Thread: Anandtech News

Alongside the smartphone element inside the Transformer Book V announced today, it would seem that the Silvermont-based Intel Atom series is pushing more in to the mass market via ASUS, with ASUS’ new announcements today for the Fonepad 8 and the MeMO Pad 7/8 as well.
The Fonepad 8 (FE380CG) is the next iterative design on the previous model, essentially a tablet-as-a-phone, this time with an 8-inch 3G connected device sporting a 5.06mm bezel for a 72.2% screen-to-body ratio. The display comes in at 1280x800 IPS, with the CPU quoted as a quad-core Intel Atom Z3580 (1.8 GHz) as well as dual-SIM functionality. My own experience with large phones makes them perfectly fine for calling, but as long as the device can be answered with one hand effectively rather than two, for example when carrying a cup of coffee from the office.

ASUS showcased two new MeMO Pad devices, again both using Intel Atom as the processor. The MeMO Pad 7 (ME176C) is a 64-bit Atom Z3745 quad core device with support for Miracast and NFC. The 1280x800 display in the Pad 7 is an IPS panel, with the dual PixelMaster cameras at 5MP and 2MP. The MeMO Pad 7 will go on sale in Taiwan on June 6^th, with other regions being considered.

The MeMO Pad 8 (ME481CL) is a big upgrade over the Pad 7, featuring LTE support, 802.11ac and a quad core Intel Atom Z3580 (2.3 GHz) at the helm. The display is upgraded to 1920x1080, covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The design weighs 299g, is only 7.45mm thick and features a multi-layer coating with non-conductive vacuum metallization technology. Judging by the name of this coating, I would assume that it is a deposition under vacuum that instigates a metal effect, though in order to be non-conductive it would be without metal, unless the deposition of the film is over a metal body.

Both the new FonePad and MeMO Pad will ship with ASUS’ ZenUI, which should feature over 1000 new enhancements. No word on pricing or release outside Taiwan yet, however we will be visiting by the ASUS booth later in the week and I will try and find some more information.



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Part of the market in WiFi communications is calling out for more bandwidth. The advent of high-resolution video and the limitations of gigabit Ethernet mean that in an environment where media consumption is priority, bandwidth is a key element in that equation. Current 802.11ac devices are shipped with either a single or dual stream module (perhaps the odd one with a three-stream), which in return requires a receiver with a similar number of streams as a minimum to have the best connection. So at this point, ASUS has announced the RT-AC3200, a six-stream 802.11ac router capable of up to 3.2 Gbps.

The router also features tri-band MIMO, allowing the device to give full bandwidth to more than one device at a time as well as act as a repeater. Additional features on the router include beam-forming to strengthen connectivity, SmartConnect to adjust to the best band for clients and Adaptive QoS for traffic optimization. AiProtection with Trend Micro will provide protection from external attacks, and the RT-AC3200 is accessed via the ASUSWRT interface.
As the number of streams increases in routers, what I would like to see is a similar increase in devices that use 802.11ac WiFi, especially in the desktop PC segment. This could be either as a PCIe card or as a built-in module, however someone will have to design a smart antenna in order to incorporate the whole thing at the rear of a desktop.
Everyone loves knowing pricing and availability, which I hope to obtain later this week when visiting the ASUS booth.

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At Computex 2014, Zotac has launched four new passively-cooled mini-PCs. All of these C-series units are sized the same as Zotac's existing ZBOX nano lineup (127 mm x 127 mm x 45 mm). Compared to the U-series CPUs used in the current crop of NUC-type mini-PCs, Zotac has gone in for the Core-Y series members in their flagship models. The Core-Y series have a 11.5W TDP (and a 6W SDP), which make them ideal for passively cooled designs. The ZBOX C-series lineup also includes a Celeron N2930 model as well as an AMD A6-1450 APU model (which integrates an AMD Radeon HD 8250). As usual with Zotac, the PLUS series members come with 4GB of DDR3L memory as well as a 2.5" 64GB SSD.
The details of the four different C-series members are provided in the picture below.

The galleries below show us the chassis design and available I/O for the Intel-based C-series models and the AMD-based C-series model respectively.
Gallery: Zotac ZBOX C-Series: CI540 nano


Gallery: Zotac ZBOX C-Series: CA320 nano


Pricing for the four models has also been announced (barebones/PLUS format, in USD):

• CI540: $369.99/479.99
• CI520: $309.99/409.99
• CI320: $149.99/259.99
• CA320: 179.99/289.99

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We initially covered Corsair’s preview of their Cherry MX RGB project at CES, but today Corsair is formally announcing their Cherry MX RGB range: two mechanical keyboards and a mouse. All three bring customization in the form of 16.8 billion colors, and will be coming to market in the late July to August timeframe.
They keyboards are modified versions of the K95 and K70, both offering per-key lighting. The K95 is fully equipped with 18 macro keys with presets for 108 different combinations as well as 100% anti-ghost, full key rollover and a 1000 Hz reporting rate. The construction of the keyboard is in aircraft-grade black anodized aluminium, and Corsair offers a 2 year warranty. MSRP is set at $190 and the K95 will be available in red switches only.

