Computex 2013: Corsair Adds New Gaming Peripherals To Its Vengeance and Raptor Brands

Subject: General Tech | June 3, 2013 - 09:09 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: Vengeance K70, vengeance, raptor, corsair, computex 2013, computex

In addition to its new mid tower cases, Corsair is launching four new mechanical keyboards and two new gaming mice to the Vengeance and Raptor gaming lineups. The new gear includes Vengeance K70, Vengeance K65, and Raptor K50 gaming keyboards and the Raptor M40 and M30 mice. All of the new gaming hardware will be available later this summer.

Corsair Vengeance K70

Earlier this year, Corsair released a new K70 mechanical gaming keyboard using Cherry MX Red switches to complement its existing K60 and K90 keyboards (which Scott reviewed last year). At Computex, Corsair announced two new models that use different Cherry MX switches. Instead of the reds, the new models will use either Cherry MX Brown or Cherry MX Blue switches.

The K70 features a gun-metal anodized aluminum case with adjustable blue backlighting on a key-by-key basis. The keyboard features an anti-ghosting matrix with full key rollover and a 1000Hz polling rate. It will be available for purchase in July with a MSRP of $129.99.

Corsair Vengeance K65

The Vengeance K65 is a new, more compact, mechanical keyboard that utilizes Cherry MX Red switches. It has a full-size key layout, but the palm rest and extra horizontal space has been cut down to enable the K65 to fit on smaller desks. It retains the anti-ghosting, full key rollover and 1000Hz polling rate of the K70 mechanical keyboard along with a brushed metal aesthetic.

This mechanical gaming keyboard will be available in July for $89.99.

Corsair Raptor K50

Whie Corsair's previous keyboard products ahve been mechanical in nature, the new Raptor K50 uses membrane keys rather than the more expensive mechanical variety. In keeping with the gaming nature, the Raptor K50 features 18 programmable keys with 3 banks allowing for up to 54 total macros. It also has a Windows lock key that prevents accidental presses of the Windows key from interrupting your game session as well as six multimedia playback control keys.

Additionally, the Raptor K50 has customizable backlighting that can be adjusted to any number of RGB colors. It supports full key rollover and will be for sale starting in July for $99.99.

Corsair Raptor M40

Corsair is also releasing two new gaming mice to complement the new gaming keyboards. The Raptor M40 is a right-handed optical mouse with seven programmable buttons. It features adjustable weight, an Avago ADNS-3090 4000 DPI optical sensor, and DPI switching buttons.

The new gaming mouse will be available later this month for $59.99.

Corsair Raptor M30

Finally, Corsair is also launching a low-cost gaming mouse called the Raptor M30. This mouse is a less complex design, but it still packs a 4000 DPI optical sensor, six buttons, DPI switching, and red LEDs. It ergonomically favors right handed gamers.

The Raptor M30 will go on sale sometime this month for $49.99.

Corsair is taking full advantage of Computex to launch new products, with new gaming peripherals, cases, and memory coming out of Day 1 of the show! You can read more about the company's other product releases in the articles below.

Stay tuned to PC Perspective for more information as it develops!

Also read:

• Corsair Launches Two New Carbide-Series Mid Tower Cases @ PC Perspective
• Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 1866 MHz Memory Review @ PC Perspective

Computex 2013: Corsair Launches Carbide Air 540 and 330R Mid Tower Cases

Subject: Cases and Cooling | June 3, 2013 - 09:08 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: corsair, computex 2013, computex, carbide air 540, carbide 330r

Corsair is in attendance at Computex 2013 in Taipei, Taiwan this week to show off a number of new products. The latest product announcement is the release and availability of two new Carbide-series cases: the Carbide Air 540 and Carbide 330R.

Corsair Carbide Air 540 Mid Tower Chassis

The Corsair Carbide Air 540 is a dual chamber mid-tower ATX case that is optimized for maximum air cooling performance. The outside of the case is a boxy brushed aluminum affair with a stylized mesh grill running from the top panel to the front panel. The front panel IO ports sit below the two vertically-mounted 5.25” drives, and includes two USB 3.0 ports, two audio jacks, and power/reset buttons.

