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Corsair Launches ML Pro “Magnetic Levitation” RGB LED Fans

November 28, 2017, 3:33 am
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Corsair ML Pro series fans are here!

 
Following the release of its non-RGB ML fans in 2016, Corsair has now announced the new ML Pro RGB fans that bring RGB LED lighting to the series. The new fans finally marry RGB lighting with Corsair’s magnetic-levitation bearing technology.

The defining aspect of Corsair’s ML series of fans is its use of a magnetic bearing. We spoke with Corsair about this technology at Computex 2016. In short, the magnetic bearing levitates the fan stem in the fan hub so that there is no surface-to-surface contact. The resulting reduction in friction gives the fan an exceptionally long life and wide RPM range.

The new ML Pro RGB fans add RGB lighting to the mix. They have four lighting zones that emanate from the fan hub and diffuse across their frosted fan blades. Like all of Corsair’s RGB products, the ML Pro RGB fans tie into Corsair’s lighting ecosystem, which is extensive and fairly confusing.
 
Corsair’s RGB fans have separate connections for LED and motor control. The latter, which works like it does for any regular computer fan, is attached to a motherboard or fan hub. On the other hand, the LED control uses a proprietary connector that goes to a Corsair RGB LED Hub which in turn goes to one of Corsair’s many different RGB lighting control modules. Among the basic ones available are the HD Lighting Controller, which has physical switches to cycle among pre-programmed patterns, and the Lighting Node Pro, which has a USB connection for control from Corsair’s Link driver software.

Back to the ML Pro RGB fans themselves, they are largely the same as their non-RGB counterparts. They're available in 120mm and 140mm versions, and their “Pro” designation means that they have interchangeable rubber corners. There is one very important difference, however: lower maximum RPM on the RGB fans. The 120mm and 140mm RGB fans go to 1600 RPM and 1200 RPM respectively, as opposed to 2400 RPM and 2000 RPM for the non-RGB ones.
Corsair is not the only company that uses magnetic bearings, nor is it the only company making advanced RGB LED fans, but there aren’t many competitors tying the two together. Further, the ML Pro RGB fans are not Corsair’s most advanced in terms of LED lighting. Its LL series of fans feature a lit fan hub and a lit band that's embedded in the fan frame. However, that has a more conventional hydraulic bearing with a lower life span. It has only a two-year warranty, compared to the ML series’ five-year warranty. 

The 120mm and 140mm ML Pro RGB fans are available individually now on Corsair’s site at $35 and $40, respectively. Multi-packs (these include an RGB Lighting Hub and Lighting Node Pro) of three 120mm fans and two 140mm fans are also available for $120 and $100, respectively.
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ATI Electronics launches Philips Power Banks in India

November 29, 2017, 12:13 am
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ATI Electronics launches Philips Power Banks and other Mobile
Accessories in India; signs exclusive deal with Flipkart.

Mumbai, November 28, 2017: ATI Electronics India Pvt Ltd, the exclusive OEM
partner and distributor for Philips Accessories in India has recently announced its
foray in the Indian market. Known for its best-in- class quality and hi-end technology,
the brand has launched a host of products under its umbrella for the technology
segment like Power Banks, Bluetooth headsets, Micro, HDMI and Lightening Cables,
Chargers and Surge Protectors among others.

There aren’t many well-known multi-national brands serving the mobile accessories
segment in India. With its foray, ATI Electronics aims to fill the void in the higher end
of the mobile accessories market. Power Banks being most popular among the
various products launched by the Company, ATI is launching around 10 models of
Power Bank for the style and quality conscious consumers, varying from 2600mAh to
13000mAh. In addition, ATI Electronics is also launching High Speed HDMI Cables,
fast charging Apple sync and lighting cables, Car & home wall chargers and Universal
Power Sockets (Surge Protectors) among others.
The brand is being launched in India this week. The products are aggressively priced
between Rs.199/- and Rs.2,999/-. ATI Electronics has tied up with Flipkart to sell
some of the premium Philips Power Banks exclusively on its online marketplace.

Speaking about the foray into the Indian market, Mr. Murli Manohar Jha, CEO, ATI
Electronics India Pvt. Ltd., said, “India is one of the fastest growing market for mobile
accessories in the world and the second largest growing market for smart phones.
The growth in smart phone sales is bound to spike the demand for mobile
accessories and we fit in at the higher end of the market. The manner in which India
adopt new technological innovations, makes it one of the most lucrative market for
any tech Brand. We are proud to partner and bring Philips Accessories to India and
are happy that we have finally entered this market and look forward to a great
association with Flipkart.”

Sharing his views about the exclusive tie-up, Mr. Hari Kumar - Senior Director,
Electronics at Flipkart said, "We are excited to be the exclusive partner for the
launch of Philips Mobile Charging portfolio. Philips would be a strong brand addition
in the Mobile Charging space where we are the undisputed market leaders. Power
Bank is a focus category for Flipkart in Electronic Accessories where we have more
than 70% of the online and nearly 25% of the All India market share. As a market
leader, Flipkart is continuously solving for wider selection availability, affordable
pricing with unmatched service levels."

ATI Electronics India Pvt Ltd is in the process of establishing its chain of distribution
network all across India. Soon, Philips Accessories will be available all across India on
both online and multi brand offline mobile stores. For more information, please visit
www.atielectronics.in.

About ATI Electronics:
ATI Electronics India Pvt Ltd, is an affiliate of ATI Electronics (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd, a
Sino-US multinational electronics contract manufacturing JV, established in 1999.
Headquartered in Shenzhen, China, it is one of the largest electronics OEM
manufacturer, specializing in Bluetooth & Wireless products. At present the
company is innovating in the field of Smart Home and IOT. With its in-house most
modern R&D facilities, the company caters to brands like Samsung, Philips,
Motorola, Altec Lansing etc. ATI Electronics India Pvt Ltd has been formed with the
vision of participating in Government of India’s “Make In India” program and bring
their manufacturing innovation and expertise to the Indian market. The company is
also planning to establish its state of the art assembly cum manufacturing unit in the
City of Bangalore, Karnataka.
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Meet your new Travel Buddy - Astrum HT600 Leather Headset

November 29, 2017, 4:21 am
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Astrum India announces Travel friendly; Fold & Pack Leather Headset ‘HT600’ for Rs.
4990/-

  • Upto 8 hours of Music & 96 hours of standby, Bluetooth connectivity
  • Flexsoft comfort fit for longer hours with Superior Noise Cancellation
    Technology
Astrum, one of the leading ‘new technology’ brand known for its innovation and intelligent solutions announces the launch of its newest ‘HT600 Leather Headset’ The Good news you don’t have to break the bank to get Headphones that offer crisp sound and punchy bass.

No wires, no external noise, a lightweight and comfortable Astrum Headband that folds into a box and of course, perfect sound quality – Its Fold, Pack and GO! The Bluetooth Headphone features an updated twist folding design, which allows for compact storage and comes with its own hard shell case and a pouch too.
Devised with a hinge, the headphone comes with a case that allows user to fold away tidily when not in use and also makes it easy to stash in the sleek carrying case. The folding headband in leather ensures the perfect snug fit with foam ear cups that ensures comfort fit for every activity – be it Music, Movies or more. The premium on ear headphones comes with noise cancelling technology that shuts out the world and lets you focus on your music. The Headset with 3.5mm drivers gives a full range audio with deep bass, a strong medium register and clear highs. Furthermore, HT600, comes with handy controls that are all conveniently placed on the outside of the earpiece – So simply Pause, Rewind & Play!

Speaking on the launch of the Headphone, Mr. Manoj Kumar Pansari – CEO, AstrumElectronics says, “One of our most awaited launch – HT600 Headset. The superior sound isolation technology, robust construction and swiveling earcups guarantee you will be enjoying Good Music for years to come. It’s not just a buy, but an investment towards Good Music”
The headset supports Bluetooth Version 4.0 so you can pair 2 mobiles at one go, and also operate the phone while in use. The Headset also comes with in-built microphone which allows you to make and receive calls. With built in NFC Technology, simply pair by touch to non-stop music.With standby time of upto 96 hours and 8 hours of talking or listening Music, let your playlist do the wonder every weekend! In shades of Black, the product is available with leading retail stores in India.

About Astrum
Since the inception in Hongkong in 2008 until now, with key aim of the Brand remains unchanged: to enable people to get worldwide access to new technologies, in the field of consumer electronics. Whether it is for Mobile Accessories, Audio devices, IT or LED Lights, they too have a complete range of Car Charger, Car mobile holders come in car accessories. Also smart device as a different category. Astrum has put all the efforts to break the trade-off between innovation, quality and cost. Astrum is known to provide robust, reliable – yet affordable high tech devices all around the globe. With the key vision, to think smart and challenge the norm by creating exceptional products that are innovative and serve the purpose of enhancing the way people live,Astrum aims to make people ‘Experience the Difference’. Part of this extensive portfolio of is an unparalleled range of over 1000+ unique products across 40 categories in 17 Countries across the Globe.
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HyperX Cloud Stinger Review

November 30, 2017, 10:10 am
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The HyperX Cloud Stinger is here but does it have enough to Sting dead the competition!?


Kingston has been around the block for many years now and wooing in PC enthusiasts & gamers alike with their impressive and sturdy line of memory and storage devices. But lately in an attempt to explore new territories & regaining lost ones they are expanding their presence in the world of gaming headsets and boy they are making ripples for sure! Their Cloud Stinger has been one such attempt which cemented its legacy as one of the best gaming headsets in the industry offering a balance of almost everything one can ask for at an unbelievable price point.

At just around $50 or Rs 3,500 in India the HyperX Cloud Stinger utilizes 50mm neodymium drivers to deliver a thump pumping audio quality at a maximum 18Khz all working perfectly with almost any device you can name of including PC, cell phones, tablets and even gaming consoles of the latest generation.
With an impedance of 30 Ohms and a maximum output power of 150mW we're looking at around a 50mW output higher and almost-double the Ohms on offer than competing headsets, once again accentuating the HyperX quality I have experienced in the past.

What's in the Box!?


HyperX Cloud Stinger comes to us in the HyperX signature packing style and color scheme. The box is mainly black with hues of wine red in terms of color scheme and has the product image right in the center of the box occupying most of the real estate. Product name is written on the top left side and its major selling point of wide compatibility with various devices is clearly stated on top.

Open the box and you find the headset resting securely in a foam cavity covered by another foam sheet which is placed inside a black cardboard box for extra protection.

The packaging included the Stinger headset, an extension cum splitter cable and a welcome card from Kingston Technologies. This is quite a basic packing and accessory set but i don't expect anything extra for a product at this price point so nothing to complain over here.

A look at the Stinger!



Looking at the headset itself we see that it is an all black product which is made out of premium quality plastic and has the HyperX logo on each cup. The cups have steel sliders extension & can rotate a full 90° inwards for easy storage and wearing around the neck. We also find the signature memory foam on these cups which we are used to seeing on every HyperX headset by now and these foam cups are really good in terms of comfort and designing so we hope the same from the Stinger aswell.


The headband is also made out of plastic and has the HyperX logo on top with the memory foam underlying it. Also the unidirectional mic on the left earcup is flexible which can be bend into an orientation as per the users requirement and is easy to mute and activate with an easy swivel, put it up and its off and pull it down to your mouth and its active.



The right earcup has has a volume slider to adjust the in game volume and its quite easily accessible compared to an in line volume controller if you ask me which sometimes gets lost swinging around with the wire. Also the wire on the HyperX Cloud Stinger is not braided but covered with silicon which is non sticky and doesn't kink. The wire ends up in a four pole single 3.5mm jack  and is 1.7m long which can be further extended with the Y-Splitter 1.3m cable ideally for PCs and Laptops.

Time to hit the Chords!

Gaming Performance 


Since the HyperX Cloud Stinger aims at gaming, obviously, we tested it with some of our all time favorites, Crysis 3 and Battlefield 1 for its excellent blend of audio, Middle Earth: Shadow of War for its pitch perfect environmental sounds and NFS: Rivals well simply 'coz I like that game!
In Crysis 3 we had no issue whatsoever in listening to or understanding what Prophet was saying and noises were greatly distinguished in the heat of battle, even of the crickets in the NY jungle! Battlefield 1 came out fully immersive especially when it came to sitting inside the battle tanks or listening to aerial bombing happening across the field. In Shadow of War we could really feel the voices coming from different directions and interestingly even though the bass on these headphones are acceptable they didn't distort the sounds of footsteps from behind and I was able to pin point the enemy location making it a great choice for eSport players including CS:GO. The engines of Bugatti or Lamborghini never revved any better and we were blown away by the deep bass these cups had to offer.
Also the mic is static free and picks up noise at low levels, a bit of a nasal comes in but with a bit of an adjustment that can be taken care of. Even though its quite flexible I didn't feel it to be flimsy at all in terms of build quality which is quite good since we adjust the mic often during gaming sessions.

Music, Movies & Miscellaneous Stuff


For movies and music I plugged in the Cloud Stinger into a ALC 1220 codec based audio solution on my PC motherboard and also we tested it with an Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 7 for basically musical playback. Firstly we went in for a wide variety like the dialogue intensive Schindler's List & 12 Years a Slave to high pitch titles like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Fast and the Furious 8, all came out in exceptional quality.
Bryan Adam's Heaven and some of my all time favorite Bollywood songs sounded great with exceptional lows accompanied by a good treble. Eminem Legacy and Rap God were as clear as they can be with bass nearing perfection for a gaming headset, even at full volume songs from 3 Doors Down, Motorhead or Metallica didn't crack displaying the true power of the 50mm drivers that it uses. The only issue that one might face is with the mids here since they tend to get over shadowed by the lows and the high bass which is quite common for gaming headsets but for this price I can't really much complain but only appreciate the great audio quality that these cups have to offer.