The K70, one of the most popular mechanical keyboards on the market, follows the design of the K95 without the macro keys but will also be available in red, blue and brown mechanical key switches. The MX Red version will be available first in late July, with Blue and Brown coming in late August. MSRP for this non-macro version will be $170, with a similar 2-year warranty.

In the RGB lineup it makes sense to include a mouse, and Corsair has fitted its M65 with tri-zone RGB lighting for a full 16.8 million color customization. The aluminium unibody shell uses an 8200 DPI laser sensor with an adjustable weight system for personal preference and play style. The mouse also has eight programmable buttons as well as a dedicated sniper button. On the fly DPI switching is also possible. The M65 RGB will be available late August at an MSRP of $70.

Gallery: Corsair RGB

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If you need access to tons of movies, music, etc. on your iOS or Android device – or perhaps a PC or Mac as well – Corsair’s latest Voyager Air 2 wireless drive might prove useful. Featuring support for up to 1TB of storage and powered by a rechargeable battery that offers up to seven hours of battery life, the palm-sized device at its most basic level can function as portable USB 3.0 storage, but that’s not really taking advantage of the additional features.
The Voyager Air 2 as you might guess from the name also supports 802.11n/g/n connections. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s only 2.4GHz connections, which means it won’t provide faster speeds for 5GHz 11n users and those equipped with 11ac users are also out of luck. On the bright side, the WiFi can connect to a wireless hotspot and provide wireless passthrough for Internet sharing, but again the 2.4GHz spectrum means this won’t be useful in crowded WiFi environments.
The device also supports Airplay, DLNA, and cloud syncing with Corsair’s version 2.0 software. Airplay allows the device to work with AppleTV products, DLNA support means it can work with a variety of Blu-ray players, came consoles, and other devices, and the cloud syncing supports synchronization with Dropbox and/or Google Drive. The onboard media server will also automatically organize media files, allowing you to browse TV shows by name/season/episode and music by artist/album/title/genre. For Windows and OS X PCs/laptops, you can also access content on the device through a web interface.
Availability is scheduled for June, with an MSRP of $180. That makes the new Voyager Air 2 less expensive than the 500GB Voyager Air, though the original Voyager Air also included Ethernet support. Other than a slightly modified enclosure and dropping the 500GB option, the Air 2 appears to be nearly identical in terms of specs to the original product. That’s not necessarily bad, as the Voyager Air received good reviews, but it would have been nice to see a few additional updates – most notably 802.11ac support.
Gallery: Corsair Announces Voyager Air 2 Wireless Drive

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When you need an easy way to carry around a bunch of data you generally have two options: for fast storage you need an SSD with some sort of USB 3.0 (or eSATA) adapter; otherwise you’re stuck with a small and portable USB stick that likely has much lower overall performance. There have been a few companies offering faster USB stick alternatives, but of course the price tends to scale rapidly. Corsair is offering another entrant into this category with their new Flash Voyager GTX, available in 128GB and 256GB capacities.
In terms of raw specs, the Flash Voyager GTX boasts read/write speeds of up to 450/350 MB/s. The drives feature support for USB Attached SCSI, SMART monitoring, and TRIM. Unfortunately, there’s plenty of information still missing; I’d like to see performance numbers for transferring lots of small files, and random I/O would be interesting as well; there’s no specific mention of the controller or NAND type either. That means we’ll have to wait for a full review before we can truly compare performance with that of SSDs.
Given the storage capacity these are obviously slightly larger USB stick enclosures. Availability is scheduled for July, with an MSRP of $120 for the 128GB model and $200 for the 256GB model.
Gallery: Corsair Flash Voyager GTX Promises SSD-Level Performance




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Computex is officially kicking off today and unlike many of the products announced at trade shows, we actually have a full review of the Crucial MX100 that is launching today at Computex. The MX100 is Crucial's new mainstream drive, replacing the popular M500 while the M550 will continue to serve the higher performance market. With the MX100 Crucial is aiming even lower in terms of price per gigabyte by utilizing Micron's (i.e. Crucial's parent company's) state-of-the-art 16nm 128Gbit MLC NAND. Read on the see how the MX100 stands out with its new 16nm NAND!

