Corsair Overhauls Prebuilt, 3-Chamber Airflow Case, & Transparent PSUJune 5, 2025Last Updated: 2025-06-05We take a look at Corsair’s upcoming i600 pre-built PC, Air 5400 case, Frame 4000D prototype, and moreThe HighlightsCorsair’s i600 pre-built PC is a new revision on the company’s i500 and overhauls its GPU cooler and CPU radiatorThe Corsair Air 5400 is an airflow-targeted case that has air ducts on the top and bottom of its chassisCorsair has partnered with Singularity to develop the Frame 4000D prototype, which has an interesting power board that handles cable managementTable of ContentsAutoTOC Grab a GN Tear-Down Toolkit to support our AD-FREE reviews and IN-DEPTH testing while also getting a high-quality, highly portable 10-piece toolkit that was custom designed for use with video cards for repasting and water block installation. Includes a portable roll bag, hook hangers for pegboards, a storage compartment, and instructional GPU disassembly cards.IntroWe visited Corsair’s suite at Computex 2025 and liked some of the stuff the company had to show. Editor's note: This was originally published on May 21, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.CreditsHostSteve BurkeCamera, Video EditingMike GaglioneVitalii MakhnovetsWriting, Web EditingJimmy ThangCorsair Air 5400Corsair will release its Air 5400, which is an airflow-targeted case. On the back side of the case is a giant hole, which couples with a front-mounted radiator that will allow the case to shove air straight out of it. This design allows it to focus air flow for the GPU entirely from its own set of fans at the bottom of the case. This is probably the most interesting case from Corsair we saw at Computex this year. It should be around $220, though that’s dependent on the everchanging tariff situation. Internally, the Air 5400 has a duct at the bottom where the case has 3x120mm fans (the entire case is actually set up to support all 120mm fans, which simplifies things). The duct is there to guide air into the GPU. Corsair claims that the case is getting about a 1-2 degree improvement with the duct in a like-for-like test. If you do end up with a front radiator, then a potential area that gets abandoned in terms of airflow might be around the VRM area and some of the board components like system memory.  There are mounts for fans up on top of the case along with an additional duct. Looking at the back of the case, there are 2 holes on the back, which is surprising for a 120mm fan. The spacing doesn’t look like it would fit a 120mm fan, but Corsair’s plan is to include a bracket that would adapt a 120mm fan here and would actually cut out into the glass area on the back, which would make you lose about 40% of the fan. This should help but raises some questions about whether it may cause acoustic issues when you partially blast air into a glass wall. Speaking of glass, the Air 5400’s glass is laminated. A couple companies are doing this now. Corsair says this helps the glass stay more put together to prevent shattering. Looking at the back side panel, there’s a big acrylic sheet coupled with an area where air can escape. Opening up the back panel, there’s a huge amount of cable-management depth. You can also see that the motherboard tray is punctured all of the way through. This causes concerns around structural rigidity, but Corsair is using a .8mm thick steel, which helps a little bit here. The company has also strengthened the case’s top panel compared to Corsair’s 4000D case, which received negative feedback in that area. The Air 5400 is set to be priced at $220 with 3x120mm fans included. i600 Grab a GN15 Large Anti-Static Modmat to celebrate our 15th Anniversary and for a high-quality PC building work surface. The Modmat features useful PC building diagrams and is anti-static conductive. Purchases directly fund our work! (or consider a direct donation or a Patreon contribution!)Corsair is updating its i500 pre-built PC, which we hated, with its upcoming i600, and the company has improved it a lot. The i500’s GPU cooling solution had basically no contact with any of the power components. The i600, on the other hand, has massive overhauls here. The case itself has only slightly changed, but the changes made accommodate larger radiators. The block for the video card, including the power components, is totally different in a way that looks promising. The stuff that jumped out to us right away about the i600 is the fin stacks for the VRM, which is connected to a shared copper nickel-plated base plate for the GPU and memory. Everything is connected to the same base plate, which is connected to the liquid cooler. This means all of the heat gets dumped into the liquid cooler. There’s pros and cons to this design. The pro is that all of the other components get cooled better. The downside is that the GPU itself is sharing the heat dissipation capacity with all of the other components in the cooler. This means you typically see some increase in the GPU temperature as a result. There’s ups and downs to this approach. It doesn’t necessarily mean one solution is better than the other as long as it’s all cooled. The i600 has copper bars, which contact the MOSFETs. Otherwise, it’s very similar to the i500. Corsair has also modified its CPU cooler radiator, where the company has moved its tanks off to the side. The tubes are also running in a different direction. Corsair is also moving to 25mm thick fans, where previously they had the slimmer 15mm fans. That extra 10mm will help with pressure and performance a lot. We plan on doing a review of the PC as soon as we buy one.Corsair Frame 4000DWe saw a prototype of Corsair’s Frame 4000D, where the company changed a few things. Corsair partnered with Singularity for its powerboard. It’s somewhat similar to Elmore’s BENCHLAB, with the exception of it not logging power. With the case, you basically run all of the power cables into the power board and then route them to their final locations. We count 10 fan headers here along with a bunch of RGB headers. There’s a lot of possibilities with this. Currently, it’s mostly being used as a cable-management tool, but you could, in theory, expand this to include more switches, like fan-control switches. We would really like to see current monitoring. It would make it more expensive but that could be a potentially useful direction to go in where you could monitor on the 12VHPWR, for instance, which would become a great marketing point for Corsair and would be very useful for end users. The front panel is also different as it has a die-cut edge now.  The power supply setup is also different here with Corsair doing an acrylic wall for the PSU instead of steel. The challenge here is that plastic is an incredibly good insulator. This could raise some ESD (electrostatic discharge) concerns and may cause the PSU to lose some of the shielding that steel provides. As a part of this design, Corsair has customized the caps and PCBs so that they get nice color matching. It looks pretty nice. 3D PrintingCorsair was telling us how for its upcoming 4000D and its Frame series cases, it was getting into 3D printable panels and pieces. They showed us how one Corsair employee 3D printed a shroud-like duct, which takes air in through the bottom and shoves it up into where the pump and reservoir are in the image above. These 3D print files are available on Corsair’s account on Printables.  Corsair 5000DWe didn’t care too much about it but Corsair also showed off its new 5000D that has a screen on it, which is a thing companies are doing now. They also had a 5000D case without the screen, which is a larger variant of the Frame 4000D case. Corsair says that it should be priced around $180, but that’s in flux with the tariffs situation.  Corsair Open Concept Visit our Patreon page to contribute a few dollars toward this website's operation (or consider a direct donation or buying something from our GN Store!) Additionally, when you purchase through links to retailers on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission.Corsair’s open concept at Computex is using some of the same Frame components, where the company is trying to make the Frame series modular and represents an open frame. There’s also an option for fan mounts as well. The company showed a gigantic radiator tower at the show, which is pretty cool to see.