My Verdict

HyperX as a gaming brand doesn't really disappoint with its offerings but with the HyperX Cloud Stinger it has not only delivered a yet another impressive product but its a game changer for the budget gamer. The headset is not build like a tank but is sturdy due to the high quality of plastic used and the steel sliders instead of plastic ones which impart some rigidity to the whole frame.
The cups are soft and don't make the ear too hot or itchy due to sweating even after long usage, I like the fact that they rotate to a 90° making it easy to wear around and also store in a drawer or carry bag. Mic is good and you can't ask for anything more for a $50 price tag but the real shiner is the audio quality that the Stinger offers. Its clear, crisp and to the point for hardcore gaming and even for casual music and movies a times. I've seen headsets almost double or more the price of the Stinger offering inferior audio quality so the Stinger sure shines out here for sure.
"The HyperX Cloud Stinger is build solid, sounds perfect, looks great and is priced to the point making it a perfect recommendation for every gamer on a budget who wants a bang for their buck & even more!"
Pros -
  • Looks good
  • Aptly priced
  • Good Sound quality 
  • Comfortable Fit
  • Cups rotate at 90°
  • Mic is quite clear and receptive
Cons - 
  • Made out of plastic
I give it a 9/10 earning our Gold award! 

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Antec Mercury 360 Review

December 3, 2017, 9:23 am
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The Antec Mercury 360 AIO CPU Liquid Cooler - Size does matter!!


Antec has been a main stream player in the PC hardware industry for almost three decades now with a wide catalogue of products including AIOs and PSU. Their PSUs have been ground breaking and heavily trusted upon by enthusiasts and general consumers alike complimented by the lowest return rate in the industry! Talking about AIO Liquid Coolers, Antec started their lineup of AIOs with the H2O liquid coolers a few years back and now they've come up with their latest and refreshed lineup of Mercury AIO CPU Liquid coolers. Today thanks to Antec India I not only have a Mercury cooler for review but I have the magnanimous Antec Mercury 360 AIO CPU Liquid Cooler for review on the table!

Priced in at £104 or Rs 8,500 in India the Antec Mercury 360 is as the name suggests a 360mm AIO unit with an all new pump design and three 120mm blue LED fans that are swappable/removable, unlike the H2O series, and are mounted on an aluminum radiator. The Mercury series coolers come in three sizes namely as 120mm, 240mm and the 360mm that we have today. The new Antec Mercury CPU Cooler Series is engineered to keep the CPU cool for up to 50,000 hours and are also backed by the Antec five-year warranty period.
Note - Antec has also released a RGB lineup of the Mercury cooler which technically are identical to the normal Mercury coolers such as the one we have today but just feature Asus Aura Sync compatible RGB pump and fans instead of the static blue ones.

What's in the Box!?


We get the Mercury 360 in a big cardboard box which is quite heavy and sturdy considering the weight that it contains within which is a very good sign keeping safety in mind during transit. It is mainly white with hues of blue and a black background on top with the product image imprinted along with the Mercury 360 written boldly and proudly. At the bottom you also find all the features and specifications briefly highlighted by graphical representations.

Inside the box we have everything securely resting in plastic bags and covers nestled inside a molded cardboard frame for extra cushioning and organized packing. For a heavy and big unit such as this I'm really happy with the sturdy packing material that Antec chose to go with.

Laying out all the contents on the table and we see that its a lot of stuff and I mean a lot of tiny stuff that you can easily lose and then repent for! Inside the box Antec has placed the Mercury 360 radiator with its three 120mm blue LED PWM fans along with their mounting screws and washers, eSATA to mini USB power connector, 3pin to triple 4pin fan adapter, a big tube of thermal paste, a multi lingual installation and warranty guide and all the necessary mounting hardware for Intel platforms including the LGA2011 socket and for AMD platforms including the very latest AM4 socket. Sadly this cooler is not compatible with AMD Threadripper CPUs and has no TR4 brackets. I'm a bit disappointed with this since a latest 360mm AIO such as this should be compatible with Threadripper as it has all the potential to keep those chips cool.

Let's take a Closer Look!


The Antec Mercury 360 is a lot different from its predecessors and features a more conventional pump-radiator-fan arrangement with detachable fans and big pump that's entirely different both in terms of design and technology.

Starting from the pump itself we have a LED backlit Antec logo on top of the unit which changes color with respect to the temperature of the CPU. The pump is is made out of carbon metal and is wrapped by a white plastic enclosure to damp the noise and also probably to make it look brighter with white. This is their new silent design which has a three-phase motor pump  featuring a ceramic axis with graphite bearings to produce water pressure of 2.3 meters with a flow rate of 3.5 liters per minute. This on paper is very impressive and should be there not to bottleneck the huge 360mm radiator that its connected to.

The pump also has a mini USB port on one side and it draws power from here only via the provided micro USB to SATA connector, its an old technique that Antec has been carrying forward from their older AIOs. Not a huge fan of this but if you have a SATA connector to spare from your PSU ,which most of us have, then its a good approach to shed the load off the motherboard fan connectors without compromising upon the pump's performance.


The pump has a copper base which comes covered by a plastic film and no thermal compound is preapplied over here. Upon looking at the copper base-plate we see that it is really clean and smoothly finished and is not an off the mill design which should help in better heat transfer for this unit no doubt.

The tubing on the Mercury 360 is a 330mm long Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tube which is also Teflon coated for more durability and extra leak protection. These are attached to the pump and radiator quite nicely and can bend at a full 90° to ease the installation process.

Antec has used a aluminum radiator on the Mercury 360 which measure in at 394x119x27 mm and has a high fin density of 16FPI (Fin per Inch) which should be there for a product of this stature. The build quality of this unit is solid and doesn't feel light or flimsy from any angle, support for upto six 120mm fans making a push pull configuration is its big plus point. As for the aesthetics Antec has done nothing odd or out of the world here but just put their logo at one end creating a minimalist design.


We get three 120mm blue LED lit PWM fans with the Antec Mercury 360. These are rated at a maximum speed of 1800RPM with 73.31CFM airflow, 2.25mm H2O static pressure and 30dBA noise. The white ring on the fans are blue LED lit and don't change color but do brighten down or flash at times. As for the noise we see that Antec has added white rubber grommets on all four sides to dampen the noise and vibration that they might originally create.

Time for the fun part - Installation   


Over here I'm going to test the Antec Mercury 360 over my Gigabyte X99 Gaming 5P motherboard which is an Intel platform and also can get really hot at times. For this we'll be using all the parts shown in the picture above with the fans all screwed an mounted on top of the radiator securely.
All we need is the power cable for the pump, the fan header extension cable, the thermal compound, the Intel brackets for the pump, screws and stand offs for the LGA2011 socket and retention screws.
In case you plan to use the cooler with any of the other AMD or Intel platform just swap LGA 2011 kit with the Intel or AMD/AMD AM4 backplate and the pump bracket with the AMD/AMD AM4 brackets as everything else would remain the same.

Once ready I'm very much happy with the outcome as the installation is quite simple for any platform for this cooler and infact Antec has eased upon and improved in the installation department of their AIOs which with the H2O series was quite painful at times! Obviously it not the best and needs a few more tweaks and improvements like for example the screw height is a bit too much even when fully tightened when using the LGA 2011 platform for the tube to bend fully on the side and obstructs the path even though the tube can bend at a full 90° which can be improved upon more flexibility and ease especially when someone is installing this or any of the other Mercury series coolers in a tight chassis with less space to work around in.

Let's put it to Test!

For testing the performance of the Antec Mercury 360 we'll be using the following test bench -

CPU: Intel Core i7 5930K
Motherboard:Gigabyte X99 Gaming 5P
RAM: Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB DDR4 3000Mhz
Cooler: Antec Mercury 360
Graphics Card: Gigabyte GTX 1050 Ti G1 Gaming 4GB OC
Storage:Corsair Neutron XTi 480GB
Power Supply: Cooler Master MasterWatt Lite 700
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

Before I move on any further I'd like to mention that as per Antec the LED on the pump is supposed to change colors with respect to the CPU temperatures in the fashion of  Blue for less than 48°C, Green for 49°C-60°C and Red for greater than 60°C which however did not happen in my case and the LED was breathing a solid blue color throughout the duration of our tests. Upon researching about it further I came to know that Antec has installed the thermistor inside the head of water cooling which implies that the LED doesn't change color wrt the CPU temperature but wrt the temperature of the coolant flowing through the pump. So even if my CPU was say running at around 65°C for more than half and hour or more the LED changed color to green and not red or something. this also happened only after half and hour or more of consistent high temperatures on the CPU as the coolant doesn't heat up that easily and always remains less than the CPU temperature by around 20°C-25°C.

Coming back to the testing of the cooler firstly, the CPU is kept at stock speeds with boost enabled and temperatures are measured both at idle and at full load. Then we overclock our Intel i7 5930K to 4.5Ghz at 1.75v which is a bit more than what my chip requires to reach that frequency but I had to add some extra heat to it, the same process as that for the stock speed testing is repeated. Temperature is measured using HW monitor with an average being taken of the temperatures recorded on all six cores. MSI Kombuster utility is what I prefer to stress test the CPU at all twelve threads, I run it for a good 15 minutes before recording the temperatures since by then the temperatures reach a saturation point.
Secondly, the pump is plugged directly into the SATA connector while the fans are plugged into the motherboard fan header via the provided fan extension cable. Fan profile was kept at default from the BIOS itself to rule out any discrepancy whatsoever.
The readings would be shown in delta temperature that is after subtracting the ambient temperature of the room while noise levels are recorded from a distance of three feet from the cooler which is a reasonable and practical distance for such tests.

Temperature wise we can see that the Antec Mercury 360 does a fabulous job for a 360mm AIO cooler especially at overclocked frequencies where its massive size comes into play. Considering my ambient temperature is high and the fan profiles are set to default I'm sure if you set the fan speeds to full or to performance in a cooler environment the results would be even better.

The cooler is a bit noisy I'd say when the system is under full load but at idle state the units is barely audible. Considering its size and the three 120mm fans that come into play the cooler is one of the quietest coolers in its category if not the quietest. The rubber cladding on the pump and the rubber gaskets on the fans do help a lot and minimize the noise levels, without these I'm sure the story would've been quite different.

My Verdict

I've not been a fan of Antec AIO coolers for one reason or the other but that was till I got my hands on the Antec Mercury 360! Antec has almost made everything perfect about this cooler with only a few minor cons which are easily outweighed by the pros that it has to offer.
The radiator and pump are all solid in build and look elegant from every possible corner with no unnecessary RGB nonsense! Tubing is good but the anti kink design is a bit old now can be replaced by a simple straight tube if not something that is sleeved. Cooling performance is really good for a cooler of this category and its true power is seen when the processor is overclocked so yet again its proven that this cooler is only meant for people who plan to run really hot/overclocked systems as at stock you'll be better off with a smaller unit. Mercury 360 is one of the quietest 360mm AIOs out there today and that is all because of the rubber cladding on the pump and the gaskets on the fans which is a very good move on part of Antec. They've compromised raw performance at the cost of silence but you can always swap them with aftermarket fans from any other brand with higher RPM to reap this unit's full benefit.
The blue LED is subtle and bright enough to impart a sense of style to the cooler & also changes color with the temperature but I would've loved to have control over its behavior in terms of temperature limits for the LED colors and even turn it completely off if required.
"All in all the Antec Mercury 360 is a step in the right direction and would appeal to enthusiasts and gamers alike with enough elegance to woo in some modders aswell who want something different from the usual and boring AIOs."
Pros-
  • Solid Build Quality
  • Easy Installation
  • Great Performance 
  • Supports push-pull configuration 
  • Silent
  • Aggressively priced 
Cons - 
  • Tubing could be better
  • Not compatible with AMD Threadripper
  • No software to control the LED behavior
I give it a 8/10 earning our Gold Award!

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Philips DLP6006 11000mAh Power Bank Review

December 20, 2017, 2:59 am
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With 11000mAh of power under the hood is the Philips DLP6006 Power Bank worth your buck?


Ever since it set foot in India in 1993 Philips has been a brand that touched our lives in one way or the other through its ever growing lineup of consumer electronics, no matter how old we all are we've heard, seen or even used a Philips product at some point of our lives. Recently they've launched their current lineup of mobile accessories including data transfer cables, Bluetooth earpiece and powerbanks. While the other two are quite self explanatory the powerbanks are quite interesting as they not only come in capacities of 8000mAh to 13000mAh but are really well build and designed.
Thanks to Philips India I have one of these powerbanks today with us for review, we have the Philips DLP6006 11000mAh Power Bank.

Priced in at Rs 1,100 the Philips DLP6006 11000mAh Power Bank is second in position of the current Philips Powerbank lineups just after the 13000mAh model and is powered by a Lithium ion battery rated at 11000mAh with 5V input/output and 1A output each through the three USB charging ports that it comes quipped with for simultaneous charging of three USB powered devices. The powerbank also has a torch build in just in case required which is a welcome feature but on the other hand lacks fast charging technology which is quite disappointing.

What's in the Box!?


Philips DLP6006 11000mAh Power Bank comes in a sleek cardboard box with the product name and power rating clearly mentioned along with the product image and briefings about its functionality printed near the bottom.

Inside the box we get the powerbank resting inside a molded plastic casing with an instruction leaflet, the powerbank and a small white micro-USB cable for charging devices that support micro-USB cables.

A Closer Look


The Philips DLP6006 Power Bank is a beautiful gadget honing in white with a black screen which imparts elegance and style to the device even when not in use. The entire body is covered by a white leather sheet which is immaculately stitched at the edges near the areas where the black plastic body reveals itself. I really like the design and looks of this powerbank which should go well with the style of most of the users and won't make it look like a bland necessity but an edgy accessory.

The seven segment display LED is blue in color and displays the current battery percentage of the powerbank while charging. It lights up when a device is connected to the powerbank or you can simply press the power button below the display to view the current status.

While the right side is plain the left side houses the three USB ports through which the Philips DLP6006 Power Bank delivers power for charging devices. These are rated at 5V-1A and don't support fast charging which is some what expected at this price point & power capacity.

On the top end you can find the mico-USB port through which you can charge the power bank using an after market charger which are quite commonly available and right next to it is the torch which can be turned on long pressing the power button and can be turned off again by the same method.

Let's Charge things Up!


My unit came with a 75% charge on the battery right out of the box but yours might be having some another level. I discharged the battery fully to even out the playing field and took the power bank along with me for 15 days of near constant traveling to keep the review as accurate and close to real life scenarios as possible.

Charging the Power Bank

This is an area where I was on the brink of losing my temper! Using a 5V charger it took me over 20 hours to get the battery at full 100% from a fully drained state. this much time is just too much for charging a 11000mAh battery pack using a standard charger as mostly people don't have that much of time to charge their power banks before they move out again to continue their journey. If there is any major minus point on this power bank then it has to be its excruciatingly long charging time.

