Barking up the right tree
System builders far and wide are jumping on the PC as a console bandwagon, a trend that will grow even stronger this fall when official Steam Machines are given the green light. But what if you want to roll your own? Corsair is answering the call with its new Bulldog, a DIY PC console kit.
Straight to the point, Bulldog consists of a compact and ventilated console-like chassis, a 600W SFX power supply, mini ITX motherboard, and Corsair's Hydro Series H5SF small form factor liquid CPU cooler. The cost for the kit is $399, plus another $99 if you want to add an optional Hydro Series H55 liquid cooler and HG10 graphics card cooling bracket for the crop of drop-in ready liquid-cooled graphics cards that Corsair says are right around the corner.
Your job is to add a processor, graphics cards, memory, and storage device, plus whichever operating system you want to roll with. While that leaves things open-ended, Corsair is heavily promoting 4K gaming on this thing.
"Bulldog is designed to take the 4K gaming experience delivered by desktop gaming PCs, and bring it to the big 4K screens in the home," said Andy Paul, CEO of Corsair Components. "We knew we needed to deliver a solution that was elegant, powerful, and compact. By leveraging our leading expertise in PC case design and liquid cooling, we met that goal with Bulldog. We can’t wait to unleash it on gamers this fall."
Corsair didn't say which motherboard comes pre-installed, though with an emphasis on high-end performance, we suspect its one that supports Intel CPUs. We're not saying you can't build a 4K system around an AMD foundation, just that Intel has the higher performing options right now.
Of course, it's the GPU what will do most of the pixel pushing, and presumably you'll be able to feed the Bulldog something like a GeForce GTX 980 Ti. Either way, Corsair promises a builder-friendly layout with tool-free features.
To go along with the Bulldog, Corsair also announced the Lapdog, a wireless keyboard with an integrated mouse mat that measures 7 inches by 11 inches. It has a memory foam underside so that it feels comfortable on your lap, powered USB hub, and a hidden compartment to store cables. It will be available as a standalone station for $89 with keyboard for $199.
From maximumpc
from http://bit.ly/1AGfI96
