With a busy day ahead of us, Rich and I woke up this morning looking to tackle Day 2 in ordinary fashion; quick jaunt over to Starbucks, grab a shuttle to the convention center, and run like mad from meeting to meeting to see what 2007 has in store. But ordinary starts just weren't in the cards for this hardware review site that's anything but, well, ordinary.

Rushing over to the 'Strip' at a breakneck pace (yet obeying all traffic laws, for any law enforcement that may be reading), the local radio station was holding a contest in the theme of the price is right. The objective was simple, just guess the price of a sex toy without going over, and whoever comes closest (out of four contestants) wins the AVN tickets. Looking to sway the odds in our favor, both Rich and myself whipped out our cell phones and frantically dialed in. And wouldn't you know it, we BOTH got through, instantly doubling our chances of scoring tickets! Indeed, the stars must have been aligned in our favor, as Rich won the contest, correctly outguessing the other contestants. Oh, and the item in question?...anal lube. Yeah, let's not ask why he knew the price.

Let's start our coverage with Razer, a company that really impressed us today. We sat down for a spell with founder Robert Krakoff and picked his brain on what his plans are for this company in the coming year. Now this is CES, the largest electronics show of the year, and most execs can be found highlighting their company's strong points, disregarding the weak areas, and hyping products that may or may not ever reach the retail segment. To our surprise, Robert engaged in none of these activities, and was very frank about their mission at Razer. Sure he talked about some of the products that are being launched in 2007, but it was very hrefreshing to hear him tell us that he's been very pleased with Razer's creativity, but somewhat disappointed in their execution. Not content to simply rehash the same products in new trim, Robert made it clear that they're focusing heavily on customer feedback and looking to respond with redesigned solutions, along with honest advertising (more on that later). Let's have a peek at a few products...

In the past, Razer's mice focused on pleasing both right handed and left handed gamers, sporting an ambidextrous design that users either loved or hated. Rich, for example, is a big fan of the feel and weight of Razer's previous offerings, such as the Diamondback and Copperhead, while I found the low profile buttons to be less than comfortable. The new Death Adder (pictured above) addresses this common complaint with raised buttons and a right handed design. They've also extended the rubberized grip down from the buttons and have completely covered the entire top surface, which means you can sweat up a storm and not worry about a slippery rodent.

In addition to form, Razer has redesigned the function with the Death Adder, moving away from a laser and returning to an optical infrared 3G sensor. Razer claims an 1800 DPI (dots-per-inch), making the Death Adder a promising choice for gamers that enjoy high speed FPS action with the ambidextrous feel of previous Razer mice.

Razer's niche market has always been the die hard gaming crowd, but on display were a few items aimed towards the professional user. In getting away from their common dark theme, Razer is introducing an all white Pro Type Keyboard suitable for the iPod generation, complete with a docking station. The Pro Type comes equipped with 10 programmable keys, media center keys, two USB ports, and a line-out for audio duties.

Complimenting the new keyboard is a new bite sized mouse, available in a variety of flavors. Each one sports a bluetooth connection, 1200 DPI sensor, ambidextrous design, and a carrying pouch. Yep, Razer's gone cute!

And finally, Razer showed us a new set of speakers called Mako. This 2.1 speaker-set is being marketed towards to the music listening crowd and not the gamer, due to a lack of surround sound (including emulation). What they do include are a pair of down firing satellites that shoot sound down and out the bottom of the speakers, which we're told will help eliminate sound bouncing off of the desk (or whatever surface they're placed on). Razer heavily touted that these have been co-designed with THX, and not simply certified. During our listening test, we were impressed with the preliminary audio quality and we dig the touch sensor remote, but if the quoted $299 price tag holds true, we think they'll be a tough sell

Thermaltake

Next up was some quality time with Thermaltake, who had a huge booth set up with incredible looking products strewn all over the showroom floor. Although they were showing off their beautiful ToughPower line of power supplies (power supplies were a popular topic everywhere, which we'll touch on later), their incredible cases and cooling units were the major draw.

Straight out of "Pimp my ride" was Thermaltake's hardcore Swordsman LE (Limited Edition). With some semblance of their Tai Chi case (see the door mounted water cooling and hydraulics), the swordsman was an extremely popular attraction. We had to hold Paul back as he tried to stuff the chassis into his backpack.

Definitely one of the cooler cases you'll find, but finding one maybe easier said than done as Thermaltake only plans on releasing 50 of these each month. As to the 7" LCD monitor, it doesn't actually ship with the case, but can be purchased separately and added by the end user.

Next up, and a fairly close second on the coolness meter was the Kandalf LCS. This case also features an integrated water cooling system, with the 360mm radiator and three 120mm fins placed on the case door. The LCS' water cooling loop is built around a P500 water pump, which, you guessed it, moves 500 liters per hour of coolant. This features allows you to add extra cooling into the loop, such as graphics, memory, etc.While water cooled, the Kandalf also includes a huge 250mm door mounted fan to move some serious air.

Receiving a face lift was Thermaltake's Big Water cooling system. The unit on display showed a lot of promise. With a dual 5.25" drive frame, the BigWater 760i is a serious space saver, but with Thermaltake's easy installation system, it's also quite user friendly.

One is cool, but how about mounting a pair in a full tower case to cool your entire system?

Cooler Master

Booth number 35528 in the south hall was home to an amazing assortment of Cooler Master products on display. The first thing that caught our eye were the Smooth Creation custom painted cases being displayed, each on individually lighted and rotating pedestals.

The case above is a Mystique 632, but outfitted with a beautiful custom paint job. Apparently these one-of-a-kind cases will actually be put out onto retail shelves in limited numbers and high price tags.

But the modding mayhem doesn't stop there...

This is a custom painted Battlefield 2142 case that was displayed running the game in all its glory for everyone to try. Unfortunately, this is a one of a kind case and won't be available through Cooler Master.

Another Smooth Creations case was on display, this time it is a modified CM Stacker 830.

Here is an RC-930 in action:

Some new graphics card watercooling units were also being proudly displayed.

The Aquagate Viva (top) features a single GPU waterblock and actively cooled radiator while the Aquagate Duo VIVA (bottom) sports two GPU waterblocks to keep your SLI or CrossFire system running cool.

Last but not least, there were some new air cooled GPU cooling solutions as well.

One looks to be a completely passive model with several heatpipes while the other features three heatpipes and is actively cooled.

Power Supplies

Power Supplies were getting a lot of attention at the 2007 CES. I even heard the term "DirectX 10 Compatible PSU", no joke! Another major feature of the next generation of PSUs is the 8-pin PCI-E connectors (yep, no more 6-pin connectors). Regardless, bigger is definitely the trend as each company we talked with featured several PSUs in the 800-1200W range. Modular also seems to be a big selling point as most offered a hard wired and modular version of their signature PSUs

Enermax's booth was drawing a lot of attention, especially with their revised 1000W Galaxy model powering two fully loaded, and fully operational gaming rigs.

Another company that really impressed us was a new one: Cleverpower. Referred to us by longtime associate Keith Suppe of Madshrimps,, Cleverpower plans on releasing their new line of high power PSUs sometime in Febuary, but the models we saw were quite impressive, with almost an industrial look and feel. They stood out to us with their customizable PSUs, a great example being their 1000W model which can be purchased with either a single 70A rail, or six 20A rails. And their flagship model carries no less than 95A on the +12V line(s)!

We'll touch more on the power supplies later on, but for now its back to the show for more adventuring and meetings with videocard companies...

CES 2007: Day 2

Thermaltake

Cooler Master

Power Supplies