Corsair Blog

In tech support, one of the most common questions we get is “How can I tell if my memory is bad?” Many OS errors that you experience may mention something about your memory or DRAM having a problem — however these errors are not always cuased by faulty memory. In many cases these errors can be generated by your other components such as the motherboard or CPU, or in some cases they can even be a software related issue. The best way to find out if the errors are generated by your memory is to test your memory with Memtest86.

Since I am normally overclocking my hardware, it has been a few years since I built a new desktop gaming machine. Although I had done a few key upgrades to my old machine, like a Force Series™ SSD, an Obsidian Series™ 800D full-tower case, and a new graphics card, the machine was starting to show its age. After attending the several LAN parties this year such as the Intel® InfernaLAN and the GXL LAN, the bug to start gaming has bit me. And, of course, the first thing to do was build an awesome gaming rig! So here we go...

The AirFlow Pro™ Dynamic Temperature and Activity Display for Dominator Memory is a uniquely designed accessory that allows you to see your memory's activity and temperature simultaneously via LED meters. I've always wanted to install one with my Dominator® with DHX Pro Connector and Airflow II Fan &mdash 12GB Triple Channel DDR3 Memory Kit (CMP12GX3M3A1600C9), but with the mesh side panel installed on my Graphite Series 600T mid-tower case the Airflow PRO is being concealed inside my case and is difficult to see. With the considerable“Bling” factor of the AirFlow Pro you don’t want that to be hidden. So I decided that I would modify the AirFlow Pro to place it on the front panel of the 600T, so I can see the it in all it's glory on front of my case.

Overclockers Club, Force Series™ 3 SSD Review — "Having tested this drive, it is without doubt that an SSD can potentially give your computer a viable performance boost. In case you are still skeptical, let me put it this way – the upgrade in speed that you get from installing an SSD, like the Corsair Force GT, is like the 100 horsepower boost you'd get from adding a 100 shot nitrous system into your car!"

TweakTown, Force Series™ GT 3 SSD Review — "In this review we saw the latest firmware revision from SandForce and it allowed the Corsair Force GT to outperform every other drive in our charts. The Force GT is wicked fast and comes very close to reaching the performance limitations of SATA III (585MB/s) today. In ATTO we hit 560MB/s which is significant since that means this drive will still look good when next year's SSDs ship. There isn't really a lot of room to grow until SATA IV which hasn't even been announced, or for that matter publicly talked about."

Hexus, Force Series™ GT SSD Review in a SSD Round-Up — "Outfitted with 25nm synchronous NAND, the Force GT can struggle to keep up with rival solutions armed with Toshiba's premium Toggle Mode NAND, but the drive's ability is nonetheless impressive and it's comfortably quicker than the Force Series 3 in almost all of our benchmarks. Put two together in RAID and the results can be staggering."

NeoSeeker, Hydro Series™ H80 CPU Cooler Review — "Overall, the Corsair H80 is a hassle free, all-in-one solution that offers performance superior to virtually all other cooler on the market. So, if you are looking for the best and don't mind paying a premium, then the H80 is the perfect choice."

TweakTown, Professional Series™ HX1050 PSU Review in a SSD Round-Up — "Corsair also took a huge leap forward with the increased efficiency seen in the HX1050 and the extra two years of warranty. Corsair adds a bit more to sweeten the deal by offering the HX1050 for $219 which is the same price as the older and much less efficient HX1000."

Legit Reviews video review of the Corsair AirFlow Pro™:

Hot Heaven, Force Series™ GT SSD Review in a SSD Round-Up— "For all out performance, the Corsair Force GT offers a good balance; its cost per GB is lower than the OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS drive despite offering similar performance."

The SSD Review, Force Series™ 3 SSD Review — "Considering that the Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SSD is a top performer, we did a bit of background on the value and found it to be the lowest price new generation ‘SandForce Driven SATA 3 SSD available at the time of print for $194.99.  Given the performance and price of the Force 3, it is certainly deserving of our Editors Choice Award!"

TweakTown, Force Series™ 3 SSD Review — "So much emphasis is placed on big numbers that look good on spread sheets and specification charts while so little placed on what really counts. The Corsair Force 3 is all about giving you the feel of instant action when double clicking and giving it at a price point that's affordable."

Hardware Heaven, Hydro Series™ H80 CPU Cooler Review — "In terms of current performance the H80 scores well, outperforming a high quality air cooler in every test and also beating the Antec 920 by a degree or two throughout. On the whole it also tends to run a touch quieter at idle and full load."

Kit Guru, Obsidian Series® Mid-Tower Case Review in a SSD Round-Up — "Even though the Obsidian 650D is essentially a smaller version of the top-end 800D case, we think it is a very impressive case in its own right. It offers everything we look for in a case at this price point.

