of the drive was also recorded. In earlier reviews, we used to track the temperature all through. However, we have observed that SMART read-outs for the temperature in NVMe SSDs using USB Gen 2 bridge chips end up negatively affecting the actual transfer rates. To avoid this problem, we have restricted ourselves to recording the temperature only during the idling intervals. The graphs below present the recorded data.

AnandTech DAS Suite - Performance Consistency TOP: Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Kingston XS2000 2TB BOTTOM: Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Kingston XS2000 2TB Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB.

Furthermore, the first three sets of writes and. Reads correspond to the AV suite. A small gap (for the transfer of the video suite from the internal SSD to the RAM drive) is followed by three sets for the Home suite. Another small RAM-drive transfer gap is followed by three sets for the Blu-ray folder. This is followed up with the large-sized ISO files set. Finally, we have the single disk-to-disk transfer set. These workloads show the first divergence point of the Sabrent Rocket nano V2 from the PNY EliteX-PRO. Thanks to its aluminum body and internal thermal solution, the drive is able to keep its cool. Hitting a maximum of just 55C (compared to the 76C f the PNY EliteX-PRO). As a result, we do not have the thermal throttling during the disk-to-disk transfer set, and the full workload completes much faster than it did on the PNY EliteX-PRO.

PCMark 10 Storage Bench - Real-World Access Traces.

There are a number of storage benchmarks that can subject a device to artificial access traces by varying the mix of reads and writes, the access block sizes. And the queue depth / number of outstanding data requests. We saw results from two popular ones - ATTO, and CrystalDiskMark - in a previous section. More serious benchmarks, however, actually replicate access traces from real-world workloads to determine the suitability of a particular device for a particular workload. Real-world access traces may be used for simulating the behavior of computing activities that are limited by storage performance. Examples include booting an operating system or loading a particular game from the disk.

PCMark 10's storage bench (introduced in addresses this aspect with a variety of traces, as explained here.

Furthermore, the various component scores are graphed in the galler below.

The Rocket nano V2 is consistently in the bottom half of the pack, but. The delta is not extreme.

PCMark 10 reports an overall score based on the observed bandwidth and access times for the full workload set. The score, bandwidth, and average access latency for each of the drives are presented below.

Full System Drive Benchmark Bandwidth (MBps) Full System Drive Benchmark Latency (us) Full System Drive Benchmark Score Expand All.

Furthermore, the PCMark 10 Storage Bench workloads are relatively light, and. Not enough to bring out the delta between the PNY EliteX-PRO and the Rocket nano V2. They both end up with similar scores, while the bridge-based solution is on top and the SM2320-based PSSDs make up the middle of the pack.

Miscellaneous Aspects and. Concluding Remarks.

Moving to another aspect, the performance of the storage bridges / drives in various real-world access traces as well as synthetic workloads was brought out in the preceding sections. We also looked at the performance consistency for these cases. Power customers may also be interested in performance consistency under worst-case conditions, as well as drive power consumption. The latter is also essential when used with battery powered devices such as notebooks and smartphones. Pricing is also an essential aspect. We analyze each of these in detail below.

Flash-based storage devices tend to slow down in unpredictable ways when subject to a large number of small-sized random writes. Many benchmarks use that scheme to pre-condition devices prior to the actual testing in order to get a worst-case representative number. Fortunately, such workloads are uncommon for direct-attached storage devices, where workloads are largely sequential in nature. Use of SLC caching as well as firmware caps to prevent overheating may cause drop in write speeds when a flash-based DAS device is subject to sustained sequential writes.

Our Sequential Writes Performance Consistency Test configures the device as a raw physical disk (after deleting configured volumes). A fio workload is set up to write sequential data to the raw drive with a block size of 128K and. Iodepth of 32 to cover 90% of the drive capacity. The internal temperature is recorded at either end of the workload, while the instantaneous write data rate and cumulative total write data amount are recorded at 1-second intervals.

Sequential Writes to 90% Capacity - Performance Consistency TOP: Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Kingston XS2000 2TB BOTTOM: Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Kingston XS2000 2TB Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB.

The Sabrent Rocket nano V2 shines here with excellent performance consistency - maintaining close to 800 MBps through 90% of the drive's capacity. The temperature at the end was only 61C. The PNY EliteX-PRO with similar hardware presents a stark contrast - thermally throttling with temperatures ending up at 76C despite the write speeds falling to the 450 MBps range after less than 6 minutes of sustained traffic.

