Corsair shows off thier Components side at Computex

Computex 2014: Not much silicon but a lot of new accessories

Corsair logoCorsair was living up to the Components part of their name at Computex with lots of evolutionary goodies. As you would expect there were cases, peripherals, and even the odd memory device.

A bit over a year ago, Corsair became Corsair Components to describe their broader range of offerings, no longer were they just a memory company. They have had PSUs, headphones, cases, and peripherals for a long time, but the idea was to give them the emphasis they deserved. This year that was really in force helped out by a stagnation in memory brought on by the delays of several new impending specs like DDR4 and 10Gbps USB 3.1.

Corsair Graphite 380T case

Graphite 380T is small but slick

First up were cases starting with the new HTPC oriented Graphite 380T. This colorful lunchbox with a window is the latest in the line of Graphite cases, complete with very slick easy opening side panel. There is a big latch at the top of the window that lifts off and the whole panel hinges away. It is really easy to use and gives a large opening to install components with, Corsair or other branded. The case itself is a quite a bit larger than the normal mini box too, so you can build a decent system in spite of its size.

Corsair Carbide Air 240 case

Carbide Air 240 case

If you remember the Carbide Air 540 from last year’s Computex the new Carbide Air 240 will seem quite familiar. It is a much smaller version of the monster 540 ‘dual’ case but it still has room for two full GPUs. Think of it as a big case chopped up and reassembled into a small cube rather than the 540’s big case added to another big case to make a really big cube. This form factor makes a lot of sense for some types of builds.

Moving to PSUs we have the new HXi line of completely modular power supplies. Yes you can run them with absolutely no cables attached but we are not really sure why you would want to. This is true for all three wattages, 750, 850, and 1000W 80+ Platinum units, 100% optional cables. Better yet there is a test button that tells you if the unit is ready to go, handy if you want to use it without any cables attached. Be careful though, the test button is nestled between the “destructive power surge” and “instant fire” buttons that you probably don’t want to hit, attached cables or not. Just kidding, here is only one button but it is a good joke, no?

Corsair RGB mice and keyboards

Two keyboards and one mouse all with RGB LEDs

The RBG LED bearing Cherry switch keyboards from CES have finally made it to product form with the new K70 and K95 units. Both have mechanical key switches, programmable and animatable RGB LEDs, and all the other features you expect from a Corsair high-end keyboard. The K95 has 18 programmable macro keys, the K70 does not. To complement them is the M65 RGB mouse in black or white. It is an evolution of earlier Corsair mice with larger weights, slightly repositioned bits, and of course RGB LEDs. Buy one of each color just to be safe.

On a more traditional Corsair product side, flash memory, there is only one new product, a memory stick. The new Voyager GTX looks similar to the Voyager GS but with red accents on the case. Inside it is all new, think of it as an SSD with a USB converter because that is actually what it is. Take a 128GB SSD with a Phison controller and slap it into a USB stick enclosure along with a SATA to USB bridge and you have the Voyager GTX. It should be fast enough to keep up with USB write speeds, I want one.

Last up is something that doesn’t take to pictures well, a new foray into an old category for Corsair. That would be water blocks and this time it is for the AMD R9 290/290X GPUs. If you understand what Powertune 2.0 does you can see why a water-cooled 290 is a really good thing.

It allowed the 295X2 to pummel the Titan Z silly and on a single card water cooling can extract the maximum performance from the GPU. No, make that will extract, not can, if you don’t understand the distinction, go back and re-read the Powertune 2.0 article. 290s fly when well cooled. No word on pricing or release for this plate yet but it shouldn’t be long now, well worth the money.S|A

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Charlie Demerjian

Roving engine of chaos and snide remarks at SemiAccurate
Charlie Demerjian is the founder of Stone Arch Networking Services and SemiAccurate.com. SemiAccurate.com is a technology news site; addressing hardware design, software selection, customization, securing and maintenance, with over one million views per month. He is a technologist and analyst specializing in semiconductors, system and network architecture. As head writer of SemiAccurate.com, he regularly advises writers, analysts, and industry executives on technical matters and long lead industry trends. Charlie is also available through Guidepoint and Mosaic. FullyAccurate