Coolers News Noctua's Next Big Thing: Liquid Cooling and Thermosiphons | Technical Deep-DiveJune 2, 2025Last Updated: 2025-06-02Noctua's Computex 2025 showcase includes engineering and design information on their new Thermosiphon cooler and CPU liquid coolerThe HighlightsNoctua shows off its upcoming AIO liquid coolerThe company also shows off its new NF-A12 G2 fanNoctua also discusses its Antec Flux Pro Noctua Edition PC caseTable of ContentsAutoTOC Grab a GN15 Large Anti-Static Modmat to celebrate our 15th Anniversary and for a high-quality PC building work surface. The Modmat features useful PC building diagrams and is anti-static conductive. Purchases directly fund our work! (or consider a direct donation or a Patreon contribution!)IntroWe visited Noctua’s booth at Computex, where the company showed off its upcoming liquid cooler, which is set to launch in Q1 2026. Once again, we have to give Noctua an award for least RGB LED BS we’ve seen at a trade show as we couldn’t find any in their booth.Editor's note: This was originally published on May 20, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.CreditsHostSteve BurkeCamera, Video EditingMike GaglioneVitalii MakhnovetsWriting, Web EditingJimmy ThangThe company showed off its AIO liquid cooler prototype, which consisted of 3D printed pieces that are intended to go into the pump block to reduce some of the most annoying aspects of liquid coolers with pumps as opposed to thermosiphons. The fan that goes on top of the pump block is an existing Noctua fan that they’ve reshaped the frame for. And it’s optional to mount on top and it projects the air out towards the memory and VRM components. We also looked at the company’s thermosiphon, which was briefly shown at Computex last year. It is a 2-phase thermosiphon, which means that it does a phase change. This makes it comparable to a heat-pipe in a way. We also got to see a bunch of different types of cold plate designs.We also got another look at the Noctua x Antec Flux Pro case, which we previously covered at Antec’s booth.G2 FansNoctua showed off its 120mm G2 fan, which also appears in the shroud top of the Antec Flux Pro case. A couple things have changed about the fan, which include the RPM offset being a little different.Grab a GN Soldering & Project Mat for a high-quality work surface with extreme heat resistance. These purchases directly fund our operation, including our build-out of the hemi-anechoic chamber for our acoustic testing! (or consider a direct donation or a Patreon contribution!)When we reviewed the NH-D15 G2, the RPM offset between the 2 fans was about 25, but the fans we saw at Computex are about plus or minus 50.  Noctua provided some first-party data and stated that on a 120x49mm water cooler radiator comparing the G2 fan versus the company’s NF-A12x25 fan under a 200W heat-loud, the G2 fan performed roughly 3 degrees cooler, which is really good.    Paired with an air cooler, there was about a 1 degree difference between the 2 fans, which is a lot for an air cooler. Noctua Liquid CoolerFor its liquid cooler, Noctua is working with Asetek, using the company’s Gen 8 V2 platform.  Asetek has been around for a long time and they’re one of the biggest suppliers. In the old days, they worked with Corsair, NZXT, and basically everyone’s stuff.The landscape has diversified a bit. Apaltek has gotten really big as a supplier. For as much s*** we’ve given Asetek over the years, in our experience, they’ve had fewer widespread failures of gunk buildup compared to competing solutions. Noctua MouseWe don’t cover mice, but Noctua also showed off a mouse with a small fan built into it. Noctua's Jakob Dellinger Interview Visit our Patreon page to contribute a few dollars toward this website's operation (or consider a direct donation or buying something from our GN Store!) Additionally, when you purchase through links to retailers on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission.We wrapped up our Noctua coverage by interviewing Noctua’s Jakob Dellinger. Make sure to watch our Computex video where we do a deeper dive into the company’s upcoming liquid cooler, how a thermosiphon works, and more.