Some of the SM2320-based PSSDs such as the Crucial X10 Pro and the Lexar ARMOR 700 present enhanced numbers in this test, but. The Rocket nano V2 stands out in the Phison crowd and against other SM2320-based PSSDs such as the LaCie Rugged Mini.

Bus-powered devices can configure themselves to operate within the power delivery constraints of the host port. While Thunderbolt ports are guaranteed to supply up to 15W for client devices, USB ports are guaranteed to deliver only (500mA @ 5V). In this context, it is interesting to have a fine-grained look at the power consumption profile of the various external drives. Using the ChargerLAB KM003C, the bus power consumption of the drives was tracked while processing the CrystalDiskMark workloads (separated by 5s intervals). The graphs below plot the instantaneous bus power consumption against time, while singling out the maximum and minimum power consumption numbers.

CrystalDiskMark Workloads - Power Consumption TOP: Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Kingston XS2000 2TB BOTTOM: Lexar ARMOR 700 2TB Crucial X10 Pro 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB SDP PRO-BLADE 2TB PNY EliteX-PRO 4TB Kingston XS2000 2TB Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2TB.

Sabrent slips up a little on the power front - the drive idles at (around 100 mW higher than most other PSSDs based on native controllers). The sleep mode also triggers only after 50+ minutes of traffic absence - this is contrast to other PSSDs where the sleep mode can be observed in the graphs above (triggered within 20 minutes of the end of traffic). This could be a minor issue when the drive is used with notebooks, but doesn't matter for desktop usage.

The Sabrent Rocket nano V2 2 TB version is priced at $182, which is around the same ballpark as other 2 TB PSSDs based on native controllers.

The value proposition of the Rocket nano V2 may appear weak if only the advertised transfer numbers and. Performance over small workloads / access spans is considered. There is scope for improvement in terms of power management and performance over short bursts. However, the drive truly shines with excellent performance consistency for sustained writes over long durations (common, for example, in video recording scenarios). The excellent thermal design ensures that the internals do not get too hot, and the silicone cover ensures handling safety. Overall, it is a promising choice for many use-cases, and opting for it over drives like the Crucial X10 Pro and Lexar ARMOR 700 depends on the end-user's requirements and form-factor preference.

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The Corsair iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB AIO Cooler Review: Meticulous, But Pricey

Corsair, a longstanding and esteemed manufacturer in the PC components industry, initially built its reputation on memory-related products. However, nearly two decades ago, Corsair began diversifying its product line. This expansion started cautiously, with a limited number of products, but quickly proved to be highly successful. Propelling Corsair into the industry powerhouse it is today.

One of Corsair's most triumphant product categories is all-in-one (AIO) liquid coolers. This success is particularly notable given that their initial foray into liquid cooling in 2003 did not meet expectations. However, Corsair didn’t throw in the towel. Undeterred, they re-entered the market years later, leveraging the growing popularity of user-friendly, maintenance-free AIO designs. This gamble paid off handsomely, as AIO coolers are now one of Corsair’s flagship product lines, boasting a wide array of models.

In this review. We focus on the latest addition to Corsair's AIO cooler lineup: the iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX. This model is similar to the iCUE LINK H150i RGB, but introduces subtle yet significant improvements, including a performance upgrade with an enhanced pump. The TITAN 360 RX continues Corsair's tradition of innovation and quality, seamlessly integrating into the iCUE ecosystem for an optimized user experience. Its single-cable design ensures a clean and effortless installation, making it a standout in Corsair's evolving cooler lineup.

Cooler Specifications Type All-in-One Liquid Cooler Dimensions 396 x 120 x 55 mm (radiator with fan) Fans 3 x 120 mm MagLev Fans.

300-2100 RPM RGB Yes (ARGB) Supported Sockets Intel: LGA1851 / LGA1700.

AMD: AM5 / AM4 Warranty 6 Years Price $200.

We received the new iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX in a sizable cardboard package. Reflecting the cooler's substantial size. True to Corsair’s branding, the packaging elements their signature black and yellow color scheme. The box prominently displays a vivid image of the iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX, offering a glimpse of its aesthetic appeal. Upon opening, we found the cooler and its components securely housed within custom-designed cardboard inserts, ensuring they remained well-protected during transit.

