Corsair Blog

The launch of the new Windows 7 operating system from Microsoft presents budding enthusiasts and early adopters with some exciting opportunities to improve the way in which they use their PCs. Windows 7 has received widespread critical acclaim, and for good reason, because it offers some compelling advantages compared to previous Microsoft operating systems. And by upgrading your existing PC, or building a new Window 7-based PC, you can maximise these benefits.

One such benefit is that Windows 7 is highly efficient at making use of high-density memory kits, by which I mean kits of 8GB or larger. Combined with Windows 7’s slick new user interface, which makes it simple to use and manage multiple open applications, Windows 7 is the ideal operating system to really take advantage of the 64-bit memory addressing and multi-tasking capabilities of modern processors.

I have been a long time advocate of the modular PSU, especially one that is exceptionally well built. If you are not familiar with the term modular power supply or modular PSU, it’s a feature allows you to attach and detach cables from the PSU.  

The main benefit a modular power supply gives you, is the ability to customize PSU cabling by only plugging in the cables you need to use. This gives you the flexibility of going with a basic setup or an extreme setup, using the same PSU.

In a basic setup, let’s take a regular home system with two hard drives, a DVD-ROM drive, and a high-end PCI-E video card for example. Using a modular PSU, such as a Corsair HX850W, you technically only need 5 cables from the PSU: the ATX-24pin cable, the 8-pin EPS/12V CPU cable, a SATA cable with three connectors, and two PCI-E cables. You don’t need to worry about tucking away a spaghetti of unused molex, floppy and PCI-E cables that might hinder the air flow inside the case.

In an extreme case, let’s say you want to build a 24 SATA drive storage server and you don’t need to use any molex or floppy connectors. Of course, you will not find any PSU on the market with native support of 24 SATA connectors. But with a modular PSU, again taking a Corsair HX850W as an example, you can plug in 6 modular SATA cables with 4 connectors on each cable into the PSU.

The October 22nd official launch date for Windows 7 is just around the corner, and of course like everyone else we hear lots of buzz about this latest OS. I have been using Microsoft Windows 7 on various computers since shortly after the beta first came out. I wanted to get a handle on the way Win 7 uses memory and SSDs... and of course it didn’t hurt that it booted faster, was more stable, and was much more fun to use than the various versions of Vista that I was barely tolerating!

One feature of Windows 7 that I stumbled upon by accident is the upgraded backup and restore capability. It is known, cryptically, as “Backup and Restore”, and can be found in the “Maintenance” folder in the start menu. Now, my backup scheme is all set up, at work and at home, so I didn’t really want to mess with that. The problem is solves for me is a little different.

The way it has worked out, I do my work on a bunch of different computers. I have the usual desktop computer in my office. I have a netbook that I use for meetings and for short trips. I have a full function notebook that I use for longer trips or if I need to make a presentation. And, at home, I usually end up on my wife’s Dell or my kids’ gaming rig—whichever one is unoccupied at the time. And I can’t count the number of times that I have found that the ONE file I need is the ONE file that is not around or inaccessible just when I need it!

The combination of the Intel® Core™ i7 Nehalem based Bloomfield processors and the X58 chipset has been quite a success. Intel has decided to build upon that success with a new offering of processors and a new chipset. Intel has just introduced the new Lynnfield class of CPUs which at this time includes the Intel Core i7 870 and 860 CPUs and the Intel Core™ i5 750 CPU. These CPUs share the same core architecture as the 9** series Core i7 CPUs but, they are coupled with a dual channel IMC as opposed to the triple channel controller on the 9** series. These CPUs have a different socket design with 1156 contacts as opposed to the 1366 contacts on the 9** series. They are designed to operate with the Intel P55 Express chipset. This means that Intel users can now harness the power of Core i7 in a more cost effective manner while not sacrificing performance. The new Lynnfield and P55 based systems are proving to be very powerful and feature rich based upon our testing. The system featured here proved itself to be an excellent system for all tasks put before it at the stock settings. And, the performance gets better as the system is also a very solid overclocking unit. With a minimum of tweaking we took our stock 2.8GHZ system to almost 4GHZ and saw some performance increases approaching 50%. Corsair has introduced several new memory kits designed specifically to work with the new platform. We are going to take a look at the Lynnfield Intel Core i7 860 CPU, and ASUS P7P55D Deluxe motherboard, and our new 8GB DDR3 memory kit, the Corsair Dominator CMD8GX3M4A1600C8. Read the full article here.

Introduction

This application note will explore the benefits of using 8GB of Corsair DDR3 system memory in a dual-channel DDR3-based PC, such as an Intel® Core™ i5 or Core™ i7 (Lynnfield) system, or an AMD AM3 Phenom II™ PC. It will show how the additional RAM allows for a 'snappier' and more responsive PC, with performance improvements of up to 186% versus a PC with 4GB of RAM. And it will also show how adding more RAM allows you to change the way in which you use your PC, by allowing you to 'do more'. This includes running more applications (and never needing to close them), working with more data, and even running another 'virtualized' operating system. For example, you could run a virtual Ubuntu Linux operating system as a pure email / home admin PC, leaving your Windows installation free for office duties, or just as a pure gaming system.

These benefits will be discussed in more detail during the course of this application note, but a summary of the performance results and benefits is shown below.

Read the rest of the Application Note after the jump.

The guys over at Xtreme Systems are all about pushing the limits of what hardware can do. Not only getting hardware to go faster, but getting it colder. Case in point....

The end result? Their 2000C7 Dominator™ GT DDR3 overclocked to a mind-numbing 2600MHz! Click here to see the CPU-Z screenshots and more.

We have announced the HS1 USB Gaming Headset. It has an MSRP of US $99.99 and will be available at major retail and etail outlets in September.

Our mission was simple: design a gaming headset that delivers high-performance audio not only for games, but for music and movies, as well. And, because we like to play for hours at a time, it absolutely must be comfortable.

In these videos, Jeff Checchi from our Applications Group shows how to build a Corsair Dream PC using the Corsair Obsidian Series 800D full-tower chassis, a Corsair Hydro Series H50 hi-performance cpu cooler, a Corsair Professional Series HX850W PSU, a Corsair Performance Series P128 solid-state drive, and Corsair Dominator GT DDR3 RAM.   The first video goes over installing the main components in the Corsair Dream PC:

In the second, Jeff shows you how quick and easy it is to eliminate cable clutter in the 800D:

The guys from Hardware Canucks have reviewed the Corsair Obsidian Series 800D full tower case, and well... they love it! "The Corsair Obsidian 800D is on track to be the case of the year, and make its mark in the "must have" cases of all-time."

This video further illustrates how more system RAM can change what you can do with your system. You can also read the full test results in our previous post.