We can't think of a case that we've reviewed that has a better internal design than the Obsidian 650D, except perhaps the Graphite 600T which is virtually identical inside. All of the cable routing holes are exactly where they need to be and are filled with high quality rubber grommets that aren't going to fall out after poking a cable through."

Hardware Canucks, Special Edition White Graphite Series™ 600T Mid-Tower Case Video Review:

This blog is going to show you how easy it is to upgrade your Apple® MacBook® Pro to 8GB of memory. The total time to upgrade your MacBook’s memory is under 10 minutes. I used a MacBook Pro 17-inch mid-2010 model, and upgraded it from its current 4GB kit to a Corsair 8GB Mac Memory kit. To upgrade your MacBook's memory you will need a Phillips #00 screwdriver as the screws are very tiny.

Hardware Heaven, Force Series™ GT SSD Review — Overall 10 out of 10 score — "Speaking of speed, the Force GT continues to score well in that regard. Throughout the review it was able to outperform a higher capacity Intel model based on the latest Marvell controller."

LanOC, Gaming Audio Series™ SP2500 Speakers Review — 10 out of 10, and an "Editor's Choice" award — "My experience with the SP2500 was amazing. High’s, mid's and low's were all equally impressive. My only complaint from a gamers perspective was the lack of a 5.1 option for better directionality, but even for a 2.1 system in-game performance was wonderful."

TweakTown, Builder Series™ CX430 V2 PSU Review — "Sometimes it is refreshing to sit back and take a look at non-enthusiast grade hardware. It is simplistic, does exactly what it is meant to do, and is cheap. The CX430V2 is does just that and nothing more. It provides plenty of power, within specifications, for low end systems. It does it without a ton of cables getting in the way or extra connectors that you'll never use. Best of all, it does it at a great price."

This past weekend ASUS® held the ASUS Republic of Gamers Formula X event at Fry’s Electronics in Sunnyvale, CA. They invited 20 of the top overclockers from the United States, to overclock live in the parking lot. ASUS provided 2300 liters of liquid nitrogen, and tons of hardware to break world records with! This event was unlike most overclocking events, because it was a freestyle event. The overclockers were able to run any benchmark they wanted.

That’s a lot of liquid nitrogen!!

What could possibly be better than a Corsair Force Series™ 3 SSD? How about two of them in a RAID 0 stripe!

We recently published some benchmark results using a single Corsair Force Series™ 3 SSD

When used with a capable SATA 3 6Gb/s controller, the results were nothing short of awesome with just a single Force Series 120GB drive:

VR Zone, Professional Series™ HX1050 PSU Review — "The HX1050 displayed very high and also exceptionally stable electrical efficiency, peaking at 91.4% under nominal load and sustaining it at over 90% across most of the unit’s load range. This power supply could easily earn an 80Plus Gold certification, which leads us to believe that Corsair purposely avoided it to keep it from giving their AX series any internal competition."

Legit Reviews, Professional Series HX1050 PSU Review — "Corsair's HX1050 addresses the users that can not afford the high price of the mighty AX1200 or simply don't need 1200W of power. The successor of the legendary HX1000W uses a completely different platform, which grants it almost Gold efficiency levels and ultra low ripple on all rails."

KitGuru, Builder Series™ CX430 V2 PSU Review — "Not everyone can afford, or needs a 80 Plus Gold Certified 1000W power supply, and if you are in the market for a general, low cost power supply for a media center, office machine or entry level gaming rig then this should certainly be top of your shortlist. We are still quite shocked how good the test results are. This unit will last a long time, and Corsair clearly have the same feeling as they are confident in offering an extended three year warranty."

LanOC, Special Edition White Graphite Series ™ 600T Mid-Tower Case Review — "Corsair hit a grand slam with their 800D, showing the entire market that there is still room for improvement in the case industry. With their first mid tower case they have taken those same features and packed them into a smaller chassis. This time to keep the price reasonable they used a lot more plastic. This would normally be a downside for most, but I think they did a great job with the design. The white color really makes this a looker."

Techgage, Gaming Audio Series™ HS1 Review — " If you have a dedicated audio card, but don't want to bust the bank on premium headphones, these are an excellent choice. If you have an integrated audio card such as a Realtek HD solution, then go with the USB based HS1. In either case, Corsair's headsets are a fine choice and easily worth our Editor's Choice."

Guru3D, Force Series™ 3 SSD Review — "The Force 3 series SSD is again a product that will offer tremendous performance for hopefully an acceptable amount of money. Comparing apples to apples, the Agility 3 and Force 3 are neck on neck with each other. Overall IOPS performance is where they rock alright."

Hexus, Force Series™ 3 SSD Review Review — "Corsair's 120GB Force Series 3 is one of the quickest SSDs available for under £170. Armed with a cutting-edge SandForce SF-2281 processor, it delivers excellent real-world performance when hooked up to a SATA 6Gbps interface, while keeping pricing in line with its previous-generation predecessor, the Force F120."