16GB of DDR3-1600? Corsair has a couple of kits for that

Subject: General Tech | December 5, 2011 - 04:50 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: corsair, vengeance, vengeance lp, ddr3-1600, quad channel

With the arrival of quad-channel memory on the X79 chipset, 16GB kits are arriving on the shelves of suppliers.  This amount of memory was once only found on servers but why shouldn't you benefit from a huge pool of RAM on your enthusiast machine.  Corsair has two Vengeance kits on the market, the $90 Vengeance kit @ 9-9-9-24 and the Vengeance LP kit with low profile heatspreaders and timings @ 8-8-8-24 which will cost you about $150.  Interestingly the timings did not seem to effect the benchmarks in a meaningful way, the extra bandwidth available hides the difference though kits with much looser timing may well have an effect.  Speed does still matter as there were improvements on most of the benchmarks once the kits were overclocked.  Read on to see the numbers.

"Corsair's quad-channel Vengeance memory modules are designed to work with Intel's new Sandy Bridge-E platform. We put two Vengeance kits to the test to see if running DDR3 memory in quad-channel really make all that much of a difference in practical applications like gaming."

Here are some more Memory articles from around the web:

Memory

• Kingston HyperX Genesis Quad Channel 2400MHz DDR3 Review @ HardwareHeaven
• Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 Low Voltage 1600MHz Review @ Legit Reviews
• GeIL EVO CORSA PC3-19200 16GB @ Tweaktown
• Patriot Division 4 Viper Xtreme PC3-12800 16GB Kit @ Tweaktown
• Corsair Vengeance PC3-15000 16GB Kit @ Tweaktown
• G.Skill RipjawsZ DDR3-1866MHz Quad Channel Memory Kit Review @ Neoseeker
• Corsair Vengeance 32GB (4x4GB kit x 2) 1600MHz Quad Channel DDR3 @ Hi Tech Legion

Corsair's single 12V rail HX1050, there's a new Professional in town

Subject: Cases and Cooling | December 2, 2011 - 03:57 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: PSU, kilowatt, modular psu, corsair, hx1050

Over at [H]ard|OCP you can catch a review of Corsair's new HX1050 Professional PSU, the same model that Lee handed a Silver Medal to.  The big change to this member of Corsair's Professional series is that this model sports a single 12v rail unlike the dual rail design on the HX1000.  That single rail can handle 87.5 amp, which is why there are a half dozen 6/8 pin PCIe connectors.  This PSU has owners of multiple GPU systems in mind.  By the end of the review [H] could not call this PSU better than the HX1000 but did like many of its traits; likely why it walked away from that review with another Silver Medal to show off.

"Professional Series power comes to us this time from Corsair in the form of its new HX1050. It is boasting over 1 kilowatt of solidly efficient power for the computer hardware enthusiast with a semi-modular cable system. We will see if this PSU is fit for enthusiasts and if it lives up to its efficiency statement."

Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:

CASES & COOLING

• bequiet! Straight Power E9 CM 680 W Power Supply Review @ Hardware Secrets
• Seasonic Platinum 1000W Power Supply Review @ HardwareHeaven
• PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 400 W @ techPowerUp
• NZXT HALE82 850 W Power Supply Review @ Hardware Secrets
• Be Quiet! Pure Power L8 630W @ kitguru
• NZXT HALE82 750 Watt Modular Power Supply Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• Four Power Supply Units with 1200 W Capacity @ X-bit Labs
• Kilowatt of Platinum: Seasonic SS-1000XP Active PFC F3 @ X-bit Labs
• Thortech PSU Roundup 800-1200w @ XSReviews
• Seasonic Platinum 1000 Watt PSU Preview @ Madshrimps
• NZXT HALE82-850-M 850 W @ techPowerUp
• Kingwin Stryker STR-500 500W Fanless Power Supply @ Tweaktown
• Thermaltake Dr. Power II Universal ATX PSU Tester Review @ Hi Tech Legion

Corsair Announces Vengeance High-Performance Memory for Laptops

Subject: Memory, Mobile | December 1, 2011 - 12:09 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: corsair, vengeance, laptop memory, ddr3-1600, ddr3-1866

FREMONT, California — December 1st, 2011 — Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced a line of high-performance memory upgrade kits for power laptop users.