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Corsair has enjoyed its Computex with a number of new releases today. Announcing nearly a dozen new products is somewhat shocking, even if some of them are upgrades of older successful products. The company has also announced three new cases - the portable Mini-ITX Graphite 380T, the versatile Mini-ITX / Micro-ATX Carbide Air 240 and the massive Graphite 780T Full Tower case.
The very shape of the Graphite 380T and the large handle instantly give away Corsair's intentions; the company has aimed to create the ideal Mini-ITX LAN party machine. It is not the smallest Mini-ITX that we have seen but it can house a full size graphics card and advanced cooling options, allowing the creation of a compact and yet rather powerful gaming system. With two fans (120 mm and 140 mm) already included, the Graphite 380T has clearly been designed with the presumption that a pretty strong gaming system will be installed inside it. Corsair will be supplying the Graphite 380T in two color combinations; black with red lighting or black/white with white lighting.

The Carbide Air 240 is like a small version of the Carbide Air 540, the very popular cubic case that Corsair released in 2013. Although it has been downsized and can now fit only Mini-ITX and Micro-ATX motherboards, Corsair claims that the Carbide Air 240 can store a lot of hardware, including full-size graphics cards and two 240 mm liquid cooling radiators. Much like its larger sibling, the drives are stored behind the motherboard tray, into the PSU compartment, although their exact number is currently unknown. Corsair announced that the Carbide Air 240 will be available in both black and white.

Last but not least, the new Graphite 780T Full Tower case is perhaps the most interesting addition to Corsair's line up of cases. It is based on a new aesthetic concept, not an older design, which looks very interesting from the 3D renders that Corsair supplied to us. We have no clear details regarding the size of the case but Corsair claims that it can fit nine hard drives and two 360 mm liquid cooling radiators, therefore its proportions will definitely be greater than any Mid-Tower case, or even the Graphite 760T.

The Carbide Air 240 is espected to launch in August at the $90-$100 price point, with the Graphite 380T also in August at $130. The Graphite 780T will be a month later in September for around $180-$190.

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Corsair's HX PSU series is of special significance to the company, as it is the first PSU series that Corsair released back in 2006. Corsair today announced its upgraded successor, the HXi series, which brings 80Plus Platinum certified units with Corsair Link support. Corsair announced that the new HXi series would consist of three units, a 750W, an 850W and a 1000W model, thus reducing the audience of the new HXi series significantly, as the vast majority of home computers do not require anywhere near that much power.

Although the press release does not clarify whether the new series will completely replace the current HX series or exist alongside it, it would make little sense for both series to coexist with the current pricing scheme. As the table below depicts, the MSRP of the new HXi series is very similar to that of the older units, therefore the older units will need to receive a major price cut if they are to stay in production.

Corsair PSUs
HX Series		HXi Series		AX Series
Corsair HX750	$149.99	Corsair HX750i	$169.99	Corsair AX760	$179.99
Corsair HX850	$169.99	Corsair HX850i	$189.99	Corsair AX860	$199.99
Corsair HX1050	$239.99	Corsair HX1000i	$229.99	Corsair AX860i	$229.99

On paper, the new HXi units are strikingly similar to the current AXi series as well; fully modular, all-Japanese capacitors, Zero-RPM fan mode, 80Plus Platinum certified and covered by a seven year warranty. The only vital difference is the price, with the new HXi units being significantly cheaper, making the longevity of the current AX and AXi models questionable as well. Whether the new HXi units can also perform as well as the current AXi or even the HX series, we will find out once the first sample reaches our labs.
The new HXi Series will be available at retail in August.



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In its endless rampage of new product releases today, Corsair has also presented the Hydro Series HG10 GPU cooling bracket, a solution for those that want to install an all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooling kit on a graphics card. This approach is not new, as other companies have presented similar solutions (some may remember our recent review of the NZXT Kraken G10); however, such solutions would focus on the GPU core and leave the VRM and RAM with just airflow from the fan installed on the bracket, which could become a problem if the VRM heatsinks of power-hungry cards are removed alongside the stock cooler.

Corsair's press release suggests that the Hydro Series HG10 will not only cool the GPU core but the VRM and RAM chips of your card as well. This is done by keeping the stock cooler's radial fan and parts of its body, which are still being powered by the graphics card's fan control circuitry. Essentially, the HG10 seems to be replacing parts of the stock cooler in order to add support for the liquid cooler core. Compatibility wise, there are both good and bad news. The good news are that the HG10 is compatible with all of Corsair's Hydro series, from the H55 and H80 to the H100i and H110; therefore, it will most likely be compatible with the vast majority of AIO liquid cooling kits from many companies. The bad news are that it requires specific card models, limiting its compatibility with only AMD Radeon R9 290X/290 reference cards (A1 Edition) or NVIDIA GeForce Titan, 780 Ti, 780, 770 cards (N1 Edition). Corsair hinted that there will be more versions for other AMD cards soon, although they did not specify for which models.

The first versions (A1 Edition) will be available this June for $39.99.

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