The case is split up into two chambers and uses the company's “Direct Airflow Path” techniques. The main (left) chamber hosts motherboards up to E-ATX in size along with PCI-E cards and two hot-swap 3.5” (2.5” drive compatible) drive bays. The second (right) chamber holds the ATX power supply, 5.25” drives, and SSD drive bay (which can hold up to four SSDs). The motherboard tray separates the two chambers, but Corsair has added a number of rubber cable routing grommets to aid in cable management and connecting devices  in the main chamber to power.

A magnetic (removable) front filter protects the case from dust. Cooling options include up to six 120mm or five 1400mm fans. Water cooling enthusiasts can instead opt for up to a 240 or 280mm radiator on top and a 360mm radiator in the front of the case.

In all, the case measures 16.5” x 17” x 18” (407 x 432 x 457mm). It is available now with a MSRP of $139.99.

Corsair Carbide 330R Mid Tower Case

The other case that Corsair is launching today is the Carbide 330R. This case focuses on quiet operation and utilizes Direct Airflow Path techniques and sound dampening material throughout.

The Carbide 330R is a compact mid tower case clad in brushed aluminum with tapered edges and sharp corners. The front panel has a brushed aluminum front door, two USB 3.0 ports, two audio jacks, and power and reset buttons. Corsair is optimizing this case for low-noise operation by adding sound dampening material on the top, side, and front panels as well as using rubber case feet to reduce noise caused by vibration.

The Carbide 330R supports motherboards up to E-ATX in size, ATX power supplies, four 3.5” (or 2.5”) drives (in tool free trays), and a single 5.25” tool-less drive bay.
Cooling options include:

• 2 x 120mm or 140mm front panel mounts
• 2 x 120mm or 140mm top panel fan mounts
• 1 x 120mm rear fan mount

Users can remove the top panel cover to reveal the two 140mm fan mounts to add a 240mm watercooling radiator though you do lose out on some of the sound dampening potential when you remove that top panel.

The Carbide 330R measures 19.5” x 8.3” x 19” (495 x 210 x 482mm). It is available now with a MSRP of $89.99.

World’s Top Overclockers to Compete at Computex OC Main Event Sponsored by Corsair

Subject: General Tech | May 30, 2013 - 02:22 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: corsair, overclocking, competition, haswell

There is more than one reason to keep an eye on Corsair's Overclocking Main Event at Computex this year, not only will you be hearing about the results from the best overclockers around, these results will be from Haswell chips.  In just a few short days we will see their success at overclocking Intel's newest processor, not yet released for purchase by mere mortals.  While there will be growing pains in learning the ins and outs of the new CPU and chipset, you will get an idea how fast these new processors will go when extreme overclockers get their hands on them.

FREMONT, California — May 30, 2013 — Corsair, a worldwide designer of high-perform­­­­­­ance components to the PC hardware market, is teaming up with Intel to host the Computex OC Main Event on June 3rd in Taipei, Taiwan. The event will bring the world’s best overclockers together to compete in setting the first speed records with 4th generation Intel Core processors and Corsair’s soon-to-be-announced new line of highly overclockable memory.

Overclocking is a way of boosting the computer performance by increasing the clock frequency settings of components such as the CPU, memory, and motherboards. Popular with PC enthusiasts, overclocking has grown from being a hobby to a professional technical sport with competitions held in countries around the world.

At this year’s Computex OC Main Event, elite overclockers from around the world will be vying for $20,000 USD in cash prizes. Competitors at the event will include some of the finest overclockers in the world including 8-Pack, Andre, Coldest, Coolice, Der8auer, Dinos22, Elmor, Hazzan, HiCookie, Lin222, lucky_n00b, Mad222, Nick Shih, Pt1t, Slamms, Smoke, Splave, tor_za, ZoLKoRn, and Zzolio. The live event broadcast by Overclocking-TV will be available at corsair.com/OCMainEvent on June 3rd from 13:00 – 18:00 GMT +8.

