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À partir d’avant-hierAnandTech

Best CPUs for Gaming: February 2024

2 février 2024 à 13:00

As the first quarter of 2024 is already well underway, there's not been much in the way of launches since last year. Of particular note is AMD's launch of their Ryzen 8000G series APUs, which are based on their mobile silicon using the Zen 4 architecture. This release adds a different dynamic to the CPU market, with AMD building on their still popular Ryzen 5000G series of APUs, which still regularly feature as some of the best-selling CPUs on the market despite their age. With the Ryzen 7 8700G (8C/16T) and Ryzen 5 8600G (6C/12T), which we reviewed, AMD combines their Phoenix silicon with the latest Radeon RDNA3 integrated graphics into a desktop package designed for their AM5 platform.

Last year (October), we also saw Intel introduce their 14th Gen Core family, headlined by the Core i9-14900K with its impressive 6.0 GHz speed. AMD's Ryzen 7000 series continues to fiercely compete at the high end of the market, offering CPU enthusiasts and gamers on all budgets a wide range of processors to select from. The availability of processors, motherboards, and DDR5 memory remains strong at key retailers, ensuring that the current market is well-prepared to meet the high demand. As we go into 2024, the CPU market shows a somewhat strong and diverse outlook, with various options for consumers of all ilks.

Intel Announces non-K 14th Gen Core Desktop Processors: Raptor Lake in 65 W to 35 W Flavors

8 janvier 2024 à 22:02

We typically see the flagship K-series chips first whenever Intel launches a new family of desktop processors. These show the maximum potential for improvement in generational performance, such as IPC and core clock speeds, and show off the latest family to the best possible effect. Usually, a few months later, Intel launches their non-K-series SKUs, which have lower TDPs, with minor drops in core clock speeds, but offer the same level of core configurations for a usually lower price.

During CES 2024, Intel has launched the rest of their 14th Generation Core series processors, including models such as the Core i9-14900, as well as non-K F SKUs and the lower power T models. For the first time in this generation, we're also getting a trifecta of Raptor Lake refresh Core i3 processors and two entry-level models, the Intel Processor 300 and the Processor 300T.

Adding multiple models to the 14th Gen Core series for desktop families means there's plenty of choice for users regardless of their requirements, with the majority of the new SKUs coming with either a 65 W or 35 W base TDP. Finally, we have the full Raptor Lake refresh for desktop offering, and users looking for a lower cost, but typically solid performance will find plenty to sink their teeth into with lots of chips to select from.

The Intel CES 2024 Client Computing Keynote Live Blog (Starts at 3:30pm PT/23:30 UTC)

8 janvier 2024 à 22:25

With CES's media day nearing its completion, Intel is hosting the first live, on-site PC-related keynote of the day. Intel Client Computing Group head Michelle Johnston Holthaus is hosting what Intel is calling their "Intel Client Open House Keynote", which will be covering the many Intel CPU announcements of the day, as well as showcasing the equally numerous laptops and other devices that partners will be releasing over the coming days and weeks.

So come join us at 3:30pm for a look at the latest in client computing from Intel!

CES 2024: Intel Briefly Shows Lunar Lake Chip; Next-Gen Mobile CPU Uses On-Package Memory

9 janvier 2024 à 00:15

As part of the final segment of Intel’s "Intel Client Open House Keynote" at CES this afternoon, Intel EVP and GM of the Client Computing Group, Michelle Johnston Holthaus, also offered a brief update on Intel’s client chips in the work for the second half of the year. While no demos were run during the relatively short 45 minute keynote, Holthaus did reiterate that both Arrow Lake for desktops and Lunar Lake for mobile were making good progress and were expected to launch later this year.

But in lieu of black box demos we got something more surprising instead: our first look at a finished Lunar Lake chip.

Briefly holding the chip out for viewers to see – and holding the press away lest they get too close – Holthaus pulled out a finished Lunar Lake chip.

While details on Lunar Lake still remain very slim – Intel still hasn’t even confirmed what process nodes it’s using – the company has continually been reiterating that they intend to get it out the door in 2024. And having silicon to show off (and shipping to partners, we’re told) is a very effective way to demonstrate Intel’s ongoing progress.

Of note, seeing the chip in person confirms something we’ve all but been expecting from Intel for a few years now: CPUs with on-package memory. The demo chip has two DRAM packages on one of the edges of the chip (presumably LPDDR5X), making this the first time that Intel has placed regular DRAM on a Core chip package. On-package memory is of particular interest to thin & light laptop vendors, as it allows for further space savings and cuts down on the number of critical traces that need to be routed from the CPU and along the motherboard. The technique is most notably (though far from exclusively) used with Apple’s M series of SoCs.

