(This post is for the open beta of CUE2, check out our latest blog post for up-to-date information). The CUE2 open beta is here and brings with it a gigantic overhaul of the Corsair Utility Engine. We’ve listened to your feedback and set out to make CUE2 easier to use so anybody can quickly tweak performance settings, create custom actions, and configure amazing lighting effects. So What’s New?<br>
CUE2 has a revamped home screen that puts your devices and profiles front and center. Click on any of the new ultra hi-resolution images for your respective device to quickly configure lighting, actions, and performance. The profile bar on the top left lets you quickly glance to see what profile is currently enabled as well as manage your profile library. Speaking of profiles, you can now assign a custom icon and background image for each individual profile, adding a touch of personality to your CUE experience as well as providing a big visual aid for you to easily identify which of your profiles is active. If we stopped at a new home screen and custom icons/backgrounds, this wouldn’t be much of an update… thankfully, we dug even deeper and overhauled the UI for lighting effects, actions, and audio EQ while we were at it. Lighting effects are now layered with priority placed on the top most effect. You can execute simultaneous standard effects by assigning them to multiple layers and put them in the priority you want with a simple click and drag. Effect timing, triggers, and colors can be readily customized at the bottom of the screen. Actions work similarly to lighting, with all active actions listed on the sidebar and relevant settings on the bottom of the screen. Actions are now easily assigned to a key by selecting the appropriate key on the preview. Some bonus tweaks have been made to actions, such as the ability to imitate holding a key with the remap action, a new option to disable a key if the lock button is on, and new mouse angles to make it easier for you to see where your actions are being mapped onscreen. On the audio side, EQ presets are displayed on the sidebar and can be easily adjusted with the sliders at the bottom of the screen. Sidetone and microphone volumes are also readily available in addition to the virtual surround sound toggle. Take it for a Test Drive!<br>
Don’t have a Corsair device, but want to try out CUE2 for yourself? Awesome! CUE2 has a demo mode so that you can take it for a test drive with a selection of devices available for you to virtually customize. If you’ve already got one of our CUE enabled peripherals, you can disable demo mode in the settings menu by checking the option to “show only connected devices.” Try out the future of CUE by joining the open beta and letting us know what you think in the Corsair Forums. Note: Lighting profiles and actions from previous versions of CUE are currently incompatible with CUE2 and will require modification in "advanced" mode to work within CUE2. It is recommended that users remain on the latest version of CUE 1.X if they wish to keep their current lighting profiles and actions.
In the last blog we went through what case I would use for this guide as well as what we will do to it. Painting the grills in the front and top. Using sleeved cables, thoughts about cable-management and lighting. How to use simple custom parts. Engraving. So lets start out with painting the grills in the front and top-panels. We have to start by removing the front-panel which is held to the front by two plastic-clips on both sides. On the backside of the front-panel we see the grill as well as the dustfilter, remove the screws that holds the grill and snap it out of the plastic-clips. To remove the dustfilter, bend these small clips and just take it out. There is the exact same procedure for the toppanel, remove the panel, remove the screws that holds the grill, snap it off and remove the dustfilter. Now it is time to start prepping the grills for the paint. These grills are made of steel so it does not need as much prepping as for example aluminium does. I used something called Scotchbrite pads from 3M, the red one, to scruff up the surface so the paint will stick better. The paint I am using is a grey primer as well as a silver color, these exact spraypaints are available in Sweden where I live but you can use the regular spraypaints that you can find in hardware stores and such. When using regular spraycans I highly recommend to use a mask for it as it protects from the dangerous gases. Start with the primer, spray thin layers from a 20cm / 8” distance and let it dry, do this for 6-7 layers and then let it dry for 24 hours before you start with the color. Follow the same procedure for the final paint, if you want a result that will hold up even better, you could paint some clearcoat over it. This is how the grills and fan-rings look when they are finished. Next thing to do is just to put back the grills in the front and top-panels. This is what it looks like now, instead of being all black, there is now some contrasts which makes the case stand out more. Installing custom case-feet. The theme of this build is black/silver/grey, the grills are now silver-colored, so whats next? I have always enjoyed changing and adding small details to my mods, one of those are case-feets. There is a lot of different custom case-feets that can be bought in different shops online, they don’t have to be super expensive either, the ones I am using are custom-milled by a friend. Let us start by turning the case upside down and measure out where you would like the case-feets to be placed out. Next step is to drill the holes