Corsair Blog - Corsair

Upgrading the memory inside a PC is not a difficult task. However, for some the plethora of BIOS settings related to the memory can be daunting. This is especially true for users that do not have the requisite experience to make these settings with confidence. And, quite frankly, many users simply do not want to spend a great deal of time tuning and tweaking their system when they could instead be fragging their buddies.

Enter, Intel® XMP or Extreme Memory Profiles. From the Intel XMP product page:

Intel XMP is a performance-packed expansion of the standard DDR3 memory specification, enabling a robust, overclocking solution designed to take advantage of the mega-gaming features built into Intel® technology-based PCs. If you like to overclock and squeeze every possible ounce of performance from your PC, then memory based on Intel XMP is the solution you need to destroy your enemies and save the universe without breaking a sweat. Designed for ultimate flexibility, Intel XMP-based platforms offer major advantages for pro gamers, novices, and everyone in between. With predefined and certified memory optimizations built into Intel XMP, overclocking on Intel technology-based PCs is easy right out of the box. Expert users still have the option of manually changing specific parameters for personalized fine-tuning.

http://www.intel.com/Consumer/Game/extreme-memory.htm

If you want to see how easy it is to set a password and unlock the brand new Flash Padlock 2 USB flash drive, watch this!

In early February 2010 Ton Khowdee (www.IronMods.com) and I got the chance to put on a live overclocking demonstration at The Exploratorium museum in San Francisco. Ton was there also showing off his custom case mods along with other case modders for the Rods and Mods exhibit.   In order to get the most out of both systems we were overclocking we used liquid Nitrogen on our setups. Ton ran not only his processor but his three ATI ®5770 video cards on liquid Nitrogen. The liquid nitrogen allowed both CPUs to almost double the stock frequencies.

Sorry for the lack of posting last week, I was out of the office enjoying some sun and some baseball in Airzona. I'm back now and have some great reviews to share with you.  

First is a review that Tweak Town did of our newly-released Nova Series V128 solid-state drive. If you're looking for a SSD that offers fantastic bang for the buck performance, look no further!

"The Corsair Nova 128GB SSD is not the fastest drive on the market, but it is the fastest drive you can buy for tis cost and you are getting a hell of a lot of performance for your Dollar with this drive."  

Next up is an Overclockers Club review of the 32GB Flash Voyager® GTR USB drive where they gave it their "OCC Gold" award.

"With its high read and write speeds, the Voyager GTR managed to outpace the competition and in test after test, left all other drives in its dust. This drive is perfect for those who transfer large amounts of data and don't like to waste time waiting while the drive is transferring or accessing the data. "  

Finally, the Obsidian Series 800D full tower chassis gets yet another award at OCIA. I think he likes it...

"So yeah, I think it's safe to say I like the obsidian 800D from Corsair. In fact, it is my new favorite case and taking it one step further, it is the best case I have ever used. I have been doing reviews for 10 years and I can't think of a single mass-produced chassis that offers the features and attention to detail that Corsair has produced with the Obsidian."

What a great month it was for us. We're really excited to see what you all think about all the products we launched: Corsair Cooling™ Air Series CPU coolers, Force Series SSD drives and the GTR Series of Flash Voyagers USB drives. See you next week.

The Corsair Dominator and Dominator GT memory modules are made with the latest iteration of our patented DHX Cooling Technology, DHX+. DHX+ based memory modules feature the original DHX heat sinks and extruded printed circuit boards that facilitate more efficient heat removal. DHX+ adds a removable top cooling fin. This fin can be removed to allow for aesthetic improvement upgrades and for the addition of custom cooling solutions.

These fins are easily removed so that users can add different cooling fins such as our extended cooling fins or mount custom cooling solutions such as our Corsair Cooling™ Hydro Series H30 memory cooler. There are also aftermarket cooling solutions made specifically for the DHX+ design such as the Dominance LN2/DICE cooling pot from Kingpin Cooling.