Beyond showing off the physical chip, Holthaus also briefly talked about expected performance and architecture. Lunar Lake is slated to offer “significant” IPC improvements for the CPU core. Meanwhile the GPU and NPU will each offer three-times the AI performance. How Intel will be achieving this remains unclear, but at least on the GPU side, we know that they’ve yet to offer XMX matrix cores within an integrated GPU.

No doubt this is far from the last time we’ll hear about Lunar Lake ahead of its launch. But for now, it’s a bit of a look into the future while Intel continues to ramp production on Meteor Lake for what is now the latest generation of laptops and other mobile devices.

Update: Samsung Announces 990 EVO SSD, Energy-Efficiency with Dual-Mode PCIe Gen4 x4 and Gen5 x2

23 janvier 2024 à 19:30

After Samsung's earlier product page snafu, the company is officially launching their next-generation mainstream client SSD today. The 990 EVO will be available in both 1TB and 2TB capacities, and offers an interesting mix of both PCIe Gen 5 and PCIe Gen 4 support by allowing up to 2 lanes of PCIe connectivity at Gen 5 speeds, or up to 4 lanes at Gen 4 and below.

The release of the 990 EVO marks the return of the EVO SSD brand after it was quietly put aside during the 980 generation, when Samsung's sole non-PRO drive was the vanilla 980 SSD. Consequently, Samsung's own performance comparisons for the new drive are against the most recent EVO, the 970 EVO Plus, though similar to how the vanilla 980 was effectively the 970 EVO successor, in many ways this is the successor to the 980.

The drives are available immediately from Samsung. The company has set the retail prices of the drives at $125 for the 1TB model, and $210 for the 2TB. These are stiff prices for a drive debuting in the highly-competitive mainstream SSD market, though admittedly not unusual for a Samsung drive launch.

Our original story (with updated technical specifications) follows as below:


Originally Published: 01/09/2024

Samsung's launch of the 990 EVO M.2 2280 SSD appears to be imminent, as official product pages with specifications went live in certain regions a few days back before getting pulled down.

The most interesting aspect the 990 EVO is not the claimed speeds, but the fact that it can operate in either Gen 4 or Gen 5 modes with different number of lanes. The recently launched mobile platforms from both AMD and Intel use Gen 4 lanes for the storage subsystem. However, with progress in technology it is inevitable that this will move to Gen 5 in the future. In the meanwhile, thermal constraints in mobile systems may prevent notebook manufacturers from going in for desktop Gen 5 speeds (8 - 14 GBps). An attractive option for such cases would be to move to a two-lane Gen 5 implementation that would help in retaining the same Gen 4 x4 bandwidth capability, but cut down on the BOM cost by reducing the number of pins / lane count on the host side. It appears that Samsung's 990 EVO is a platform designed with such a scenario in mind.

PCIe PHYs / controllers have backward compatibility, and the 990 EVO's SSD controller incorporates a 4-lane Gen 5 controller and PHY. During the training phase with the host, both the link bandwidth and lane count can be negotiated. It appears that the SSD is configured to advertise Gen 5 speeds to the host if only two lanes are active.

Samsung appears to be marketing only 1TB and 2TB capacities of the 990 EVO. Based on the product photos online, the models appear to be single-sided units (making them compatible with a wider variety of mobile platforms). The flash packages appear to be 1TB each, and the EVO moniker / advertisement of Host Memory Buffer support / controller package markings in the product photos points to a DRAM-less SSD controller - the Piccolo S4LY022. The quoted performance numbers appear low for a 176L / 236L V-NAND product. TechPowerUp believes that these SSDs are using an updated V6 (133L, termed V6 Prime) with better efficiency and yields compared to the regular V6.

Samsung 990 EVO Specifications
Capacity 1 TB 2 TB
Controller Samsung S4LY022 Piccolo
NAND Flash Samsung Updated 6th Gen. V-NAND (133L 3D TLC)
Form-Factor, Interface Single-Sided M.2-2280, PCIe 4.0 x4 / 5.0 x2, NVMe 2.0
Sequential Read 5000 MB/s 5000 MB/s
Sequential Write 4200 MB/s 4200 MB/s
Random Read IOPS 680K 700K
Random Write IOPS 800K 800K
SLC Caching Yes
TCG Opal Encryption Yes
Warranty 5 years
Write Endurance 600 TBW
0.3 DWPD
1200 TBW
0.3 DWPD

Samsung is also touting much-improved power efficiency, with transfer rates being 2 - 3x per Watt compared to the 970 EVO. The Piccolo controller's 5nm fabrication process and the V6 Prime's efficiency improvements have a significant say in that aspect.