through the case so we could bolt the feets to the case. Then it is not much more to do then to put the bolt through and fasten the nut on the other side to hold it together. To stop some vibration from the case going down to your PC-table or floor, you could install some rubber pieces to the feets. So this is what it looks like after the case-feets are installed, it raises the case up a bit so more air can get through the bottom as well as adding more details that fit with the theme of the build. Installing a custom window-frame. The windowed side-panel of this case looks very clean, but what I have done in earlier mods and what I will do here as well will bring more eyes to the sidepanel. I will show how to install a window-frame that will fit good with the overall theme. I measured out the size of the window, added a few millimeters and had a friend of mine mill this out with his CNC-mill. This might sound expensive, but as CNC-mills/Laser machines and 3D-printers are getting more and more popular and also cheaper, there is a lot of people and companies that can do small parts like this pretty cheap. This part is also very simple to measure out and design. To fasten the window-frame to the sidepanel I am using a heavy-duty double-sided tape from 3M, this tape is extremely strong and works perfect for installing smaller parts, ssd and items like that. I cut out small pieces and put them all around the frame. Remove the protection tape and line up the window-frame to the window and press down all around the frame. This is how the result came out, it fits good together with the case-feet. How to engrave? I did not think engraving fit into this build, but I have made a complete guide on how to engrave your side or frontpanel before which can be found here. http://www.corsair.com/en-us/blog/2015/april/how-to-do-engraving This is how the before and after looks, it is not the most extreme mods, but it is some basic mods that still make a difference and is easy to do. It can make your own PC more personal and is a good stepping ground for starting doing more extreme modding. In the next blog I will show the assembling of the PC and how the final result will look.
Case mods are something we love to see here at Corsair. One case modder we have seen progress a lot the last few years is Justin “MetallicAcid” Ohlsen. We recently got the privilege to talk to him about one of the mods he finished last year: Redefined. Tell me a little bit about yourself? Sure! My name is Justin, known as MetallicAcid on forums and social media. I am father to two great kids and a husband to the most supportive (and patient) woman in the world. I am from Australia, but I live in Sweden with my wife's side of the family. When did you start modding and what got you into it? I started PC modding around 3 years ago when I started checking out all of the awesome rigs people created. I was a lurker at overclock.net cable management forum, and some people posted their sleeved cables and cable management in their beautiful custom rigs. I started to look a little closer at some of the details and noticed that modifications had been done. I started subscribing to mod build logs, and was soon thereafter to make my own custom masterpiece! What tools do you use when modding? My go to tools are the rotary tool, jigsaw and metal files. I recently invested in a circular saw with guide rail in an attempt to save time on getting straight cuts when compared to the jigsaw. So far so good! Most instrumental is the ruler, and a pen + paper for creating “To-Do” lists and sketching design ideas. Where did you find your inspiration for Redefined and where did you get the idea to use leather? A friend of mine was showing me his dream car, which was a McLaren Spider. We was browsing the image search when I spotted a white McLaren with tan leather trim inside, and I had the idea of dressing the inside of the chassis with custom faux leather panels. I personally had not seen it in any projects I had come across, and thought that I would like to give the idea a try. What has been the biggest challenge with this project? The biggest challenge was correcting a mistake that I had made... I had went ahead and ordered a discrete GPU for this project, but only upon installing the GPU inside the chassis on the motherboard, I noticed that I would no longer put on the side panel as the heat pipes from the GPU stuck up too much. I thought of taking the easy way out and just cut a hole into the acrylic side panel, but I thought I would go with the flow and take this as an opportunity to get innovative, and create a series of panels so that I could mount the GPU vertically, and have it shown off in all of it's glory. What is your favorite Corsair product? My current favorite Corsair product is the Carbide 600C chassis. This chassis reminds me of my very first chassis that I had ever purchased (The SilverStone Temjin TJ08-E) as it has almost the exact same layout but in ATX format. The front and top panels are really nice with the sleek design and monolithic vibe they give off. This is the chassis that I have chosen for my current work in progress modding project. Besides modding PC’s, what do you do on your free time? Modding, designing and planning and posting my projects takes up almost all of my free time. This is because I love to do what I do so much. Sometimes though, and can just think “meh” and literally do nothing, disconnect and indulge in a good book. Game of Thrones is currently my favorite series. We want to give Justin a big thank you for taking the time to talk to us and for sharing these amazing photos!
