As we did a very good job of seeding the SP2500s before the press event at CES, we’ve got more than enough reviews this week to dedicate this weekly round-up to them. So we’re going to do a little different format this week. No intros, straight to the quote!
GameSpot UK — “The SP2500 is a fantastic 2.1 system. The accuracy of satellites is something of a revelation for a consumer-focused product, letting you hear detail that you may have been missing from your audio. Though it can come across as a little clinical, the on-board DSP does a great job of offering a range of usable sounds that allow you to tune the system to your tastes. Music is detailed, accurate, and a pleasure to listen to, movies blow your socks off, and the accurate stereo imaging makes playing games a little easier too.”
Hareware Heaven, 10 out of 10 stars — “With the SP2500 Corsair has created a 2.1 system which exceeds the audio quality anything else in the same price range. In fact it produces a quality of audio which is better than many other more expensive products.”
Hard OCP — “The Corsair Gaming Audio Series SP2500 High-power 2.1PC Speaker System is exceptional and we have absolutely no reservations about recommending these. Assembly was extremely easy, the speakers look great, and performed well in all of our tests. Corsair makes excellent, innovative products and its SP2500 speakers are another reason why the company deserves your hard earned dollar.”
Tech Radar, 5 out of 5 stars — “The SP2500 will set you back £200, but we can say without reservation that, as soon as you get them up and running, you’ll feel completely justified. If you want high-end PC audio, here it is.”
Maximum PC , we get a 9 and Antec gets a… 6 — “There is absolutely nothing subtle about Corsair’s SP2500 Gaming Audio Speakers: This monstrous 2.1-channel system could start a riot. After just a few minutes listening to Les Claypool shred his stand-up acoustic bass on the Primus classic “Mr. Krinkle,” with the amp cranked way beyond sensible, we felt an overwhelming urge to start breaking furniture. So we turned the volume down and started hacking zombies in Left4Dead 2, instead.”
That’s all from me this week… have a good weekend!
Well it’s the day before, the day before and we’re off tomorrow. As a result you get your weekly reviews a day early!
Let’s begin this week with a bunch of reviews for our new Vengeance™ DDR3 memory. RJR from Overclockers Club tested out the 8gb (2X4 GB) PC3-12800 Cas9 Vengeance kit, and like it so much he couldn’t list a single Con. He also awarded us the coveted OCC Gold award:
“The Corsair Vengeance 8GB kit performed as expected in the testing we subjected it to. It was right in line with the other 1600 Mhz kits and performed well against the comparably overclocked kits.” and “Overall a nice set of RAM from Corsair at a decent price.”
Bobby Pachinger from Think Computers also reviewed the same Vengeance kit. He decided it was worthy of a score of 9 out of 10, and also awarded us their Good Value Award:
“As far as performance goes this kit rocks! They are definitely better than some no-name brand of DDR3 and run at a lower voltage so you are able to push them quite a bit. I was able to get these sticks running at 2000MHz stable, which is a 400MHz overclock! The lower voltage of 1.5V allows you to increase the voltage so you can really push this memory to its limit.”
Next up we have a review of the HS1 USB Gaming Headset tested against a Sharkoon Xtatic SP over at Guru3D. In the end we get the nod, and the Recommended Award:
“The Corsair HS1 is possibly the best headset we’ve tested. It does all jobs you would want will and doesn’t suck at any of them.”
To end things up this week we have a review of the Force Series F40 SSD in RAID 0. It’s a pretty rockin’ combination, and that’s what TechReaction thought too. So much so, they gave us their TechREACTION.net Gold Silicon Award:
“The Force series drives from Corsair are comparable to most other SF1200 controller SSDs on the market. They do perform slightly lower in read and write sustained speeds than the “standard” 285/275. The units tested are the smallest drives in the series at only 40GB, and normally the smaller the flash, the slower it performs due to number of connections. These drives ignore that standard and push near the same speeds as their larger brethren – most impressive!”
