I use a corsair aio in a custom build. It's fine. It's exactly the same as using an aio on windows without installing icue (their device management software, which is pretty shit). You can't set custom fan / pump speed curves, but the defaults are fine. I'm cooling a 3950x and I've had no issues with temperature. You also can't adjust the LEDs but whatever.
Bloatware like iCUE (iirc one of the worst offenders) can reduce game FPS by 10-20 %, which is roughly the performance difference between one or two tiers of graphics hardware.
Water cooling itself has nothing to control, but there’s just the pump to be run at full speed at all time, and fans to cool radiators like you normally do with air coolers.
Have you ever built one? I'm curious how they compare to something I might build myself.
They are my go-to for power supplies and memory, and of my three main keyboards and mice, two sets are Corsair (K95 RGB Platinum and Scimitar Pro) used on Linux systems with ckb-next; one is Razer (Blackwidow Chroma v1 and Ouroboros) with their in-house software on Windows for a gaming rig. I much prefer the Corsair stuff.
Teenager me had the knowledge and patience to build one and would have loved too, but didn't have the money at the time.
Adult me doesn't have the patience, nor the knowledge anymore, but has the money.
I'm also less interested in those huge, full of fancy glowing RGB lights, gaming rigs and more interested in something small, silent and discreet.
So, in so many words, I can't compare, but I'm fairly certain it would take me more time than is worth trying to come up and build a rig as slick as the Corsair One.
Maybe if you need the exact aesthetics of the Corsair this would be difficult.
But, if your only experience in building your own PC was from years ago, you'd be in for a pleasant surprise. Nowadays there's very little to worry about. No jumpers, easy cable management, even the front panels are no longer the mess they used to be. You can even avoid dealing with ANY cables at all for your SSD, if you go with the M2 form factor.
You can build from start to finish in less than one hour. It takes longer to install the OS (if it's Windows), than it takes to assemble the machine.
Of course, then there's part selection. Which is now exceedingly easy, thanks to the likes of https://pcpartpicker.com/
Don't know what to pick? Well, there's plenty of builds by other users. Pick one, modify to taste. The site will let you know if there are incompatibilities. In my case it even warned me that a GPU I wanted was too big and might not fit.
You can even have 'parametric filters'. For instance, say you want 16GB of system memory and you don't care about brand. You can say "I want 16GB, in either 1x16GB or 2x8GB, rated 3 stars or above, pick the cheapest". And it will pick one, usually linking straight to the product page(those may be affiliate links, not sure but I'm ok with that).
> I'm also less interested in those huge, full of fancy glowing RGB lights, gaming rigs and more interested in something small, silent and discreet.
I got a PC that's only slightly larger than a PS4. No RGB lights or anything. That's entirely up to you, even more so if you are choosing your own parts.
The biggest change for me is there’s no longer a risk of putting a screwdriver through your motherboard when attaching a CPU cooler. Why they didn’t address that a decade or more is beyond me!
You can build in this case pretty easily as long as you don't try to do fancy things, like custom loop. It's smaller than the Corsair One, and you get better upgrability. It's small and discreet. Silent depends on what parts you pick.
There are many other cases that are similar, but not quite as space-optimized. Popular ones include the Ghost S1, and the Ncase M1. All three support the same-caliber specs you would get with a Corsair One.
Let me know if you want help selecting parts/building in such a case.
It's very easy indeed, but will still take hours for component research and hours for building (for a first-timer). It makes sense if you like this kind of thing. If you're not into it, buying prebuilt is a valid option.
Eh, IDK. It'll definitely take some research, to maximize everything. But there's so much uniformity these days, that you could figure out your build in an hour or two. And, if you're not going for SFF or the like, have a build complete in less than 30-45 minutes after watching a YouTube video.
This isn't the 90's/00's where you had to match graphics interfaces, FSB timing, RAM sockets/timing, modular vs cabled PSUs, set jumpers, configure components' master/slave relationships, run molex's/splitters, maximize board fans, clump case/button/etc connectors, terminate sockets, etc, etc.
> does my motherboard m.2 slot support PCIe or SATA m.2 SSD-s?
Definitely SATA, most likely m.2 as well. They're not either/or.
More likely, you'll run into exhausting your PCIe lanes and might knock your GPU into 8x/4x mode or your additional SSD's into the dedicated SATA lanes.
> on AMD motherboards: will my CPU work out of the box or do I need a loaner CPU to perform a BIOS update?
Unless you fall into a very specific set of Motherboards from during the Zen -> Zen+ transition, the answer is no.
