The Asus ProArt Station PD5 desktop, announced on Tuesday, aims to make it easier to multitask while rendering, as indicators on the front of the tower notify you when the process is complete.
An integrated smart module controls a pair of thin LED strips that run through parallel channels on the front panel. When the computer is rendering, the lights can flash with a color or LED effect of your choice selected using the Asus ProArt Creator Hub software. You’ll know the job is done when the light returns to its default white (or another color of your choice).
You can also set up render notifications through Microsoft Teams.
The lights, which Asus has called Lumiwiz, will also flash blue when the desktop’s CPU (Intel Core i7-11700) or GPU (8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070) is overloaded. The desktop combats overheating with a “multi-zone”cooling system that Asus says “promotes airflow”to dissipate heat from the CPU, GPU, and 700W PSU. Asus stated that the system can reduce the CPU temperature by about 5° Celsius and the GPU temperature by 4° Celsius. In addition, the Creator Hub app should help optimize CPU, GPU, and RAM performance.
You can also set the backlight to show when the desktop is turned on or off.
Another unique design feature of the PD5 is a physical lock to the north of the power button so you don’t turn off your computer while you’re working.
The computer comes with a hard drive tray that you can access without using any tools; the system does not come with a hard drive, but there is room for a pair of 3.5-inch drives. The desktop includes a 1TB PCIe 3.0 (x1) SSD for storage, as well as an empty PCIe 4.0 (x16) slot and six 3Gb/s SATA ports. The desktop also supports up to 128GB of DDR4 RAM via four slots and comes with 32GB of DDR4-3200 memory.
The front of the case 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. On the back, there are six more USB-A ports (two are USB 2.0), one HDMI 1.4 port, two DisplayPort ports, two PS/2 ports, an Ethernet jack, and three audio jacks. A handle on the top front edge makes it easy to transport the PC.
The PD5 is available to order for $2,000.