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KFC Is Really Launching A Console With Intel Wares & It Can Warm Up Your Chicken
By Mikelle Leow, 23 Dec 2020
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Image via KFC Gaming
Given these strange times, it’s natural to look at things with a healthy level of skepticism. So, when KFC opened a gaming account and teased a console to go against industry hotshots like Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X, everyone took it as a joke.
It turns out that KFC wasn’t kidding.
The KFConsole is a real, functioning KFC bucket-shaped gaming console with some powerful bones, and you should be able to get your hands on one in 2021.
The console wars are 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓.
— KFC Gaming (@kfcgaming) December 22, 2020
Introducing the KFConsole. #PowerYourHunger pic.twitter.com/k7AM6g61Ip
The device is being manufactured by computer hardware company Cooler Master. It’s built into a compact custom Cooler Master NC100 chassis, and is driven by the Intel NUC 9 to maximize space and driving performance. With 1TB Seagate BarraCuda SSD storage, the KFConsole is pushed for performance, reliability, and efficiency.
Whereas overheating isn’t considered a strength in hardware, the KFConsole makes the most of its residual heat. It comes with the “world’s first built-in chicken chamber,” which uses the natural heat from the NUC 9 and the device’s airflow to keep your fried chicken toasty while you’re gaming.
Image via Cooler Master
The system boasts “Finger Clickin' Good 4k quality” and a fluid high-frame-rate gameplay of up to 240fps for all games, with support for a 240Hz output across 4k displays. It’s built with ray-tracing, mimicking rays of light to produce realistic shadows and reflections in games.
It’s also compatible with virtual-reality games, and promises more VR depth thanks to the delicious scent of the Colonel’s secret recipe chicken wafting from the console’s chicken warmer.
Tim “Timpelay” Malmborg, a professional PC modder and a member of Cooler Master’s CMODX team who was tasked to work on the KFConsole, told Tom’s Hardware that the most demanding bit about the design process was to come up with an internal layout “as compact as possible” while being sufficiently cooling.
KFC appeared to have created a render of the console before considering its feasibility, which posed another issue. “The cylindrical bucket design and the chicken bay [are] two separate features that, by themselves, [are] challenging to work with,” Malmborg related. Even with the challenge of these structures, he had to incorporate a high-performance computer.
And yes, the KFConsole is being poised as a rival to the PS5 and Xbox Series X with “a competitive system,” described Cooler Master’s global PR and influencer manager Steve James.
The KFConsole was initially scheduled for release on 12 November, but the COVID-19 crisis put a wrench in the plans. KFC then set its sights on a December launch, but there’s a chance the console will only be ready in 2021. You can find out more about the KFConsole here.
See it for yourself. Find out more about the new #KFConsole @CoolerMaster: https://t.co/omZWuIhBG8 pic.twitter.com/6n5panSJIs
— KFC Gaming (@kfcgaming) December 22, 2020
[via Tom’s Guide and Cooler Master, images via various sources]
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