A Case with Actual Airflow: Enermax Saberay & New Liquid Coolers | CES 2018

Enermax demonstrated to us that case manufacturers are, in fact, capable of creating cases that permit greater airflow through the front panel. It won’t look that way at first glance – the panel on the Saberay defaults to acrylic – but there’s hope yet. As we began to bring up our concerns for airflow on a closed-off panel, our Enermax representative removed the acrylic front, then demonstrated that the front and top panels are interchangeable. Enermax will ship the Saberay with two mesh panels and the acrylic panel, so you’d be able to run all mesh or one mesh and one acrylic, depending. Frankly, this has been the most exciting thing we’ve seen at the show thus far – we’ve been ragging on cases about airflow for a year now. Enermax stepped-up and offered two solutions: One for people like those of us at GN, and one for the showroom displays.

The Saberay was shown at the last CES, technically, but never shipped. This is its final iteration, and the Saberay should be shipping at around $160 in Q1. The case will include three TB RGB fans for the front, one non-RGB fan for the rear, and all included fans will be 120mm in size. Fan placement includes the usual: 3x 120mm front, 1x 120mm rear, and up to 3x 120mm top. The inside of the case also has a fan mounting panel where hard drives typically sit where, upon first glance, it appears that it’d make no sense to place the fans. Air exhausting into a glass panel isn’t particularly efficient airflow. Enermax plans to resolve this by offering a steel panel with honeycomb for the right-side of the case, which would offer some exhaust ports for any internally mounted radiators.

As for other products, Enermax will also be shipping a Liqtech II cooler for Intel and AMD systems, using the same pump and radiator as found in the TR4 Liqtech unit that we’ve praised. The impellar should also be the same, from what we understand. Pricing will likely be the same as the TR4 unit, +/- $10.

Enermax will also be shipping a “Fusion” closed-loop cooler, using a built-in flowrate meter for those paranoid about pump failure. The pump operates at 500-2000RPM and, uniquely, is located just off of the tubing line for the cooler. This unit should be around $120, and will include two 120mm TB RGB fans. The sizes will include 240mm and 360mm, with all aluminum radiators used.

We’ve got a video going up soon to demonstrate the rest.

Editorial: Steve Burke
Video: Andrew Coleman and Keegan Gallick