RAM prices might be sucking all the joy out of building PCs but four-screen AIO coolers go a little way to bringing a smile back on my face
These are rancid times for building a new gaming PC or upgrading a current one. Especially so if you're really unlucky and you've had a RAM stick fail on you. Memory prices are doing their best to make my favourite hobby an utter misery, but every now and then, I stumble across something that makes me smile again. Like Jonsbo's four-screen AIO CPU cooler.
It's not a new model, as the China-based company actually launched its TF3-360SCB back in July, but I was browsing through some Japanese PC hardware news, which brought it to my attention.
With Asetek's 20-year patent on AIO coolers expiring earlier this year, the market has seen a flood of new models, all at vastly reduced prices. That's been good for us PC builders. However, for cooling companies, it's become increasingly harder to make something that stands out from the crowd.
Enter stage left, the Jonsbo TF3-360SCB, which (to quote the great Marge Simpson) I think is just neat. You get the obligatory LCD screen in the pump head/CPU mount, but also three extra displays along the edge of the fan block that mounts to the radiator.
And speaking of the fans, I also think it's neat that they're a single unit. Sure, it's a pain to replace when one of them fails, but for sheer looks and ease of installation, having three 120 mm fans altogether in a single unit is a nice touch.
It looks pretty classy in steel-like grey, rather than outright black, though there's a white option if you prefer to have a polar bear PC. While I'm not a huge fan of RGB and other gamer bling in my main rig, I reckon the Jonsbo cooler would be pretty useful in my test PCs.
Each display could be set to display a key metric while I'm benchmarking away. I know I can do this in other ways, but this just seems...well...neat. Plus, I'm far too attached to the name 'Jonsbo'. I keep saying it in my head, but I think I'm just burned out from having to stare at the apocalyptic rise of RAM prices.
As far as I can tell, the Jonsbo TF3-360SCB isn't available in the US or UK yet, and it may never make its way over the waters. If it does, though, I might try to get my hands on one, if only so I can yell at my PC Gamer hardware colleagues: "Look at my Jonsbo!"