Charging other Devices

I charged a OnePlus 5, iPhone 5S and iPhone 7 all at the same time and also one by one using the Philips DLP6006 Power Bank using the stock cables that these cell phones come with since neither of them support the micro-USB cable that this power bank comes with. The charging time was obviously slow since the output on the Philips DLP6006 is only 1A so fast charging is not supported resulting in nearly double charging time for the OnePlus 5 and the iPhone 7 that are designed to utilize fast charging technology. I somehow didn't notice that much of a difference when it came to the iPhone5S as the charging time using the power bank was around 20 minutes more.
Overall the 11000mAh battery is good for charging or acting as a backup power source for latest devices or even charging them fully in acceptable time duration.

Overall feel and comfort

The Philips DLP6006 Power Bank is beautiful when it comes to aesthetics and looks with its smooth white leather finish and slip free design. However the power bank is a bit heavy weighing in at 1.7Kg which is courtesy to its Lithium ion Battery pack over the Lithium Polymer Battery Pack which tends to be heavier and bigger compared to the latter. So carrying the bank can be tough for a few people who like to hold their phone and power banks in the same hand white chatting, calling etc
Also the micro-USB cable that it comes bundled with is very short and can only be used if the cell phone has its charging port on the side and not on the bottom as then its impossible to even connect them and use the cell phone but if you just want to connect and leave the phone to charge on the table then the cable would do the job.

My Verdict

Philips India has done a decent job with the DLP6006 Power Bank both in terms of designing and functionality. Even though its a low cost power bank it doesn't look flimsy or bland rather its elegant and catchy which makes it look like an attractive accessory in its own right, quite suitable for people who value styling their gadgets. Technically the three USB ports which can work simultaneously is a great move and the battery level indicator is quite useful in certain situations. I personally loved the nifty torch light that it has since it saves me switching on my cell phone flash light in dark rooms or simply just to search for something in my carry bag!
It lacks fast charging and the charging time for gadgets is acceptable in most cases where you don't plan to charge something like the PSP or any other portable gadget that has a huge battery pack but and its a big but the charging time for its own self is just too much to tolerate! i mean over 20 hours to charge the bank itself even when it has a 11000mAh battery is by nay means or sense unacceptable.
"With a lot of small but useful features Philips has designed by far one of the best looking power banks in form of the DLP6006 which should go well with the style of most of the users and won't make it look like a bland necessity but an edgy accessory."
Pros -
  • Great Looks
  • Three charging ports
  • Has a torch light
  • Competitively priced 
Cons - 
  • No fast charging
  • Takes extremely long to charge itself 
  • A bit heavy
I give it a 6/10 earning out Bronze Award!
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Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced Review

December 22, 2017, 3:18 am
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The Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced is here, is it really something advanced or just a sham for a name!?


The Pascal architecture from Nvidia has been a total juggernaut burning every competition and record to cinders especially with it main stream and high end cards that keep on getting better and better with new models rolling out with time with the last one being the GTX 1080 Ti a card that absolutely annihilates anything in terms of graphical performance. Last month in November Nvidia brought out the latest offering in the Pascal division in form of the GTX 1070 Ti which is to put it straight is a counter offense against the rising threat from AMD's RX Vega 56 that dethroned the GTX 1070 in the mainstream market.
Thanks to Asus India today we have with us our very first GTX 1070 Ti for review on the table and this is nothing but the very best the segment has to offer, we have with us the Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced Edition for review.

Priced in at $500 or Rs 50,000 in India the Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced Edition comes with an all new cooler design and is equipped with 2432 CUDA Cores, 152 Texture Units, a 256-bit memory controller and 8 GB of  GDDR5 memory. The card is based on the same Pascal 16nm FinFet architecture as that of the GTX 1080 Ti and Titan X & has the GP104 GPU at its heart. Since Nvidia hasn't allowed its board partners to launch any overclocked SKUs over the reference model the card we have today or any other GTX 1070 Ti on the market doesn't come overclcoked out of the box hence this card is dubbed as Advanced rather than the OC we are used to seeing from Asus.
The card is clocked in at 1607Mhz out of the box and 1683Mhz using the OC Mode while the memory is at 2002Mhz for both normal and the OC Mode, this gives the GTX 1070 Ti Advanced edition a massive 256.3GB/s of bandwidth which is enough to handle any title in the market today.

What's in the Box!?


Asus brings the ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti in a big-heavy cardboard box which is mainly black in color with hints of green on the sides. The STRIX and ROG logo along with the graphics card image occupy most of the real estate on the packing while the Aura and VR ready logos are printed clearly at the bottom and the very top right side.

On the back side the box boasts about the 3 years warranty that the card comes with along with various technical and physical features that then GTX 1070 Ti comes loaded with such as the patented fan blade design, two times more contact area for the cooler, Aura sync etc.

Inside the outer cover you will find a big black box with the STRIX logo printed right in the center. Open this and you get a small envelop nestled inside a foam cavity under which the GTX 1070 Ti rests in a thick foam block wrapped in an anti static plastic bag.

On the accessories front the box included the Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced Graphics Card along with the driver DVD, user manual and two ROG velcro cable ties. All in all the packaging is to the point and protective enough to keep this beefy card safe and secure during transit.

Take a Closer Look


The GTX 1070 Ti from Asus is an elegant looking card with an all black matte finish and a triple fan design which looks old but is infact an all new cooler design to keep this card cool even under extreme loads.

The unit weights at 1.3Kg and measures in at 29.8x13.4x5.25 cm making it one of the longest and thickest cars you can find on the market today. Infact the card occupies two and a half expansion slots so keep this in mind before buying this card as it can pose an issue for ITX users going for a compact build.

At the back the backplate is smooth and decorated with abstract designs all over the surface and the Asus and STRIX logo near the top end. We also find the ROG eye logo at one corner which is RGB LED lit and imparts the signature ROG look to this GTX 1070 Ti from Asus.

The Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced will offer five display connectors; you'll spot two 1.2 certified Display Ports, two HDMI 2.0b connectors and a DVI port. The dual HDMI arrangement is done with VR in mind.
This sort of arrangement enables 4K displays at 120Hz, 5K displays at 60Hz, and 8K displays at 60Hz (using two cables) making the GTX 1070 Ti the best in class for UHD gaming, recording and streaming purposes.

The ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti uses a triple fan cooling solution with new IP5X dust resistant patented fan design for better-reliable cooling and air flow experience. There are six heatpipes embedded inside the thick aluminum heatsink with a nickle plated copper base that makes 40% more contact with the GPU surface for more efficient cooling with lower noise levels. these fans don't spin at upto 55°C and after that they start spinning in an ordered fashion with the right one spinning first followed by the center fan and then the last left fan when the temperature reached above 60°C to eliminate unnecessary noise. It is also sounds and looks kind of cool to me so a few extra brownie points for this kind of implementation.

At the bottom side the entire graphics card is clean with no heatpipe or anything protruding outside of the huge plastic shroud but just the PCIe connector at one end. While at the top we can see ssupport for power connectors and SLI connectors, yes you can even SLI this monster if you have the need and money well more of money than need I'd say!

The rear houses the two extra fan headers that will spin attached chassis fans at the graphics card fan RPM. These fan headers have been carried forward from the precious generation design of Asus STRIX and ROG cards and do a great job in not only providing some much needed fan headers but also are a life saver when working in tight environments such as ITX builds with less space and lesser fan headers on the motherboard!

To power the Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced we have a single 8-pin PCIe power connectors on top which make it capable of withdrawing 225W on paper which is identical to that on the reference model. Considering the power here is enough and this is what Asus is touting as a graphics card with 'binned' chips dubbed as Advanced edition I expect a good overclock on this card.

Benchmarking and Overclocking 


Installing the Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced was easy and it powered up like a breeze once we booted up the system.
GPUZ reported the correct frequencies with 1607Mhz on the clock and 2002Mhz on the memory.
For benchmarking the graphics card our new test bench was as follows -

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 @3.6Ghz
Motherboard: Asus X370 Crosshair VI Hero
RAM: GALAX HOF 32GB 3600Mhz
Cooler: Stock AMD Wraith RGB Air Cooler
Graphics Card: Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced Edition
Storage: Kingston A400 256GB
Secondary Storage:Corsair Neutron XTi 480GB
Power Supply: Corsair AX860i 860W
Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

Overclocking the STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced was a simple process and using the Asus GPU Tweak II or any other utility yielded the same results. The highest frequency with respect to performance gains that we could obtain on our sample was 1827Mhz on the clock and 2252Mhz on the memory, anything above this either gave poor results, white dots or even system freeze. Overclocking is dependent largely upon your sample so your results would largely depend upon your card. Overclocking wise its a great yield with 13.6% increase on the clock and 12.48% on the memory, I'm sure more is possible but I couldn't take it any further due to the limited time that I got with this card but nonetheless I'm happy with what I've got here.

AIDA64 Extreme edition GPGPU


The AIDA64 GPGPU test not only calculates the read, write and copy speed of the graphics card and processor but is also very useful in observing the SHA-1 Hash and AES-256 score. These are indications of how well the GPU can handle number crunching or real life image or video rendering. Higher score shows a better card.

3DMark Fire Strike and Time Spy


Fire Strike and Time Spy by 3D Mark is a test suit that plays a cinematic scene to determine the FPS, GPU temperature and CPU temperature scaling everything via a cumulative score. It is a great tool to benchmark your GPU since the render is mostly GPU & memory dependent.

Battlefield 1


The latest installation to the Battlefield franchise and mind it the grandest one of them all aswell, Battlefield 1 is a prequel to the infamous Battlefield 1942 placing the players right in the middle of World War 1. Based on the latest Frostbite Engine by EA-DICE, Battlefield 1 takes advantage of DirectX 12 with asynchronous compute to weave together richly detailed worlds. It is heavily taxing on current-generation hardware, and you're handsomely rewarded for investing more into your graphics setup. Settings are at Ultra preset with full HD resolution.

Ashes of the Singularity 


The latest installation to the Battlefield franchise and mind it the grandest one of them all aswell, Battlefield 1 is a prequel to the infamous Battlefield 1942 placing the players right in the middle of World War 1. Based on the latest Frostbite Engine by EA-DICE, Battlefield 1 takes advantage of DirectX 12 with asynchronous compute to weave together richly detailed worlds. It is heavily taxing on current-generation hardware, and you're handsomely rewarded for investing more into your graphics setup. Settings are at Ultra preset with full HD resolution.Developed by Oxide Games & running on the Nitrous Game Engine Ashes of the Singularity is a real-time strategy game set in the future where descendants of humans (called Post- Humans) and a powerful artificial intelligence (called the Substrate) fight a war for control of a resource known as Turinium.
We've used the in-built benchmarking tool and the result is shown in an average of all the graphical tests conducted over various locations and topographies of the game. DX12 API, Quality set to Extreme, 4xMSAA and everything else to high.

Prey


After releasing the excellent Dishonored 2 France-based Arkane Studios hits it out of the park again with Prey, a first-person shooter published by Bethesda Softworks as a reboot from 11 years ago.
Unveiled at E3 2016, Prey uses the CryEngine graphics engine and audio from Audiokinetic's Wave Works Interactive Sound Engine (Wwise). It is exclusively DX11 based so no DX12 or Vulkan testing is possible.

Rise of the Tomb Raider


The latest installation of Lara Croft in the spectacular Rise of the Tomb Raider 2016 with stunning graphics and rich location makes it a great game to benchmark with while enjoying in the due course! We used DX12 and settings were at Ultimate on full HD resolution.

Call of Duty: WWII


Call of Duty: WWII is a first-person shooter video game developed by Sledgehammer Games and published by Activision. Not only is it a a gamer's delight but a graphics card nightmare when all the settings are cranked up offering real life graphics and optimized gameplay.

GTA V


Grand Theft Auto V is an open world, action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. If you like open world adventure then this is something that you don't wanna miss with great graphics, catchy story line and unlimited potential for mods that keep coming in and out every now and then on the web. Our settings are as follows with very high quality, 16xAF, 2xMSAA and FXAA enabled.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus


Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is an action-adventure first-person shooter video game developed by Machine Games and published by Bethesda Softworks. Not only doe it put you in the shoes of a futuristic armored suit, yey suits are back, but also gives you the ability to mow down everyone with all guns blazing! The game is well optimized but beats down upon the graphics card at all settings cranked up resulting in high power draw and heat generation.

The Evil Within 2


The Evil Within 2 is a third-person survival horror video game developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softworks for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. I personally love playing this game these days in dark room specifically, your preferences might be otherwise. Great gameplay and a well optimized graphical engine make sit a treat for the gamer aswell as for their graphics cad.

Forza Horizon 3


Forza Horizon 3 is an open world racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows 10. The game features cross-platform play between the two platforms and is heavily demanding when it comes to PC resources. Our settings are at ultra preset with FPS cap removed. 

Noise & Temperature 


The fans on the Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced Edition don't spin till the card hits 55°C or more. We recorded the maximum temperature in Celsius that our card hit during extensive gaming & sound was measured in decibels from a distance of 3 feet. This was performed for both stock and overclocked speeds.

My Verdict 

The Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced is quite impressive to be honest not because of its performance but because of all the extras that Asus has tried to stuff into this card. Talking about aesthetics the card is absolutely beautiful & elegant with its all black shroud and immaculate implementation of RGB LEDs which is neither too less nor is a Christmas tree! This makes it suitable for almost all builds where you wan tto show off your card using a riser cable or just simply put it fans down and flaunt the huge ROG eye logo at the back.
Asus has done a great job by changing the DirectCU cooler and using the new one as it surely does what its meant to do that is keeping the card cool even under extensive loads without generating unnecessary noises provided you have a good air flow in your case since these cards can generate a lot of heat especially when overclocked and under load.
Performance wise the GTX 1070 Ti Advanced from Asus does an amazing job handling every title seamlessly with its out of the box frequency and due to the decent overclocking headroom that it offers we can see it flirting with the GTX 1080 in certain areas! But inspite of all this the card does have some rough patches, the pricing being the biggest and only culprit here.
We are looking at quite a heavy price difference from that of the reference design and a marginal difference from its bigger brother the GTX 1080 which makes the Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced sit somewhere in the middle. While the card doesn't come with higher frequency out of the box than the reference design due to Nvidia's own limitation levied over it we don't get anything extra on the technical end for the basic user who cannot overclock this card too much manually making it a grave issue since the extras alone cannot justify the price tag as the same are available on the non Advanced version of this card which is priced much lesser. Anyone who has some money to spare would be better off buying the GTX 1080 instead due to higher performance gains and better technology under the hood but if you are really tight on budget and want the best your money can buy at the moment then and only then is this card meant for you.
"The Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Ti Advanced is the best GTX 1070 Ti one can buy today loaded with more features than one can possibly use ticking all the right boxes and beating every competitor in its way making it the new main stream king!"
Pros - 
  • Great build quality 
  • Overclocks well
  • Runs cool under load
  • Power efficient
Cons -
  • A bit pricey
I give it 8.5/10 earning our Gold Award!