I have always been very passionate about PC-modding as you might understand from the different blogs I post here. When we post a really cool custom build on our Facebook, I have seen many comments that people would like to do something similar but does not have the tools or experience for it, that they don’t know where to start. But it is actually not always that hard nor do you need very expensive hardware either. Many times very small details can make a big difference. In this blog-series I will go through different simple steps and techniques that will help you make your PC more personal and help you start modding, it will be very basic guide but it will be a good base for beginners, in this first article I will show you what case that will be the victim for this mod, what hardware that will be used and the different steps to mod it. Case: Corsair Carbide Air 240<br>Motherboard: Asus Maximus VIII Gene Z170 mATX<br>Processor: Intel Core i7 6700K<br>Graphics card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB SC+ ACX 2.0<br>Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 4x8GB DDR4 3000MHz<br>Storage: Corsair Force LE 480GB<br>PSU: Corsair RM650i<br>Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX<br>Fans: Corsair AF & SP<br>Misc: Corsair Commander Mini I chose the Carbide Air 240 as I like a bit smaller cases and it has a lot of potential for modding. My first advice for modding is to decide on a color theme for your build because then you can get the hardware that fits best together. For this build I decided to go with a black/silver/grey theme. I installed the hardware into the case quickly too see how everything fits and while this looks okay there is much we can do to make it look better. In the upcoming blogs in this series I will go show how to make it look better with four simple steps. Painting the grills in the front and top. Using sleeved cables, good cable management and lighting. How to use simple custom parts. Engraving.<br> See you next time!
People always ask me, “Which mouse is the best?” (I am pretty certain that you are reading this blog to find an answer to that question as well) Let’s put it this way, having one mouse for every game is like trying use the same tool for every job. Sure it may work, but it isn’t designed that way. If you want to be better than your average player, get the right tool! Let’s start with our newest mouse: SCIMITAR SCIMITAR is a palm grip mouse for medium to larger hands. It has an adjustable key slider for the 12 fully programmable macro buttons for MMO players and the highest resolution (12,000 DPI) in our lineup. In MMO, it is all about being able to access your key binds easily in the shortest amount of time. With the patent pending exclusive key slider, you can pretty much guarantee that it will accustom to the comfort of your thumb. Imagine being able to activate your in-game skills with only a slight movement of your thumb. (#winning) In short, this mouse is perfect for MMO players, people who like palm grip mice, and tons of adjustable lighting features. Now available in Black and Yellow. KATAR – Most gaming mice on the market are created for right handed users. Believe it or not, we got many requests for an ambidextrous mouse, so we sat down with our design team to come up with KATAR! Gamers who have smaller hands or someone who likes to pinch grip their mouse will appreciate this lightweight, elegant design. The mouse was designed with help from professional gamers and it comes with their preconfigured performance settings in CUE. KATAR is a great option if you want a lightweight, smaller mouse designed by, and for, serious gamers. M65 Pro RGB – FPS Gaming? No problem! The M65 Pro RGB is a claw-grip mouse designed specifically for FPS players. The low-mass aluminum body with adjustable weights makes for a sturdy weapon of choice on the battlefield. As for features the M65 Pro RGB has a built-in sniper button that lets you temporarily drop resolution on-the-fly for extra accuracy when zoomed in to snipe, and if you like to tune the weight of your mouse, the M65 Pro RGB has a removable weight system. With 3 removable weights, it lets you get the exact right balance, so you can fine tune it to fit your style. Overall, the M65 Pro RGB is a great claw-grip FPS mouse that has a built-in sniper button and a tunable weight system to ensure that you get exact balance you want. SABRE RGB – Ergonomically designed for maximum comfort, the SABRE RGB is a great, lightweight, palm grip gaming mouse. With a total weight of 100g (15g lighter than M65 Pro RGB with