The coolest PC components to look forward to in 2018

If 2018 is going to be anything like 2017, this year is going to be packed with new PC components. But, aside from Ryzen 2 and Nvidia Volta, there are plenty of smaller parts that are going to make computing in 2018 even better.

From new motherboards to RGB fans, we’ve rounded up a little bit of everything for PC builders to look forward to this year – first seen at CES 2018.

HyperX Fury RGB SSD

RGB lighting has already made its way to motherboards, memory, graphics cards and fans. So, the next logical step was obviously, storage. While it might seem excessive – and, oh boy, is it – it’ll also make all those dual-sided tempered glass PC cases look even more vibrant. These solid-state storage drives will also be plenty quick with rated 550 MB/s reads and 520 MB/s writes.

Expected: Fall 2018

Phanteks Eclipse P350X

The Phanteks Eclipse 350X was one of the most interesting and affordable cases we saw at CES so far. Though its smaller than most ATX chassis, it supports up to an E-ATX motherboard and plenty of room for liquid-cooling. It also features built-in lighting, both on the front facia and a side-mounted strip, and a tempered glass window. Best of all, it only costs $69 (about £49, AU$90), making it extremely affordable.

Expected: in a few months.

ASRock X399 Taichi Micro-ATX

If you’ve been hoping to build a smaller Ryzen Threadripper system, your prayers have been answered with ASRock introducing the world’s first Micro-ATX X399 motherboard. It’s impressive given that Threadripper’s gigantic TR4 socket takes up a good chunk of the printed circuit board (PCB) area. This motherboard is also fully equipped to support quad-channel memory, three M.2 slots and three PCI-e 3.0 x16 slots with full x16 speed.

Expected: to be announced

Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240 Smart

Cooler Master by far had the most colorful all-in-one liquid-cooler at CES 2018. It not only features the light up logo and fans we’re used to, but also lighting around the perimeter of the radiator and pump. You’ll also be able to keep track of your CPU temperatures through the cooler’s built-in SMART temperature detection and RGB lighting system. This feature isn’t exactly unique to the MasterLiquid ML240 Smart, but those tired of rainbows will find the functionality useful.

Expected: to be announced

Aorus X470 Gaming 7 Wi-Fi

Ryzen 2 is on its way, and this will be one of the first X470 motherboards designed for it. Not only was it the first X470 chipset motherboard at CES, it’s shaping up to be a mighty upgrade over the original Ryzen mobos. Gigabyte expects we’ll be able to hit 4,000-plus MHz memory overclocks. And, with the 400-series boards upgrading their PCI-E connections to 3.0, that will allow M.2 drives connected to the chipset to run at maximum speed.

Expected: April 2018

Corsair Obsidian 500D

Another year, another great set of cases from Corsair. That said, we’ve got our hearts set on the new Corsair Obsidian 500D. Featuring a combination of curved tempered glass and jet black aluminum, this full tower case is the perfect showcase chassis. What’s more, the SE-variant (pictured on the left) comes with Corsair’s Light-Loop fans and CommanderPro hub for the ultimate RGB-lit builds.

Expected: to be announced

EVGA Supernova 2200 P2

This monster of a power supply delivers enough juice to run seven Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards at the same time. No normal PC gamer is going to ever need 2,200 watts of energy capacity, but that’s why those in the Bitcoin mining business will likely salivate over this absurd PSU.

Expected: to be announced

NZXT N7 Z370

NZXT thus far has been best known for its PC cases, CPU coolers, fans and lighting – so its entry into motherboards was quite a shock at CES 2018. That said, we’re glad to have seen the company’s new N7 Z370 motherboard. It’s one of the most minimalistic motherboards we’ve seen and with swappable panels to customize the look for your PC beyond RGB lighting. Looks aside, this motherboard comes equipped with three M.2 slots and NZXT’s HUE+ lighting and GRID+ v3 fan hubs built right into the PCB.

Expected: available now

Toshiba RC100 NVMe SSD

NVMe SSDs are still notoriously expensive, but Toshiba is looking to change that with its upcoming RC100 SSDs. Toshiba claims it’s new M.2 drives will offer 1,620/1,130 MB/s sequential read/write speeds at an affordable price. Pricing and availability has yet to be announced, but the drives will come in 120, 240 and 480GB capacities.

Expected: Spring 2018