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Best PC Configuration under Rs 25000

January 1, 2018, 1:14 am
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Lately I've been getting a lot of queries regarding PC configurations across various price ranges and since the ones I've posted earlier are quite obsolete now I thought why not to roll out a series of configurations to meet all your demands and to keep up with time.
Today I'll be posting a PC configuration under Rs 25000 as this is not only the most popular budget segment but also is the bare minimum you need to get yourself an up to date configuration. Before I proceed further I'd like to mention a few points to give you a clear picture as to what to expect from this configuration -
  • This configuration is aimed at daily to office use along with helping school kids for their school project etc
  • The build should be future proof and should last the user for over a year or two without any upgrade.
  • Upgrade should be easy and economical with minimum change of components.
  • It should be balanced over all with all the components in sync & at par without overpowering or under-powering others.
So with this in mind lets put together a PC configuration under Rs 25000

CPU - Intel G4560 Kaby Lake Dual Core 3.5 GHz Rs 6,500

 
When it comes to budget builds the Intel G4560 is the processor that I recommend due to its super effective pricing and the very competent performance. Clocked in at 3.5Ghz this dual core CPU based on the 7th generation Kaby Lake architecture supports hyperthreading and is bundled with HD610 graphics to drive your display and  let you play movies and edit images etc seamlessly. In case you plan to add a graphics card to this build then also the G4560 won't disappoint nor bottleneck making it a clear choice for this build.

Motherboard - Gigabyte B250M-Gaming 3 Rs 6,600

 
Since we are going for an Intel 7th Generation processor I would recommend a B250 chipset motherboard here over a H110 chipset one just to be on the safer side. Get the Gigabyte B250M Gaming 3 as its priced extremely well and offers a plethora of features such as ambient LED, four DIMM slots, Realtek ALC892 audio CODEC supporting upto 7.1 channel along with an M.2 port incase you need one in future.

RAM - HyperX Savage Red 8GB (4+4) 2400MHz DDR4 Rs 6,800

 
Considering today's time and how to landscape is changing in the PC industry 8GB of RAM is somewhat the sweet spot if you don't want to run for an upgrade soon after buying your new PC. I recommend the HyperX Savage Red 8GB 2400Mhz DDR4 kit of two sticks of 4GB each for maximum performance gain in  dual channel configuration. The kit is priced very well and works at 2400Mhz at CL11 which is more than you can use or ask for.

HDD - Seagate Barracuda 1TB Rs 3,300

 
Since we are building a PC it is quite obvious that you would be watching movies and listening to music aswell along with downloading a bunch of other stuff from the internet so we need a HDD here for which we’ll go with the Seagate Barracuda for its long line of trusted quality and service that it offers at a very reasonable price. The 1TB HDD spins at 7200RPM so you won’t feel it slowing down or spoiling your experience even if you play a multi-GB BluRay rip over your monitor or TV due to slow load/buffer time.

Case and PSU - iBall Axton with 450W SMPS Rs 2,200

 
The iBall Axton is a well build and decent looking cabinet for its price and this configuration. It comes bundled with a 450W PSU which is more than enough to power this system and keep it running stable for long duration without any issues. You get a 80mm exhaust fan in the back out of the box but you can swap it with a 120mm and also add a 120mm/140mm fan on the side to provide extra cool air to the components.

So this is a PC configuration under Rs 25,000 that I think is best and would work flawlessly and fulfill all your needs and requirements. I have not added the cost of a monitor or any other peripherals to this which you can buy as per your budget and requirements.
If you think this configuration needs any improvements or have any other suggestions or queries regarding the same then do leave a comment below.
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Search

Best Gaming PC Configuration under Rs 50000

January 2, 2018, 7:28 am
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I get a lot of questions every now and then regarding Gaming PC configurations and out of the lot I've observed that a Gaming PC configuration under Rs 50000 is what most of you want and look for. So to make things easier for you aswell as for me to some extent today I'll be posting a Gaming PC configuration for under Rs 50K which will sail you across easily for the next year and a half atleast before asking for a major upgrade, mostly in the graphics card division. Before compiling this configuration I've kept a few key points in mind which I would like to enlist first -
  • The build should be future proof and should last the user for over a year or two without any upgrade.
  • It should run all the existing and upcoming titles at 1080p resolution with respectable settings.
  • Upgrade should be easy and economical with minimum change of components.
  • It should be balanced over all with all the components in sync & at par without overpowering or under-powering others.
Quite basic points but worth mentioning for easy understanding of what I'm about to write down next.

CPU - AMD RYZEN 3 1300X Rs 10,200

 
Considering the ongoing scenario in the gaming industry a quad core processor is a must for a competent gaming build and for that I recommend the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X for this build. Coming from the very impressive line of Ryzen CPUs from AMD the  R3 1300X is clocked in at 3.5Ghz and comes with four cores-four threads making it the obvious choice here. As a bonus it comes bundled with the Wraith Spire cooler aswell saving you the extra cost of an after market cooler.

Motherboard - ASUS PRIME B350M-A Rs 6,500

 
The Asus Prime B350M-A is a  great motherboard for this build based on the B350 chipset. With four DIMM slots it comes with ample of USB ports to run all the latest generation devices easily with a few to spare the motherboard is well equipped with quality components for long lasting consistent performance. The motherboard even supports onboard USB 3.0 ports and has the Realtek ALC887 high definition audio CODEC to support upto 8 channels.

RAM - ADATA XPG Z1 2800Mhz 16GB (8+8) Rs 12,000


 
ADATA is a well known brand in the field of memory modules and the XPG Z1 series is nothing less than impressive due to its great balance of price with performance. I'm recommending a 16GB kit of two 8GB sticks for maximum performance in dual channel configuration since for gaming these days 16Gb is recommended to keep the build future proof. Clocked in at 2800Mhz CL17 this red colored wing shaped RAM is something that not only performs but also makes the entire setup look good. It runs cool and runs at the rated frequencies with Ryzen platform making it a good choice for the price.

HDD - Western Digital 1TB Blue Rs 3,300

 
Since we are building a PC it is quite obvious that you would be watching movies and listening to music aswell along with downloading a bunch of other stuff from the internet so we need a HDD here for which we’ll go with the Western Digital Blue 1TB for its long line of trusted quality and service which it offers at a very reasonable price. The 1TB HDD spins at 7200RPM so you won’t feel it slowing down or spoiling your experience even while loading large games or if you play a multi-GB BluRay rip over your monitor or TV due to slow load/buffer time.

Graphics Card - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC 4G Rs 12,200

 
One of the most gorgeous looking cards in the market for this segment, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC and mind the OC here as there is a slower and less attractive non-OC versions of the same aswell so don’t get yourself confused. It comes overclocked out of the box and is very competent for 1080p gameplay of every title in the market today and with the tweaking app that it comes with one can easily increase the frequency of the card a bit more with just a click to squeeze out extra performance just in case required.

PSU - Antec VP500PC 500W Rs 2,900

 
For less than Rs 3K the Antec VP500PC 500W PSU is more than you need for this configuration leaving enough headroom for a few extra components or upgrades that you might want to add in or do in future without changing the PSU for extra wattage or more reliable performance. The PSU is vastly compatible, extremely reliable and has good number of connectors with long wires for easy installation all build with a dual rail 500W power supply.

Case - Antec P8 Case Rs 5000

 
The P8 from Antec is one of their latest cabinets in the segment and is very well designed keeping both looks and cooling in mind. The case features a full tempered glass side window to peek inside your setup while sporting three 120mm white LED fans out of the box, one at the back and two in the front. Even though the case is quite compact it still supports ample of liquid cooling options if you want to go for one in future along with top vents for both radiator mount or simply fans for intake or exhaust offering maximum cooling options.

Now this is what I think is the best Gaming PC configuration for around Rs 50K but if you think that I've missed upon something or you have suggestions for improvement or even queries regarding the same then feel free to drop a comment below. Also as a note in case you can stretch your budget by a bit then opt for the Kingston A400 240GB SSD for Rs 6,700 to reap the maximum potential of this build with not only faster boot time but also lesser load time while gaming.
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G.SKILL Releases New Sniper X DDR4 Memory Series

January 3, 2018, 6:53 am
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Taipei, Taiwan (3 January 2018) – G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world’s leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is releasing the new Sniper X series DDR4 memory that features 3 different camouflage designs and available in speeds up to DDR4-3600MHz. This new family of high performance memory kits is perfect for memory upgrades or for building PC gaming rigs and custom system builds.

Unique Camouflage Design

Sniper X is designed with a militaristic camouflage top bar to compliment any gaming system with offerings in three distinct patterns: Classic Camo, Urban Camo, and Digital Camo. Classic Camo is inspired by the classic jungle green camouflage design, while Urban Camo is styled to blend into a concrete jungle combat setting with multiple shades of gray. And developed to match the ASUS TUF Gaming series motherboard, the Digital Camo features yellow stylistic highlights for a modern warfare look. All three variations are paired with minimalistic aluminum heatspreaders that further optimizes cooling performance under heavy computing load, so you won’t miss out on the next firefight!

Extreme Performance & Massive Capacity

Never miss a shot with memory speeds ranging from a standard DDR4-2400MHz up to an extremely fast DDR4-3600MHz. On top of the blazing speed, kit capacities are also offered up to an impressive 128GB (8x16GB) configuration for PC systems that handle gaming and content creation, such as 3D rendering or multimedia editing. Each memory kit is also validated under a series of rigorous tests for maximum compatibility and reliability on a multitude of platforms.

XMP 2.0 Support & Availability

This latest G.SKILL Sniper X DDR4 series supports the latest Intel XMP 2.0 for an easy one-step memory overclocking experience, providing a boost to memory performance across all types of workloads. The Sniper X series will be available at authorized G.SKILL distribution partners in 2018 Q1.

About G.SKILL

Established in 1989 by PC hardware enthusiasts, G.SKILL specializes in high performance memory, SSD products, and gaming peripherals designed for PC gamers and enthusiasts around the world. Combining technical innovation and rock solid quality through our in-house testing lab and talented R&D team, G.SKILL continues to create record-breaking memory for each generation of hardware and hold the no. 1 brand title in overclocking memory.
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ASUS Announces AiMesh Whole-Home Wi-Fi for ASUS Routers

January 4, 2018, 1:39 am
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Free new router feature connects multiple ASUS routers to create a whole-home Wi-Fi system, offering users a powerful and flexible alternative to proprietary mesh systems

  • Free router firmware upgrade for compatible existing and selected new ASUS routers allows users to create a powerful and flexible whole-home Wi-Fi system
  • Extremely flexible configuration, including choice of single or multiple SSIDs, app- or web-based management, and access to all existing router features
  • The power of multiple ASUS routers combined with AiMesh delivers the ultimate Wi-Fi performance for both speed and coverage 
 
Mumbai, India, January 4, 2018 — ASUS today announced AiMesh, an innovative feature upgrade for ASUS routers that allows users to easily create a flexible and powerful whole-home Wi-Fi system using any compatible ASUS models.
AiMesh overcomes many of the limitations found in alternative off-the-shelf whole-home Wi-Fi systems, such as mesh-networking systems. Although these systems can be convenient all-in-one solutions, they are often only available in fixed bundles, with a limited choice of Wi-Fi speeds, hardware features and upgrade paths. With AiMesh, users can create a completely flexible whole-home Wi-Fi system tailored to their needs, while continuing to enjoy all the functions of each individual ASUS router, such as extreme Wi-Fi performance and exclusive advanced networking features. AiMesh also offers convenient central management and control via either the ASUS Router mobile app or the ASUSWRT web interface.
Enabling AiMesh on a compatible ASUS router just requires an easy — and completely free — firmware update that allows it to be added to any AiMesh network, so users can mix and match models according to their budget and/or needs, and make good use of their old router when they upgrade.
AiMesh is an unbeatable solution for discerning users looking for the ultimate whole-home Wi-Fi system, adding yet another dimension to the award-winning family of fast and reliable ASUS routers.           

Unrivaled Flexibility

Most modular mesh systems are limited to a single SSID, whereas AiMesh offers seamless roaming with either a single SSID for the entire AiMesh coverage area, or alternatively with separate SSIDs for each frequency band. This allows increased flexibility, for example by allowing them to dedicate the 5GHz band to gaming devices or a smart TV.
Unlike off-the-shelf mesh systems with a fixed feature set, AiMesh is designed to give users unrivaled flexibility, allowing them to tailor the functions of their whole-home Wi-Fi system to suit their individual needs. AiMesh-enabled routers retain all their original networking features and capabilities — including ASUS AiProtection, Adaptive QoS, Parental Controls and more — so users have no need to compromise their individual networking preferences. Additionally, the features of the primary router are shared with the entire AiMesh network, regardless of the models used.
Setup and management is flexible too, with the choice of using either the intuitive ASUS Router App, or the powerful and easy-to-use ASUSWRT web interface from a PC or laptop. All settings and preferences are centrally controlled and synced to all routers in the AiMesh network.

Full Coverage and Powerful Performance

Off-the-shelf mesh networking systems are often more focused on improving overall coverage than on delivering raw performance, leading to frustration for those users who demand both full coverage and extreme Wi-Fi speeds.
ASUS routers are widely acclaimed for their high performance and outstanding reliability, and with AiMesh users can harness their power to create an unbeatable Wi-Fi system. In actual laboratory tests using the latest dual-band ASUS RT-AC86U router we measured Wi-Fi speeds that were 5.5X faster than a router from a dual-band, tri-hub mesh system.
All ASUS routers have specially designed and optimized antennas that ensure the best signal coverage and stability, making them capable of delivering powerful signals to even the most remote parts of the home.
Combining AiMesh with the superb coverage and extreme performance of ASUS routers means users can finally enjoy a network that can easily handle demanding tasks like 4K UHD video streaming and gaming, even in the remotest corners of their home or garden.

