HYTE didn't come to Computex to play around this year. Not only is it launching a competitively priced gaming PC case in five distinct colors that packs loads of great building features, but it's also coming out with some absolutely stunning RGB fan frames. Perhaps the thing from HYTE's Computex booth I was most impressed with however, was its updated Nexus software.
Companion software for PC components can often be cumbersome, demanding, and intrusive. HYTE, sort of like NZXT or BeQuiet! has its own software to let you manage its fans, case lighting, or performance metrics, but now, with a Nexus 3.0 early preview, HYTE is really pushing the envelope, and it led to a pretty fun demonstration when I visited the booth.
With Nexus 3.0, you don't need to download anything - it's all controllable from a browser tab. That also means that you can scan a QR code with your phone, pair it, and control your PC's lighting, fan speeds, and display panel configurations on one of the brand's touchscreen cases. Alternatively, you can just track performance metrics on the go and tweak remotely as needed.
I linked up my phone, switched between three different lighting modes that switched within three seconds or so of me tapping between them on my phone. I then activated turbo fan modes, and within about 5 seconds, the case fans in the demo build were whirring at top speed.
Then, another tour guide came over wanting to demonstrate the same Nexus 3.0 feature to someone else. "We're stress testing this thing right now!" said the HYTE rep as he paired his own phone with the same PC I was already playing around with. Sure enough, he could also make changes at the same time, and the PC remained really responsive to both devices as we essentially tried to break what HYTE had to show off.
According to Jeff Cheng, HYTE's co-founder and Director of Sales and Marketing, who walked me through the booth, this is the first app of its kind that's fully cross-platform.
He also added that it could be a huge boon for HYTE's sibling brand, iBUYPOWER too. "With a simple way to access performance metrics and system settings," Cheng said, "I could easily use this software to determine that a single fan is failing, and send them a new one", saving any need for shipping an entire PC back and forth to work out an issue.
For folks who do want to download the desktop app, Nexus 3.0 will see a much lighter install size, and HYTE has informed me that it'll be open source so people can build their own configurations of case lighting or touchscreen settings. The folks at HYTE mentioned having to compete with the likes of Corsair when it comes to software like this, and how building a sense of community is really important for HYTE's software approach going forward.
Maybe the best bit besides all the fun phone controls is that Nexus 3.0 will also let you export your settings so that if you need to change PC, perform a system reset, or you're putting together a new build that still uses HYTE's products, you can instantly apply your saved settings back without reconfiguring it all.
Also at the HYTE booth this year was a stunning RGB single-frame fan dubbed the FR12, which, unlike a lot of other single-frame fans I've come across in the last year, has super bright RGB arrays that run on the inside and on the blades themselves, and the result is stunning for the $44.99 price HYTE is charging for it.
Perhaps the flagship announcement at the HYTE booth was the Y50 RGHB case, which the brand is saying is its most plug-and-play compatible case it's ever built. Costing $99.99, it's compatible with Project Zero motherboards, comes in five colors, has a three-pane glass design, includes four RGB fans as standard, and has a 3D micromesh for improved temperature control.
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