all of its weight removed!) the Sabre is perfect for quick flick shots and entry fraggers. The Sabre RGB is super lightweight and comfortable, so if you like playing at lower DPIs and want to take advantage of a large mouse mat, you’ll be able to react quicker and you’ll have less fatigue over long playing sessions. The Sabre RGB is a great all-around, lightweight gamin mouse for almost all purposes. It’s quick and lightweight, but not short on features. Conclusion: To simply put, there is no single best mouse for everyone or for every game. They are all designed differently to suite different playstyle and games, although they do have one thing in common. All of the mice listed above is compatible with CUE, meaning it can be tuned to have DPI and buttons adjusted using our software. Scimitar KATAR M65 Pro RGB SABRE RGB DPI 12,000 8,000 12,000 10,000 Programmable buttons 17 4 8 8 weight 147g 85g 115g- 135.5g 100g Refresh rate 1mz (selectable) 1mz (selectable) 1mz (selectable) 1mz (selectable) CUE capable yes yes yes yes Designed for… MMO, MOBA players Gamers who prefer smaller, lightweight mice FPS gamers, snipers Gamers who want a lightweight, comfortable mouse for lots of different games <br><br>
Overclocking can be quite intimidating, but not anymore! By now, most of you have heard of or attempted to overclock your memory before. I want to start off by saying that this is not a blog that will make you a champion overclocker, but rather show you how easy it can be with Corsair’s X.M.P. Certified memory kits. To start from the very beginning, X.M.P. (extreme memory profile) allows you to overclock the memory to perform beyond JEDEC standards of 2133mhz for DDR4 memory. It is basically a predefined profile that is loaded into your BIOS. Some motherboards will have one or more profiles, while another may not have that capability of X.M.P., so you will need to refer to your motherboard’s manual. Now let’s imagine this…You just bought an unlocked processor and a decent motherboard with overclocking capability. You know that you want a high speed memory, but you don’t know where to even begin with so many memory kit manufacturers out there. Well you certainly heard of us before, that’s why you are here. To assure you that you came to the right place, Corsair has one of the most, if not the most, X.M.P. Certified list of memory kits for your overclocking needs. To be fair, it is not easy to be on this list. It has to pass an extensive and vigorous test scenario that can take weeks to be on the qualified list. To list a few: CMK16GX4M2B3200C16 CMK32GX4M2A2800C16 CMD64GX4M4B3000C15 Hopefully you have decided on which memory kit proceed with and you are now ready for some overclocking! If you are still deciding, I would suggest you getting memory speed of 3000mhz. Since 2133mhz is the JEDEC standard, you want something that is at least a few steps above it. Hardware used: ASUS Z170-Deluxe CMK16GX4M2B3200C16 Intel I7 -6700k RM750x Let’s get right down to it, shall we? Assuming you have your memory installed and ready to roll, Load into BIOS ( make sure you have the latest BIOS) Enable XMP and select the memory speed you would like to run(depending on the speed you are trying to achieve) Make sure you save the settings by hitting F10 or it will not be saved. Once your windows loads, you will want to confirm that the overclock setting you have chosen still applies. We suggest using CPUID to verify your overclock settings Now that you have confirmed your settings, you will want to make sure that your system is stable with these settings. We ran AIDA64’s stability test for 20 hours without any hiccups, so it’s safe to say that the overclock is stable.<br> As I have stated before, overclocking is not as difficult as it used to be. With our X.M.P. Certified memory kits, it is just as easy as flipping a switch. Regardless if you are upgrading the memory kit from your current rig or thinking about doing a new build, Corsair has the speed you need!<br>