Pricing and concrete launch dates for the 990 EVO are not available yet. The delta in specifications for the 1TB and 2TB models will be updated in the table above once the drives are officially announced. The 1TB model is priced at $125 and the 2TB version at $210. Both SKUs are available for purchase today.

Ubiquiti Networks Introduces U7 Pro: First UniFi Wi-Fi 7 Access Point Scores on Affordability

9 janvier 2024 à 14:00

The market launch of Ubiquiti's first Wi-Fi 7 product in their UniFi lineup has been hotly anticipated since its FCC filings became public late last year. Unlike traditional consumer gear, Ubiquiti's UniFi lineup of software-defined networking products targets prosumers, businesses, and enterprises by splitting the functionality of a traditional home Wi-Fi router into separate gateways, switches, and access points. This allows end-users to update different components at different points in time based on requirements. This makes sense for many large-area deployments, as the pace of technological advancements in the wireless space and wired space are quite different.

Ubiquiti's UniFi lineup is generally not known for being on the cutting-edge, which makes it suitable for scenarios where stability and scalability are more important than raw performance. Wi-Fi 7 products have been around for a while, even from vendors operating in the same space as Ubiquiti Networks. Ubiquiti is taking a very different approach to Wi-Fi 7 by introducing an affordable model first up.

The U7 Pro, priced at just $189, eschews the 4x4 radio configurations driving up the price of other Wi-Fi 7 APs / wireless routers. Instead, it opts for 2x2 radios in 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands, allowing it to retail at a sub-$200 price point. This ceiling-mount AP covers up to 1500 sq. ft, and supports more than 300 clients. It is equipped with a single 2.5 GbE port and uses the same port for power. A PoE+ switch is required on the uplink side, as the U7 Pro has a maximum power consumption of 21W.

The 2x2 configuration in each radio allows up to 688 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band, 2882 Mbps on the 5 GHz band, and up to 5765 Mbps on the 6 GHz band. The 6 GHz band supports the high throughput thanks to the use of 240 and 320 MHz-wide channels as per the 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7) standard.

The UniFi U7 Pro utilizes a Qualcomm Wi-Fi 7 chipset - most likely the Networking Pro 620 series with the IPQ9554 WiSoC (quad-core Cortex-A73 @ 1.5 GHz) and the QCN9272 / 6272 Waikiki series of radios. There is an Immersive Home Wi-Fi 7 platform from Qualcomm with similar radio support for 6 streams, but using a quad-core Cortex A53 @ 1.5 GHz. We have reached out to Ubiquiti to confirm the actual platform, though our educated guess leans towards the Networking Pro 620.

The U7 Pro requires either a UniFi Console running UniFi OS v3.2+ with UniFi Network application v8.0.7 or newer, or a self-hosted controller running UniFi Network v8.0.7+. Bluetooth is notably absent from the specifications, which may be an impediment to some users who have adopted Ubiquiti's line of Bluetooth-enabled sensors that rely on APs with BT support to integrate with the rest of the UniFi network. Another aspect to keep in mind is that the 2x2 operation in the 5 GHz band means that the theoretically available bandwidth in that spectrum (2882 Mbps) is lower than the equivalent in the U6 Pro (which has a 4x4 configuration in the same band for 4.8 Gbps). This may influence deployment choice based on the mix of client devices expected to connect to the AP. Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which is one of the key advantages of Wi-Fi 7 over Wi-Fi 6, is also scheduled to appear only in a later firmware update even though the product is available for purchase today.

NVIDIA Launches RTX 5880 ProViz Card: Compliant with Sanctions, Available Globally

9 janvier 2024 à 21:00

NVIDIA has quietly launched its RTX 5880 Ada Generation graphics card that is designed for professional graphics applications. The product is designed to be compliant with the latest U.S. export regulations for China and can be shipped to the People's Republic without restrictions. Meanwhile, it is set to be available globally and sit between the expensive flagship RTX 6000 Ada Generation and considerably less capable RTX 5000 Ada Generation. But there is a major catch about this product.

NVIDIA's RTX 5880 Ada Generation is based on the company's flagship AD102 graphics processor with 14,080 CUDA cores, 110 RT cores, 440 tensor cores, and a 384-bit memory interface to connect 48 GB of GDDR6 memory with ECC. The board comes with four DisplayPort 1.4a connectors and can support either four 4K monitors at 120 Hz, four 5K displays at 60 Hz, or two 8K monitors at 60 Hz. As for power consumption and heat dissipation, it is rated at 285W (with power delivered using one 12VHPWR connector) and comes with a standard dual-slot cooling system with a blower.