You may have recently heard about us launching our newest DDR3 memory line, the Corsair Vengeance™ series, earlier this month. The reviews have started to roll in and people are saying good things. Stuart Davidson from HardwareHeaven had a go at the 12GB 1600MHz kit, and published his findings earlier this week. He liked the Vengeance memory so much he awarded us 10 out of 10 stars, their Gold Award, and their Value Award:
“Performance wise there is nothing to fault about the Vengeance modules, they offer increased performance over generic DDR3 2GB sticks of the same speed and do so at a lower voltage and temperature. The main selling point though has to be the overclocking potential where our 1600MHz modules were able to achieve speeds in excess of 2000MHz, increasing overall system performance by 16% over standard DDR3 modules. Having said that, one of the more noticeable performance increases was the reduction in load times we noticed during our testing, even when using the Vengeance modules at 1600MHz applications opened far quicker than the 6GB equivalent with the Adobe applications benefitting most.”
Over, or Down Under depending on your world perspective, at TweakTown — Shane Baxtor reviewed the same 12GB 1600MHz kit of Vengeance DDR3 memory. He came away impressed enough to award us a 95% score, and their Editor’s Choice Award:
“If you’re after some new RAM and wanting 12GB, this is a great kit from Corsair that carries with it a lower price tag than others, a good quality heatsink and really low voltage which is all brought together with some good performance. Sure, the Vengeance lacks some of the high speed kits that we see in the Dominator series, but it’s clear that Corsair has a different point of focus with this line up.”
Moving on to the world of cases, Kip Rouse from PurceOC, had a look at the Corsair Graphite Series™ 600T mid-tower case. In the end he felt it deserved their Editors Choice award:
“With excellent cooling from the dual 200mm fans and with eight PCI-E expansion slots to accommodate multiple graphics cards; the Corsair 600T makes it easy to build a world-class gaming system. The interior design is superb and you have plenty of room for large, power-hungry components, the Graphite Series 600T can handle just about anything you can throw at it.
So are you looking for a new mid tower chassis with features normally only found in a full tower, then you will have to ask yourself, “Will the Corsair 600T fill my needs in a chassis and look great at the same time”? We are betting the answer is a resounding “YES”!!!”
The last review for this week is by MUDDOCKTOR over at Overclockers.com. After having already reviewed (and loved) our Hydro Series™ H50, and it’s big Brother the H70, he decided to take the Air Series™ A70 out for a spin. In a very thorough review, he tests it against some of the competition, our Hydro Series CPU coolers, and even uses a slew of different fans. When it’s all over we come away with the Overclockers Approved award:
“As you can see, the performance of the A70 is in the ballpark with other high end cooling options. It matches the True Spirit and beats the H50 in cooling, but lags behind the rest by a little. All in all, a pretty good showing for a heat sink that is nowhere near the top in the cost column.” And “The A70 is a good performing heat sink and is worthy of consideration when you are deciding on your next cooling solution to buy. As such, I give this heat sink the Overclockers Approved award.”
“You may pay more upfront for the max load, large +12 V rail, and super-efficient design. But in a build full of high-end hardware, you get what you pay for. The AX1200 comes as close to sexy as a power supply can get.”
IMHO I think their photo gives us a little help with the sexy factor.
“The 12GB Vengeance under review today is priced at £150 which is amazing value when you consider other 12GB kits available on the market at the moment. The Vengeance series is placed between the XMS and Dominator range – so if you want similar performance to what the Dominator kits offer but don’t have the budget then this is surely the kit to go for.”
The second video gives you an extremely detailed look at how to route all your cables. It also shows you how to connect the fan controller on the 600T to all your fans:
One of the most influential and significant computing magazines in Japan, Weekly ASCII, has named the Corsair Hydro Series™ H50 CPU cooler its “Parts of the Year” for 2010.
This prestigious award is not simply an award for the best product in a specific category or time period. It marks what Weekly ASCII has determined to be the most influential and innovative product in the entire consumer computer industry for 2010, and is only awarded to a single product per year. It’s an exceptional honor for Corsair to receive this award for the H50.