As expected. Corsair includes all the necessary mounting hardware in the box for the iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX. Separate paper pouches contain the hardware for AMD and Intel processors, making the installation process straightforward. Additionally, the package includes the iCUE Link Hub, a crucial component of the iCUE ecosystem, which is required for the cooler to function.

Examining the provided cables. We noticed that the iCUE Link Hub requires a 6-pin PCI Express connector for power. Corsair likely opted for this to save individuals the hassle of using a Molex cable just to power the hub. Considering that most individuals purchasing the iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX likely have a powerful PSU with spare PCI Express connectors—especially with the prevalence of 12VHPWR/12V-6x6 connectors for modern graphics cards—this decision makes sense. However, in scenarios where the user has just enough PCI Express connectors for their graphics cards. They might be forced to upgrade their PSU or use Molex-to-PCIe adapters. Given the hub’s modest power requirements, including an adapter or alternative power option would have been a thoughtful addition.

The Corsair iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB AIO Liquid Cooler.

At first glance. The Corsair iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB AIO cooler might seem similar to many other 360 mm AIO coolers on the market. However, a closer inspection reveals a unique feature that sets it apart: the complete absence of loose cables, which contributes to a remarkably tidy design. The cooler follows the standard AIO layout with a single radiator, two hoses. And a block that integrates a copper CPU contact plate with a mini liquid pump. Corsair has opted for black sleeved, low-permeation rubber tubing for the iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB, which is much more flexible than most other similar solutions.

The iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB aspects a large radiator, measuring 396 mm in length. Which requires a case capable of accommodating three 120 mm fans in a row and providing sufficient space for the radiator's additional bulk. With a thickness of 27 mm, the radiator demands a total clearance of 55 mm when paired with fans for proper installation. The radiator employs a dual pass cross-flow design with finely soldered fins onto thin oblong tubes, a common feature in AIO coolers. Its low airflow resistance, thanks to the modest thickness, points to that the radiator is optimized for high performance even with minimal air pressure.

Corsair pre-installs the three RX120 RGB fans on the radiator, and. Impressively, there is not a single visible wire. These fans are uniquely designed with connectors on the sides of their frames, allowing them to link directly to each other. Just one cable can be used to connect the fans to the hub, providing both power and ARGB/speed control. The fan frames are equipped with LEDs behind diffusers on all sides, including the inside rim, creating a striking lighting effect. Additionally, a small sensor is mounted on one of the fan’s supports. These fans use magnetic levitation motors, a rare but highly reliable and quiet option due to their high cost. And have a broad operational range of 300-2100 RPM. The main difference between this cooler and the iCUE LINK H150i RGB may very well be the fans, as the previous version had QX120 fans installed. Which had a maximum rotational speed of 2400 RPM. Also, the decorative plates on the sides of the fans are detachable and can be removed should the user wishes to.

The main block assembly of the iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB is relatively large and may initially appear simple. But its squircle structure conceals sophisticated design elements. The opaque top half houses multiple LEDs, capable of delivering immersive lighting effects. The top plate is detachable and can be rotated to match the orientation of the cooler in any system, while it also offers people the potential for aesthetic customization. Particularly those with access to 3D printers or CNC machines. The block’s design is sleek and free of external connectors or wires.

The iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB cooler comes equipped with a squircle copper contact plate at the base of the block. Secured with eight screws. The plate's surface, while not polished to a mirror finish, is designed so as to ensure optimal thermal energy transfer. Corsair has pre-applied their XTM70 thermal paste to the contact plate, which is supposed to offer superior thermal conductivity, enhancing the cooler's overall efficiency. The only downside here is that pre-applied paste limits individuals to just one installation – and it has to be done right the first time – forcing individuals to purchase some other thermal compound if for any reason the cooler is removed from the CPU.

Once everything is connected and powered on. The iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB transforms into a dazzling light show. LED control is managed through the iCUE LINK interface, with customizable lighting effects available via Corsair's iCUE software. With the advanced capabilities of the iCUE software, customers can select from a wide range of programming options, from simple aesthetic effects to practical, function-based lighting. Such as temperature-dependent colors and alarms. The iCUE LINK module, working with the iCUE software, enables complete integration across all compatible Corsair devices, allowing for innovative inter-device control. For example, customers could program the function row of a compatible keyboard to act as a lighting indicator for the cooler’s fan RPM, or synchronize the cooler’s lighting with the active profile on a Corsair mouse.

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