For some of us, PC is the only platform to game on but there are some who choose to game on PC and on console. This article is to show which VOID Gaming Headsets work on which console and how to configure them on your PS4 or Xbox One. The PS4 supports most, if not every, USB headsets and Stereo headsets, allowing gamers to use them as a standard stereo headset and microphone. In our testing, we were able to get all four of our different versions of the VOID (Wireless, USB, Surround, and Stereo) working on the PS4. And there’s quite a bit to be customized with our headset such as adjusting mic volume levels, headphone volume levels, and what audio should go through the headset. To access these options, you’ll need to go into the settings.<br> Once in “Settings” find “Devices”. In “Devices”, you will be able to see all additional devices supported, such as Bluetooth devices, audio devise, external mice and keyboards, etc. To configure VOID you will need to go into “Audio Devices”. Once in “Audio Devices” you can change your Input (headphones) and Output (mic) devices, as well as different volume levels. Under the “Adjust Microphone Level” setting, you will be able to see your Input Volume as your speak and if it falls below the “Good” threshold you can adjust the sensitivity by moving the slider until your input volume in the “Good”. It should look something like this: You can also change “Output to Headphone” settings so that it can have all audio go through the headset or just chat audio. These steps should work for the VOID Wireless, VOID USB, VOID Surround, and VOID Stereo. For those with an Xbox One, the console only supports stereo headsets or headsets that have 3.5mm audio jacks. This means only VOID Stereo and VOID Surround will work on the Xbox One. In terms of functionality, the VOID Stereo and VOID Surround will allow gamers to hear stereo audio and use the mic to communicate with other players. Here is a chart to break down what the VOID can do on each platform: Platform PC PS4 Xbox One<br> Stereo Audio<br> All<br> All VOID Surround, <br>
VOID Stereo Microphone<br> All All VOID Surround, <br>
VOID Stereo<br> Surround Sound<br> VOID Wireless, VOID USB, <br>
VOID Surround<br> - -
I have always been very passionate about small form factor builds so it felt natural for me to build a case as small as possible while trying to maintain a clean design. The challenge will be to fit powerful hardware in this case due to two reasons, the size and the heat. I had to choose very specific hardware that would fit. Motherboard: Asrock FM2A88X-ITX+<br>CPU: AMD A10-7870K<br>Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 2x4GB DDR3 2400MHz<br>SSD: Corsair Force LX<br>PSU: Streacom Pico-PSU<br>Cooler: Corsair Hydro H75 So this build will be based on AMD’s A10-7870K because there will not fit a separate graphics card in the case so I want to have a CPU with very powerful integrated graphics. To power that I will be using a Pico-PSU which is a very small powersupply which uses a external powerbrick. To cool the CPU our H75 will be installed which will make this one of the smalles liquidcooled PC’s. So after choosing hardware it is time to start working on the case itself. As I built this case years ago the basic shape and structure is already done, but I will be modifying it to be able to have better airflow etc. This case is built up by two bent 8mm acrylic sheets, they are held together by two hinges, making it possible to open the case very simple. Before there were only one hole for a 100mm fan in the bottom, which had to change so what I did was to measure out a hole for two 120mm fans. Then I cut it out with a jigsaw and filed down the edges to a nice fit. As you see here, the left fan will be blowing out hot air underneath the motherboard while the right fan will blow in cooler air into the case, through the radiator of the Corsair H75. Next thing to do was to make a new front-plate, this time in aluminium instead of stainless steel as before. I started out by measuring out the shape of the front-panel on a sheet of 1.5mm thick aluminium. Then I started cutting out the rough shape with a jigsaw, I always cut a few millimeters outside of the line and then file it down to get the perfect shape. I will be using a 4x20 character LCD in the front which will be showing temperatures and media info as this will PC will be hooked up to my TV. A 16mm anti-vandal switch with white LEDs will also be installed in the front-panel, I had to make holes for these two components so I started measuring out the holes. For the power-switch I used a drill, made a 5mm hole first and then went on to using a 16mm drill. Aluminium is softer compared to steel, so to drill out a big hole like 16mm you have to be very careful so that the plate does not warp, some cutting oil and low speed on the drill worked for me. I used the same procedure for hole for the LCD, cutting it out with a jigsaw and then file the edges down to the perfect shape, takes time but you get a very nice result. This is everything for this blog, next time I will start working on the backplate as well as sleeving the cables for the PSU, LCD and switches. See you next time!
