ASRock and Ocypus are driving down liquid cooling prices with budget-friendly AIOs featuring built-in LCD displays, offering solid thermal performance for under $135. Gigabyte's $799 Aorus RTX 5070 Infinity stands out with a dramatic jet-engine design, though the premium styling comes at a steep cost for a 70-class card. ASRock's all-white X870E Taichi White motherboard pairs flagship AM5 connectivity with a $449.99 price tag, while the xTool M2 laser engraver introduces CMYK color printing to the craft market. The storage lineup spans KIOXIA's fastest PCIe 5.0 drive yet, a practical external SSD with a limited pSLC cache, and a Gen4 NVMe option defined by its anime-inspired aesthetic.
Roundup: Budget AIOs with LCDs, a Showy RTX 5070, and KIOXIA’s Fastest SSD Yet
If you like component displays, this week’s review crop is practically a light show. ASRock and Ocypus are pushing $90 to $134 liquid coolers with built-in LCD panels, while Gigabyte wrapped an RTX 5070 in a $799 jet engine shroud, and KIOXIA dropped a PCIe 5.0 SSD that actually hits its claimed speeds.
ASRock’s Challenger 360 Digital lands at $89.99. It backs up to a 350W TDP, ships with a 3.0-inch screen, and throws RGB in for good measure. Wccftech ran the numbers and called it good value. Ocypus went a step further with the Sigma L36 Pro. Tom’s Hardware couldn’t figure out how a 3.5-inch display AIO costs less than $134, but the company sure managed it. High airflow, solid temps, and a price that defies the current parts market.
Wccftech: ASRock Challenger 360 Digital 360mm AIO Liquid Cooler Review: Good Cooling at Good Value
ASRock Challenger 360 Digital AIO cooler offers 350W TDP support, 3.0" display, & RGB for $89.99, providing great value & cooling performance.
ASRock Challenger 360 Digital 360mm AIO Liquid Cooler Review: Good Cooling at Good Value
Tom's Hardware: Ocypus Sigma L36 Pro Review: How is this LCD AIO so cheap?
High performance and a 3.5-inch display for $134, or less.
Liquid cooling manufacturers are suddenly racing to put screens on pumps. You could spend that $134 on a premium air cooler and never glance at the readout anyway. But the thermal math holds up. ASRock and Ocypus are clearly competing on sheer volume and stripped-back features. You lose some of the premium materials, but the cooling performance stays competitive. If you need more storage than a standard tower allows, those displays are mostly window dressing. But they work.
The Look vs. The Ledger
Then you have the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 5070 Infinity. Club386 gave it a look and immediately noted the cost. The jet engine styling turns heads. That same styling comes with a premium that pushes it firmly past the standard RTX 5070 price point. Not cheap for a 70-class card. The look is bold, sure. But unless your case has a glass side panel, you’re paying for a card you won’t see much of. However, at the same time, the custom cooler does keep boost clocks higher than reference designs. It’s a rather expensive machine for the internals it is touting, though the acoustics and thermals do help it somewhat.
Club386: Gigabyte Aorus GeForce RTX 5070 Infinity review: a striking but prohibitively expensive graphics card
The unique jet engine stylings of the Aorus GeForce RTX 5070 Infinity are certainly eye-catching, but come at a high cost.
ASRock didn’t just make a white cooler. The X870E Taichi White checks in at $449.99. Hardware Busters says the 24+2+1 phase VRM handles modern AM5 chips without breaking a sweat. Dual PCIe 5.0 x16 slots. 10GbE. Wi-Fi 7. It’s flagship spec in a color scheme that actually looks clean. If you’re building an all-white AM5 rig, this just got easier to justify.
Hardware Busters: ASRock X870E Taichi White Mainboard Review
ASRock’s flagship AM5 board goes all-white: the X870E Taichi White pairs a 24+2+1 phase VRM with dual PCIe 5.0 x16 slots, 10GbE, and Wi-Fi 7, at $449.99.
ASRock X870E Taichi White Mainboard Review - Hardware Busters
Tom’s Hardware also spent time with the xTool M2. It’s a 10W or 20W diode laser paired with a CMYK print head, a 2W IR laser, and a rotary attachment. The new positioning cameras and improved print head trim some of the rough edges from earlier xTool models. For folks who actually use a laser engraver past cutting plywood coasters, the color output and faster pass times make this a noticeable upgrade.
Tom's Hardware: xTool M2 color craft laser and engraver review: Improved print head and positioning cameras at a lower price
xTool concocts a crafty new machine with 10W or 20W diode laser, combined with a CMYK print head, 2W IR laser, and rotary tool options.
Storage this week is a mixed bag. The KIOXIA EXCERIA PRO G2 2TB keeps the PCIe 5.0 promise, delivering near-timings on read/write across the board. Funky Kit says it’s KIOXIA’s fastest personal drive to date. The T-CREATE CinemaPr P31 1TB external SSD does hit 1,098 MB/s over USB, but IgorsLAB’s sustained write test tells a more practical story. After a 33.8GB pSLC cache empties, writes drop to roughly 354 MB/s. Fine for occasional transfers. Not ideal for daily 4K footage dumps.
IgorsLAB: T-CREATE CinemaPr P31 1 TB External SSD Review
The T-CREATE CinemaPr P31 reaches 1,098 MB/s over 10-Gbit/s USB, but its 33.8-GB pSLC is followed by sustained writes near 354 MB/s.
Funky Kit: KIOXIA EXCERIA PRO G2 2TB NVMe M.2 PCIe 5.0 x4 SSD Review
Need more speed? Meet the EXCERIA PRO G2 SSD Series, KIOXIA's fastest personal SSD to date. Featuring the interface technology of tomorrow, this PCI Express
5.0 series delivers power efficient performance to high-demand gaming and creative environments and offers up to 4,096GB of storage capacity.
KIOXIA EXCERIA PRO G2 2TB NVMe M.2 PCIe 5.0 x4 SSD Review - Funky Kit
On the quieter end of the storage aisle, ANACOMDA’s I4S 1TB ANA series Gen4 drive leans into the anime aesthetic. NikKTech notes the performance is solid for a Gen4 drive. The look is the actual differentiator. If you like it, you like it. If you don’t, it’s just another drive.
NikKTech: ANACOMDA I4S ANA Series 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD Review
The ANACOMDA I4S 1TB ANA Series blends dependable Gen4 SSD performance with a light anime aesthetic that gives it a distinct identity in a crowded NVMe market.
All of these have been out for a few days now. Prices lock in where they are. The AIOs are already sitting at their listed MSRP. The Aorus Infinity is likely selling through limited batches.