AVAILABILITY & PRICING

ASUS AiMesh is a free update for selected ASUS routers, and is available worldwide. Currently supported routers are: RT-AC68P, RT-AC68U, RT-AC68UF, RT-AC68W, RT-AC68R, RT-AC68U V2, RT-AC1900, RT-AC1900P, RT-AC86U, RT-AC2900, RT-AC88U, RT-AC3100. ROG Rapture GT-AC5300, RT-AC5300, ASUS Blue Cave and ASUS Lyra Series routers will be ready later in 2018. For updates to this list, please check www.asus.com/AiMesh. Please contact your local ASUS representative for further information.
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About ASUS

ASUS is one of Fortune magazine’s World’s Most Admired Companies, and is dedicated to creating products for today and tomorrow’s smart life. Our comprehensive portfolio includes Zenbo, ZenFone, ZenBook and a range of IT devices and components, along with AR, VR and IoT. ASUS employs more than 17,000 people worldwide and over 5,500 world-class R&D talents. Driven by innovation and committed to quality, the company won 4,385 awards and earned approximately US$13.3 billion of revenue in 2016.
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Acer announces a liquid cooled 2-in-1 for gamers and a potent Predator desktop

January 6, 2018, 9:23 pm
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Acer will unveil a handful of gaming products at CES

Acer will be bringing a bunch of new products to CES, including a few interesting items for gamers. One of them is the Switch 7 Black Edition, a 2-in-1 laptop with integrated liquid cooling and discrete graphics.

For the most part, 2-in-1 devices haven't taken aim at gamers, instead focusing on productivity and general purpose computing. Acer is looking to buck that trend with its Switch 7 Black Edition. It pairs an 8th generation Core processor with Nvidia GeForce MX150 graphics.

The MX150 isn't a powerhouse GPU by any stretch of the imagination, but having discrete graphics inside a fanless 2-in-1 is new. And as for the liquid cooling, it consists of "LiquidLoops," which work similarly to traditional heatpipes.

"Acer LiquidLoop transfers heat from the CPU to the heatpipe via a thermal conductor. The heatpipe then generates a single direction, two phase flow of liquid. Heat is dissipated through a continual process of evaporation and condensation of the liquid," Acer explains.

The Switch 7 Black Edition is thin and light, measuring just 0.39 inches thick and weighing 2.6 pounds with the keyboard detached. It's carved from brushed aluminum an features a patented kickstand that can be auto-deployed and auto-retracted.

Look for the Switch 7 Black Edition to be available later this month starting at $1,700.

Acer Predator Orion 9000

Way over at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Acer is finally ready to start shipping its monstrous Predator Orion 9000. This one qualifies as Acer's most powerful desktop to date. It's fueled by an 18-core/36-thread Intel Core i9-7980XE processor and dual GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards in SLI.

Users with deep pockets can opt for up to 128GB of quad-channel DDR4 memory, and stuff it full of M.2 NVMe and SATA 6Gbps storage.

Connectivity options include two USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports (one Type-C and one Type-A), eight USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports (one Type-C and seven Type-A), and two USB 2.0 ports. So, there are plenty of places to plug in an assortment of external devices.

The Predator Orion 9000 will start shipping in February starting at $2,000, which means much tamer configurations will be available.

Acer Nitro 5

Circling to gaming on the go (the Predator Orion 9000 has handles on the top, but we don't suspect gamers will be lugging it around all over the place), Acer also announced it's upgrading its Nitro 5 laptop for casual gamers.

The Nitro 5 has a 15.6-inch IPS display with a 1920x1080 resolution. It's outfitted with AMD hardware, including a Ryzen mobile processors and Radeon RX 560 graphics.

Acer is offering the Nitro 5 with up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and up to 512GB of solid state storage. Other features include dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, USB Type-C connectivity, HDMI 2.0 output, and GbE LAN for wired connections.

The Nitro 5 will be available in North America in April starting at $800, and in EMEA starting at €1,100.
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AMD rolls out their roadmap for 2018 prior to CES

January 7, 2018, 10:26 pm
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AMD Redefines High-Performance Computing with New Processor and Graphics Products Preview at CES 2018
New Generation of Ryzen CPUs, New Ryzen APUs, New Radeon Vega Mobile GPUs Coming in 2018

 
Las Vegas – 2018 CES – January 8, 2018 — Building on the global enthusiasm generated in 2017 by Ryzen™ processors and Radeon™ graphics technology, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today detailed its forthcoming roll-out plan for its new and next generation of high-performance computing and graphics products during an event in Las Vegas just prior to the opening of CES 2018. Alongside announcing the first desktop Ryzen™ processors with built-in Radeon™ Vega Graphics, AMD also detailed the full line up of Ryzen™ mobile APUs including the new Ryzen™ PRO and Ryzen™ 3 models, and provided a first look at the performance of its upcoming 12nm 2nd generation Ryzen™ desktop CPU expected to launch in April. In graphics, AMD announced the expansion of the “Vega” family with Radeon Vega Mobile and that its first 7nm product is planned to be a Radeon “Vega” GPU specifically built for machine learning applications.

“We successfully accomplished the ambitious goals we set for ourselves in 2017, reestablishing AMD as a high-performance computing leader with the introduction and ramp of 10 different product families,” said AMD President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su. “We are building on this momentum in 2018 as we make our strongest product portfolio of the last decade even stronger with new CPUs and GPUs that bring more features and more performance to a broad set of markets.”
Technology Updates

AMD CTO and SVP Mark Papermaster shared updates on AMD’s process technology roadmaps for both x86 processors and graphics architectures.

x86 Processors

  • The “Zen” core, currently shipping in Ryzen desktop and mobile processors, is in production at both 14nm and 12nm, with 12nm samples now shipping.
  • The “Zen 2” design is complete and will improve on the award-winning “Zen” design in multiple dimensions.

Graphics Processors

  • Expanding the “Vega” product family in 2018 with the Radeon Vega Mobile GPU for ultrathin notebooks.
  • The first 7nm AMD product, a “Vega” based GPU built specifically for machine learning applications.
  • A production-level machine learning software environment with AMD’s MIOpen libraries supporting common machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow and Caffe on the ROCm Open eCosystem platform. The industry’s first fully open heterogeneous software environment, which is making it easier to program using AMD GPUs for high performance compute and deep learning environments.

Client Compute Updates

AMD SVP and General Manager, Computing and Graphics Business Group Jim Anderson detailed upcoming AMD client compute processors including:
  • The Ryzen™ desktop processor with Radeon™ graphics
  • Desktop Ryzen™ APUs combine the latest “Zen” core and AMD Radeon™ graphics engine based on the advanced “Vega” architecture, bringing:
  • The highest performance graphics engine in a desktop processor
  • Advanced quad core performance with up to 8 processing threads
  • 1080p HD+ gaming performance without a discrete graphics card
  • Beautiful display features with Radeon™ FreeSync technology
  • Full benefit of Radeon™ software driver features including Radeon™ Chill, Enhanced Sync and Radeon™ ReLive
  • Planned to be available starting February 12, 2018
 

2nd generation Ryzen™ desktop CPU

  • AMD’s first 12nm based processor with Precision Boost 2 technology.
  • Scheduled for introduction April 2018.

Ryzen™ PRO Mobile Processors with Radeon™ Vega Graphics


  • Targeted for commercial, enterprise, and public sector implementation, Ryzen PRO mobile processors are designed to power sleek and powerful enterprise notebooks featuring the world’s fastest processor for commercial ultrathin notebooks[iv], state-of-the-art silicon-level security, and reliable solutions with enterprise-class support and product stack top-to-bottom DASH manageability.
  • Up to 22% more competitive productivity performance\
  • Up to 125% more competitive graphics performance than Intel i7-8550U and 150% more competitive graphics performance than Intel i7-7500U
  • Targeting Up to 13.5 hours of battery life
  • SenseMI features including Precision Boost 2 technology and Mobile Extended Frequency Range (mXFR)
  • Ryzen™ PRO mobile solutions are expected to launch in Q2 2018. 
 

Ryzen™ Mobile Processor with Radeon™ Vega Graphics

  • AMD expanded the Ryzen Mobile Processor family, featuring the world’s fastest processor for ultra thin notebooks line up, with the introduction of the Ryzen 3 mobile processor. 
 

Graphics & Gaming Updates


AMD discussed its first mobile discrete graphics solution based on the “Vega” architecture. This razor-thin Radeon Vega Mobile GPU is designed to enable new, powerful gaming notebooks in 2018 with extraordinary performance and incredible efficiency.

AMD also announced that Radeon™ Software will add support for HDMI 2.1 Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) technology on Radeon™ RX products in an upcoming driver release. This support will come as an addition to the Radeon™ FreeSync technology umbrella, as displays with HDMI 2.1 VRR support reach market.

Ubisoft announced that Far Cry 5 will support Radeon™ RX Vega specific features like Rapid Packed Math as well as Radeon™ FreeSync 2 technology. Radeon™ RX Vega owners will be able to enjoy Far Cry 5 at exceptional fidelity, with stunning frame rates and beautiful image quality.

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About AMD

For more than 45 years, AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics, and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms, and the datacenter. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses, and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work, and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.
AMD, the AMD logo, Ryzen, Radeon, Threadripper, and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
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Corsair H115i Pro RGB Review

January 8, 2018, 10:35 am
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Corsair H115i Pro RGB - When great performance meets RGB goodness!!


Last year at COMPUTEX Corsair dropped a hint that it is working on an entirely new series of AIO coolers which would not only be different in looks but also mark Corsair's entry into a new realm of CPU Liquid coolers. And here we are today with Corsair dropping two new coolers in the market namely as the Corsair H115i Pro RGB and the Corsair H150i Pro RGB which are not only in the much needed RGB flavor that Corsair AIO were lacking behind in but the H150i Pro RGB marks the first ever 360mm AIO cooling unit from the house of Corsair which with the current generations of Threadripper and Skylake X processors are a must for high end builds!
Thanks to Corsair India today I have with me the Corsair H115i Pro RGB CPU Liquid Cooler for review and I can't be any more excited than this to review this beautiful unit.

With a tentative price tag of $140 the Corsair H115i Pro RGB is the first of the two to initiate the Pro series of coolers from Corsair and is equipped with two 140mm ML140 Quiet edition high static pressure magnetic levitation fans making it a 280mm unit with an entirely new pump design which boasts RGB lighting and support for Corsair Link software for a bunch of features and customization. The cooler comes backed up with the Corsair 5 years warranty.

What's in the Box!?


Corsair has packed the H115i Pro RGB in a thick and heavy cardboard box just like all of its coolers and the color scheme of black and yellow is also there that we are used to now from them with all their products but this time we also see a hue of colors in the backdrop of the image of the cooler imprinted on the front that signify the RGB nature of the cooler. AAll the features are neatly printed on the front itself such as compatibility, use of ML140 fans, RGB pump header and the 5 years warranty support.

Inside we find the cooler & all its components packed safely inside a molded cardboard frame which is good enough to cushion a unit of this size and weight.
Content wise the package includes the H115i Pro RGB cooling unit, two 140mm ML140 Quiet edition PWM fans, a Corsair Link cable, AMD bracket, Intel backplate, stand-offs, washer and screws for installing the cooler and fans along with the warranty leaflet and installation guide.

A thing worth noticing here is that Corsair has not provided a separate backplate for AMD platforms which is a wise move since they already come with a metal backplate on the motherboards, also the AMD bracket has a different installation process now which is more simple and quicker to which I will come later on.

Let's take a Closer Look!


Corsair H115i Pro RGB is a completely different from any of its predecessors in terms of almost everything, at-least from the outside. The pump and cold plate unit on the H1155i is a quite sleek and made out of premium quality glossy plastic. The top has the Corsair logo which is RGB LED backlit along with the whole outer lining of the black portion.
Also the Intel bracket comes installed out of the box and can be easily swapped with the AMD one by a turn and pull method to simplify the process. The micro-USB port on one side is for connecting the Corsair Link cable that the cooler comes with.

The cold plate comes pre-applied with a thermal paste and looking closely we can see that the copper base plate is not perfectly smooth but has some machine marks on it which shouldn't be an issue in cooling as almost all Corsair AIOs that I've used so far had the same finish but delivered nicely in cooling.

Corsair has used a 350mm long Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tube braided tube on the H115i Pro RGB which is thinner than the ones which we are used to from Corsair but are extremely flexible and not too hard like the ones on the H100i GTX that caused issues when routing them inside tight spaces! I'm happy that Corsair made these braided tubes flexible and they can even rotate to a full 90° to the pump unit for easy installation and routing.

A bunch of wires vine out from the pump unit namely as a SATA cable to power the pump, a PWM fan connector to power the installed fans and a Y-splitter to connect the two provided fans. It can surely give a few a hard time to manage so many cables protruding out near the tight CPU area but this is a good arrangement as it sheds the additional load off the motherboard fan header to power the pump and fans all together hence there is no compromise upon the performance.

The fans that comes with the Corsair H115i Pro RGB are the Corsair ML140 Quiet edition magnetic levitation fans that are 140mm in size and are rated at 1200 a rpm max which can move up to 55.4CFM of air at a sound pressure rating of only 20.4 dB. Since this is a RGB lighting oriented cooler its a bit sad that the fans are non RGB since Corsair already has ML140 Pro RGB fans in their catalog which not only look great but would've been an apt addition to his cooler.

Corsair has used a aluminum radiator on the H115i Pro RGB which measure in at 143x315x29 mm and has a high fin density of 20FPI (Fin per Inch) which should be there for a product of this stature. The build quality of this unit is solid and doesn't feel light or flimsy from any angle, support for upto four 140mm fans making a push pull configuration for which the fan screws are provided by default inside the package earning it a few brownie points. As for the aesthetics Corsair has done nothing odd or out of the world here but just put their logo at one end creating a minimalist design.