As the model number suggests, NVIDIA's RTX 5880 Ada Generation 48 GB should be close to the range-topping RTX 6000 Ada 48 GB. Unfortunately, this is not the case and this is a major catch about the RTX 5880 Ada. From performance point of view, NVIDIA's RTX 5880 Ada offers 69.3 FP32 TFLOPS and 554 FP8 TFLOPS, which is closer to the RTX 5800 Ada 32 GB (65.3 FP32 TFLOPS and 522.1 FP8 TFLOPS) rather than to the RTX 6000 Ada 48 GB (91.1 FP32 TFLOPS and 729 FP8 TFLOPS).

NVIDIA's RTX 6000 Ada has a rather whopping FP8 Total Processing Performance (TPP) score of 5,828 (listed processing power multiplied by the length of operation), which is way higher than 4800 points that the U.S. Department of Commerce wants Chinese entities to get. So, the RTX 5880 Ada has a TPP score of 4432, which comfortably fits within the export requirements of the U.S. government.

But this also means that the RTX 5880 Ada is significantly slower than the RTX 6000 Ada, despite the model number. Truth to be told, the RTX 5880 Ada looks more like an RTX 5000 Ada on steroids rather than a slightly downgraded RTX 6000 Ada.

NVIDIA's Ada Generation High-End Professional Graphics Cards
  RTX 6000 Ada RTX 5880 Ada RTX 5000 Ada
GPU AD102
Memory 48 GB GDDR6 with ECC 32 GB GDDR6 ECC
CUDA Cores 18,176 14,080 12,800
Tensor Cores 568 440 400
RT Cores 142 110 100
FP32 Performance 91.1 TFLOPS 69.3 TFLOPS 65.3 TFLOPS
RT Performance 210.6 TFLOPS 160.2 TFLOPS 151 TFLOPS
Tensor Performance 729 TFLOPS 554 TFLOPS 522.1 TFLOPS
TPP 5828 4432 4176
Encode/Decode 3 x encode, 3 x decode (+AV1 encode and decode)
Display Connectors 4 x DisplayPort 1.4a
Power 300W 285W 250W
MSRP $6999 ? $4000

What remains to be seen is the price of the RTX 5880 Ada. NVIDIA's RTX 5000 Ada has a list price of $4,000, whereas the RTX 6000 Ada has an MSRP of $6,999. It is logical to expect the RTX 5880 Ada to cost closer to the RTX 5000, but not just slightly higher, because after all it has a rather capable 48 GB memory subsystem.

Sources: NVIDIA, RTX 5880 Ada datasheet

Phison Details U21 USB4 PSSD and E31T Mainstream Gen 5 SSD Controllers

9 janvier 2024 à 22:30

Phison's lineup of SSD and portable SSD controllers is keeping pace with the general industry trends, as evidenced by their products on display at the 2024 CES.

Portable SSDs in all forms and sizes (including the popular thumb drive as a SSD-in-a-stick) have gained a lot of market and mind-share in recent years, thanks to rising capacity and performance. An important contributor on the power-efficiency front (which is important for flash drive vendors to pack SSD performance in a thumb drive) has been the rise of native flash controllers like Phison's U17 / U18 and Silicon Motion's SM2320.

Since the launch of the U17 / U18 in 2021, USB4 has become common on client platforms from both Intel and AMD. SSD controller vendors are keeping pace with that update, and Phison is officially the first out of the door with their U21 USB4 eSSD controller. (Note: It appears that the PSSD nomenclature promoted by SSD vendors is being replaced by eSSD on the controller side). Similar to the U17 / U18, these are single-chip solutions. Small thumb drives may also end up using these in a multi-chip package (where the flash and the controller are packaged together to save on area).

Phison indicated that the U21 controller can practically saturate the USB4 bus with speeds up to 4000 MBps. Fabricated in TSMC's 12nm process, the U21 can support up to four channels with 16 chip enables. Backwards compatibility is an important aspect. USB4 requires compatibility with only USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB 3.2 Gen 1, and USB 2.0 for certification purposes. However, the U21 can also work in the USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) mode if required. Phison's customers can use this controller for PSSDs ranging in capacity from 512GB to 8TB. Both TLC and QLC NAND can be used. Flash speeds of up to 1600 MT/s is supported. This might hold back the power- and energy- efficiency a bit, as we have seen higher flash speeds getting the job done faster and having lower overall energy consumption for a given workload. Higher flash speeds also reduce the number of required channels for a given performance target, and that results in power savings too. It remains to be seen if other eSSD controller vendors support 2400 MT/s flash later this year.

