Cooling specialists DEEPCOOL are certainly no strangers to striking and unique designs. During Computex last year they turned heads with the Tristellar, a three-winged chassis that's like nothing else on the market, and other case designs all seem to put a quirky twist on the usual. The question is if they could repeat this notoriety at CES 2016, the first tech expo of 2016; their answer is the Genome.
At first glance the Genome resembles a traditional ATX design with a slightly spartan interior - it's clear that this case is designed as much to show off components as actually house a high-performance system. However very soon the differences begin to pile up: an integrated liquid cooling system with 360mm radiator, two PCI slots at 90-degrees to the norm for mounting a card via a PCI-Express extension cable, separated zone for the PSU and more. Suddenly it's clear that this is not your standard merely serviceable PC case.
The feature which will be at the centre of attention is the integrated LCS, a design which incorporates CPU block/pump, 360mm radiator, and (in a very rare move) additional coolant reservoir. This reservoir, with internal tubing shaped like a double-helix, is tailor-made for an alcove at the front of the chassis and likely acts as a purely aesthetic feature and was probably the main inspiration behind the 'Genome' name. The colour of the helix depends on the Genome model purchased.
Naturally, due to the roof-mounted 360mm radiator one should expect some very low CPU temperatures and quite high overclocks. However it's likely that the cooling system as a whole will be difficult to incorporate into standard chassis, so it's perhaps not best to pick one up with the aim of using the LCS in perpetuity even as you swap out the case.
With that out the way other exceptional features seem almost mundane. SSD mounting for instance is entirely at the back of the motherboard tray, whilst towards the front of the case is an area entirely fenced off for cables and water cooling tubing. Additionally, traditional cable management and tidying should be a doddle thanks to copious numbers of hooks at the back of the mobo tray as well ample hidden zones next door to the PSU and behind the motherboard.
All in all we can't wait to get hands on with this case. The Genome is on show at CES 2016 in Las Vegas from today, and should be available to buy as soon as this month. Understandably however it will not come cheap; the system (case and LCS) has an MSRP of $249.99, and will be available in Black/Green, Black/Red and White/Blue colour-schemes.