Following the breakout success of ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’, which stars Jon Hamm and wrapped its first season last week, Apple has extended its deal with showrunner Jonathan Tropper, Deadline reports. Three-time Apple signee Apple TV+ first partnered with Tropper back in 2019, when he served as executive producer and showrunner for See, one of the platform’s launch titles. Since then he’s quietly become one of the most prolific creators on Apple TV+, with two active series and two high-profile films currently in the pipeline. Under the terms of this latest multi-year extension, he’ll continue developing and producing original content for Apple through his production company, Tropper Ink. Here’s Tropper: “Working with the entire team at Apple continues to be the single most creatively fulfilling collaboration of my career, and I’m looking forward to bringing Lucky and other new projects to the platform, while making more seasons of Your Friends & Neighbors” Breakout success According to Nielsen sampling data, Your Friends and Neighbors is the most-watched new Apple drama series of the year, based on first-month viewership across U.S. households. It’s also on track to break into the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 for the first time, a rare feat for a newer Apple TV+ original. Notably, Apple had already seen the breakout coming: the show was renewed for a second season back in November, months before it even premiered. Season 2 is currently in production. Up next Coming up next from Tropper: Lucky, a limited series starring Anya Taylor-Joy (The Gorge, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) and based on Marissa Stapley’s bestselling novel, is expected to debut later this year. On the film side, Tropper is writing and producing The Corsair Code, a sci-fi mystery adventure starring Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Ragnarok), and Matchbox, an action-comedy based on the iconic toy brand, featuring John Cena (Peacemaker), Jessica Biel (The Illusionist), and Sam Richardson (Veep). Outside of Apple, Tropper is also writing an upcoming Star Wars film for director Shawn Levy. Not bad. Apple TV+ is available for $9.99 per month and features hit TV shows and movies like Ted Lasso, Severance, The Studio, The Morning Show, Shrinking and Silo. Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Thrustmaster T598 + Hypercar Wheel review: a great value PC/PS5 sim racing wheel and pedals built on novel tech Direct axial drive impresses, despite limited software and a firmly mid stock wheel. Image credit: Digital Foundry Review by Will Judd Deputy Editor, Digital Foundry Published on June 1, 2025 We've seen an explosion in the number of affordable direct drive (DD) racing wheels over the past couple of years, with Fanatec and Moza offering increasingly inexpensive options that still deliver the precise, quick and long-lasting force feedback that cheaper gear- or belt-driven wheels can't match. Now, Thrustmaster is intruding on that territory with the T598, a PlayStation/PC direct drive wheel, wheel base and pedals that costs just £449/$499. That's on a similar level to the PC-only £459/$599 Moza R5 bundle and the €399/$569 Fanatec CSL DD bundle, so how does the newcomer compare? And what's changed from the more expensive T818 we reviewed before? We've been testing the T598 - and the fancy upgraded HyperCar wheel that's available as an upgrade option - for weeks to find out. Our full review follows, so read on - or check out the quick links below to jump to what you're most interested in. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Thrustmaster T598 wheel base review: direct axial drive vs traditional direct drive Interestingly, the T598 arguably comes with a more advanced DD motor than the more expensive T818 does. It uses a "direct axial drive" versus the standard "direct radial drive", where the magnets are aligned parallel to the wheel shaft rather than perpendicular (see the diagram below). This ought to allow for more efficient torque generation, producing less waste heat, minimising precision-sapping magnetic interference and requiring less copper to produce. It also means the T598 can "overshoot" to deliver more than its rated 5nm of constant torque for short periods. However, this design also requires a physically taller yet slimmer enclosure (measuring 210x210x120mm), potentially blocking the view forward and requiring a different bolt pattern to attach the base to your desk or sim racing cockpit - both of which are slight annoyances with the T598. (You do get an angle bracket to allow for wider and potentially more compatible holes for your cockpit... but this makes the tall wheel base even taller. Table clamps are also included.) Interestingly, you can also feel a slight vibration and hear a quiet crackling noise emanating from the T598 base while idle - something I haven't heard or felt with other direct drive motors and is reportedly inherent to this design. There's a lot going on inside this wheel base - including some genuine innovation. | Image credit: Thrustmaster/Digital Foundry Thrustmaster has written a pair of white papers to explain why their take on direct drive ("axial flux") is better than what came before ("radial flux"). Image credit: Thrustmaster In terms of the force feedback itself, Thrustmaster have achieved something quite special here. In some titles with a good force feedback implementation - Assetto Corsa, Assetto Corsa Evo and F1 23 stood out to me here - the wheel feels great, with strong force feedback and plenty of detail. If you run up on a kerb or start to lose traction, you know about it right away and can take corrective action. I also appreciated the way that turning the wheel feels perfectly smooth when turning, without any cogging - the slightly jerky sensation common to low-end and mid-range direct drive motors that corresponds to slight attraction as you pass each magnet. However, balancing this, the wheel's force feedback feels a little less consistent than others I've tested from the likes of Fanatec or Moza at a similar price point, with some games like Project Cars 3 and Forza Motorsport feeling almost bereft of force feedback by comparison. You also have that slight vibration when the wheel is stationary, which is potentially more noticeable than the cogging sensation in traditional DD designs. The overshoot is also a mixed bag - as the sudden jump in torque can feel a little artificial in some scenarios, eg when you're warming your tyres by weaving in F1 before a safety car restart. I'd say that these positives and negatives largely cancel each other out, and you're left with force feedback that is good, way better than non-DD wheels, but not noticeably better than more common radial direct drive designs. Depending on the games you play, either DD style could be preferable. It'll be interesting to see if Thrustmaster are able to tune out some of these negative characteristics through firmware updates - or simply in later products using the same technology. 