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CES 2009 Part 2 January 13, 2009 Tom Colarusso |
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Summary: In our conclusion to CES, Tom takes a look at products from ASUS, BFG, Corsair, EVGA, Gigabyte, iBuyPower, Lian Li, NVIDIA, OCZ, and Velocity Micro. See what these companies have in store for 2009 in this article!
 CES 2009: Part 2 | Page:: ( 1 / 6 ) |
Previously, on FiringSquad….
Yesterday, we reported on what we saw from Razer, HP, Psyko, Sapphire, and Silverstone. Today, we are going to finish up our CES coverage with Gigabyte, nVidia, iBuypower, Lian Li, Velocity Micro, OCZ, BFG, Asus, Corsair, and EVGA. So let’s cut to the chase and get right into it, shall we?
Gigabyte
Gigabyte invited us to their suite where they were showcasing their latest in their Ultra Durable line of motherboards. The one that caught our eye the most was the GA-EX58-Extreme. Featuring an X58 chipset and 3-way SLI, The GA-EX58-Extreme sports one of the most interesting features we‘ve seen on a motherboard: an integrated water block on the chipset.
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nVidia
Nvidia was touting their newly announced 3D Vision glasses pretty heavily with the tagline “Speak Visual.” We are going to try to get a review of the 3D Vision glasses done for you guys, but for now, take ease in knowing that they are pretty cool when tried firsthand. They have to be used to really be appreciated, especially in games like Mirror’s Edge, Left 4 Dead, and Burnout: Paradise. They seemed to enhance the textures of the rendering, as small locks of Zoey’s hair swayed around with movement with them on. The level of depth can be adjusted on the fly, should you find it too obtrusive to your tastes.
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iBuypower
iBuypower was showcasing three new systems that are just being released now, 2 based on the Core i7 and one based on the AMD Phenom II. The first Core i7 system featured the latest case from Silverstone, the Raven, as well as dual EVGA GTX295 graphics cards in SLI and a 256GB SSD from Samsung. Their other Core i7 system was using the new Xpressar refrigerant system from Thermaltake, the first such system to do since its release. The Phenom II system was sporting the latest from AMD including a Radeon 4870X2 and liquid cooled CPU thanks the Domino A.L.C. self-contained cooler. iBuypower also showed off their custom side panels which use a laminate to create a seamless image. The quality was impressive and a nice touch should anyone want to give their rig the ultimate customization.
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| Lian Li, Velocity Micro | Page:: ( 2 / 6 ) |
Lian Li
Lian Li was showing off their new blue behemoth case which appears to be modeled after a sailboat. The PC-888 has multiple fans for cooling and a card reader to increase functionality. Lian Li also showed off their new tool-less designed case the PC-P50. Sticking with machined aluminum, the tool-less design was pretty cool and innovative, although we still imagine using plastics would be easier for construction and use while also cutting costs. The PC-P50 sports a dragon theme to go with AMD’s newest mascot in the Fusion name brand.
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Velocity Micro
Velocity Micro was showing their line of netbooks designed to compete directly with Asus, MSI, and HP. While not scheduled for release for at least a few more months, the netbook prototypes we saw were fairly complete and looked sturdy. Velocity Micro is working on a way to offer custom colors for their netbooks as a way of standing out from the already fairly crowded market.
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They were really interested in showing off their newest HTPC, the FuzeBox. Capable of storing DVDs, the FuzeBox works on a Media Center-like interface that helps easily organize all your movies and music into a central location. The FuzeBox also supports Cable Card and HDTV recording/time shifting. It features a sleek aluminum exterior that should easily match up the rest of your home audio components when compared side by side. Netflix streaming movies is also supported through their intuitive interface.
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| OCZ | Page:: ( 3 / 6 ) |
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OCZ was also showing off their new Blade and FlexEX memory kits. The FlexEX is a dual channel kit that sports built-in water cooling spreaders and speeds up to PC-16000. The Blade triple channel kit comes in a 6GB (3x2048) set, sports an aluminum heat spreader and has a reported latency timing of 7-8-7-20 at 2000Mhz speeds.