We recently released our new cooler for small systems, H5SF as well as our first line of SFX powersupplies, SF450 and SF600. How small gaming PC can you build with these two products? When I received my early samples of the H5SF and SF600 I started thinking about making a complete customcase based on these two products. My focus was to make the case as small as possible while still having really powerful hardware. The hardware I chose is what you see in the picture below. Motherboard: Asus Z170I Pro Gaming<br>
Processor: Intel Core i5 6600K<br>
Graphics card: Sapphire Radeon R9 Nano<br>
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8GB DDR4<br>
SSD: Corsair Force LX 240GB<br>
Powersupply: Corsair SF600<br>
Cooling: Corsair H5SF<br>
Fans: Corsair AF140 Green LED I started sketching with paper and pen on a design. We already make a case with the H5SF and SF600, Bulldog, so I did not want to make a horizontal design like that, I went for more of a cube-design. I had a lot of help from my modder-friend, Alexander “ace_finland” Hede with 3D-sketching and milling. The design ended up being seven aluminium-plates wich then would be held together with small aluminium cubes. Alexander used his CNC-mill to mill out all the plates in 2mm aluminium. Everything was milled out except the hole for the graphics card due to that was to hard to measure out before, so I used my Dremel, jigsaw and filed it down. After that I mounted everything together to see how everything fits in the case. This build was made for our suite at CES 2016. I did not get much time to finish this build, around 1.5 month, so the design is not perfect. <br><br>
However, in the front the 140mm fan is installed which blow air into the case and then the H5SF blows it out through the back. The R9 Nano takes air from the outside as well and blows it out the back. The SF600 is installed underneath the motherboard and takes air from the bottom and also blows it out the back. Here I compared the case to a 330ml Coke can. Next thing to do was painting the plates. Painting aluminium with spraycans is not optimal, but after looking around the local shops I found a etching primer. I used some wire to hang all the plates up for painting. One advice if anyone of you are going to paint with spraycans is this, take a bucket and heat up water and put all the cans in it, that makes the paint warm which will make the finish much better. I also think everyone should use a mask when painting with spraycans, its good for you and you look like Bane! I started with the etching primer, then went on to several layers of white and finally matt clear coat. Next thing to do is to start putting everything together, here you see the aluminium cubes that I used to mount the plates together. Time for the final result. In the front there is a AF140mm fan together with a power and reset button, all with green LEDs. On the left-side there is a airvent for the Radeon R9 Nano as well as a Corsair engraving. The SF600 is installed in the bottom, beneath the mini-itx motherboard, the airvent over the motherboard is for the H5SF. On the topplate I installed a small window to show off the H5SF. The edge of the acrylic plate used for the window was milled down so it could be installed flush with the aluminium plate. Please post your thoughts about this build in the comments!
Introduction Over the past couple of years, the solid state drive market has been turbulent, with consolidation and acquisitions. In the intervening period, we’ve taken our SSD product lineup and streamlined it into a series of drives that leverage different types of flash to produce different levels of performance for each stage of the market. These drives are all based on Phison’s controllers, with the Force LE and Neutron XT both entirely based on the Phison S10. The 960GB Force LS we’re talking about here today also uses the Phison S10, while lower capacities may employ an S9. The Phison S10 is a remarkably powerful controller for consumer-based applications, a quad-core chip that offers class-leading sequential performance and solid consistency and reliability. It’s also incredibly flexible in terms of the flash it supports, and that’s allowed us to spider it out across our product lines. Its only major weakness – as you’ll see below – is in mixed I/O, but you’ll see that only really materializes in specific tests. The Competition We tested the 960GB versions of the Force LE, Force LS, and Neutron XT against three major competing drives that all hover around the same price point as the 960GB Force LE. [attachment=41455:name] [attachment=41456:name] [attachment=41457:name] 960GB 960GB 960GB TLC NAND MLC NAND MLC NAND [attachment=41458:name] [attachment=41459:name] [attachment=41460:name] 1TB 960GB 960GB TLC NAND TLC NAND NAND Unknown Our test platform consisted of: Intel Core i7-6700K @ 4.6GHz 32GB (4x8GB) Dominator Platinum DDR4-2666 ASUS Z170-DELUXE Motherboard NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 240GB Force GT System Drive Windows 10 64-bit We’ve employed a healthy range of SSD tests, including PCMark 8’s incredibly extensive Enhanced Storage suite. The Enhanced Storage suite can take upwards of 24 hours to complete on particularly slow drives (like Competitor 2). ATTO Peak Performance The time-honored ATTO benchmark is used to measure peak throughput on drives. You’ll notice most of these drives basically saturate