Operating at speeds of 1600MHz and 1866MHz, the new Vengeance laptop memory upgrade kits are an ideal solution for notebooks equipped with a 2nd Generation Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor. Vengeance laptop memory is designed to be plug-and-play, with no BIOS adjustments needed to instantly take advantage of the faster memory speed.

The new Vengeance high-performance memory upgrade kits for laptops are designed to work with any PC or notebook which accepts standard DDR3 SODIMMs, and are backward compatible with notebooks and laptops which use first-generation Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors. Even on older notebooks, customers can still take advantage of the ability to upgrade to 8GB of memory using only two memory slots, and enjoy the confidence of Corsair's renowned service and support.

"As more complex applications and games are available in the market, many laptop users are looking for an easy way to improve their system performance in order to have the best experience." said Thi La, Vice President of Memory Products at Corsair. "Our new Vengeance high-performance laptop memory kits allow performance-minded customers to boost their memory performance and capacity in an instant." 

DDR3 RAM Now at All Time Low Prices, Becoming Extremely Affordable

Subject: Memory | November 28, 2011 - 01:17 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: ram, ddr3, gskill, corsair, commodity, ram drive, memory

Although hard drive prices are skyrocketing, the price of DDR3 RAM is continuing to fall such that it is now at an all time low, according to popular tech rumor site Fudzilla. Currently, value/budget RAM maker TeamGroup is selling a 8GB DDR3 1333 MHz kit for $32 USD, which marks an all time low for the speedy temporary storage. Its not only the super cheap and lesser known brands that are selling for such low prices, however.

8 GB of DDR3 Memory is now a very inexpensive endeavor

G-Skill is offering a value DDR3 kit for $36 USD and Crucial sells their own value RAM for $34.99 over at Newegg. Considering a bit more than 3 years ago (Aprill 22, 2008 via the Way Back Machine's snapshot of Newegg), a 4GB (2x2GB) kit of G-Skill DDR3 RAM went for $279.99, or about $560 for an equivalent amount of RAM today (8 GB 2x4 GB for $36 versus two 4 GB 2x2 GB kits for $560)!

It is pretty crazy to think that DDR3 RAM has dropped so much in price. Even just a few months ago, I upgraded my system to a total of 8 GB of G-Skill 1600 (two 2x2GB kits) by adding a second set of 4 GB DDR3 for less than $50 when I spent twice that on the first 4 GB set (same model and speed) just last year.! With the rise in hard drive prices and fall in RAM prices, I really want to test out a nice 16 or even 32 GB RAM drive; if only I could pry some of that Corsair RAM out of Ryan’s Sandy Bride-E test system! ;) heh. Have you upgraded your RAM recently due to the stuff being so cheap?

My old RAM drive, aren’t they fun!? ;)

Just Delivered: Corsair Vengeance Gaming Headsets

Subject: General Tech | November 28, 2011 - 10:47 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: vengeance, corsair

Just Delivered is a new section of PC Perspective where we share some of the goodies that pass through our labs that may or may not see a review, but are pretty cool none the less.

Arriving just in time for my Thanksgiving break is a rather large but light box. Nestled inside lots of air bags are two boxes from popular computer case and peripheral maker Corsair. Specifically, the boxes include two pairs of Corsair's Vengeance series headsets, the Vengeance 1300 and 1500.

Both of the Corsair Vengeance headsets are gaming headsets with full closed ear or circumaural headphones and noise canceling unidirectional condenser microphones. The 1300 is an analog headset with two 3.5 mm jacks for the headphones and microphone while the 1500 is a USB powered 7.1 channel headset. The 1500 uses a single USB connection to deliver both headphone audio and the microphone audio and is stated to draw up to 250 mW from the USB port.

Both the Vengeance 1300 and 1500 have rotating ear cups that are also able to angle slightly up and down to fit comfortably in addition to the headband being able to extend or contract. The outside of the 1500 sports metal accents whereas the 1300 is plastic, making it a bit lighter, but they are both much lighter than they look to be. Further, both the 1300 and 1500 headsets have (non-removable) control pods on the 3 meter long cable to mute/un-mute the microphone and increase or decrease the volume level.

Initial impressions are positive, but it will certainly be interesting to see how they sound compared to other budget headsets, and whether or not they will live up to the same success that the HS1 and HS1A Corsair headsets held.  Read on to see more photos of the Corsair gear!

The Vengeance 1500 headset and control pod.

