March 3, 2022 at 6:21 am | Author: zahidmir | Technology
Asus’ ProArt Station PD5 desktop, announced Tuesday, aims to make it easier to multitask while you’re rendering, as lights on the tower’s front panel notify you when the process is complete.
An embedded smart module controls a thin pair of LED light bars, which run up parallel channels on the front panel. When the computer is rendering, the lights can flash a color or LED effect of your choosing, selected via Asus’ ProArt Creator Hub software. You’ll know the job is done when the lights revert to their standard white (or a different color of your choosing).
You can also set up rendering notifications through Microsoft Teams.
The lights, which Asus has named Lumiwiz, will also flash blue when the desktop’s CPU (an Intel Core i7-11700) or GPU (an 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070) are overloaded. The desktop fights overheating with a “multi-zone” cooling design that Asus said in its announcement “encourages airflow” to pull heat away from the CPU, GPU, and 700 W power supply. Asus said the system can lower CPU temperatures by around 5° Celsius and GPU temperatures by 4° Celsius. Further, the Creator Hub app should help optimize CPU, GPU, and RAM performance.
You can also set the lights to put on a show when you turn the desktop on or off.
Another unique design feature of the PD5 is a physical lock north of the power button to ensure you don’t shut off your PC mid-work.
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The PC’s power button is locked.
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Rear I/O.
The computer comes with a hard disk drive tray you can access without using any tools; the system doesn’t come with an HDD, but there’s space for a pair of 3.5-inchers. The desktop includes a 1TB PCIe 3.0 (x1) SSD for storage, and there’s an empty PCIe 4.0 (x16) slot and six SATA ports at 3Gbps. The desktop also allows up to 128GB of DDR4 RAM via four slots and comes with 32GB of DDR4-3200.
The front of the tower houses two USB-A (3.2 Gen 1) ports, one USB-C (3.2 Gen 1) port, a headphone jack, and an SD/MMC card reader. Around the back, there are six more USB-A ports (two are USB 2.0), one HDMI 1.4 port, two DisplayPorts, two PS/2 ports, an Ethernet jack, and three audio jacks. A handle on the top-front edge aids in transporting the PC.
The PD5 is available to order for $2,000.
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