In addition to the overclocking competition, the event will feature presentations by Intel and Corsair, including a PC building master class and a demonstration of the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. Attendees will also be among the first to see Corsair’s new line of products that are designed for use with the 4th Generation Intel Core processor. “We are excited to be hosting the premier overclocking event of Computex 2013 with our friends at Intel,” said Thi La, Senior VP and GM of Memory and Enthusiast Component Products at Corsair. “Together we’ll be unleashing the world’s top overclockers for the first time on the latest Intel processors and our new line of Corsair memory. With the sheer level of overclocking talent and the capabilities of the new hardware, I anticipate seeing groundbreaking levels of performance.”

“Our upcoming 4th Gen Intel Core processors will deliver amazing new levels of performance to the enthusiast community,” said Zane Ball, Intel Vice President, Global Ecosystem Development. “We are excited to sponsor the world’s top overclockers at this year’s Computex OC Main Event.”

Podcast #251 - iBuyPower Revolt, Seagate SSHD, NVIDIA Shield Pricing, and more!

Subject: General Tech | May 16, 2013 - 03:11 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: podcast, video, ibuypower, revolt, Seagate, sshd, nvidia, project shield, shield, haswell, corsair, seasonic, amd, ASUS P5A

PC Perspective Podcast #251 - 05/16/2013

Join us this week as we discuss the iBuyPower Revolt, Seagate SSHD, NVIDIA Shield Pricing, 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: Ryan Shrout, Josh Walrath, Allyn Malventano, and Morry Teitelman

Program length: 1:12:25

1. Week in Review:
   1. 0:02:10 iBuyPower Revolt R770 Mini-ITX Gaming PC
   2. 0:10:30 Seagate Thin SSHD 500GB Review
2. 0:20:15 This week we thank you for IGG support!
3. News items of interest:
   1. 0:25:25 NVIDIA Earnings Reports - anything interesting?
   2. 0:28:00 NVIDIA announces Shield Pricing and Availability
   3. 0:35:00 Power supplies and Haswell
      1. Corsair
      2. Seasonic
   4. 0:38:20 AMD touts semi-custom APU business
   5. 0:42:30 Microsoft Blue is Windows 8.1 - subscription based?
   6. 0:47:00 Curved Lian-Li case - Love it or hate it?
   7. 0:48:30 NEC posts Haswell notebook information
   8. 0:51:00 AMD Levels Up bundle program again
   9. 0:56:00 Hardware Flashback: ASUS P5A
4. 1:01:00 Hardware/Software Picks of the Week:
   1. Ryan: Are you still there...?
   2. Josh: Cheap, seem durable, and accurate
   3. Allyn: Seagate 1TB Laptop SSHD
   4. Morry: Wolfenstein: The New Order (video link)
5. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
6. http://pcper.com/podcast
7. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
8. Closing/outro

Corsair has, well, Haswell PSU support chart

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Cases and Cooling, Processors | May 10, 2013 - 04:23 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: c6, c7, haswell, PSU, corsair

I cannot do it captain! I don't have the not enough power!

We have been discussing the ultra-low power state of Haswell processors for a little over a week and how it could be detrimental to certain power supplies. Power supply manufacturers never quite expected that you could have as little as a 0.05 Amp (0.6W) draw on the 12V rail without being off. Since then, companies such as Enermax started to list power supplies which have been tested and are compliant with the new power requirements.

Above is Corsair's slightly incomplete chart as of the time it was copied from their website, 3:30pm on May 10th, 2013; so far it is coming up all good. Their blog should be updated as new products get validated for the new C6 and C7 CPU sleep states.

The best part of this story is just how odd it is given the race to arc-welding (it's not a podcast so you can't Bingo! hahaha!) supplies we have been experiencing over the last several years. Simply put, some companies never thought that component manufacturers such as Intel would race to the bottom of power draws.

