*In the interest of full disclosure, my trip to Computexand China has been sponsored by ECS. This is not an uncommon practiceas companies often invite members of the media to events like Computex,in fact ECS invited representitives from other hardware sitesaround the world. All that was asked of us was that we look over theirnew products, tour their factory, and meet their representitives.

ECS

My first stop at Computex was the ECS booth, and to say they have a lot going on would be the understatement of the year.

Knownfor their reasonably priced motherboards, ECS has launched an entirelynew line built around INTEL's Series 3 chipset. Besides being the onlychipset that supports INTEL"s upcoming 45nm processors (at this time),the Series 3 Chipset offers many other features, including a 1333FSB.

Firstup is the flagship of the new INTEL Series 3 line, the ECS P35T-A,which will support Core 2 Extreme Quad Core and Core 2 Duo processors.While feature-rich, ECS promises that the P35T-A will be reasonablypriced compared to the competition. The P35T-A will offer a 1333FSB, 2x16 PCI-E slots (x16/x4), 1 PCI-E x1 Express slot, up to 12 USB 2.0ports, an E-SATA port, and 8-Channel HD audio.

A couple things Iwant to point out are the chipset and MOSFET cooling, which are maybe alittle strange considering this board's enthusiast target audience.While I was a little puzzled by the use of such basic heat sinks, apair of INTEL chipset designers who happened by explained to me thatthe new Series 3 Chipset actually runs much cooler than itspredecessors, due in part to better design, as well as the lower powerrequirements of the new INTEL line of processors.

I also need topoint out at this time ECS will not be offering this board with DDR3support, as they want to wait for DDR3 to mature a bit, which given theperformance I've seen from the memory, isn't a bad idea. Lastly, you'llnotice a 4-pin 12V power connector, which again may catch some offguard as most everything has moved to a 8-pin 12v power connector.

Alongwith a G33 chipset based motherboard, I also saw the G31T-M, based onthe (drum roll) G31 chipset. Both of these boards support Intel'supcoming Penryn update to the Core 2 architecture, and both of theseboards are shunning DDR3, at least initially.

Onething I noticed is that many companies weren't showing AMD much love.ECS did offer a few AMD boards, most notably the great looking KA4-MVP.

ECSreally impressed me with the depth and quality of their product lines.While many companies offer but a single board per class, giving theconsumer little to no choice, ECS in fact offers several boardscovering a wide price and feature range, meaning the end user canbasically get the exact features they want, without having tocompromise.

Most people think ECS is all about motherboards, butthey in fact offer a full line of NVIDIA graphics solutions coveringeverything from the extreme enthusiast 8800GTX to the most budgetminded 8500GT

Everyone'sfavorite high end GPU right now is the 8800GTX, and ECS had one ondisplay, further shedding their long held image as a low end, budgetoriented company. The ECS model comes clocked at 575MHz (core) and1.8GHz for the memory. The heatsink graphics looked pretty spiffy too,now if only there was a way to show them off once installed in asystem...

ECSwas also showcasing an 8600GTS, 8600GT, 8500GTS, and 8500GT. In otherwords, they're carrying the entire lineup of nVidia's DirectX 10 8x00videocard series.

You'llnotice that ECS offers HDMI versions of their graphics card. Thesecards simply include the HDMI adapter, which connect to your HDMIcapable device (Monitor/TV). They decided against including the HDMIconnector in every retail box, stating that only a small percentage ofconsumers are actually using HDMI, and this approach allows ECS tooffer the non HDMI cards at a lower price.

 

Gigabyte

Nextup was Gigabyte, another company thats made some tremendous stridesover the past two years when it comes to product quality, especiallythat of the motherboards.

Gigabyte'smain selling point over the last year has been its "Solid Capacitors",which offer cleaner and more stable power to the board and its keycomponents.

Last year Gigabyte earned the respect of manyoverclockers with their GA-965P-DQ6/DS3/ and DS4 motherboards, and thisyear they'll try to continue that tradition with a new line ofmotherboards built around INTEL's Series 3 Chipset.

Foranyone wanting to know what a DDR3 based motherboard looks like, hereyou go. Gigabyte's GA-X38T-DQ6 supports Intel's upoming Penryn refreshon a 1333MHz frontside bus, along with DDR3 memory at 1600MHz.

LikeECS, Gigabyte is offering a full range of videocards, from top of theline the budget options. Sorry, still no R600 sneek peeks to be found!

Thesame held true for Gigabyte's nVidia lineup, giving early DirectX 10adopters plenty of options to choose from at any budget.