> using the wrong fan header on the motherboard for your AIO water cooler
Any header will still work, and it's not catastrophic anyways. Just change it if you got it wrong. Realistically, any modern motherboard will have the CPU fan header marked clearly, as opposed to the chassis headers.
> not setting the proper XMP profile for your RAM
The point of XMP is that you don't have to choose the profile. You just choose "XMP custom" (or however your motherboard manufacturer labels it) in the UEFI settings. If you don't, you'll get standard JEDEC RAM timings, which is hardly going to stop you.
I mean, your off the top of your head examples are all pretty easily solvable and probably wouldn't even be encountered unless you were specifically looking for them anyways. And if you don't configure them, most will Just Work (tm) at default configurations.
Also, you can choose much better quality components for cheaper. Even with economies of scale, it seems like OEMs can't build a high end gaming PC for cheaper than what you can do yourself.
There are a few exceptions. If you get a mid-range pre-built, especially with sale prices, you can actually save some money and round it out with your own parts to make a nicer, more complete unit. It requires some real comparison shopping for sure, and it's probably isn't worth doing unless you're staring at a hell of a deal but that does happen.
The weird thing is how pre-builts seem to tier the products at. You can get Pre-builts with good CPU/GPU combos but absurdly low RAM/Storage quantities.
They like to tier at 16GB RAM/500GB SSDs and then go up from there for hundreds of dollars without a change of the CPU/GPU and that really confuses me.
It's a shame there is little to no physical retail for this stuff anymore as it used to be easier to find a fire sale on a pre-built that needs to move because of how brick and mortar works.
That said, it truly is easy to do it yourself and that has its own satisfaction.
Self-build is only meaningfully cheaper if you don't pay for a Windows license. If you place any real value on your time, just buy a system from Puget - their support is first class and they understand the real needs of power users.
The One is actually a pretty good deal if you want something of that form factor that isn’t a laptop in a box.
It’s completely water cooled and the majority of the parts are reusable/pc compatible.
Building something of that small factor will cost you a lot in exotic and custom parts.
For what it is the markup isn’t actually terrible it’s pretty cheap considering it costs about as much or even less than some standard tower gaming PCs from big brands and it comes with better hardware.
You can build a mini-ITX for cheaper but nothing of that size that and an SFF build will cost you more.
SFF build will not cost you more, unless you custom watercool it. Custom watercooling is only necessary if you're going for a super optimized build.
SFF cases are around $250-300, which is $150-200 more than a similar-quality ATX case. SFF CPU coolers are around the same price. SFF PSUs and motherboards have a small markup over ATX.
For example, here's a build for $3600. The GPU is not watercooled, though, since you can't fit a second radiator into the NZXT H1. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Cr8cJb. This build has specs equivalent to the Corsair One a100, which retails for $4000. The H1 build also has a better upgrability path. Also, the 2080 Ti's price is massively inflated right now because of Ampere's imminent launch -- this build should really be only $3000.
You could also look into the Ncase M1 if you want to watercool the GPU, but I won't create a build for that because you would have to research hardware compatibility.
So it's completely feasible to build an SFF computer for less than what Corsair charges.
I didn’t know that the prebuilt market had gotten so competitive. Only a $400 premium to build, water cool, and warranty the damn thing? It’s a bargain.
Depends on the country also, the 2080ti / 9900K / 32GB RAM, 960GB ultra fast NVME and a 2TB SSD version costs £3,400 in the UK the BOM for those parts is at best equal and depending on the availability actually cheaper than buying them separately.
The Corsair One is the first pre-built I was actually considering buying because of its form factor, use of more or less standard PC parts and the warranty and serviceability of it.
Are we looking at the same Corsair One that runs $2,200 in its cheapest variant? Because I built a SFF form factor PC with equivalent specs and zero exotic parts that fits in a case the size of a console (Dr Zaber case), all for under $1500. It's a bit trickier if you want to water cool it, but I'm not sure why you need to if you use an AMD CPU (much better performance/watt) and don't overclock your GPU.
Put in a 2080ti or a 1080ti for the previous gen One an a 9900K in a Dr Zaber case and water cool them I would really like to see that.
You’ll need a DC-DC set up and a custom one to boot, and an external water loop.
Not to mention that even building an air cooled SFF build is hard, SFF components are rare in many countries and often require you to import it yourself which adds a big premium in the form of import fees, you also need an SFX PSU for that case and one of the smaller ones to boot as well as likely do your own custom sized cables to actually fit things in.
