I’m a staunch defender of the dull, the drab, the plain, the ‘oh yeah, I didn’t notice that.’ And nothing has reminded me of my proclivity towards all things seemingly mundane than Computex 2025 and all the resultant ooh-ing and aah-ing over extravagant tech.
I know, I know, tech shows are supposed to be gaudy and extravagant, and they are just so every year, but these consumerist fever dream pills never get easier to swallow. In fact, as I get older, it gets more difficult.
What am I talking about? Everything from AIO shelves for displaying figurines, a million-and-one screens attached to things that don’t need them—giant CPU cooler screens, cases with built-in screens, bendy cooler screens that move around for seemingly no reason—and just about as many convoluted PC case designs.
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Now look, I’m not denying there’s something impressive about a Palico PC case with an RTX 5070 Ti built into its sword, but it’s impressive in the same way that lifelike wax sculptures of people are: They’re eye-catching and quite the creative feat, but you won’t catch me slapping one down in the home office.
And that’s just the good PC cases. Don’t get me started on the likes of those coffee cup-shaped monstrosities. Sometimes I feel like a lot of time could be saved by just pulling aside designers early on and asking, Why?
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Listen, I’m not judging. Everyone’s tastes are different, and I’m not saying I’m right—but I am right.
It didn’t take me long to find some things I do like the look of at this year’s Computex, though. Upon discovering Noctua has created its own PC case, I had my boring equivalent of a normal human being’s excitement: ‘Ooh, a Noctua case for an all-Noctua build. I hope it’s very plain and brown.’
I wasn’t disappointed. It would look great under my plain and brown (but very stylish!) desk. Noctua gets it, y’see.
(Image credit: Future)
I also did find something shiny that I could get behind, this being the PNY Iron Core series of RTX 50-series graphics cards. But that’s primarily thanks to the underside of the design being very plain—just a flat, shiny surface, not too much going on other than the RGB arrow, which I suppose I can put up with if I must.
I wasn’t free from having my nostalgia muscles massaged, either. Silverstone’s new retro PC case got me longing for a time long past… but that’s hardly the same as an endorsement of a design on its own terms, is it? And anyway, it’s a beige, ’90s themed PC case—the whole point is it’s kind of plain.
(Image credit: Future)
It’s not all minimalist designs that got me almost-but-not-quite riled up this year, either. No, I was pleasantly surprised to find my favourite design improvements to be on the most boring component of them all: the power supply.
Computex 2025
(Image credit: Jacob Ridley)
Catch up with Computex 2025: We’re on the ground at Taiwan’s biggest tech show to see what Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and more have to show.
The first of these was a PSU with thermal sensors that can help shut off overheating GPU power cables, which will be an extra level of security for high-end RTX 50-series graphics card owners. But if that isn’t quite exciting enough for you, we also saw a PSU with a power connector that swivels, allowing you to orient the entire power supply in different directions inside your case for more versatile cable management.
Who needs anything more than that? Not I, that’s who.
Admittedly I am someone who is currently sitting with a Fractal Design Define R4 under their desk—a veritably plain slab of a chassis. So no surprises there. But come on, would you really take a side-panel LCD over a twizzly PSU connector?
Oh, you would… Well, I stand by it anyway.
The only real debate occurs for me when I see something like Hyte’s latest bubbly case. It’s kind of minimalistic, but equally… strange. Good job Hyte, you got me. I can’t fit this one into my neat and tidy dichotomy.
Bubbly cases aside, I think my black-and-white thinking holds pretty firm across the other products we saw this year. Now choose your side—the right one, or the wrong one—and prepare for Computex 2026.