It’s holiday time, and to help you make your shopping decisions we’ve come through with a plethora of reviews to help you choose the right Corsair gear:
“Silence, performance, quality, and an attractive price make the AX750 very difficult to beat. This is easily one of the best power supplies on the market right now, and for that we’re presenting Corsair with our Gold Editors’ Choice award.”
This is too just too good to leave out:
“The OCZ Z-Series 80Plus Gold OCZZ850M is no match for Corsair as well, because the efficiency is lower and the soldering quality worse.”
Ouch!
If you are looking for a PSU that’s a little less expensive, Anthony from Overclockers Online has come through with a review of our Gaming Series™ GS800 powersupply. In the end he felt it was worthy of the Overclockers Online Approved award:
“Corsair’s new Gaming Series power supply is a solid contender. For the price, you get a whole lot of power supply. While efficiency isn’t up there with some more expensive units, the GS800W only claimed to be 80Plus. Still, the efficiency numbers are good even under heavy stress. Line regulation is exceptionally good on this unit, but we also wouldn’t have expected less from Corsair. Overall, the GS800W is an excellent power supply.”
“At the end of the day, the Corsair Graphite Series 600T is a fantastic case and is absolutely worthy of our Bronze Editors’ Choice award.” and “$159 may seem a bit steep, but in our opinion, it’s worth it. The 600T is a hell of a case.”
Next up, we have a review of the Hydro Series™ H70 CPU cooler from the guys at Madshrimps. We market the H70 as an easy to install and high-performance cpu cooler, and they completely agreed and award us their Novice award for the easy install, and their Performance award for the, well… performance:
“I was initially pretty sceptical of the marketing claims at start. But once I saw a nice temp gap with the socket 1366, I knew Corsair had a winner on their hands. The new improved features really pay off.”
Finally if you are searching for the perfect gaming headset for that special someone this holiday, you need not look any further than the Corsair Gaming Audio Series™ HS1 USB gaming headset. Just ask Steve Grever from PC Perspective, he’ll tell you:
“We’d like to thank our friends at Corsair for providing their first ever USB gaming headphones for our review today. Whenever Corsair seems to take on a new endeavor, they get the right people on board to manage those newproducts to ensure they are successful. The Corsair HS1 falls in line with these statements and gave me the best 7.1 surround sound experience I’ve ever heard from several Dolby-specific products I’ve tested this year.”
You’re welcome Steve! And oh ya, Editor’s Choice award.
The guys from ThinkComputers also took a look at the HS1 this week, and I think I’ll let them speak for themselves here:
“The Corsair HS1 USB Gaming Headset is one of the best all-around packages I’ve seen to date. Its software fully compliments the hardware without causing problems or interrupts ingameplay. The Corsair HS1 is affordably priced for the gaming audiophile, and delivers exceptional volume and quality for its price point. The sound coming from the headset made me feel like I was actually sitting in a theatre during movies, and easily helped me locate and target enemies in multiplayer gaming situations. I literally wore this headset for 8+ hours or more during my thanksgiving time gaming sessions and never once felt uncomfortable in the slightest. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Corsair HS1 USB Gaming Headset a 9 out of 10 score.”
Our new Corsair® Vengeance™ DDR3 memory was specifically designed with overclockers in mind. Vengeance memory combines value, low voltage, overclockability, and a new heat spreader design. To see just how far the new kits can overclock, I chose two high density 1600MHz, Cas 9 kits to test on dual and triple-channel systems. In order to test their stability, I used a combination of HyperPi 32m and Memtest86 to push the Vengence memory to it’s limits. Since the Vengeance kits are rated at 1.5 volts, I tested the modules for overclockability at 1.65 volts as well. We’ll see if the higher 1.65 voltage will help the memory overclock further.
For dual channel systems, I chose the Vengeance 8GB CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 kit for the overclock test. The Vengeance memory kit contains two 4GB modules, rated for 1600MHz 9-9-9-24 at 1.5 volts. The motherboard I chose was the Gigabyte™ GA-P55A-UD4P, with an Intel® Core™ i7-870 processor. I tested the kit at the rated 1.5v with 9-9-9-24 timings, and achieved a frequency of 1787MHz. This was an overclock of 187MHz , without changing anything in the bios except for the base clock. Relaxing the memory timings did not result in a higher overclock at this voltage.
