At CES 2022, as at any major tech show, you can expect to see some truly weird tech. What’s rare is truly weird tech from a major manufacturer.
The Cyberpower PC Kinetic case looks like something out of a David Cronenberg movie: a facsimile of a living thing, warped beyond recognition, but just familiar enough to be unsettling. Instead of simple vents, the Kinetic case opens and closes valves algorithmically, in a system that Cyberpower calls "intelligent airflow."
Before we get any further with the description, this is one of those things you’re just going to have to see for yourself. There’s a video of the Kinetic case in action on YouTube, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
In case you’ve elected to not watch the video, the Kinetic is a white gaming PC case with a series of bronze and white prisms jutting out on the front. (One side is opaque, the other side is transparent glass, so that you can see your components.) The 18 bronze prisms are actually vents, which the Kinetic case can open and close based on the system’s internal temperature. There’s no price listed yet, and the “coming soon” on Cyberpower’s website sounds vaguely threatening.
The video shows the Kinetic’s vents opening and closing in an unpredictable sequence, resembling nothing so much as pair upon pair of mechanical lips, inhaling and exhaling. Cyberpower’s engineers claim that this “intelligent airflow” system improves cooling, as well as reducing noise and limiting the amount of dust that gets inside a machine. We’re not precisely sure why this would work better than, say, a traditional vent with very small holes, but we haven’t been able to test it for ourselves, either.
As you might expect, the reaction to the Kinetic case is pretty mixed in the YouTube comments. Some users think it’s about time for something new in case design, while others think it’s an awful lot of breakable components in what’s supposed to be the most foolproof part of a PC. Personally, I can’t see how the Kinetic would improve performance substantially over a traditional mesh screen, but I do see how it could waste a lot of energy in the process.
In any case, we’ll know more about the Kinetic case when Cyberpower shares further details, probably later in 2022. Until then, the company is still selling more traditional cases, which still feature stylish extras, such as RGB fans and see-through side panels.
If you want more tech news as it happens, check out or CES 2022 live blog. Otherwise, check back in a few months to whether the Kinetic has devoured us whole.