I'm not a gamer and honestly couldn't even tell you the last time I played a game, but I do build my own PCs and build them basically as maxed out overclocked gamer rigs because I just like having the raw power.
For what it's worth I've always preferred using stuff from Corsair. Their quality is top notch. Right now my PC's case, RAM, most fans, power supply, and water cooling are from them. I give my computers, servers, etc., pseudo code names for the LAN and my current PC is actually 'CORSAIR'.
Guess what building a pc is not worth it. It's not worth it in frustration or anything else. It's better to buy a commercial business grade desktop with a support contract. They always have some kind of weird power issue or something. However, I might just be butthurt about my desktop that randomly reboots and was built by a friend, and I can't figure out what is wrong with it.
I am not sure that going to a site calling itself "Hacker" News and writing such a comment is not blatant trolling. Or maybe this is a sad side effect of developers using Macs.
I am useless at building things and I built a PC that has never given me problems. I even bought the wrong case!
The fix for some kind of weird power issue is to roughly calculate what kind of power you need and buy a decent power supply -- it will probably be better than the commercial grade desktop and give some headroom for future upgrades.
There are more kinds of weird issues than a poorly spec’d CPU. Scratched traces, shorts caused by something touching something it’s not supposed to, etc.
> Guess what building a pc is not worth it. It's not worth it in frustration or anything else.
That depends on how much you value the learning-opportunity provided by building your own machine. I certainly do!
> It's better to buy a commercial business grade desktop with a support contract.
If you're a self-employed SWE who needs a reliable dependable backup machine that you can use the support-contract to get fixed within 24 hours, then yes, I strongly agree.
...but I still think building ones' own primary machine is worth it.
> They always have some kind of weird power issue or something
I've built 8 machines for myself (and a couple more for friends and family) since I started in 2004 and I've never had an issue with power-supplies because I thoroughly research my options. PSUs are a safety-critical component of your PC: if it misbehaves it could kill you (e.g. if the computer-case goes live or the grounding pin fails - fun!) - or at least destroy everything of value inside it - I guess because I refuse to cheap-out on PSUs I've never had a problem.
Actually - there was one incident: back in 2005 I was building my second machine (a box to run Windows Server 2003 on so I could do ASP.NET web-development without needing to install IIS and SQL Server on my XP machine) and the PSU I ordered online was delayed, so I went to my parents' town's small-biz local PC shop and asked if they had any PSUs and all they had was a second-hand jobbie they gave me in a plastic carrier-bag for £20 - that PSU failed after a few days - just in-time for my online-order PSU to arrive.
I couldn't disagree more when it comes to my personal experience, but I don't get why you're being downvoted... my pc I built myself has started crashing from time to time since I switched the graphics card, and while I happen to get pleasure from this sort of pain I wouldn't exactly wish it on other people. the tone of this comment gives voice to the exact kind of mentality of a person who shouldn't build their own stuff... it is absolutely not for people who don't like having to fuck with their machines at inconvenient times. it is hugely rewarding for people who do (even if they have a frown on their face while they're fixing it).
One bad build isn't representative of the full spectrum. My Dell prebuilt is the worst PC I have ever owned (I always built it myself prior) and consistently overheats/throttles. Your friend is at fault, not the practice of building your own.
I would "build" your PC in PC Part Picker and see what it says.
Intel/AMD: You may have a low wattage/efficiency PSU (multiply box wattage by efficiency and compare to what PC Part Picker says you need), and those are relatively cheap to replace. Your friend may have overclocked the CPU without a full stability test, that's simply a visit to the BIOS to disable.
AMD: You may have poorly installed cooling. AMD can have more problems with overheating than Intel.
I second this. The level of integration in a custom case is not even comparable to an enterprise business desktop.
I finally bought a Dell Precision 5810 and it blew my mind how professional the entire case was. Every single little thing had a dust guard, or a clip, or a wire holder or its own little cooling fan. The graphics cards had support brackets. The hard drive bays had these fantastic multi-fit caddies, and the SATA cables were all the perfect length. Windows registered itself from the e-mark on the BIOS each time I reinstalled it, which was really handy, and each time I installed Windows from scratch everything automagically seemed to work and I didn't have to go digging around for drivers. The onboard RAID controller seemed to 'just work' and took like 3 seconds to setup.
I bought my Dell Precision 5810 second-hand, and it would have been cheaper than building the same computer with a custom case from individually sourced second hand parts.
The downside of that integration is it makes upgrading much more fraught. For example, if you want to add or upgrade a video card, you might need to replace the PSU. But you might find that the PSU is a non-standard size, or that it has non-standard connectors.
