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Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/4104/ces-2011-vendor-rundown
CES 2011: Visiting with Vendors
by Dustin Sklavos on January 7, 2011 12:50 AM ESTCorsair
If you've been following along you've noticed Corsair has been branching out more and more over the past couple of years, mostly with a measure of success. In 2011 they intend to expand the new product lines introduced in 2009 and 2010.
One of the biggest announcements was the new Performance 3 series SSD. If you read the RealSSD C400 preview some of this should sound familiar: SATA 6Gbps interface, Marvell controller, and very high transfer rates. With the Performance 3, Corsair quotes a peak 480MB/sec read speed and a peak 320MB/sec write speed, both substantial improvements upon incumbent SandForce-based drives (although SandForce has some surprises still in store). The drives use a Marvell 9174 controller blended with some of Corsair's secret firmware sauce and feature TRIM support and aggressive background garbage collection.
Corsair also briefly went over their Vengeance series memory modules for enthusiasts; while RAM may not be as exciting as SSDs and some of the other things we've seen, these kits are nonetheless impressive. Sandy Bridge-optimized DIMMs sport XMP profiles along with a reasonably low 1.5V operating voltage.
On the audio front, Corsair's expanding their lineup ever so slightly. If you remember the Corsair HS1 gaming audio headset, the HS1A is going to seem awfully familiar: same kit, but with analog connectivity instead of USB. They're also introducing two new 2.1 desktop speaker sets: the SP2500 and SP2200.
The SP2500 is the big daddy of the two, and at an MSRP of $259 it's not going to come cheap. Corsair listed a rated 232 watts total RMS: the satellites are rated for 56 watts apiece, and then the subwoofer has dual 60 watt amplifiers. Each satellite comes with a three-inch driver and ferro-cooled silk dome tweeter, while the driver in the subwoofer is eight inches with a rubber surround. Control is handled through a 1.8" TFT display-equipped controller that features 3.5mm input and headphone jacks along with a USB port that can actually be used to flash the system's firmware. The controller also has a built-in equalizer and can be used to switch between environmental programs as well as enable or disable modes like "Late Night Mode" (levels out sudden volume changes) and "Dynamic Pop" (combines equalization to boost highs and lows.)
For those of us not willing to drop that kind of bread on a 2.1 system, there's the more affordable (albeit less exciting) SP2200. At $99 it's still a little pricey, and features a combined rated 46 watts total RMS. The satellites have two-inch full range drivers while the subwoofer is ported with a six-inch driver. No dedicated controller either; all the controls are on the right satellite.
It was disappointing to see only two cases announced by Corsair, though: the Obsidian and Graphite series enclosures are expensive but excellent and well-received, and we were hoping for more than just a special edition Graphite 600T featuring a white finish with black accents and optional mesh or windowed side panels. The Obsidian 650D is more compelling: essentially a mid-tower version of the 800D, it features the same brushed aluminum and steel construction but adds an external SATA 6Gbps hot swap dock to go along with the eight PCI expansion slots and toolless drive bays. MSRP is expected to be $199.
Last but not least, Corsair also introduced their "Corsair Link" technology. This is essentially software that interfaces through USB and can be used to control fan speeds, lighting, and cooling.
Kingston
Kingston's showing was admittedly anemic compared to the other two companies they were showing with, Zalman and Zotac. Their big announcement seemed to be the HyperX Genesis memory, which now apparently will come in a gray edition (since it had always been blue), and the new heatspreaders no longer have the clips on the top. They also showed off a USB 3.0-connected SSD.
Zalman
What Zalman and Zotac brought to the table was more interesting. Zalman's CNPS9500, 9700, and 10X were all solid coolers, and they announced their impending CNPS11X. The 11X is a strange beast; it essentially has two arrays of fins in a V-formation with the fan suspended between the other edges of each, creating an open pocket between the arrays. The heatpipes within the fin arrays are particularly remarkable: internally the heatpipes are actually uneven, increasing their surface area and improving heat transfer. Zalman stated the CNPS11X would be able to dissipate a staggering 350 watts of heat.