Gigabyte recently broke into the high end case arena with their 3D Aurora 570chassis, which recently earned a 93 verdict and an Editor's Choice inour review. A few different Auroras were on display, unfortunately theyweren't showcasing any of their upcoming top tier offerings.

DFI

DFIpulled a no-show earlier this year at CES, and with the dissolution ofthe DFI-Street forum (they now host their own support forum, DFI Club),they've fallen off the enthusiast radar in the past six months. Manywere left wondering what would become of DFI, but they're hopping backin the tech saddle, showing off a full array of motherboards at Computex

DFIfans will be happy to know that the LanParty series lives on, withtheir X38-T3R motherboard every bit as colorful as we've come to expectfrom a DFI product. The T3R will offer DDR3 support, and of courseaccommodate Intel's hotly anticipated Core 2 refresh. Dual x16Crossfire finds it way onto DFI's LanParty, along with "PhysicsRendering technology." Also present is an 8-phase digital PWM.

Forthose not ready to jump aboard DDR3 (and I suspect there will be many),the T2R iteration is an almost identical board, save for the DDR2support.
 

Yetanother DDR3 offering, the P35-T3R also supports Crossfire and PhysicsRendering, and carries the same 8-phase design as above.

Andagain, those smitten with DDR2 will not be left out in the cold, as theT2R version is the same board, sans the DDR3 support. Everything elseremains the same.

Thermaltake

Next up on my list werethe Case and Cooling experts from Thermaltake. One of the most activeparticipants in the PC component and peripheral market, they nevercease to impress at events like this, and today was no exception.

We saw Thermaltake's concept hydraulic chassis at CES, and I had to restrain Hardware Editor Paul Lillyfrom running off the show with one (on hindsight, it would have madefor a great Youtube video). Officially dubbed the Sword, it's basicallya modified Tai Chi, an outstanding case in its own right, but with the added bling that comes with a Pimp My Ride theme.

TheSword remains structurally the same chassis as the last time we viewedit, but with a gorgeous yellow paint job and black accents. The brightyellow finish makes it even more of a head turner than before, and willnow attract attention even before showing off the hydraulics.

TheTai Chi (and hence, the Sword) was designed with the water coolingenthusiast in mind, providing ample room inside for a kit's tubing,pump, and radiator. But air cooling aficionados need not lament, as theSword I saw on display came outfitted with a wealth of 120mm fans, fourof which sat on the side panel, and two more at the bottom of thechassis. While overkill for modest setups, the Sword would make a greatchoice for overclockers and those running dual videocards or jumping onthe quad-core bandwagon.

Thermaltake'sultra quiet BlueOrb gets an update to the BlueOrb II, adding supportfor both dual-core and quad-core processors. Look for a HardwareLogicreview in the future, as we're curious how the cooling performance willbalance with the noise control on today's CPUs.

WithIntel's aggressive price cuts, quad-core processing is looking to breakinto the mainstream a lot quicker than it took dual-core processors todominate the landscape. And if that weren't enough, we're seeingenthusiast level DDR2 kits push the voltage envelope, with somerequiring anywhere from 2.3V to 2.4V! In short, today's systems arepushing the thermal envelope, and the all copper DuOrb follows in thefootsteps of the Cooler Master GeminII.These massive coolers not only provide extra material for heatdissipation, but the wide design also helps cool complimentarycomponents, such as RAM, capacitors, MOSFETS, and the chipset,particularly those that utilize heatpipes.

Taking this same cooling philosophy and running with it, a version of the DuOrb will also be available as a GPU, nay, videocardcooler. Sporting a low profile design, you'll be able to use the VGAbased DuOrb in SLI and Crossfire configurations, and will be compatiblewith nVidia's 8800 series. ATI owners aren't as lucky, however, ascompatibility stops after the X1950 Pro/XT/XTX series.

Scythe

Mostusers recognize the Sycthe branding from their popular Ninja and Katanacoolers (notice a theme?), and I paid their booth a visit to see whatkind of cooling solutions they had in store. It was an interestingvisit, as I saw some innovative designs being showcased, and will lookforward to putting their coolers through HardwareLogic's torturetesting.

Firstup is the Scythe Hybrid, an interesting looking cooler with dualtowering fins. Shooting up through the fins are four heatpipes on eachside for a total of 8, and a pair of copper planes that lay flatagainst the base and shoot upward along the inside of the fins.

Nextup is the Kama Cross, aptly named for its unique criss-crossing shape.By slanting the finned heatsinks in a cross direction, the downwardblowing fan is able to blow air across a wider area, and in theory acase's airflow should flow a bit easier through the heatsink too.