the SATA 6Gbps bus. The Neutron XT takes a minor hit to peak write bandwidth owing to performance differences between the flash it employs and the flash used in the Force LS and Force LE, but you’ll find this is one of the rare occasions where the Neutron XT doesn’t finish first among our drives. CrystalDiskMark Performance Sequential performance is the S10 controller’s bread and butter, and it shows. Read and write speeds are both best in class – across all three of our lines. Two of the other drives in the Force LE’s class can’t keep up. When we switch to 4K random accesses, the Neutron XT’s more powerful flash shows its power. All three Corsair SSDs are mostly competitive, though this is one of the few points where the S10 controller has a little trouble keeping up. IOMeter Performance This is one of the few points where Phison’s S10 controller does stumble, but you’ll notice the Force LE – with its newer firmware – doesn’t take the hit in mixed mode operations that its siblings do. The S10 controller is very powerful, but you’ll want to keep the firmware updated to get the best performance. These numbers are already substantially better than the Neutron XT was when it first launched, and will only improve going forward. Note also that IOMeter is traditionally an enterprise-heavy benchmark; the S10 was geared as a consumer drive benchmark, and you’ll see when we get to the more practical traces PCMark 8 runs that it’s very capable in that space. PCMark 8 Enhanced Storage Suite PCMark 8’s Enhanced Storage suite conditions the drive before measuring its performance, and then runs storage traces based on common applications (like Battlefield 4 or Microsoft Excel) to determine overall performance of the drive. What we found with the three Consistency tests has been that all three drives in our lineup are very competitive. The Neutron XT’s faster flash gives it an advantage in our steady state test, but the Force LS’s slightly less powerful MLC still keeps it competitive. It’s only the TLC in the Force LE that really hurts performance, but even then it still bests two of its three competitors by a comfortable margin. The Corsair SSDs put in a very strong showing when they’re degraded and then put through the wringer. Force LE isn’t far behind its more expensive siblings. Even in a degraded state, our drives offer consistent performance. The Recovery trace test gives the drive controllers a chance to recover performance in between benchmark runs; since the Corsair SSDs don’t really take a hit in the degraded test, they don’t require a whole lot of time to get back to a prime performance state. When we move over to the Adaptive test, the Corsair drives remain fairly consistent across their benchmark runs except for the Force LE, which loses a little steam because of its TLC NAND. Ultimately, the Force LE, Force LS, and Neutron XT all provide very competitive performance in the Adaptive test and especially in the Consistency test. Conclusion Modern SATA SSDs have a habit of running directly into the limits of the interface and the AHCI protocol. This has both good and bad effects; on the one hand, that means that you’re interface-limited for performance. The flip side of that is the performance ceiling is still quite high, user experiences are quite good, and a certain compression occurs where most of the drives are hanging out in the same performance ballpark. At that point it’s really just a matter of what performance profile you’re optimizing the drive for to get the most you can out of it. The Force LE series of SSDs use TLC flash, but don’t let that stop you: the Phison S10 controller makes up a lot of the performance deficit, and even modern TLC can still be quite fast. If you’re looking for a fast SSD on the cheap, the Force LE is really the way to go, although I do recommend spending up for the 480GB or 960GB versions, as the 240GB version does lag somewhat behind the other two. If you want a little more performance, the Force LS line gives you the benefits of MLC flash for a little more money. I primarily recommend the 960GB Force LS here; Force LS is available in capacities all the way down to 60GB, but I’d strongly advise against buying any drive smaller than 240GB at this point, as the price per GB goes up at the low end. Finally, our fastest drive for users that must have the best continues to be the Neutron XT. Note that in the 240GB and 480GB capacities, there’s a Neutron XT and a Neutron XT (2015 Edition), and you can tell the difference between them by the part number (the 2015 Edition ends in a “B” suffix). Performance wise these drives are nigh identical, but the XT-B uses slightly different flash that allowed us to reduce the cost of the drive. Unlike the difference between the Neutron XT and Force LS, though, the two versions of Neutron XT are almost indistinguishable in performance profile. The sweet spot for our Neutron XT drives is really the 480GB version, although the 960GB one still offers stellar performance. But the 480GB seems to be the most efficient of the lot, though even a 240GB drive is mighty fast. On the warranty and support side, all three of these drives see regular firmware updates through our SSD Toolbox application, and the Force LE and LS drives feature three year warranties while the Neutron XT bumps the warranty up to five years. If you’re looking for fast storage, Corsair has you covered.