I have actually by now upgraded nearly every single component and not had any issues, for example I changed the Quadro K2000 to a FirePro W7100 which required external power, added a WiFi card, added 116GB more RAM, etc. Sure, the PSU is a proprietary form factor, but that has its own advantages in the packaging i.e. this one interlocks into the case in such a way that there isn't any cable management to be done and it has a push-to-release mechanism that allows it to be switched out in around 5 seconds without unplugging anything. Yes, if I needed to source a replacement I'd have to do some digging and find a DELL one specifically, but it's a trade-off to be aware of.
At the moment there are 20+ DELL precision workstations on Gumtree in just my local suburb.
Ha, reminds me. I don't know how it is nowadays, but back 15 years ago or so, Dell used non standard sized PSUs, in in regular form factor cases. I had one go, and had to Dremel out the case to fit an ATX supply in it. Fun times.
It might not be worth it for you, but it definitely is for a lot of people, i saved a lot of money not buying premade PCs that you have to chase people for minor issues.
From the S-1: "We use DRAM ICs produced by Samsung, Micron and Hynix in our DRAM modules. We purchase those DRAM ICs, pursuant to purchase orders and not long-term supply contracts, largely from third-party distributors and, to a lesser extent, directly from those manufacturers."
Edit: And "We maintain limited manufacturing facilities that only produce DRAM modules, custom built PCs, custom cooling and performance controllers, and as a result, we depend entirely upon third parties to manufacture and supply the gear we sell and the components used in our gear such as gaming peripherals and gaming components." So they do actually manufacture the modules in-house.
Micron, Samsung, Hynix like most others. They aren't reselling ram, just using chips from the only companies that make them, but they pick certain bins and do their own QC and direct support etc.
Besides Crucial/Micron, it seems like consumers can't buy DIMMs from Samsung or Hynix; you have to get them from some gamer brand. And clearly a lot of people are buying from brands that they recognize.
What makes you say this? I always buy Samsung DIMMs. They are always in stock at Newegg and on the shelf at Central Computer (SF Bay Area brick and mortar computer store).
You can buy DIMMs from all three just rare to see in most retail channels for consumer stuff. Obviously Micron have crucial, but you see Micron non-server DIMMs in OEM systems.
DRAM makers sell their chips only in JEDEC specifications, everything faster than that (3200+) needs to be binned by the module maker. For example, 3600CL16 is the standard choice for AMD systems, 3200CL14 is also very common and has much more aggressive timings than JEDEC.
I bought my first mech keyboard and "high-end" mouse from Corsair almost 3 years ago. I happily own a couple of Elgato products, more Corsair keyboards. I can say I'm rooting for them.
It's been amazing to see Corsair grow and provide great hardware, although not to my current taste. I can see the value they provide with the current massive force that online gaming and streaming has. I hope they'll continue to build great products for the foreseeable future.
I just wish they'd use better switches in their mice. I'm on my second one, and they suffer from a widespread double click issue. It's an excellent gaming mouse otherwise.
Corsair, with one of the most iconic logo of any hardware company. Which they wanted to change to a super generic "tramp-stamp" logo a couple of years back - but actually backtracked after community revolt.
I like the current logo, it's almost like a classic computer peripherals logo from the 80s. The tramp stamp is tacky and cheap, I'd expect the items to last less than a year
The legal names of a business don't always match the names they operate under or that of their branding. They seem to have changed names while keeping their existing branding for now.
I have a Corsair mouse pad that covers most of my desk. In part because the mouse pad is huge and in part because my desk is small. The mouse that sits on top of it is Corsair too. I like this mouse pad and the mouse a lot, and like you, the quality of those things that I own are the reason I clicked on this post.
As for keyboard, I use a different brand (all black programmable mechanical keyboard ErgoDox EZ Shine with no printed key caps, with my own Dvorak layout here: https://github.com/ctsrc/ergodox-ez-shine-dvorak).
I am fairly certain that the PSU in my desktop computer is Corsair as well, but I’m not about to open the case and see just for a comment on HN :p
Look up desk pads, I have one that covers the majority of my 5’x30” desk!
My Corsair PSU is an old 750W and they were synonymous with accessible modular power supplies for a while. Made them last longer by design when that wasn’t a given design choice. All in one heatsink units are more popular now, but they used to be the only option in that category too.
It has room for both mouse and keyboard and is plenty big enough for me :)
Also, I found out which PSU it is that I have and I didn’t need to open the case to find out after all, because it is printed on the back and visible by looking at the backside of the chassis. My computer sits on the floor a way out from the wall, so I was able to read it by taking a picture of the backside of the case by reaching my arm out from my bed.