Corsair offers your ears two kinds of Vengeance

Subject: General Tech | November 18, 2011 - 12:47 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: audio, gaming headset, corsair, vengeance, vengeance 1300, vengeance 1500

The Vengeance 1500 USB gaming headset is the higher end model of their newly released headsets, with 5.1/7.1 channel sound, a 50mm driver and Dolby Digital support.  The Vengeance 1300 uses analog plugs, not USB but still offers 5.1 surround and 50mm drivers.  As the 1300 is analog it does not require drivers whereas the 1500 does require software in order to emulate 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound.  From Neoseeker's findings, you need a discrete sound card that supports Dolby Surround in order to get the most out of the 1300, while the 1500 will sound the same regardless thanks to its USB connection and software.

"We've got two of Corsair's newest headsets in the Neo labs today, the Vengeance 1500 and Vengeance 1300. The higher-end model, the Vengeance 1500, supports audio formats such as Dolby Digital and Virtual 7.1 Surround. The Vengeance 1300 on the other hand is an analog headset that performs best when paired with a high-end audio card that can push the unit to its threshold. Find out if any of these options are suitable for your audio headphone needs while you're camping in front of the computer (or in your game)."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Audio Corner

• Blue Snowflake Microphone Review @ Tech-Reviews
• Corsair Vengeance 1500 7.1 USB Gaming Headset Review @ HardwareHeaven
• CM Storm Sirus True 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset Review @ HardwareHeave
• Corsair Vengeance 1100 Gaming Headset @ kitguru
• Arctic E461-BM Earphone @Bjorn3d
• Turtle Beach Ear Force X12 Xbox 360 Headset @ kitguru
• Tritton Detonator XBOX 360 Headset Review @ HardwareHeaven

Podcast #178 - EVGA GTX 560 Ti 2Win, a Puget Systems silent HTPC, Tegra 3 and more!

Subject: Editorial | November 10, 2011 - 04:39 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: tegra 3, tegra, ram, Puget, podcast, nvidia, maingear, Intel, gtx560 ti, evga, corsair, amd

PC Perspective Podcast #178 - 11/10/2011

Join us this week as we talk about the EVGA GTX 560 Ti 2Win, a Puget Systems silent HTPC, Tegra 3 and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Josh Walrath, Jeremy Hellstrom, and Allyn Malvantano

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!

Program length: 1:09:50

Program Schedule:

1. 0:00:29 Introduction
2. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
3. http://pcper.com/podcast
4. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
5. 0:02:55 EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2Win
6. 0:13:25 SilverStone Strider Gold
7. 0:17:00 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!
   
8. 0:18:00 Puget System Serenity Core i5 HTPC Review
9. 0:28:05 Samsung Infuse 4G Delivery
10. 0:31:20 Tegra 3 and Asus Transformer Prime
11. 0:42:30 Maingear Epic 180 Cooler
12. 0:49:20 64 GB Corsair DDR3 
13. 0:51:30 Asus 3 Board 900 Series Review
14. 1:00:00 Ryan pretends to make a difference.
15. 1:02:40 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Jeremy: Quick defroster
    2. Josh: Nice musics!  http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Video-Music-Amazon-Bonus/dp/B005WV6ZI8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320891616&sr=8-1
    3. Allyn: mp3tag
16. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
17. http://pcper.com/podcast   
18. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
19. Closing

Just Delivered: 64GB of Corsair DDR3 - Ready for Sandy Bridge-E!!

Subject: Processors, Chipsets, Memory | November 7, 2011 - 03:07 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: corsair, vengeance, sandy bridge-e, just delivered

Just Delivered is a new section of PC Perspective where we share some of the goodies that pass through our labs that may or may not see a review, but are pretty cool none the less.

Sometimes we receive interesting packages in the mail and when we get things from Corsair, we tend to pay attention.  Oddly, I had not seen a box quite this size before.  What comes from Corsair in the shape of a cube?

As it turns out, it was four 16GB DDR3 memory kits, preparing our team for the upcoming Sandy Bridge-E platform reviews!

Each kit includes 4 modules, getting us ready for the quad-channel memory controller on the upcoming Intel CPU.  Corsair included both Vengeance and Vengeance LP kits for us, offering an option is lower profile for potentially larger heatsinks.

For motherboards that will ship with 8 DIMM slots, this allows us to test configurations as high as 32GB!!  We are going to be covering all of these bases for you in the coming weeks before launch but don't worry - we are going test the standard 4 x 2GB configurations as well.  :)