

— 3:01 PM on December 2, 2011

We've got a packed roundup this week. No fewer than three announcements from NZXT have hit our inbox, and we have news from Cooler Master, Corsair, Scythe, and Thermaltake, as well.

  • Cooler Master rolls out Elite 431 Plus. At $59.99, this new budget mid-tower shouldn't put too much of a dent in your wallet. Still, it looks relatively well outfitted, with five internal hard-drive bays, a 3.5" drive dock that fits in one of the three optical drive bays (and can be removed), room for as many as five fans, and USB 3.0 front-panel connectivity. Look for this puppy in stores later this month.

  • Corsair announces Vengeance high-performance Memory for laptops. I don't usually think of laptops as candidates for fancy enthusiast RAM, but I suppose folks with huge 17" gaming notebooks may feel differently. Either way, Corsair has them covered with these 8GB DDR3-1600 and DDR3-1866 dual-channel SO-DIMM kits. The kits are purportedly "ideal" for Sandy Bridge notebooks and "designed to be plug-and-play, with no BIOS adjustments needed."

  • Scythe announcing 3 new Rev. B CPU Coolers for socket LGA 2011. In a nutshell, Scythe has updated its Mugen 3, Mugen 3 PCGH Edition, and Ninja 3 coolers with out-of-the-box support for Intel's new LGA2011 socket. There's not much else to it. The Ninja 3 Rev. B is already in stock at Newegg for $49.99. Scythe quotes European prices for the other two coolers, but it looks like the vanilla Mugen 3 Rev. B should cost the same as the Ninja, while the PCGH Edition (which includes two low-speed fans) is priced at a slight premium over its two siblings.

  • Tt eSPORTS x Softball THERON lets you play like a pro! Thermaltake has expanded its gaming mouse repertoire with another rodent, this time endorsed by professional StarCraft II player Zhan "Softball" Zhenyu. (I hear Mr. Zhenyu has up to three times the "who?" factor of his counterpart Fatal1ty.) The device itself looks interesting, though, with its 5600-DPI sensor, hardware polling rate switch, braided USB cord, macro functionality, and customizable colored backlighting. Thermaltake even built in 128KB of memory for macro storage.

  • HAVIK 120 has arrived. NZXT's latest tower-style cooler also supports LGA2011 as well as other popular sockets. It includes dual 120-mm fans and four 8-mm heat pipes. Depending on how fast the fans spin, you can expect noise levels of 18-22 dBA and airflow of about 62-76 CFM. Not too shabby for $54.99.

  • NZXT unveils HALE82 PSU series. This new family of power supplies includes 650W, 750W, and 850W models priced at $110, $120, and $140, respectively. All three variants feature modular cabling, 80 Plus Bronze certification, support for Nvidia SLI multi-GPU configurations, and five-year warranty coverage. Folks in the U.S. and Canada can also benefit from NZXT's Less-Than-Three warranty service, which provides advance replacement and free two-way shipping. NZXT says HALE82 PSUs will be in stores "soon."

  • The Phantom 410 finally makes its debut. Say hello to the successor to NZXT's original Phantom enclosure. This revised offering has a more compact design with a clear side panel and all kinds of other goodies. There's room for eight fans and dual 240-mm radiators for liquid cooling; NZXT also includes a three-setting fan controller, rail-mounted hard-drive bays, tool-less optical drive bays, and dual USB 3.0 front-panel ports. I think the Phantom 410 looks more elegant than the original, too, despite retaining the white-clad Storm Trooper look.

Actually, I'd say the first Phantom had an original trilogy vibe, while its successor looks straight out of the prequel trilogy—more rounded, aerodynamic, and sci-fi-looking. Hey, as long as they keep Jar Jar Binks out of it, I'm happy.

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