One odd thing that caught my attention was that the radiator had some finishing issues in its design such as the uneven ends on one side where the two edges were not in plane with the rest of the design. This isn't a big issue nor would cause any installation errors but I expect no such errors from a product such as that of Corsair's. The only reason for this can be that what I have over here is a pre-release sample which can suffer from such issues, hope not to see any such issues in their retail samples once this cooler officially hits the market.

Time for the fun part - Installation 


Over here I'm going to test the Corsair H115i Pro RGB with my Gigabyte X99 Gaming 5P motherboard which is an Intel platform and also can get really hot at times. For this we'll be using all the parts shown in the picture above.
We basically need the LGA2011-3 stand offs along with the retention screws for holding the pump in place. The ML140 fans provided with the unit are the simple ones and not the ones with a rubber grommet at the edges so using the provided washers is a good idea to secure the fans nicely upon the radiator. Also the Corsair Link cable is optional and is only needed to control the RGB lights or to set fan profiles otherwise if not used the cooler would work with the LEDs on and programmed to a breathing mode changing color each time.
Its worth mentioning that Corsair has simplified the AMD platform installation with the H115i Pro RGB to a great extent which no other AIO manufacturer has done so far. To use it on an AMD plaform one just has to use the AMD bracket and tighten the cooler upon the default plastic standoffs that the AMD motherboards come with making the installation extremely simple especially for users like me who use the Asus X370 Crosshait VI Hero that needs to have an extra plate removed from its back to install any other after market cooler that has its own backplate!

Once installed and ready I'm very happy with the outcomes as the installation is very simple for this cooler on any platform whatsoever. The tubes are flexible and can be turned and twisted in the desired fashion which eases the installation process manifolds. Even though there are a lot of wires going in and coming out of the pump area tucking them in is not big of an issue and can be done with ease and patience.

Let's put it to Test!

For testing the performance of the Antec Mercury 360 we'll be using the following test bench -

CPU: Intel Core i7 5930K
Motherboard:Gigabyte X99 Gaming 5P
RAM:Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB DDR4 3000Mhz
Cooler: Corsair H115i Pro RGB
Graphics Card:MSI R9 380 Gaming 4G
Storage:Corsair Neutron XTi 480GB
Power Supply: Cooler Master MasterWatt Lite 700
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

Before I move on any further its noteworthy that the Zero RPM mode, which is a new addition and exclusive to the Pro series coolers, is enabled by default on this unit which doesn't allow the fan to spin at all when the CPU temperature is low specifically when the PC is left idle for long or has just booted up so nothing to panic about, like I did in the beginning! As my ambient temperature was low the fans on this cooler only started spinning once I had booted into Windows and opened up a few apps. Its a welcome addition as not only it eliminated the unnecessary noise production for idle systems but it also brings these coolers in sync with Corsair's PSUs that boast a similar feature such as the AXi series.

Coming back to the testing of the cooler firstly, the CPU is kept at stock speeds with boost enabled and temperatures are measured both at idle and at full load. Then we overclock our Intel i7 5930K to 4.5Ghz at 1.75v which is a bit more than what my chip requires to reach that frequency but I had to add some extra heat to it, the same process as that for the stock speed testing is repeated. Temperature is measured using HW monitor with an average being taken of the temperatures recorded on all six cores. MSI Kombuster utility is what I prefer to stress test the CPU at all twelve threads, I run it for a good 15 minutes before recording the temperatures since by then the temperatures reach a saturation point.
Secondly, the pump is plugged directly into the SATA connector while the fans are plugged into the motherboard fan header via the provided fan extension cable. Fan profile was kept at default from the BIOS itself to rule out any discrepancy whatsoever.
The readings would be shown in delta temperature that is after subtracting the ambient temperature of the room while noise levels are recorded from a distance of three feet from the cooler which is a reasonable and practical distance for such tests.

Temperature wise we can see that the Corsair H115i Pro RGB does a fabulous job for a 280mm AIO cooler especially at overclocked frequencies where it not only beats similar sized 280mm coolers but also rubs shoulders with a much larger 360mm AIO which is a direct compliment to the improvement in the pump that Corsair has brought in with this offering. Considering my ambient temperature is high and the fan profiles are set to default I'm sure if you set the fan speeds to full or to performance in a cooler environment the results would be even better.

The cooler is a bit noisy I'd say when the system is under full load but at idle state the units is barely audible. Considering its size and the two 140mm fans that come into play the cooler is one of the quietest coolers in its category if not the quietest. This is an improvement over the previous H115i which tend to be noisy hence the use of ML140 silent edition fans did the job for Corsair offering quieter performance for this unit if not RGB rich.

My Verdict

Corsair has always brought out some unique AIOs over the year most of them improving over where their predecessor fell short and the same can be said for the Corsair H115i Pro RGB. The H115i Pro RGG has some welcome features that easily outweigh its cons.
The radiator and pump are all solid in build and look elegant from every possible corner with no unnecessary gimmicks! Sleeved tubing is really robust and flexible which is something I love as I've always felt that Corsair tubing has been a bit too rigid but not over here. Cooling performance is really good for a cooler of this category and its true power is seen when the processor is overclocked so yet again its proven that this cooler is only meant for people who plan to run really hot/overclocked systems as at stock you'll be better off with a smaller unit. Corsair H115i Pro RGB is one of the quietest 280mm AIOs out there today and that is all because of the improved pump design along with the use of ML140 quiet edition fans. They've compromised raw performance at the cost of silence but you can always swap them with aftermarket fans including Corsair's own ML140 Pro RGB fans to not only reap the full benefits of this cooler in terms of performance but also to complete the whole RGB look that the unit is aimed at.
The RGB lighting on the pump is really soothing and well balanced while the Zero RPM feature is something that every other brand should be taking noted from, a very simple but highly effective move.
"Corsair H115i Pro RGB is a Pro in terms of balance between much needed features, distinctive yet elegant looks and to the point pricing. Highly recommended for some who's looking at building  high end system or just want a cooler to make his rig stand out from the crowd!"
Pros - 
  • Solid Build Quality 
  • Excellent Cooling Performance 
  • Easy to install 
  • Zero RPM profile
  • Corsair Link support
  • Silent
Cons - 
  • Included fans are non RGB
  • Not compatible with AMD Threadripper 
I give it a 8/10 earning our Gold Award!

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Corsair Carbide SPEC-OMEGA Review

January 8, 2018, 10:36 am
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The Corsair SPEC Omega - Bling...Beauty...Boldness!


Corsair took the market by storm when it released the SPEC Alpha in 2016 mid tower gaming chassis, a design inspired by their bulldog SKUs that got such warm reception that Corsair incorporated it into the SPEC-04 last year. Sadly we never saw or heard about a successor to the SPEC-Alpha until this year where Corsair has finally brought out the Corsair Carbide SPEC Omega Gaming Cabinet out just in time for CES 2018.
Thanks to Corsair India I already have one on my table today for review and by the looks of this I'm sure we are in for some seriously interesting and fun filled building and reviewing session today.

With a tentative price of $99 the Corsair SPEC-Omega may appear like the older SPEC-Alpha at first but look closer and we can see a whole new product sitting in front of us. The SPEC Omega being a bit smaller in size than the Alpha has surprisingly more room and provision inside for installing components! Coming in three color combinations as of now namely as black-red. black-grey and the one that we have today, black-white the case has full tempered glass side panel along with a front panel which is made out of solid plexiglass. It comes with two 120mm fans one LED and on non-LED right out of the box & is backed up by the solid 5 years warranty from Corsair.

What's in the Box!?


Corsair stuck to the usual outer packing with the SPEC Omega and we have a plain brown cardboard box with the product name, images, specifications and even a detailed diagram of the dissembled case printed in black all over the box.

The box is quite heavy for a product of this size and this is mainly due to the weight of the tempered glass used which tends to be a thick heavy slab of, well glass! Glad to see that Corsair has opted for thick blocks of styrofoam here over normal thermocol blocks that tend to break at times during rough transit risking bending of the side panels which over here would've resulted in catastrophic cracked glass so good move by Corsair here.

Inside the box apart from the Corsair SPEC Omega we have the installation guide, warranty manual, a hex key or allen wrench for the tempered glass screws along with a bunch of cable ties, motherboard screws, fan screws, SSD screws etc all of which can be found inside a small brown box located inside the case in the first drive caddie.

A Closer Look at the Omega!


Corsair SPEC Omega is a direct successor to the SPEC Alpha and hence we can see a similar design on the Omega aswell which is angular from almost every corner. The entire side is a big tempered glass window while the body is made out of premium quality plastic.

The other side is plain and opaque with nothing special going on and the metal sheet matches perfectly with the matte color of the plastic used in the body which is really good to see and shows the attention to minute details that have been put into the case designing here.


Front fascia of the Omega is where we find the most number of direct changes. The biggest one coming in with the partial plexiglass use which gives a direct insight to the case and in case you are using a LED fans in the front they'll be easily visible from here giving a more refreshed look to the case. You might not be able to distinguish it but there is a LED strip tracing the division between the plastic and plexiglass area of the fascia which I'll be coming to later on. The vent at the bottom is meshed for air intake by the front fans and we also see that the legs at the bottom are glossy this time in the Omega to gel in with the theme of the product.

All the connectivity options for the SPEC Omega are located right in the front only on a glossy panel located at the top right side. We have a white LED lit power button, mic and headphone jack, reset button, HDD activity light and two USB 3.0 ports. Even though two USB 3.0 ports are enough for most users but I was expecting atleast three if not four ports on this cabinet like this.

The top is angular, vented and is removable by loosening the two thumb screws at the back which hold this panel in place. Once removed we find provision for two 120mm/140mm fans here which can be used as intake or exhaust depending upon your preferences. Obviously you cannot install a radiator here unless you plan for some DIY. This is definitely an improvement over previous designs since this time the panel is easily removable unlike previous designs which required the removal of the front fascia to facilitate the removal of the top panel.

At the back we have a 120mm non LED SP120 fan from Corsair installed out of the box which can be swapped with a 140mm one aswell if required. At the bottom end we have seven expansion slots and the PSU installation area which supports ATX form factors and has a removable dust filter under it which slides out for easy cleaning process.

Underneath the chassis we have the PSU dust filter which is removal and another screw that is clearly protruding out and holds the drive cage in place. Its evident that Corsair wants to provide the users the flexibility to remove the drive cage here by providing screw such as this for greater flexibility and accommodation capacity.


Inside on we see that the Corsair SPEC Omega is quite clean and spacious with neat clean edges. There is a HDD cage that has a capacity of two 3.5" HDD or two 2.5" SSDs along with a SP120mm white LED fan is pre-installed in the front and there is provision for three 120mm or two 140mm fans in the front. There are neat markings made near the motherboard installation area for smoother and easier installation for new users for any motherboard form factor. A great feature is the raised motherboard mounting tray and the space created under the mounting tray for hiding wires.

At the back we see enough cuts and crevices for routing cables and using zip ties. There is provision to install three SSDs here using holders designed to do the same. I haven't seem them on Corsair cases for a while since the Obsidian series so I'm happy to see them back since they make SSD installation a lot more easier. Also you may observe that the front USB 3.0 wire is flat rather than cylindrical to aid in cable management.

Time for the fun part - Installation


Before I proceed further I'd like to say that I had a very limited time with this case hence I've concentrated more on bringing you a more detailed review and less of fancy photographs so excuse me for the bad photography here at times.
With the Corsair SPEC Omega I observed that there has been a lot of changes not only in terms of designs but also in what all the case can accommodate so I decided to go with two different style configurations altogether. One with the Corsair H115i Pro RGB liquid cooler which is a 280mm AIO and another with the MSI Core Frozr L which is a tall Air Cooler along with three high CFM 120mm blue LED fans in front.
In general I swapped front Corsair SP120 white LED fan with the rear one for aesthetics purposes since both have the same RPM and CFM. Cable management on this case is absolutely simple especially at the back where there is enough room to route and hide the cable even if you are using a non-modular PSU like me. The grommets are aptly cut and even in a tight space with thick hands such as mine it wasn't much of an issue dealing with all the connections.
For the build here I went with the following components -

CPU: Intel Core i7 5930K
Motherboard:Gigabyte X99 Gaming 5P
RAM:Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB DDR4 3000Mhz
Cooler:Corsair H115i Pro RGB and MSI Core Frozr L
Graphics Card:MSI R9 380 Gaming 4G
Storage:Corsair Neutron XTi 480GB
Power Supply: Cooler Master MasterWatt Lite 700
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

With MSI Core Frozr L



The build looks absolutely fantastic with the beefy MSI Core Frozr L in place and I had absolutely no issue in installing the cooler or the three 120mm fans in the front. The air flow inside the case is optimum and it looks absolutely beautiful from the front where we can see the blue LEDs of the fan clearly through the plexiglass. All the three fans are visible from this angle and if you are into RGB fans then this case would make a worthy enclosure for your setup.

A point worth noticing here is that we've put in three thick 120mm fans here that use LED rings and rubber washers and still we have ample of space left between the fans and the HDD cage, it clearly shows that you can put in a 360mm AIO inside this case without a shadow of a doubt just like the spec sheet says so!

With Corsair H115i Pro RGB


Alright so this is where the SPEC Omega shines out bright, in the beginning I had apprehensions about installing this cooler inside the Omega not due to its massive size but its thickness since the Corsair ML140 fans on the Corsair H115i Pro RGB are quite thick and can cause obstruction with the HDD cage but none as such happened and the cooler was in place without any issue or the need of an extra pair of hands.

If we look at the clearance between the HDD cage and the radiator then its just enough for a decent air flow. Now I know why Corsair has made the HDD cage readily removable, if removed then we have enough room for a push-pull configuration on any size of coolers be it 280 or a 360! And this is with both pair of fans inside the main chassis and not one pair outside between the main frame and the plastic fascia and the other pair inside since that ways the air flow is extremely poor with this type of case with a partially vented fascia.

The tempered glass on the side is very clean and thick and I don't see any distortion in the lighting of the LEDs in place. Its obviously a finger print magnet but that's how glass pieces works so simply wipe it clean once everything is in place.

Since at the time of reviewing or writing this the Corsair SPEC Omega was not out officially this took me a while to figure out since I'd not received the reviewer's guide or any sort of information regarding the case till a few days back. The case has a front LED bar which is powered by a SATA connector which is entangled with the other set of cables inside the case. Once lit its a solid white bar which looks more like a light saber in the dark! Sadly you cannot control its color or behavior but the impression of it is impeccable.