1 of 7 Caption Attribution Here's how the T598 looks IRL - from the wheel base itself to the default rim, the upgraded Hypercar wheel and the included dual pedals. Click to enlarge. Apart from the novel motor, the rest of the wheel base is fairly standard - there's a small (colour!) display on the top for adjusting your settings and seeing in-game info like a rev counter, four large circular buttons buttons (L3, R3, Mode and Settings), the usual Thrustmaster quick release lock for securing your wheel rim and a small button on the back to turn the wheel base on and off. There are connection options for power, USB and connecting other components like pedals or shifters on the back too. Weirdly, there's no ability to change settings in the PC Thrustmaster Panel app - it just says this functionality is "coming soon!" - so right now you can only use it for updating firmware, testing buttons and changing between profiles. "Coming soon!" starts to become a little less believable six months after the first reviews hit. | Image credit: Digital Foundry Instead, you'll be using the built-in screen for making changes, which works well enough but doesn't provide any allowance for extra information - so you'll be sticking to the four basic pre-made profiles, referring to the manual or checking suggested setups online rather than reading built-in tool tips. You still get access to the full whack of settings here, and of course this works well for PS5/PS4 users who wouldn't expect a software experience anyway, but PC users may be disappointed to learn that there's no intuitive software interface here. I found the Boosted Media YT review of the wheelbase to offer some good insight into what settings you're likely to want to change from their default values. Thrustmaster T598 Sportcar wheel review: a workable default option The Sportcar wheel rim looks good - but a plastic construction and relatively spartan controls make it "OK" at best. The "Sportcar" wheel provided in the bundle is a little less impressive-looking than the base itself, with a plasticky feel throughout and fairly mushy buttons - though the paddles are snappy enough and feel good to use. The usual PS-style face buttons are split into two clumps up top with L2 and R2, which is a bit odd, with four individual directional buttons in the lower left, start/select/PS in the lower middle and four configuration buttons in the lower right. Those configuration buttons require extra explanation, so here we go: the P button at the top swaps between four different pages, indicated with a different colour LED, allowing the remaining three physical buttons to activate up to 12 different functions. (The Fanatec GT DD Pro, by contrast, has dedicated five-way controls for each of its four functions. This costs more to produce, but allows you to use the controls without looking down to see what coloured light is active.) There are no rotary encoders or other additional controls here, so PC players that prefer more complicated racing sims may feel a bit underserved by this clunky, cost-saving solution. The 815g wheel is at least sized reasonably, with 300mm circular shape that particularly suits drifting, rally and trucking - though all forms of driving and racing are of course possible. The rubber grips under your hands are reasonably comfortable, but you can still feel seams in various places. Overall, the wheel is possibly the weakest part of the package, but perfectly usable and acceptable for the price point. Thrustmaster Hypercar Wheel Add-On review: true luxury An incredible wheel with premium materials, excellent controls and a more specialised shape. Thrustmaster also sent over the £339/$350 Hypercar wheel rim for testing, which is an upgrade option that uses significantly better materials - leather, alcantara, aluminium and carbon - and offers a huge number of extra controls (25 buttons, including four rotary encoders and two pairs of analogue paddles). Its oval shape feels a bit more responsive for faster vehicles (like F1 cars) that require a quick change of direction, but drifting and rally doesn't feel natural. It supports the same PS4, PS5 and PC platforms as the stock option, but there are no legends printed on the buttons to help you. The difference in quality here is immediately apparent, with much better tactile feedback from the buttons and a huge number of additional controls for adjusting stuff like ERS deployment or brake bias. Each control feels well-placed, even if the T-shaped layout for the face buttons is slightly unnatural at first, and the paddles for shifting and the clutch are particularly well engineered. I also found holding the wheel a bit more comfortable thanks to that flattened out shape, the more premium materials and the absence of bumps or seams anywhere you're likely to hold. It's a huge upgrade in terms of feel and features then, as you'd hope for a wheel rim that costs nearly as much as the entire T598 kit and caboodle. As an upgrade option, I do rate it, though it perhaps makes slightly more sense for T818 owners that have already invested a bit more in the Thrusmaster ecosystem. Regardless, it was this rim that I used for the majority of my time with the T598, and the wheel base feels significantly better with the upgrade. Thrustmaster T598 Raceline pedals review: great feedback, but no clutch and no load cell upgrade offered at present Surprisingly good for two add-in pedals, in terms of feedback and flexibility. The pedals that come with the T598 are surprisingly good, with an accelerator, a brake pedal (with a choice of two different spring options) and no clutch pedal. Each pedal's spring assembly can be pushed into one of three positions to change the amount of pre-load - ie make it a bit softer or harder to press and the pedal plates can be shifted up and down. The narrow dimensions of the metal wheel plate meant that it was impossible to mount directly in the centre of the Playseat Trophy I used for testing, but the slightly off-centre installation I ended up with still worked just fine. They connect using a non-USB connection, so you can't use the pedals with other wheel bases. Using the middle distance setting and the firmer of the two springs for the brake, I found the T598 produced good results, on par or perhaps even a tad better than other metal-construction Hall Effect position sensor (ie non-load cell) pedals I've tested such as the Moza SR-P Lite and Fanatec CSL. Braking is the critical point here, as you want to be able to feel when the brake has mechanically reached its threshold and then modulate your inputs from there, and the T598 pedals do allow for this quite easily. They're also not so hard to actuate that you end up having to hard-mount them to a sim rig for good results, and the included carpet spikes are reasonably effective in keeping the pedals in place. Presumably, it ought to be possible to add on a load cell brake pedal down the line to upgrade to a proper (if slightly cramped) three pedal setup. For the F1 style driving that I prefer, the clutch pedal isn't used anyway, so it wasn't a massive issue for me - and we frequently see companies like Moza and Fanatec drop the clutch pedal on these aggessively priced bundles so Thrustmaster aren't losing ground by following suit. Thrustmaster T598 final verdict: a competitive £450 package with potential For PlayStation owners, this is an incredible value pickup that ranks among the cheapest DD options - and PC owners ought to consider it too. For £449/$499, the Thrustmaster T598 is an excellent value direct drive wheel and pedal bundle for PlayStation and PC with some relatively minor quirks. The wheel base is powerful, detailed and responsive in most games, with some advantages over traditional DD designs but also some disadvantages - notably the taller shape and a slight hum/vibration while stationary. Traditional DD designs from the likes of Fanatec and Moza can offer more reliable force feedback that works over a wider range of games, cars and tracks, while also benefitting from better PC software, but there's certainly potential for Thrustmaster to improve here. The included wheel feels a bit cheap, with a predominantly plastic design, spongey buttons and a slightly odd layout, but the full circle shape and full PS5/PS4 compatibility is most welcome. Upgrading to the HyperCar wheel provides a huge uptick in materials, tactile feedback and number of controls, though this does come at a fairly steep price of £339/$350. If you plan to use the T598 for years and have the budget for it, this is a super upgrade to aim for. The included Raceline LTE pedals are the most surprising element for me. These consist of only an accelerator and a brake with only moderate adjustability and a narrow base plate, but they feel great to use, are made from durable metal with HE sensors, and only really lose out to significantly more expensive load cell options. For an add-in for a relatively cheap DD bundle, they're a solid inclusion, and I hope Thrustmaster release a load cell brake pedal for users to upgrade to a better three-pedal setup later. Overall, it's an competitive first outing for Thrustmaster with the T598 and direct axial drive, and I'm curious to see where the company - and the tech - goes from here. With Fanatec still on the rebuild after being acquired by Corsair and Moza's offerings being hard to order online in some regions, Thrustmaster has a golden opportunity to seize a share of the mid-range and entry-level sim racing market, and the T598 is a positive start.