There is a “gold certified” version of said PSU as well, but the color of the label on mine looks like the one in the link above so I think I have the “bronze certified” one.
That was when Corsair was rebranding Seasonic PSUs, which were some of the best on the market at the time.
I still have the 750W Corsair PSU I put into my first gaming rig over a decade ago. It's still perfectly usable and produces good power, even after years and years of heavy usage.
As far as I know Corsair only design PSUs, the actual manufacturing are all outsourced to Chinese or Taiwanese OEMs.
Edit: as for the unit you linked, it's manufactured by Flextronics[0]
Don't think they ever manufactured their own -- they always rebranded OEM PSUs. The value add that Corsair had was their warranty and support.
My anecdote of Corsair support:
My northbridge memory controller (yeah, when those were a thing) died unbeknownst to me. I just experienced it as a huge memory error rate. When I contacted them asking if they had any idea how to test if it was the memory controller or the RAM, Corsair sent me a couple of sticks of validated (as in, they stress tested it to make sure it was good) RAM to test with, along with a free RMA label in case it ended up being the RAM itself. It ended up being the motherboard, and I returned the RAM, but the fact that they were willing to send me hardware to test with without any real obligation on my part to return it was amazing to me.
This is partially why I am a little worried about a Corsair IPO. I know they've gotten bigger and more 'distant' as a brand in the years since my experience, but I can't help feel that once public, they will swing even further away from that experience, driven to chase profits and short-term success. And that saddens me, because to me Corsair has for a long time been one of the 'good guys' and I cannot help but feel that's going to go away.
Sorry no, my last PSU purchase was 8 years ago -- an 850W modular Corsair PSU, and since then I basically have had zero worries about PSUs. As such, I haven't kept up with the market.
Back in the day I'd have told you to look at HardOCP PSU reviews, but that's long gone now.
I've got a "big" one that has served me well for a long time. Not sure of the exact size but it's like roughly 4x the area of a standard mousepad. Maybe 24" x 15", something like that? I actually have it oriented portrait because I actually don't need that much width.
Basically just wanted coverage from the right edge of my keyboard to the edge of my desk.
After having 3 razor keyboards arrive with problems, and 2 warranty claims to finally get one that actually worked, while waiting for the 2nd replacement I bought a corsair K70. Oh it's so much better than the razor I had.
I swapped the keycaps on the razor to zhuyin and gave it to my wife. Much prefer this corsair!
Corsair has certainly come a long way from their sleek gamer aesthetic Dominator ram modules that first introduced me to the brand. Now just about every gaming peripheral and a lot of my system components (everything apart for CPU, GPU and motherboard) are from Corsair.
Unlike many other brands, their have managed to retain their quality over time. Kudos to them.
I must be the odd one out heree. Lot of people saying good things about their hardware. I've had problems with two of their keyboards, two of their mice, and 2 of their headsets. I've stopped going with them. Have had better luck with Logitech, at least in the mouse department no issue. Have had some issues with headset though.
Some people buy into the idea of "the IPO window," a time when it's seen as safe to go public. Even people who don't buy into it can't deny that no one wanted to touch an IPO in March and April, so there's some pent-up demand.
These three companies are also all very different as businesses. Their biggest commonalities are the people they hire and where they're located. After that, they look pretty different.
The IPO process takes a while, so is it really that surprising that a bunch of companies might have overlapping periods of IPO activity?
If a bunch of companies in the same sector, that compete with each other, went to IPO around the same time, that might be a _little_ weird, but this is largely just a coincidence. AirBnB has been anticipated for a while, Palantir needs the cash, and Corsair, well, I dunno what's really up there, but they're gonna try to IPO too. Either way, it mainly seems like a coincidence for these three.
I imagine a lot of people are expecting the economy to go through a prolonged, rough recovery from the beating that has been most of 2020. The Trump administration has done just about everything possible to kick the can down the road. Might as well IPO now while you can take advantage of a strong stock market, before reality sets in.
Their keyboards, while pretty, are made of cheapest ABS plastic. One of my keys became stuck just 2 months after the purchase, because of the crack on the keycap fitting. Corsair also refused to replace it.
A few years back they started making gaming PCs.
I was looking for something slick, discreet, but still fairly powerful.
I bought a Corsair One, and I've been super happy since then. It's exactly what I wanted and I haven't had any issues with it.
So if you were looking at their gaming PCs, you now know 1 random HN reader is super satisfied and recommends them.