Corsair's Neutron drives get even more dense

Subject: Storage | May 3, 2013 - 07:32 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: LAMD, corsair, neutron, ssd, asynchronous NAND, 22nm

Still featuring the Link_A_Media Devices LM87800 controller but with all new 22nm SK Hynix Synchronous NAND the refreshed Corsair Neutron SSD series just arrived on [H]ard|OCP's test bench.  The refresh brings both good and bad attributes, while the 22nm NAND proves a little slower than the original 25nm it also brings a much lower price.  That lower price paired with a 5 year warranty should make this drive attractive to users that are holding off on picking up an SSD because of fears that the drive will stop functioning in a few years, or who have a hard time spending well over $1/GB for storage.

"Corsair keeps pace with continuing innovation in the NAND market by switching from 25nm IMFT NAND to the rarely seen 22nm SK Hynix NAND. This NAND provides a lower price point and extra capacity. Today we take a look to see if the Neutron Series performance remains and how this new SSD build stacks up to the competition."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

• ADATA XPG SX900 128GB SSD Review Redux @ [H]ard|OCP
• Crucial M500 480GB Solid-State Drive Review @ Legit Reviews
• Comay Pluto SC3 Enterprise SSD @ Tweaktown
• ASUS RAIDR Express 240GB PCI-Express SSD review: is this the future? @ Hardware.info
• Corsair SSD Toolbox Software Overview - Better than Never @ Tweaktown
• Top SSD Recommendations For May 2013 - Samsung TLC Dethrones the SanDisk SSD Family @ SSD Review
• The SSD Optimization Guide Ultimate Windows 8 (And Win7) Edition @ The SSD Review
• OCZ Vertex 3.20 240GB SSD w/20nm Flash @ FunkyKit
• OWC Mercury Accelsior E2 PCIe SSD @ SSD Review
• Transcend MSA720 128GB mSATA SSD Review @ Legit Reviews
• Seagate Laptop Thin SSHD 500GB Review @ Techgage
• SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB Compact Flash Memory Card @ Tweaktown
• ADATA DashDrive Air AE400 Wireless Storage @ Benchmark Reviews
• takeMS LumX 4GB USB Flash Drive Review @ Madshrimps
• SanDisk Extreme Pro SDHC and microSDHC Memory Card @ Tweaktown
• Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive @ Tweaktown
• ADATA DashDrive Durable UD310 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive @ eTeknix
• Synology DS213+ High-Performance 2-Bay NAS Server for SMB Review @ Madshrimps
• Corsair Voyager Air 1TB Wireless Hard Drive @ eTecknix
• Patriot Supersonic Rage XT 64GB Flash Drive @ FunkyKit
• Mach Xtreme MX-ES 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive @ Tweaktown
• Transcend Wi-Fi SD Card @ Hardware.info
• PQI Air Bank 500GB External Wi-Fi Hard Disk Drive @ Tweaktown
• Asustor AS-604T 4-Bay NAS @ Tweaktown
• QNAP's TS-EC1279U-RP 12-bay Flagship Rackmount NAS @ AnandTech
• nfortrend EonNAS Pro 510 NAS @ Tweaktown
• Asustor AS-606T @ Legion Hardware

Corsair Clarifies Upcoming Investment Deal With Francisco Partners

Subject: General Tech | May 2, 2013 - 01:04 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: private equity, investments, corsair

Corsair recently reached out to the technology community to clarify the news of a new investor interested in the company. It turns out that Corsair is in talks with a private equity firm called Francisco Partners. The PC peripherals company wants to expand by making strategic acquisitions of smaller companies in the gaming and audio industry. In order to do that, Corsair needs cash, and without going public, one way to get that is to go with a private equity firm.

Although it will not be official for a couple of weeks, according to Corsair, Francisco Partners will invest as much as $75 million in Corsair and become a shareholder in the privately-held company. The deal is simply a monetary one, with Francisco Partners providing needed cash in exchange for a share of the company. No management changes are planned, and the new investor will not become the majority shareholder according to Corsair.

Corsair recently acquired both gaming peripheral company Raptor Gaming and Simple Audio, a company that provides multi-room streaming audio solutions. Corsair plans to further aggressively pursue the gaming and music/audio markets in addition to its existing case, power supply, fan, and other PC peripheral lineups aimed at enthusiasts. I'm excited to see where Corsair goes from here as it grows and diversifies its business and product lines.