Among the other noticeable design improvements and features are the series of holes near the expansion slots to easily screw in and tighten the graphics card once installed. This is major design feature as when installing heavy and beefy cards the toughest part is to screw them in inside mid-tower and other smaller form factors. Kudos to Corsair for bringing this in the SPEC Omega!

Temperature Readings 


To get the temperature readings across various components I've used HWMonitor and run every test twice taking the highest reading out of the two. Only on exhaust SP120 fan is used & CPU cooler is the Corsair H115i Pro RGB and its set to default settings via the BIOS just as the exhaust fan.
Reading is taken with the Intel Core i7 5930K overclocked to 4.5Ghz using excess voltage of 1.45v to generate a bit more heat than it usually would and fan curve for the MSI R9 380 Gaming 4G is set to default that is the fans would only spin after the card hits 60°C or more. CPU and Graphics Card are loaded for 15mins using the MSI Kombuster and FurMark suit respectively. Readings are in degree Celsius and readings are in delta temperature.

My Verdict

Corsair Carbide SPEC Omega is a true successor to the iconic SPEC-Alpha in every right possible. At first it may just look like an Alpha re-branded with the addition of tempered glass but in all truthfulness the SPEC Omega is an entirely different product all together.
The Omega pics up from right where the Alpha has left filling in all the gaps and joining all the loose ends both in terms of aesthetics and practicality. Throughout the review I came across a range of small changes that make up for an entirely new picture, an impressive picture to be precise. The accommodation capacity of the Omega is more than what one can expect from a mid tower chassis with support for upto 360mm AIO coolers at stock and in push pull configurations for those who are looking at an all SSD system. Corsair has made the design extremely flexible and user friendly with this to cater to a wide spectrum of users from the daily gamer to the pro modders.
While some cases out there are just about tempered glass and bling the SPEC Omega has done all of that, and more, with excellent air flow keeping even the hottest components cool under extreme loads and a packed up interiors which denotes the hardwork that Corsair designers have put into this case. Its as if there was a guy sitting in their office listening to all the customer's feedback and requests over the years to create a perfect amalgamation of looks and functionality in form of the SPEC-Omega that would woo in system builders and modders alike.
"The Corsair SPEC-Omega has a sophisticated flare of craftsmanship due mainly to the added tempered glass panels. Building a system using this case can make the most novice builder look like a polished pro at building gaming computers"
Pros - 
  • Good use of tempered glass
  • Can house a 360mm AIO cooler
  • Available in three color combinations
  • Five years warranty applicable on glass break aswell 
  • Great air flow
  • Lots of fan mounts 
  • Flexible design
Cons - 
  • Only two USB ports in the front
  • Lack of dust filters
I give it a 8/10 earning our Gold Award!

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CORSAIR Launches New PSU, Coolers and Case at CES 2018

January 8, 2018, 8:54 pm
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Build It Better - CORSAIR Launches New PSU, Coolers
and Case at CES 2018

Introducing the AX1600i, Hydro Series H150i PRO & H115i PRO and SPEC-OMEGA

 
BENGALURU, India / CES 2018, Las Vegas NV, January 9, 2018

CORSAIR®, a world leader in enthusiast memory, high-performance gaming hardware and PC components, today launched a range of PC enthusiast products, equipped with a host of new innovations and features to help PC builders create the most incredible systems ever.

To power the most amazing PCs, you need the world's most amazing PSU, and the new CORSAIR AX1600i is exactly that. The AX1600i is the only enthusiast PSU to use Gallium Nitride (GaN) transistors, delivering superior efficiency, in a smaller form factor than ever before. 1600W of ultra-stable, ultra-efficient power stands ready with better-than 80 PLUS Titanium efficiency, complete digital monitoring and control using CORSAIR LINK software, and all in a new, smaller, 200mm length size. It's the pinnacle of enthusiast PSUs
The best-selling CORSAIR Hydro Series of liquid CPU coolers also gets an upgrade at CES, with the launch of the new H150i PRO and H115i PRO. Equipped with 360° of RGB lighting on an aluminium-trimmed pump cap, ultra-low noise CORSAIR MLSeries cooling fans, and large high-density 360mm (H150i PRO) or 280mm (H115i PRO) radiators, the new Hydro Series light up your system while keeping CPU temperatures down.
The H150i PRO and H115i PRO are also the first CORSAIR Hydro series coolers to feature a Zero RPM Mode fan profile, totally stopping and silencing the cooling fans when the CPU is at low temperatures. Combining the latest in customizable lighting with the best in low-noise CPU cooling, the H150i PRO and H115i PRO deliver advanced liquid cooling that's seen but not heard.
Completing the CORSAIR CES 2018 line-up is the new Carbide Series SPEC-OMEGA, a mid-tower gaming case with a new angle on tempered glass. SPEC-OMEGA's unique asymmetrical design provides a dynamic look, that's enhanced by both a tempered glass side panel and front panel, putting your system on display like no other case. An integrated front-panel LED light strip and LED-lit 120mm cooling further add to the dynamic styling, while room for up to a 360mm liquid CPU cooling radiator means there's more to SPEC-OMEGA than looks. With an internal layout designed to make a build beautiful inside and out, PC builderswill find a wealth of cable tie-downs, routing holes and grommets, with a choice of white, red or black exterior. Built to show off your system and turn heads, this is the ultimate SPEC.
Availability and Pricing
The CORSAIR AX1600i is available immediately. The new CORSAIR Hydro Series H150i PRO and H115i PRO are available immediately. The new CORSAIR Carbide Series SPEC-OMEGA range of cases are available immediately. They are all available from the CORSAIR worldwide network of authorized retailers and distributors as well as direct from the www.corsair.com webstore.
For up-to-date pricing on all new CORSAIR products announced at CES 2018, please refer to the CORSAIR website or contact your local CORSAIR sales or PR representative.

###

About CORSAIR
Founded in 1994, CORSAIR supplies high-performance products purchased primarily by PC gaming enthusiasts who build their own PCs or buy pre-assembled customized systems. The company's award-winning products include fully-assembled PCs, DDR4 and DDR3 memory, computer cases, PC cooling products, gaming headsets, gaming keyboards, gaming mice, power supply units, USB flash drives, solid-state drives and system monitoring and control devices.
Copyright © 2018 CORSAIR Components, Inc. All rights reserved. CORSAIR, the sails logo, and Vengeance are registered trademarks of CORSAIR in the United States and/or other countries. All other company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks, and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.
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CORSAIR Launches Full Range of Wireless Gaming Peripherals at CES 2018

January 8, 2018, 9:02 pm
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It's Time to UNPLUG and PLAY
CORSAIR Launches Full Range of Wireless Gaming Peripherals
at CES 2018

Introducing the K63 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard, DARK CORE RGB Wireless Gaming Mouse, MM1000 Qi® Wireless Charging Mouse Pad, and More


BENGALURU, India / CES 2018, Las Vegas NV, January 9, 2018

CORSAIR®, a world leader in enthusiast memory, PC components, and high-performance gaming hardware, today announced a complete range of new performance wireless gaming peripherals. Powered by CORSAIR UNPLUG and PLAY wireless technology, the K63 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard, K63 Wireless Gaming Lapboard, DARK CORE RGB Wireless Gaming Mouse, and MM1000 Qi Wireless Charging Mouse Pad allow PC enthusiasts and gamers to experience wire-free gaming without compromise. It's time to UNPLUG and PLAY.

The new K63 Wireless mechanical gaming keyboard, a CES 2018 Innovation Award Honoree, brings the quality, performance and reliability of CHERRY MX Red mechanical keyswitches to the wireless desktop. Connecting via a choice of ultra-fast 1ms 2.4GHz gaming-optimized wireless, low latency Bluetooth® wireless, or a wired USB connection, the K63 Wireless instantly registers keystrokes and commands however you connect. With up to 75 hours of rechargeable battery life, K63 Wireless has the stamina to outlast the longest gaming session. Per-key, customizable blue LED backlighting, controlled using CORSAIR Utility Engine (CUE) software delivers vibrant lighting and dynamic, reactive visuals, alongside per-key macros and programmable keys.
When you're wireless, being fast isn't enough - you need to be secure too. K63 Wireless features strong 128-bit AES encryption, protecting your keystrokes from wireless eavesdropping. The K63 Wireless' tenkeyless layout is perfect for a clean and minimalist desktop, and combines with the K63 Wireless Gaming Lapboard to create a cutting-edge wireless living room solution. A lightweight surround and memory foam cushion comfortably and securely holds the K63 Wireless keyboard in place, while a full-size replaceable mouse pad provides ample room and pixel-precise tracking. Whether it's on a wire-free desktop, on the couch, or on the go, the K63 Wireless combines uncompromised wireless with mechanical performance.
The new CORSAIR DARK CORE RGB wireless gaming mouse offers the same flexible three-mode connectivity as K63 Wireless, bringing its 16,000 DPI optical sensor precision to your PC via ultra-fast 1ms 2.4GHz, low-latency Bluetooth® wireless or wired USB connection. A contoured shape that's supremely comfortable makes DARK CORE RGB instantly at home in your hand, and can be customized using two interchangeable magnetic side grips to provide a tailored fit for almost any gamer. Vibrant three-zone RGB lighting, fully customizable in CUE, lets gamers set their own style with nearly unlimited illumination options, patterns, and effects, from simple colors to full synchronization with other CORSAIR RGB peripherals. DARK CORE RGB ensures you'll rarely need to reach for the charging cable, with up to 24 hours of battery life. When you do, DARK CORE RGB's wired mode lets you keep playing, with its nine programmable buttons always within easy reach however you connect.
For those who want to go wireless forever, DARK CORE RGB SE adds Qi wireless charging support, pairing perfectly with the all-new CORSAIR MM1000 Qi wireless charging mousepad for a truly wireless gaming mouse that never needs to be plugged in to charge. Combining a micro-textured hard surface mouse pad with a dedicated Qi wireless charging spot, the MM1000 ensures wireless power is always on hand, charging almost any Qi compatible device, from the DARK CORE RGB SE to the latest smartphones. Even if your devices don't have Qi charging built-in, MM1000 includes USB Micro-B, Type-C, and Lightning Qi charging adapters, letting you easily add Qi wireless charging. With a large 260mm x 350mm surface area, non-slip rubber base, USB 3.0 pass-through, and LED charging indicator completing the package, the MM1000 brings Qi wireless charging to your desktop - what you charge, is up to you.
 
Together, the K63 Wireless, K63 Wireless Gaming Lapboard, DARK CORE RGB and MM1000 create the ultimate wireless gaming setups for desktop or living room. Tired of your gaming being tied down by cables? It's time to UNPLUG and PLAY.

Availability, Warranty and Pricing
The new CORSAIR K63 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard and K63 Wireless Gaming Lapboard are available immediately from the CORSAIR worldwide network of authorized retailers and distributors as well as direct from the www.corsair.com webstore. CORSAIR DARK CORE RGB/DARK CORE RGB SE wireless gaming mice and the MM1000 Qi charging mouse pad will be available in January 2018.
The CORSAIR K63 Wireless, K63 Wireless Gaming Lapboard, DARK CORE RGB, DARK CORE RGB SE and the MM1000 are backed by a two-year warranty and the CORSAIR worldwide customer service and technical support network.
For up-to-date pricing on all new CORSAIR products announced at CES 2018, please refer to the CORSAIR website or contact your local CORSAIR sales or PR representative.

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About CORSAIR
Founded in 1994, CORSAIR supplies high-performance products purchased primarily by PC gaming enthusiasts who build their own PCs or buy pre-assembled customized systems. The company's award-winning products include fully-assembled PCs, DDR4 and DDR3 memory, computer cases, PC cooling products, gaming headsets, gaming keyboards, gaming mice, power supply units, USB flash drives, solid-state drives and system monitoring and control devices.

Copyright © 2018 CORSAIR Components, Inc. All rights reserved. CORSAIR, the sails logo, and Vengeance are registered trademarks of CORSAIR in the United States and/or other countries. All other company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks, and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.
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ASUS Republic of Gamers Showcases Latest Gaming Lineup at CES 2018

January 8, 2018, 9:56 pm
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ASUS Republic of Gamers Showcases Latest Gaming Lineup at CES 2018
Introducing ROG Strix SKT T1 Hero Edition, ROG Strix GL12, ROG Strix Flare and Aura Sync accessories, including ROG Aura Terminal and ROG Spotlight

KEY POINTS
  • ROG unveiled new gaming gear at CES 2018, including the Strix SKT T1 Hero Edition laptop, Strix GL12 desktop and Strix Flare mechanical keyboard
  • The ROG Aura Terminal addressable RGB controller with ROG Halo feature, and the Bezel-free Kit display accessory provide a new level of immersive gaming
  • The complete lineup of ROG products will be on display at the ROG showcase room at Wynn Las Vegas from Jan 9–12
Mumbai, India, January 9, 2017 — ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today unveiled its latest lineup of gaming gear at CES® 2018, including the ROG Strix SKT T1 Hero Edition laptop, ROG Strix GL12 desktop, ROG Strix Flare RGB mechanical keyboard, ROG Aura Terminal addressable RGB controller, ROG Spotlight RGB projection light and Bezel-free Kit display accessory. This full lineup of new ROG products is designed to enable gamers to create their own perfect battle station and enjoy totally immersive gaming experiences.
ROG Strix SKT T1 Hero Edition is a limited-edition gaming laptop developed in collaboration with top eSports team SK telecom T1 and designed for MOBA gaming with an Intel Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-Series graphics and a 120Hz IPS-level display with a 100% sRGB color gamut.

The ROG Strix GL12 desktop is powered by a factory-overclocked 8th Generation Intel® Core™ processor (up to 4.8GHz hexa-core) with NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 graphics for incredible performance with the latest games, and a transparent side panel and customizable Aura Sync lighting effects to let gamers express their gaming style.
The ROG Strix Flare RGB mechanical gaming keyboard delivers premier performance, ergonomic comfort and a new level of customizable style with individually backlit Cherry MX RGB switches, dedicated media keys positioned for instant in-game control, an illuminated customizable logo badge and Aura Sync lighting.