Why is nobody talking about the PS5 anymore? – Reader’s Feature GameCentral Published June 1, 2025 7:00am Whatever happened to the PS5? (Sony) A reader worries that Sony’s strange behaviour over the last few years has seen the PS5 become sidelined and ignored compared to other formats. For years now, I’ve been reading people, both here and elsewhere online, asking what has happened to Sony and why they’re acting the way they do now. The lack of showcases, the general lack of communication, the obsession with live service games, and the reduction in new single-player games… it’s obvious to everyone and yet we’ve never had an explanation or an acknowledgement from Sony that anything unusual is happening. I think it’s pretty obvious that we’re not going to get one either. Sony are just going to carry on being weird and pretending that’s what they were always like. They’ve been like this for well over two years now, so anyone buying a PlayStation 5 in that time will never know anything else. There is a problem though – well there’s multiple, obviously – but the thing I can’t help but notice at the moment is how little people talk about the PlayStation 5 anymore. The Switch 2 is eating up a lot of bandwidth right now but it’s not just that. The PlayStation 5 feels played out, a disappointment and unexciting, just part of the gaming furniture and nothing more. The Switch 2 launch is coming up, but people have been talking excitedly about it for months now. A new console is obviously a rare thing, that’s always going to draw attention, but the PC as a gaming format has also been a big topic for the last year or so. It’s far more popular than I have ever known and now seems to be the default format for games, rather than any console. That’s the position the PlayStation 5 should have but it’s not really how it’s turned out. You could argue even the Xbox has been more a topic of conversation recently, even if that’s in a negative way. But at least people don’t forget it exists. It looks like we probably won’t get a PlayStation showcase this month, since they’ve already missed their usual May slot, and the rumours say maybe not one until September. That’s ridiculous. Not only do we know virtually nothing about Ghost Of Yōtei, but there’s nothing confirmed for next year yet, except Saros (had to look up that spelling). Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and Marvel’s Wolverine don’t have any year confirmed yet and that’s all we know about in terms of games made by Sony themselves. I’m not going to speculate on why this is happening or when it might end, because frankly I haven’t got a clue, but I do know that it’s having a very negative effect on PlayStation’s reputation, in a way people aren’t talking about enough. The PlayStation 5 just seems invisible now, something that’s always there but which nobody cares about and definitely something nobody is excited about. Will this change if they announce a new game? Well, it didn’t with Ghost Of Yōtei. You could say that’s not really their biggest franchise, and you’d be right, but the longer Sony carries on in zombie mode the harder it is going to be to get anyone’s attention. It won’t be long before it needs The Last Of Us Part 3 or God Of War 3 before there’s any kind of a reaction, but I don’t see those games happening anytime soon. Sony is so out of touch they think fans will wait forever for whatever news they can be bothered to tell us, and then we’ll be amazed and excited, but I don’t think that’s true anymore. More Trending The PlayStation 6 seems to be only a year away and the sad thing is that means the PlayStation 5 is just going to fade away, forgotten and underused. How can a console be this successful and yet be such an utter failure and disappointment at the same time? I wouldn’t have thought it possible and yet here we are. By reader Corsair PC gaming has seen a major boost in the last few years (Microsoft) The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Pros Excellent cooling performanceBrilliantly designed front fan bracketsBeautiful lighting effects in tested Ambience Pro RGB versionElaborate, web-accessible software controls for lighting, fans Cons Only minimal dust filtrationHigh price for our Ambience Pro test model Fractal Design Meshify 3 Specs 120mm or 140mm Fan Positions 6 120mm to 200mm Fans Included 3 Dimensions (HWD) 20.1 by 9.1 by 17.2 inches Fan Controller Included? Front Panel Ports HD Audio Front Panel Ports USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (2) Front Panel Ports USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C Included Fan Lighting Color Addressable RGB Internal 2.5-Inch Bays 6 Internal 3.5-Inch Bays 2 Internal Chassis Lighting Color None Maximum CPU Cooler Height 173 Maximum GPU Length 349 Motherboard Form Factors Supported ATX Motherboard Form Factors Supported MicroATX Motherboard Form Factors Supported Mini-ITX PCI Expansion Slot Positions 7 Power Supply Form Factor Supported ATX Power Supply Maximum Length 180 Power Supply Mounting Location Bottom Side Window(s)? Yes (Tempered Glass) Weight 20.2 All Specs Fractal Design boosts its latest Meshify PC case with a trio of 140mm ARGB fans behind its now-iconic “crumpled mesh” front face. Starting at a mid-market $139.99 for its base model, the Meshify 3 also comes in upgraded versions with nifty extras that creep up the price. These include items like ARGB fan trim, ARGB side panel lighting, an ARGB strip surrounding the face panel, and even an ARGB controller that connects to the web. Taken together, all that can bump the price as high as the $219.99 MSRP for the deluxe, spectacular Ambience Pro RGB version of the case we tested. Whatever the feature mix you opt for, the case’s robust cooling performance shines. At the high end of