There's also a smaller CNPS7X (92mm fan) with the same V-shaped cooling arrangment, and an inexpensive tower that has a mounting bracket with adjustable mounting ring that will fit older socket 775 as well as socket 1155/1156. And not to miss out on the SSD fun, Zalman showed us a 2.5" external HDD/SSD enclosure; there will be USB2 and USB3 versions.
Zotac
While Zotac mostly talked about how 2010 was their "coming out party," the new products they unveiled should surprise no one but excite everyone. Zotac has made a habit of producing Mini-ITX boards stuffed with every feature but the kitchen sink, and naturally they've updated their line with an H67-based board complete with PCI Express 2.0 x16, SATA 6Gbps, USB 3.0, and dual-band integrated wireless networking.
The other product that should've been expected but is nonetheless very compelling is their new ZBox. Externally it looks identical to the previous ZBox we reviewed, but internally it's a lot more exciting. Zotac traded up in a major way, swapping out the Atom and NG-ION combination for AMD's Fusion. The new ZBox sports a Zacate processor with dual 1.6GHz cores along with all of the connectivity as the previous version. We weren't able to find out if it supported HD audio bitstreaming, but as soon as we know we'll update and pass along that information. If it does, Fusion coupled with the integrated Blu-ray drive makes for a very compelling HTPC option.
A-Data
Compared to some of the other vendors, A-Data was less flashy and more about the products and the data, which is fine by us. The usual memory kits were on display, but one of their big pushes is in flash drives, and that's being handled in two ways. First, they're producing flash drives in a broad variety of form factors and shapes, including some cute panda and skull-shaped drives along with NBA-licensed flash drives shaped like stout players with logos on the jerseys and even Disney-licensed drives shaped like Mickey's glove or with illustrations of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
The other and likely more important change is the gradual transition of all of their flash drives to USB 3.0 moving forward. It's worth mentioning that even though neither Intel nor AMD support USB 3.0 natively in their chipsets, the standard is nonetheless gaining traction in a major way. The major motherboard vendors are all making it a point to integrate it into their products, and virtually all of the cases we've seen due for the marketplace feature USB 3.0 ports.
A-Data also announced a Marvell-based SATA 6Gbps SSD and were posting very impressive numbers with it, but they ran across something that we'll have to verify in our own testing: while the drive offered strong performance on AMD's SB850 southbridge, both the Marvell SATA 6Gbps motherboard controller and the P57's SATA 6Gbps posted significantly lower numbers--on the order of 30%-50% slower. We can't say for sure where the issue lies and will have to wait until these drives are in our hands. Testing Crucial's RealSSD C300 across the three different controllers produced similar results, but the P67 is relatively new (not to mention the pre-production drives being tested on it), so we'll have to take a wait-and-see approach.
Last but not least, A-Data will be debuting in the power supply market and coming out swinging with some very compelling products. All of their power supplies are 80 Plus Bronze certified and include a unique and nifty feature: a status LED that indicates the kind of load being placed on the power supply. If it's green everything is copasetic; at yellow it's starting to really work; and if it's at red it's being pushed too hard. When I asked if they were licensing their power supplies (similar to Corsair) they said they were actually manufacturing their own.
Cooler Master
The major drag about our visit to Cooler Master was the fact that the best product they had up for show is under NDA and will be kept under wraps until likely 3Q11. It's a tragedy really, all the best stuff was behind closed doors and we couldn't show you or talk about it except to say that it's worth waiting for.
They did show off their line of power supplies, and one of particular interest was a single 1.2 kilowatt unit that was shown simultaneously powering three Lynnfield systems, each equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460.
While the mechanical gaming keyboard was comfortable to use and the gaming mouse, though shaped like a hockey puck, actually felt and tracked very well (and featured nine buttons in places you'd actually press them), some of their more impressive innovations were in cooling. One of their processor heatsinks, dubbed the Gemini, is a unique design that actually orients the cooling fin array horizontally instead of vertically, and as a result the large fan and heatsink array actually hovers over the memory slots on most boards. The downward-facing fan then is able to cool both the processor and the memory, though enthusiast RAM with high heatspreader fins won't fit under it.