The ROG Aura Terminal and ROG Spotlight accessories feature Aura Sync, which provides synchronized lighting with a wide range of supported devices, so gamers can easily create stunning system effects with a unified look and feel. In 2018, ROG is taking Aura Sync to the next level by expanding its Aura SDK program to let software developers and hardware partners integrate even more Aura Sync features into their creations. AIDA64, Tobii and Cooler Master showcased demos at CES 2018 highlighting the possibilities of the Aura SDK.
The complete lineup of ROG gaming products will be on display at the ROG showcase room at Wynn Las Vegas from January 9–12, 2018. Visitors to CES 2018 are invited to visit the showcase room and experience the latest ROG innovations.

ROG Strix Flare

 
ROG Strix Flare is an RGB mechanical gaming keyboard that combines top-notch performance with ergonomic comfort, and brings customizable style to a whole new level. Constructed with world-renowned Cherry MX RGB switches — the preferred choice of professional and amateur gamers alike — every press of the ROG Strix Flare is of optimal actuation to deliver satisfying and reliable keystrokes. Dedicated media keys, including a convenient volume wheel, are located on the upper left of the keyboard for instant access, so the gamer’s right hand can remain on the mouse at all times. A USB pass-through port lets gamers connect a mouse or other device, and a detachable wrist rest provides extra comfort during extended gaming sessions.
ROG Strix Flare features a stylish dual-textured case with the signature ROG slash design, and a swappable, illuminated acrylic insert emblazoned with the ROG badge. An additional blank badge is included, which gamers can customize with their personal or team insignia. Powered by Aura Sync lighting technology, ROG Strix Flare has individually programmable RGB backlit keys, and LEDs under both sides to create an underglow effect that extends the customizable lighting beyond the keyboard. All of the onboard lighting effects can be synchronized with the vast ecosystem of Aura Sync devices to give gamers a personalized battle station with a cohesive look.

ROG Aura Terminal

 
ROG Aura Terminal is a quad-channel addressable RGB controller designed to bring gamers a more immersive gaming environment. Featuring innovative ROG Halo technology, ROG Aura Terminal enables stunning system lighting effects synchronized to in-game action. When LED strips are mounted behind a monitor, ROG Halo instantly determines the colors displayed at the edges of the screen and illuminates the LED strips with matching colors, creating a dynamic halo of lighting around the display for captivating gaming. ROG Aura Terminal can also be mounted inside the PC case and connected to Aura Sync devices to create unified system lighting effects.

Bezel-free Kit

Bezel-free Kit is an accessory that enables gamers with multiple-monitor setups to visually eliminate the gaps where their displays connect, creating the appearance of one extra-large, wraparound monitor for a totally immersive gaming experience. Bezel-free Kit consists of vertical lenses and easy-to-attach mounts that connect the edge of each monitor at a 130-degree angle — the angle determined through extensive testing to provide the best viewing experience. An optical device that requires no software or power to operate, Bezel-free Kit uses light refraction to make the monitor edges disappear to the viewer. It provides an innovative, simple and effective method of increasing field of view and dramatically enhancing gameplay.

ROG Spotlight

ROG Spotlight is an RGB lighting accessory that projects the ROG logo on a wall or surface, enabling gamers to display their ROG pride and create an enhanced gaming atmosphere. Its colorful lighting synchronizes with Aura Sync gaming gear, from motherboards to mice, to perfectly illuminate the gamer’s battle station. ROG Spotlight has a matte-black aluminum finish and a magnetic base for easy and secure attachment to a metal surface. It provides 360 degrees of adjustment, so the ROG logo can always be positioned upright.

Aura SDK program

In 2017, ROG announced the Aura SDK program, which enables developers and hardware partners to integrate Aura lighting control into their software and devices. Since its introduction, ROG has added numerous Aura SDK enhancements that provide even more control and capabilities. AIDA64, Tobii and Cooler Master showcased demos at CES 2018 highlighting the possibilities of the Aura SDK.
AIDA64 is a PC system monitoring application that integrates Aura lighting via the Aura SDK to enable users to visualize an array of system stats — such as CPU/GPU temperature, fan speed and network speed — on Aura-enabled peripherals.
ROG and Tobii, the world leader in eye tracking, created a concept demo using the Aura SDK that is designed to enhance gaming experiences with lighting effects that provide real-time visual feedback to in-game events, such as color cues to identify allies and enemies, and alert flashes to indicate incoming attacks.
ROG hardware partner Cooler Master also showcased a gaming system build that uses the Aura SDK to integrate the Aura Sync motherboard and graphic cards with Cooler Master devices to provide lighting control via Cooler Master’s MasterPlus+ software. The cross-brand integration provides more lighting interoperability within the PC ecosystem, making it easier for gamers to create the system lighting effects they desire. ROG has always been at the forefront of RGB evolution, and is committed to working with more brands to advance the ecosystem for the best lighting synergy.

ROG showcase location and hours

Venue
Wynn Las Vegas

Hours
Jan. 9, 2018: 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. (Press only)
Jan. 10–11: 9:00 a.m. –6:00 p.m.
Jan. 12: 9:00 a.m. –4:00 p.m.

AVAILABILITY & PRICING
Please contact your local ASUS representative for further information.

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About ROG
Republic of Gamers (ROG) is an ASUS sub-brand dedicated to creating the world’s best gaming hardware and software. Formed in 2006, ROG offers a complete line of innovative products known for performance and quality, including motherboards, graphics cards, laptops, desktops, monitors, audio equipment, routers and peripherals. ROG participates in and sponsors major international gaming events. ROG gear has been used to set hundreds of overclocking records and it continues to be the preferred choice of gamers and enthusiasts around the world. Learn more about the choice of champions at http://rog.asus.com.
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Best Gaming PC Configuration under Rs 80000

January 9, 2018, 3:30 pm
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I get a lot of questions every now and then regarding Gaming PC configurations and out of the lot I've observed that a Gaming PC configuration under Rs 80,000 is what most of you want and look for. So to make things easier for you aswell as for me to some extent today I'll be posting a Gaming PC configuration for under Rs 80K which will sail you across easily for the next year and a half atleast before asking for a major upgrade, mostly in the graphics card division. Before compiling this configuration I've kept a few key points in mind which I would like to enlist first -
  • The build should be future proof and should last the user for over a year or two without any upgrade.
  • It should run all the existing and upcoming titles at 1080p resolution with respectable settings.
  • Upgrade should be easy and economical with minimum change of components.
  • It should be balanced over all with all the components in sync & at par without overpowering or under-powering others.

Quite basic points but worth mentioning for easy understanding of what I'm about to write down next.

CPU - Intel Core i5-8400 Rs 15,200

 
For this build I recommend the Intel Core i5 8400 processor which is part of Intel's latest Coffee Lake family and is the first i5 ever to have six cores over the usual four cores. Being a hexacore processor this is more than you would need to game today or anytime in future making it a future proof product to go with which would handle gaming and even semi professional video editing and rendering with ease. Base frequency is 2.8Ghz and can go all the way upto 4Ghz with the stock cooler that it comes out of the box with so no complaints there aswell.

Motherboard - MSI Z370-A Pro Rs 11,000

 
The MSI Z370-A Pro is cheap on price but has everything that one needs for a PC like this, supporting the latest 8th Gen Intel CPUs the motherboard supports memory of upto 4000Mhz and has a metal reinforced PCIe slot for heavy graphics card and durability. Not only it supports a M.2 SSD in case you plan to buy one in future but also ahs onboard Realtek ALC892 audio CODEC supporting upto 7.1 channel audio making it best suited for listening to music and playing games with precision.  

RAM - Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 2400Mhz Rs 12,000

 
Today for gaming 8GB is the bare minimum that you should have in your PC for playing games at respectable setting or else it creates a huge bottleneck even if you’ve got everything else in place! For that matter we’ll be using the Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 2400Mhz memory kit which constitutes of two 8GB DDR4 stick so you get two RAM sticks working in dual channel for superior performance. 2400Mhz is the sweet spot for gaming and with the Vengeance its possible at a great pricing offering you good looks and a very stable memory kit which is trusted by everyone in the PC industry alike.

Graphics Card - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 Windforce OC 6GB Rs 24,300


A GTX 1060 6GB is what you need to justify a build of this kind and I recommend the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060  Windforce OC 6GB for this purpose. Its an OC version of the GTX 1060 so you get higher clock speeds out of the box and can increase it further more if required by the click of a button through their provided software utility and all would be under their 3 years warranty period! This card would seamlessly allow you to lpay any title at 1080p or higher resolutions on a 144Hz display aswell, do keep in mind to buy the 6GB edition and not the 3GB one since that would be a waste of your money.

SSD - Kingston A400 240GB Rs 6,700


Yeah you obviously need a SSD for faster Windows boot up time and quick loading in games or else you’ll be stuck loading multi gigabyte games over a conventional mechanical hard drive. The Kingston A400 256GB would do the job here as the SSD offers superior performance than SSDs that cost almost double the price for which it comes at! Great after market sale support for Kingston is always there and 256GB would be more than enough for Windows, your vital softwares and games so pick this up without any second thoughts here.

HDD - Seagate Barracuda 2TB Rs 5,100


Since we are building a PC it is quite obvious that you would be watching movies and listening to music aswell along with downloading a bunch of other stuff from the internet so we need a HDD here for which we’ll go with the Seagate Barracuda for its long line of trusted quality and service that it offers at a very reasonable price along with 2 years of warranty. The 2TB HDD spins at 7200RPM so you won’t feel it slowing down or spoiling your experience even if you play a multi-GB BluRay rip over your monitor or TV due to slow load/buffer time.


PSU - Cooler Master MasterWatt Lite 500 Rs 3,300


For almost around 3K the MasterWatt Lite from Cooler Master 500 is a great option for a 500W PSU which is enough to keep a configuration like this running safely and for long. It is 80 Plus EU certified and delivers 85% efficiency which is great for your system aswell as for your pocket. With a 120mm smart fan the unit not only runs cool but also generates less noise so you won't have to worry about anythjing as such plus it comes with a three years warranty to keep you covered.

Case - Cooler Master Masterbox Lite 5 RGB Case Rs 5000

 

Not only this case is priced perfectly but comes with the tempered glass front panel and three RGB fans that ca not only be controlled in terms of colors but also in behavior patterns making it the ideal choice. The case has three RGB fans in the front and a non LED fan at the back right of the box with extra support for a liquid cooler in the front if desired. Lots of space for big components inside makes it great for air flow so you'll hvae you  hardware running all cool and quiet.

Now this is what I think is the best Gaming PC configuration for around Rs 80K but if you think that I've missed upon something or you have suggestions for improvement or even queries regarding the same then feel free to drop a comment below
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Acer Expands its Predator Accessories Portfolio with Galea 500 Gaming Headset & Cestus 500 Gaming Mouse

January 12, 2018, 10:09 pm
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Acer Expands its Predator Accessories Portfolio, Launches “Galea 500 Gaming Headset” & “Cestus 500 Gaming Mouse” in India


  • Acer, one of the world’s leading gaming PC and accessories makers, unveils Predator Galea 500 Gaming Headset & Cestus 500 Gaming Mouse in India. 
  • The Predator Galea 500 gaming headset gives you Cinematic Surround experience with Bio-Cellulose Driver unit. Acer TrueHarmony™ 3D Soundscape technology recreates the acoustic space based on the orientation of the player’s head to give an immersive feel.
  • The Predator Cestus 500 gaming mouse features an ambidextrous customizable design with swappable side panels, 16.8 million RGB lighting with 8 lighting patterns, 5 on-board profile settings, 8 programmable buttons, precision movement and a gold-plated USB connector. 

Bangalore, January 11, 2018: Setting new standards in the gaming feat, Acer, one of the world’s leading gaming PC makers, unveils Predator Galea 500 Gaming Headset and Cestus 500 Gaming Mouse in India. Engineered to make every minute of gaming real, the Galea 500 headsets comes with Acer TrueHarmony™ 3D Soundscape technology which offers an unparalleled surround sound experience, while the customizable design of Cestus 500 mouse is built to appeal hardcore gamers by giving precise control with host of customizable controls and ergonomic feel for long fatigue free gaming.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO and Consumer Business Head said, “We introduced cutting-edge Predator PCs in 2017 both in enthusiast and hardcore gaming series, it is exhilarating to see such overwhelming response and demand for predator gaming products from Indian fans. Sustaining our commitments with hard-core gamers, we are happy to launch Galea 500 Gaming Headset & Cestus 500 Gaming Mouse in India. Designed to appeal the hardcore gamers, Galea 500 and Cestus 500 will perfectly complement our Predator gaming PCs.”

The Predator Galea 500- Lightweight, full-featured gaming headsets

 
The Predator Galea 500 gaming headset puts you right inside the game, giving you the ability to hear every detail in surround sound within the game. Acer TrueHarmony™ 3D Soundscape technology recreates the acoustic space based on the orientation of the player’s head, giving the gamer a truly immersive feel. Featuring a driver diaphragm made from bio-cellulose with rubber surround, the Predator Galea 500 headset delivers clear highs with resounding lows, and responds quickly to precisely reproduce vocals and mid-high range notes, while a unique acoustic cavity helps deliver punchy rhythmic bass. The headset offers customization, letting users select from three modes including EQ Music, Movie and Sport.

The Predator Cestus 500- High-end customizable gaming mouse

 
The new Predator Cestus 500 gaming mouse features a unique dual switch design, which allows gamers to adjust the click resistance according to the game type they are playing, such as a lighter resistance for FPS games that demand a more nimble reaction, or a heavier resistance for fine maneuvers in RTS games. It features 16.8 million RGB Lighting with 8 lighting patterns, 5 on-board profile settings, 8 programmable buttons, and a gold-plated USB connector with precision control to take gaming to the next level. Together with customizable side panels, an ambidextrous design, the Cestus 500 is one of the most Customizable options for the gamers in India.

Pricing and Availability

The Predator Galea 500 headset is priced at Rs.12,999/- and Cestus 500 mouse is priced at Rs.4,599/-. The products will be available with leading retail chains and Acer Exclusive stores.



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About Acer
Established in 1976, Acer is a hardware + software + services company dedicated to the research, design, marketing, sale, and support of innovative products that enhance people's lives. Acer's product offerings include PCs, displays, projectors, servers, tablets, smartphones and wearables. It is also developing cloud solutions to bring together the Internet of Things. Acer is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2016 and is one of the world’s top five PC companies. It employs 7,000 people worldwide and has a presence in over 160 countries. Please visit www.acer.com for more information.
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