Computex 2015 - Day 3

Computex 2015 - Corsair

The main focus for Corsair at Computex 2015 was its Bulldog and Lapdog parts. Bulldog is a customisable PC designed to deliver 4K gaming to the living room. It comes in a console-style, red and black, angular chassis with hidden USB 3 and audio jacks up front and plenty of ventilation. The design allows both the CPU and GPU to be liquid cooled, which is critical to keeping the Bulldog console-sized and as quiet as possible. The CPU is cooled using a supplied, proprietary liquid cooling solution, while the GPU can be liquid cooled using the optional GPU liquid cooling kit which will come with a relevant HG10 bracket and the Hydro Series H5SF liquid CPU cooler. Corsair is also announcing a partnership with Nvidia and MSI to bring liquid cooling technology to GeForce graphics cards, initially including GTX Titan X, GTX 980 Ti, GTX 980 and GTX 970 cards sold by MSI and maintaining Corsair branding on the cooling appartus.



A Corsair-made 80 Plus Gold, fully modular SFX PSU is also supplied, capable of delivering 600W – easily enough for an overclocked single GPU system. You also get a mini-ITX motherboard supplied – the exact model is not clear; there may be options available or Corsair may be waiting until Skylake motherboards are made official, since Bulldog is expected to come in Q4 after Skylake's launch. The Bulldog kit, including chassis, PSU, motherboard and CPU cooler will retail for $399, while the GPU cooling kit will go for a further $99. The unit is designed to be fully upgradeable too – anything you can upgrade in a desktop PC will be upgradeable here.


Announced in conjunction with Bulldog is Lapdog, described as a portable gaming control centre that sits on your lap and gives you full keyboard and mouse functionality. The keyboard docking area is designed for Corsair mechanical keyboards and next to this is a large mouse mat area. It also comes with a powered USB hub and is wired for maximum performance – the 6m USB cable should be plenty, even for those with huge living rooms. It will cost $89 standalone or $199 with a keyboard.


Last year's Computex was heavily focussed on RGB-backlit keyboards for Corsair. This year, however, it's announcing the STRAFE, a mono-backlit keyboard that has all the lighting customisation and control of the RGB keyboards (except for the colour changing, obviously). The STRAFE uses a plastic frame, not aluminium, but is steel reinforced and actually heavier than a K70 RGB, for example – build quality definitely felt high in our brief hands on. It features Cherry MX Red switches, red backlighting, USB pass-through, 104-key rollover and FN-based media controls. Contoured, coloured and textured keycaps for FPS and MOBA players are also supplied.


Corsair continued to expand its all-in-one liquid-cooling solutions at Computex, starting with the Hydro Series H110i GTX, which uses a 280mm radiator and is supplied with a pair of 140mm fans (model SP140L). Compared to the H110i GT, the GTX version comes with an updated cooling block with titanium coloured logo inserts (note the new Corsair logo too) – an optional kit with red and blue inserts will be sold separately. More importantly, the coldplate and pump have been improved to give users lower temperatures and noise. Corsair Link is naturally supported, and it's compatible with all the usual Intel and AMD sockets. Its MSRP according to Corsair's website is £119.99 with availability pegged for July.


Corsair also showed off its HG10 N980 and N970 GPU cooling brackets, which will allow users to install all-in-one liquid coolers to reference design GTX 900 series cards; the HG10 980 supports GTX Titan X, GTX 980 Ti and GTX 980 while the N970 is for GTX 970 and GTX 760 owners – Corsair lists full compatibility on its website. GDDR5 modules and MOSFETs are both cooled by the brackets, so no critical components are left to the elements, and Corsair is now supplying its own radial fan rather than relying on the stock one. Both brackets are compatible with the entire Hydro Series line of AIO coolers. US pricing is set at $39.99 with the N970 coming first in July, followed by N980 in August.


Cases were not a focus this year, with Corsair only showing off one new product, the Obsidian Series 750D Airflow Edition, which simply adds a perforated front grille to the existing design for improved front-to-back airflow. It has a US MSRP of $159.99 and should be available imminently.


The RMi Series of 80 Plus Gold PSUs were also launched, available in 650W, 750W, 850W and 1,000W capacities. Their 140mm fan remains off when the PSU is cool enough. They also feature Corsair Link for fan speed and multi/single-rail customisation and performance monitoring, a full selection of 105°C-rated Japanese capacitors and fully modular, black, flat cables. They should be available later this month.