the range, though, factor in the case’s biggest shortfall—its lack of inlet-air dust filtration—given what competitors deliver in $200-plus cases. Our current ATX tower favorite, the NZXT H7 Flow, isn't much better equipped with filters and isn't as striking as the Ambience Pro case in all its lit glory, but it costs much less.Design: A Crumpled ClassicPC-case feature trends have changed a bit in the eight years that Fractal Design has been putting its signature crumpled-mesh faces on classic mid-tower cases. (The aesthetic crumpling is easier to see in photos of the shinier black finish, such as the Meshify 2 we reviewed in 2021.) This latest version adds an air deflector at the front of the power supply shroud to force a bit more airflow past your hot graphics card. This Ambience Pro RGB variant’s feature set, as noted, has a USB-based ARGB controller, as well as lighting around the front face, along the bottom of the left side panel’s window, and on the three fans. Buyers willing to forgo most of the lit-up bling can get the basic “RGB” version with just the fan lighting for $159.99, and those willing to give up even that helping of ARGB can get the base “TG” version for $139.99. Our sample was in white; all three models are also available in black, and buyers who yearn for further simplification will find an additional “Solid” variant sold exclusively in black, with a painted steel panel on the left side in place of the window.Fractal Design has merged the headphone and microphone jacks of previous versions into a single four-pole connector on the Meshify 3. This connector functions as a normal headphone jack when one is plugged in; the extra pole serves the monaural microphone of a combined headset plug. Fractal also ditched the reset button of previous cases, but kept the twin USB 3 Type-A and a single Type-C port. And, this time around, the lighted power-on indicator ring that surrounds the power button is ARGB.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Though the mesh that covers the face and top panel could potentially filter out some inbound dust, the only part of the Meshify 3 that’s explicitly designed as a dust trap is under the power supply’s air inlet. Sliding out from the case’s side, it’s partially disguised as a portion of the rear case foot.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The Meshify 3’s back panel features a pattern of vent slots spaced to allow a fan to be screwed directly into the slots. Also back here are surface-mounted PCI Express expansion-card slots with replaceable covers, a plastic screw-tab cover with a built-in push tab at the bottom to ease its removal, and a removable power supply bracket that’s secured with two large knurled screws. Power supply insertion is through the case’s rear panel; the design lacks the space to slide in the power supply from the side.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Both side panels are secured at the top with snaps, and Fractal Design added a pair of tabs to make that task a little easier. Those tabs also have screw holes, enabling you to further secure your side panels against accidental removal.A nylon pull tab at the center of the top panel’s back edge serves a similar function. To release that panel and lift it off, you must first slide it back a quarter inch or so.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The front ARGB fans have 140mm frames, but there’s too little space behind them to mount a 420mm-format radiator vertically. That’s because radiator end caps tend to extend the total size by around 40mm (give or take 6mm).(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)On the other hand, those really motivated to place a radiator behind the front panel’s fans will find that a 360mm-format unit will work, but only by removing the 140mm fans and flipping the fan-mount brackets over. (They are visible in the image below.) Fractal Design’s brilliance shines through with these very basic sheet-metal brackets that flip to support either 120mm or 140mm fans without hindering airflow.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The top panel is fully removable to ease radiator installation and removal, but it does not benefit from the front panel’s design wizardry. While its straight-edged brackets will cover a portion of the fan’s blades when fans are mounted directly on them, its 330mm-plus of length is sufficient to support every 280mm-format radiator we can think of.Also, notice the removable cable shroud running up and down the case near the front. It is adjustable to fit motherboards up to 10.9 inches deep. That is less than the 13-inch max depth of Extended ATX, but it’s still sufficient to fit the slightly oversized enthusiast-class motherboard models that sometimes still get called EATX.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The lower front fan’s air deflector is removable and sits far enough above the case’s floor to be used in conjunction with a pair of 2.5-inch drive bays hidden beneath it. (We don’t even want to think about how we’d manage the cables in that configuration, however.)We removed the cable shroud for a clearer shot of this area. Keen observers might note the mounting slot for its lower edge at the top of the photo.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Two drive trays, three push-in cable clips, and the ARGB controller are all found behind the motherboard tray. The card bracket’s removable covers and the removable power supply bracket are shown in the image below detached and in front of the case, and the photo also shows the gap beneath the removable front fan duct into which some builders may want to install a pair of 2.5-inch drives.Recommended by Our Editors(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)More drive storage is visible here on the back of the motherboard tray. Configured from the factory to hold two 3.5-inch drives, these brackets on the back of the motherboard tray can be repositioned to hold four 2.5-inch drives instead.