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OCZ also had their HydroFlow CPU water block on display, which supports the latest Core i7 CPU’s. Featuring a copper base, the HydroFlow can support both ¾’ and ½’ barbs. Just about all current sockets will be supported, from S939 to LGA1366 when it gets released in the first quarter.
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A reorganization of OCZ’s SSD product will come in 2009, as the Vertex and Apex series take over the performance and main stream segments of the market, while the Solid series will take on the value market. All of the series support SATAII standards, with the high-end Vertex and Apex supporting greater read/write and sustained speeds. They also plan on a releasing an SSD docking station that should make carrying all your movies and music with you in your pocket much easier.
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Finally, OCZ showed off a prototype case they are still developing that will be introduced hopefully later this year. The as of now unnamed case will reportedly feature both a tool-less design and side window. The early prototype we saw had a nice matte exterior and OCZ told us it will most likely be constructed of plastic and steel.
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| BFG, Asus | Page:: ( 4 / 6 ) |
BFG
The new Phobos system from BFG appears to be a massive undertaking from the veteran hardware manufacturer. Coming in at 3 price points, $3,000, $5,000, and $8,000, the Phobos is being sold around the ‘concierge’ service that comes with it. Instead of buying the system and setting it up yourself, BFG will have a qualified technician come out and install the system for you. Service and support will be done on-site on a 6-month basis, which is when you will be eligible for upgrades direct from BFG, as they told us that servicing the machine yourself can be difficult due to the construction of the case.
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The case is custom built by BFG and sports a sleek looking touch screen that controls everything from power to performance level. The interface was intuitive and looked great. Overall system design was solid and the promise of on-site service could appeal to the less tech-savvy of gamers, although at $3,000, the price point seems on the high side. The Phobos is an Intel–based platform that will feature the new Core i7 and nVidia graphics GPU’s from BFG.
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Asus
Asus had quite a bit on display, although most of their new stuff was in regard to the netbook boom we have seen over the past year. They demoed some touch screen Atom systems that could easily be integrated into a school for teaching purposes, as well as their Lamborghini line of notebooks sporting real leather. The Republic of Gamers section featured some interesting custom systems, but unfortunately, Asus has no plans to release these in the US at this time.
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| Corsair, EVGA | Page:: ( 5 / 6 ) |
Corsair
In a small room in the Venetian, we meet up with Corsair to discuss their latest upcoming products, including a peltier water block for their Dominator line. The heat spreaders can be installed easily onto existing sticks of Dominators, making upgrading quite easy. Corsair has developed a circuit board that helps attack the peltier’s greatest weakness, condensation. The board detects the condensation level and adjusts its cooling performance accordingly.
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EVGA
EVGA’s recently released X58 SLI motherboard has turned out to be an extremely competitive product that builds on their successes in the graphics market. Now they are gearing up for the release of their high-end board, the X58 SLI Classified. Sporting an improved look and custom cooling setup, the Classified is based off the same specifications as the X58 SLI, albeit with tweaks towards appearance and overclocking. EVGA had to develop a custom SLI connector featuring PCB due to the spread pattern on the PCIe slots and the ‘E’ logo on the chipset cooler glows a mean red when power is applied. A release date wasn’t announced, but you can be sure to expect it sometime this year.
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| Conclusion | Page:: ( 6 / 6 ) |
You Don’t have to Go home…
We saw quite a bit this year, but, other than nVidia’s glasses, it was pretty devoid of major announcements on the PC gaming front. Whether it’s due to manufacturers holding off for the economy to recover or maybe things are worse off than we think is hard to tell. I will say that what is on the slate for release is pretty cool, especially in the SSD market which is absolutely booming right now. With both Intel and OCZ releasing major products, I predict 2009 will see SSD integration jump to double digit numbers, especially among the enthusiast crowd. Laptops look like they will continue to dominate the market and whether or not that is a good thing is dependent upon your viewpoint.
What we do know is that if nVidia is successful with their 3D initiative, then it could usher a whole new era 3D gaming. Then again, it also could just usher in a whole new era of people looking silly with special glasses on. Only time will tell. So let us know what you thought about CES in the comments section!