Jeff Checchi explains how to swap out the fins on your Dominator memory in this Video FAQ follow-up to YellowBeard's article:

What a great week! My girlfriend and I camped out for a little bit out in front of a local Gamestop to get my copy of Starcraft 2 at midnight. I'm still making my way through the single player campaign, but the game was well worth the wait. Are you playing? If so, add me to your Battle.net friends list. I'm "Dominator."

We had some great reviews this week. We appear to have another PSU hit on our hands with the Professional Series™ Gold AX1200. PC Perspective reviewed it on Monday and gave it their highly-coveted gold award.

"Corsair is well known for producing some of the best PC power supplies on the market today and the AX1200 continues that trend. The Corsair Professional Series Gold AX1200 power supply delivers clean DC outputs, with excellent efficiency and good voltage regulation."

Last Saturday, Hardware Heaven reviewed both the Air Series™ A50 and A70 CPU cooler roundup. Well, the A50 came away with their Silver Award while the A70 won the roundup by taking home the Gold and their Performance award. Here's a tidbit.

"Then we have Corsair who give us two very well rounded products with good build quality, common sense design, the easiest install and performance which compares favourably with other coolers at the same price ranges."

Finally, our friends to the north, Hardware Canucks gave the Force Series F120 SSD their Dam Good value award. I see what you did there guys...

"However, if you are like most hard-working Joes with a craving for speed yet need to stick to a reasonable budget, then this drive should be on your ultra-short list."

That's it for us this week. What are you doing this weekend?

Welcome to March everyone! It's been a crazy week for us with lots of new product launches at CeBIT like the Flash Voyager® GTR USB flash drive, the Air Series A50 and Air Series A70 high-performance CPU coolers, and finally the Force Series SSD using the Sandforce controller. We'd love to hear your feedback about these new and exciting products.  

Speaking of new products, we recently launched our Flash Padlock® 2. Legit Reviews had a look at the and had the following to say:

"With its ease of use, 256-bit AES encryption, passive locking, cross-platform compatibility, and stylish form, Corsair has improved upon their original secure drive design with their Flash Padlock 2. You need not look any further if you need to tote around sensitive data with 100% confidence."  

Overclockers Club also reviewed the Flash Padlock 2 and gave it their OCC Bronze Award:

"What it comes down to is this — if you want a sure fire way to keep your data secure, this drive may be the best choice out there. There really is no other drive that offers the security and peace of mind this device can."  

Bjorn3D is the latest in review sites to have a look at the Obsidian Series™ 800D full-tower chassis. If you're still on the fence about the 800D, maybe these words from Bjorn will inspire you:

"The Corsair Obsidian 800D is a great computer case that offers a lot of space as well as great features and solutions for computer enthusiasts that want the best."  

Lastly, I just posted a video about the new Flash Padlock® 2 USB flash drive. If you want to see how easy it is to set a password and unlock the Flash Padlock 2, watch it!

No nonsense today, lets see what reviews we’ve got…

 
PureOC reviewed our Performance Series P64 SSD in a RAID 0 configuration. Why settle for one P64 when you can have two?

“…the bottom line is that the Corsair P64 is a very capable, very fast SSD and two of them in RAID 0 come at a pretty good price in that market segment.”

 
The Obsidian Series™ 800D full-tower chassis got reviewed at Tech Reaction and from the sounds of things, might be their date to the company party:

“The Obsidian won’t stand out like the wild girl in the red dress at the party. Instead, she will catch your eye wearing all black and being the classiest thing in sight. Corsair has hit a home run here. If you’re interested in a top quality chassis with enthusiast caliber features, this is it!”

 
Last, but not least, the Performance Series P64 solid-state drive in RAID 0 also got reviewed at the Bright Side of News where they compared it against a traditional spinning HDD. We had a pretty good idea how this one was going to go down:

“Even though the price is higher than vast number of 64GB drives you’ll encounter in your online searches, the P64 is a performance drive — and two of them almost maxed out the bandwidth offered by Intel’s ICH SouthBridge controller.”

 
Well that’s it for me on this dreary Friday. I’ll be playing baseball this weekend if the weather cooperates. What are you going to be up to?