Their entry into water-cooling kits was also noteworthy: while the 120mm radiator and fan kit wasn't distinguishable from any others (and even the rep admitted as much), the secret ingredients were in the block that affixed to the processor. The pump built into the block is capable of moving tremendous amounts of liquid, but the real star of the show may be the copper piece that contacts the processor. Internally Cooler Master uses a lattice of fins that substantially increases the amount of surface area the liquid comes into contact with.
The Storm series case we were shown was an intriguing design; outside of the Cosmos, Cooler Master tends to produce feature-packed, affordable cases, and this one was no different. It featured space for water cooling, removable cable routing for the power supply, and tool-less drive installation. We're looking forward to getting some of Cooler Master's cases on hand for review soon.
Thermaltake
Speaking of cases, Thermaltake is bringing something you've been waiting for down to a still-high-but-at-least-not-migraine-inducingly-high price in the form of the Level 10 GT. At $269 it isn't cheap, but still features a lot of the more interesting and practical design choices from the original Level 10, including largely isolated hot-swappable drive bays (all powered by a single molex connection), easy behind-the-motherboard cable routing, and tool-less 5.25" drive bays. Worth nothing also is the USB 3.0 bracket that plugs into the front: Thermaltake has it use the USB 3.0 motherboard header natively, but also includes a passthrough dongle if your board doesn't have the header.
In addition to the Level 10 GT, Thermaltake showed off a case with a built-in BlacX dock on the top as well as USB 3.0-powered BlacX docks. Finally there were a pair of active-cooled 3.5" drive enclosures with largely toolless installations: remove two screws from a backplate (and the backplate itself), slide the drive in, snap a clasp into place and you're good to go (after replacing the backplate.) The fans are quiet and feature blue LED lighting that can be toggled off.
Patriot
Finally we visited with Patriot. We were used to seeing Marvell-powered SATA 6Gbps SSDs, but Patriot revealed they were working on a SandForce SF-2000-based one. They also showed off memory kits XMP-enabled for Sandy Bridge and a remarkably fast USB 3.0 flash drive. The drive is the same size as a conventional thumb drive, but is rated to run at up to 100MB/sec on read and 70MB/sec on write.
Their last big product they wanted to show off was a network-attached storage box called the Javelin. Intended to be viewed more as a media server, Patriot took a page out of Apple's book and elected to design more around simple configuration and user experience, and they seemed to be on the right track, opting to let the users configure for "reliability" instead of just saying "RAID 1" or "RAID 5." For more advanced users there are a slew of features, though, including the ability to VPN into the box to stream video from it through your browser from anywhere. The four-bay version was given an MSRP of $389, though there will also be a two-bay version available.
Conclusion
There are probably two big takeaways from these meetings, along with a third one that may be more inferred than outright stated.
The first is that USB 3.0 is making a splash whether Intel and AMD get on board early or not. It's just going to happen. Kingston's USB-enabled SSD uses USB 3.0, along with A-Data's; A-Data is actually moving all of their flash drives over to USB 3.0, and Patriot had that remarkably fast flash drive using it. Thermaltake has already moved their BlacX line to it, and Cooler Master even had a notebook cooler with a built-in USB 3.0 hub. Bottom line: USB 3.0 is here to stay.
The second is that after a briefly stagnant period dominated largely by the SF-1200/SF-1500, the SSD market is picking up again. That much should be evidenced by Anand's time with the SF-2000 controller along with the proliferation of Marvell's SATA 6Gbps controller. Each manufacturer I visited with that produced SSDs had a SATA 6Gbps drive on hand and were posting remarkable performance with them.
Finally, though, the third and more questionable point...SATA 6Gbps may have a remarkably short shelf life compared to other standards. While the industry is moving to USB 3.0 with or without Intel and AMD, SATA 6Gbps is having a slightly slower uptake and isn't promising to reap the kinds of dividends USB 3.0 is. Where it gets really alarming is how close SSD manufacturers are already getting to saturating SATA 6Gbps, a standard that came into being largely for them. The Patriot rep I spoke to was of a similar opinion and suggested products like OCZ's RevoDrive may actually wind up being the wave of the future, since PCI Express is capable of substantially more throughput than SATA 6Gbps is. We may be seeing SSDs that need that kind of throughput sooner rather than later.