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Held in place by a hook-and-loop Velcro-style strap, the included ARGB controller has USB and PWM input on the top, proprietary combination connectors on the side, and an old-fashioned SATA power connector on its bottom to power it up.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Note that Fractal designed special outer shells on the proprietary ARGB/PWM combo connectors. This design is to prevent them from being mistakenly connected to anything USB Type-C, from which they appear to borrow their form. As with several others, this photo again shows the 10mm gap between the bottom panel’s 2.5-inch drive mounts and the underside of the front fan’s air guide.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)As for the controller box itself, here’s a shot of the connectors that we couldn’t see in the ARGB controller’s previous photos, including the SATA power inlet.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Of the two output cables we did see, one is for the case's chain of fans, and the other is for this version of the case’s “Ambience Pro” lighting. Four telescoping contact pins allow the front panel’s portion to separate easily from the rest of that latter cable without an awkward tether.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Building With the Fractal Design Meshify 3: Perfect Parts PacksFractal's accessory kits are hard to top in terms of neatness and clear labeling. Start with the screws: The Meshify 3 includes 24 M3 mounting screws, nine #6-32 screws to attach the motherboard to case standoffs, four #6-32 screws with hex/Phillips combo heads for power supply installation, and eight #6-32 shoulder screws for mounting 3.5-inch drives on damping grommets. (Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)You also get eight damping grommets, four cable ties, and an extra motherboard standoff. (But no extra screw for it! Such is life.) Our case being the Ambience Pro RGB version, it also includes a breakout cable that goes from the case’s proprietary ARGB/PWM connector to a standard ARGB strip and a standard PWM fan, along with an extension cable for the proprietary connector.Connecting the case to our motherboard are a power-button lead, an HD Audio header cable for the headset combo jack, a 19-pin USB 3.x for the Type-A ports, and a Gen 2x2 Type-E internal cable for the single Type-C external port. The case’s RGB controller also connects to one our motherboard’s USB 2.0 breakout headers and one of its PWM fan headers.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The white version of the Meshify 3 includes chrome hardware, but since our standard Asus ATX test motherboard is black, I flexed my design chops and used black screws to attach it. I can also divulge that I initially forgot to reinstall the cable shroud, which required me later in the build to remove the graphics card, install the shroud, and reinstall the card. Oops!(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The RGB controller uses a web interface to select its various lighting and fan modes, rather than forcing users to install software, and it stores those settings on the controller rather than leaving components in the OS. You can dictate a "startup" lighting effect separately from the regular run of lighting that the case cycles through. Using it allowed us to switch from the case’s soft blue default to something a little more, shall we say, festive.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The light controller’s “Sunset” mode looked like a softer variation of our CPU cooler’s Rainbow mode in this test. Nice.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Testing the Fractal Design Meshify 3: Cool It, ManToday’s build leverages the ATX hardware from our most recent case evaluation platform, including its full-sized Cooler Master GX III Gold 850W power supply and mid-size Corsair iCue H100i RGB Pro XT CPU cooler.Apparently, that little scoop that pushes air upward from the lower of the three front fans does have some positive effect on overall case temperature. Our CPU, motherboard (voltage-regulator), and GPU numbers all show slightly lower temperatures than its five most closely-matched recently reviewed rivals. (These include the Corsair Frame 4000D, the SilverStone Fara 514X, and the MSI Velox 300R.)And just in case you thought that Fractal Design might have gotten its high score by overspeeding its fans a bit…it didn’t. Fan noise is tied for second place in this test group, behind the Super Flower Zillion Direct.The biggest nit we can pick is that some of the Meshify 3’s airflow enhancement might be due to its lack of flow-restricting dust filters.