Another week gone by, and another weekly review round-up. Let’s begin thing this week with a review of the Graphite Series™ 600T mid-tower case from the guys at tech Power Up. The 600T has been earning rave reviews, and this one is no exception. We received both their tech Power Up! Editor’s Choice award, and their praise:
“With the Graphite [Series] 600T the company has once more underlined their commitment to offering enclosures which are not simply run of the mill, but are engineered specifically by Corsair to offer a great set of functionality along with some beefy design. The spacious interior, USB 3.0 connectivity, easy assembly and well thought out screw-less systems are just some of the very interesting aspects of the 600T.”
Staying with the 600T, the guys from PC-Max in Germany gave it a once over and decided it was worthy of their Redaktion Empfehlung award. To save you a trip to Google Translate, that means “Editor Recommended”:
“Finally, we can say for the Corsair Graphite [Series] 600T without hesitation, a recommendation, because it leaves a very good impression. For a mid-tower also needs a lot of money to be put down. The price is reasonable, given the wealth of features and high-quality processing, however.”
“It would cost twice the price of the H70 to enter the realm of entry level water cooling, with installation and testing adding hours on top of the investment. Corsair has assembled a complete package, ready to go, that performs absolutely spectacularly.”
In our last review, Nick Atlas from inTravel Magazine proves once again that if you absolutely, positively, need your USB flash drive to be able to survive the worst that life and nature can throw at it, the Corsair Flash Survivor® GTR is your only choice. Plus it’s really fast too:
“This is the most indestructible data storage device I’ve ever seen. If you need someplace to store your data while on the road, diving, jumping off of tall things, or doing otherwise potentially destructive activities, this is the flash drive for you. It’s fast, it’s indestructible and it’s small.”
I spoke with Matt Bidinger of Overclockers.com today and he told me about their 1st Annual Benching Team Party 2010 overclocking event. The inaugural overclocking event will be held in Tyler Texas this weekend from November 19th through November 21st, and yes they plan on it lasting for 48 hours. At least twelve of the leading OC’ers affiliated with Overclockers.com and various OC’ing teams will be in attendance. There will be plenty of motherboards, CPUs, and GPUs to torture. As well as 720 liters of liquid nitrogen, LN2 pots aplenty, and some live webcasts of the action.
GameSpot UK — “The SP2500 is a fantastic 2.1 system. The accuracy of satellites is something of a revelation for a consumer-focused product, letting you hear detail that you may have been missing from your audio. Though it can come across as a little clinical, the on-board DSP does a great job of offering a range of usable sounds that allow you to tune the system to your tastes. Music is detailed, accurate, and a pleasure to listen to, movies blow your socks off, and the accurate stereo imaging makes playing games a little easier too.”
Hareware Heaven, 10 out of 10 stars — “With the SP2500 Corsair has created a 2.1 system which exceeds the audio quality anything else in the same price range. In fact it produces a quality of audio which is better than many other more expensive products.”
Hard OCP — “The Corsair Gaming Audio Series SP2500 High-power 2.1PC Speaker System is exceptional and we have absolutely no reservations about recommending these. Assembly was extremely easy, the speakers look great, and performed well in all of our tests. Corsair makes excellent, innovative products and its SP2500 speakers are another reason why the company deserves your hard earned dollar.”
Tech Radar, 5 out of 5 stars — “The SP2500 will set you back £200, but we can say without reservation that, as soon as you get them up and running, you’ll feel completely justified. If you want high-end PC audio, here it is.”
Maximum PC , we get a 9 and Antec gets a… 6 — “There is absolutely nothing subtle about Corsair’s SP2500 Gaming Audio Speakers: This monstrous 2.1-channel system could start a riot. After just a few minutes listening to Les Claypool shred his stand-up acoustic bass on the Primus classic “Mr. Krinkle,” with the amp cranked way beyond sensible, we felt an overwhelming urge to start breaking furniture. So we turned the volume down and started hacking zombies in Left4Dead 2, instead.”