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It's time to get busy bargain huntin' in the second-best time of the year—end of financial. I've scoured every store worth shopping in for the cheapest prices on the games worth caring about. I'm also all about hooking you up with the occasional free game. Check back tomorrow for yet more deals, as this list is a living one!This Day in Gaming 🎂Aussie bdays for notable games- Resident Evil – Code: Veronica (DC) 2000. Get- Monster Hunter Freedom (PSP) 2006. eBay- Rockstar Table Tennis (X360) 2006. Get- Urban Chaos: Riot Response (PS2,XB) 2006. eBay- Blur (PC,PS3,X360) 2010. eBay- Dead or Alive Dimensions (3DS) 2011. eBayContentsNintendoXboxPlayStationPCPC GearLEGOHeadphonesTVsNice Savings for Nintendo SwitchNintendo Switch players shouldn’t miss Sea of Stars (A$33.10), a love letter to SNES-era RPGs scored in part by Chrono Trigger composer Yasunori Mitsuda. Also worth grabbing is Zombie Army Trilogy (A$7.80), which lets you snipe Hitler’s undead minions. Because apparently that’s a thing.Sea of Stars (-35%) - A$33.10Rune Factory 5 (-50%) - A$37.30Sonic Colors: Ult. (-18%) - A$49.00Zombie Army Trilogy (-85%) - A$7.80Lego Harry Potter Col. (-80%) - A$8.90Expiring Recent DealsLego Skywalker Saga (-80%) - A$17.90Dead Cells (-50%) - A$18.70Jurassic World Evolution: Comp. Ed. (-80%) - A$16.90Namco Museum Archives Vol. 1 (-84%) - A$4.70Blasphemous (-75%) - A$9.30Expeditions: A MudRunner (-42%) - A$49Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card.Switch Console PricesHow much to Switch it up?Back to topExciting Bargains for XboxOver on Xbox Series X, Metro 2033 Redux is gloriously free and based on a Russian novel whose author let readers vote on major plot points in its early web-published form. Wild Hearts (A$29.60), meanwhile, is EA and Koei Tecmo’s crack at a Monster Hunter-style experience, complete with buildable contraptions mid-battle.Metro 2033 Redux (-100%) - A$0.00Wild Hearts (-73%) - A$29.60Seagate Expansion 1TB (-32%) - A$209.30Star Wars Outlaws (-64%) - A$40.00Sniper Elite Resistance (-21%) - A$79.00Xbox OneCyberpunk 2077 (-60%) - A$35.90It Takes Two (-65%) - A$20.90Halo: The Master Chief Col. (-75%) - A$14.90Expiring Recent DealsDoom: The Dark Ages (-17%) - A$99Roadcraft (-18%) - A$49Hot Wheels Unleashed (-29%) - A$39UFC 5 (-65%) - A$39Halo Infinite (-67%) - A$32.90Red Dead Redemption 2 (-73%) - A$24No Man's Sky (-60%) - A$35.90Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (-60%) - A$29.90Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (-90%) - A$10Or just invest in an Xbox Card.Xbox Console PricesHow many bucks for a 'Box?Back to topPure Scores for PlayStationPlayStation 5 users can score Persona 5 Royal (A$59.90), the definitive edition of a game whose dev team spent years mapping Tokyo’s train schedules to make the daily-life sim feel real. Or opt for Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (A$59), a cult favourite originally directed by Warren Spector, best known for Deus Ex.Ghost of Yōtei (-21%) - A$99Lego Horizon Adventures (-15%) - A$93.20Dragon Age: The Veilguard (-65%) - A$38.20Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Leg. Ed. (-44%) - A$100.60Persona 5 Royal (-37%) - A$59.90Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (-41%) - A$59PS4GTA Trilogy Def. (-76%) - A$24Dark Souls Trilogy (-33%) - A$64EA Sports FC 25 (-36%) - A$69Expiring Recent DealsDualSense Chroma Indigo (-12%) - A$109.90Doom: The Dark Ages (-17%) - A$99Roadcraft (-18%) - A$49Tales of Arise (-69%) - A$31NBA 2K25 (-72%) - A$34Expeditions: A MudRunner (-42%) - A$49UFC 5 (-65%) - A$39Red Dead Redemption 2 (-73%) - A$24Red Dead Redemption (-48%) - A$39Octopath Traveler II (-32%) - A$57.70The Yakuza Rem. Col. (-26%) - A$40.30PS+ Monthly FreebiesYours to keep from May 1 with this subscriptionArk: Survival Ascended (PS5)Balatro (PS5/PS4)Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun (PS5/PS4)Or purchase a PS Store Card.What you'll pay to 'Station.Back to topPurchase Cheap for PCFinally, on PC, both Thief II: The Metal Age and 40K Gladius: Relics of War are completely free. One pioneered stealth gameplay in the year 2000, the other lets you wage unrelenting war as the Astra Militarum. Not bad for zero bucks.GOG FPS Sale (≤85%) -Thief II: The Metal Age (-100%) - FREE w/ Prime40K Gladius: Relics of War (-100%) - FREERed Dead 2 (-76%) - A$22Mafia Trilogy (-82%) - A$17.90Expiring Recent DealsSifu (-100%) - FREEGigapocalypse (-100%) - FREEDeliver At All Costs (-100%) - FREEHogwarts Legacy Del. (-79%) - A$21.20Razer Huntsman Mini keyboard (-23%) - A$137Metaphor: ReFantazio (-30%) - A$80.40Or just get a Steam Wallet CardPC Hardware PricesSlay your pile of shame.Laptop DealsLenovo ThinkPad P14s G5 (-29%) – A$1,855.23Lenovo ThinkPad P16s G2 (-29%) – A$1,946.23Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G4 (-29%) – A$1,483.46Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 16" (-28%) – A$1,539LenovoYoga Pro 7 14" AMD (-35%) – A$1,699Desktop DealsLenovo neo 50a G5 27" AIO (-47%) – A$1,379Lenovo neo 50q G4 Tiny (-35%) – A$639Lenovo neo 50t G5 Tower (-20%) – A$871.20Legion Tower 5i G8 (-29%) – A$1,899Monitor DealsSamsung QE50T 50" (-31%) – A$596ARZOPA 16.1" 144Hz (-55%) – A$159.99Z-Edge 27" 240Hz (-15%) – A$237.99Gawfolk 34" WQHD (-28%) – A$359LG 27" Ultragear (-42%) – A$349Component DealsMSI PRO B650M-A WiFi Motherboard (-41%) – A$229AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D (-7%) – A$876Corsair Vengeance 32GB (-35%) – A$82Kingston FURY Beast 16GB (-30%) – A$48Storage DealsSeagate One Touch Portable HDD (-24%) – A$228Kingston 1TB USB 3.2 SSD (-17%) – A$115SanDisk 128GB Extreme PRO (-63%) – A$29SanDisk 32GB Ultra SDHC (-53%) – A$9.90Back to topLegit LEGO DealsBotanticaal Cherry Blossoms (-35%) - A$15Technic Mercedes-AMG F1 (-27%) - A$219City Off-Road 4x4 (-27%) - A$22Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle (-27%) - A$22Expiring Recent DealsMario Kart – Yoshi (-25%) - A$15The Mighty Bowser (-14%) - A$345Star Wars R2-D2 (-30%) - A$139Star Wars Home One Starcruiser (-19%) - A$89Back to topHot Headphones DealsAudiophilia for lessEPOS 1061T ANC Headset (-41%) – A$446Jabra Evolve 20SE (-36%) – A$95Galaxy Buds2 Pro (-31%) – A$239Technics Wireless NC (-33%) – A$365SoundPEATS Space (-25%) – A$56.99Sony MDR7506 Pro (-18%) – A$199Back to topTerrific TV DealsDo right by your console, upgrade your tellyLG 43" UT80 4K (-24%) – A$635Kogan 65" QLED 4K (-50%) – A$699Kogan 55" QLED 4K (-45%) – A$549LG 55" UT80 4K (-28%) – A$866Back to top Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler. He plays practically everything, often on YouTube.