In internal SSD controller news, Phison is also readying the E31T mainstream Gen 5 controller for launch this year. As the naming convention goes, this is a DRAM-less controller suitable for mainstream M.2 2280 SSDs with a focus on low power operation (suitable for mobile platforms). This quad-channel controller is fabricated in TSMC's 7nm process with peak performance numbers of around 10800 MBps for sequential workloads and 1.5M IOPS for 4K random accesses.

Support for TCG Opal / Pyrite ensures that the E31T platform can also be used for OEM SSDs meant for business deployments.

Phison also had the X2 enterprise SSD platform on display. This is a Gen 5 x4 dual port U.2 solution (also available in E3.S form factor) with steady state sequential performance of 14 GBps for reads and 12 GBps for writes. Random read IOPS are at 3M, and write IOPS are at 0.8M.

Phison's X1 platform was adopted by Seagate in the Nytro 5050 Series, and it is likely that we will see the X2 come to market with a different performance profile / firmware tuning when the Nytro series get an update.

Intel Unveils First SDV SoC Family For The Automotive Market at CES 2024

9 janvier 2024 à 23:10

Further to Intel's AI-related announcements surrounding their Meteor Lake SoC and its integrated NPU, the automotive market is another market where Intel expects that AI can make a big difference. Intel has just expanded its attention to the automotive AI market by acquiring Silicon Mobility SAS, a company specializing in EV energy management and AI-enhanced software driving the digital cockpit. This specific acquisition is set to enhance Intel's capabilities in delivering efficient energy management solutions for EVs and the AI-driven ecosystem.

During CES 2024, Intel has unveiled a new AI-enhanced software-defined vehicle (SDV) SoC family. These chips leverage Intel's expertise in AI and show ambitions to bring advanced in-vehicle AI applications such as Generative AI and camera-based driver/passenger monitoring. Zeekr, a brand of Geely, has been announced as the first OEM to adopt these new Intel SoCs for automotive.

Not only is Intel looking to play a more pivotal role in the automotive industry through its expertise in AI, including hardware, software, and everything in between, but it also looks to help enhance the overall AI-driven ecosystem within the EV market. In addition, Intel has announced it is chairing a new SAE automotive vehicle power management standards workgroup, which aims to develop and define the industry standards for EV power management, including J3311.

One of the challenges within the automotive cockpit is power management and efficiency, which is a much more significant obstacle than it is in, say, the general PC. The SoC is an integral part of powering digital cockpits and entertainment systems, as well as safety measures such as LiDAR, radar, and camera sensors in real-time; this is something AI, through analytics in real-time, can play a crucial role in being the difference between safety and disaster.

The first generation of Intel's new SDV SoC family, first announced during the CES 2024 Intel Automotive Keynote, shares some key details. This includes a scalable SoC of up to 12 cores, with power capabilities ranging from 12 to 45 W, depending on the cockpit level and EV power requirements. They also feature integrated Arc Xe integrated graphics, with support for up to four Indept displays capable of up to 8K resolutions. The automotive industry has highly stringent safety standards, so the new Intel SDV SoC family is AEC-Q100 qualified.

We expect to hear more details about Intel's SDV SoC family in the coming months, with no disclosures on the finer technical details of the SoC or how it will transition Intel into the EV cockpit. Overall, Intel is clearly looking to make a dent in the largely progressive and high-growth AI-driven EV market.

The Intel CES 2024 Pat Gelsinger Keynote Live Blog (Starts at 5pm PT/01:00 UTC)

9 janvier 2024 à 23:50

This evening is the biggest PC-related keynote of CES 2024, Intel's "prime" keynote with CEO Pat Gelsinger. Part of Intel's "AI everywhere starts with Intel" campaign for the show, Gelsinger is expected to talk about the role AI will play in the future of consumer technology, along with the economic implications.

So come join us at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern for a look at the latest from Intel!

ASUS Unveils NUC 14 Pro and Pro Plus Meteor Lake Mini-PCs

10 janvier 2024 à 12:00

As part of its 2024 CES announcements, ASUS officially unveiled a number of NUCs based on Intel's Meteor Lake platform. The company had earlier released the NUC 13 Rugged - the first NUC product that had not been inherited from Intel's existing lineup - based on Alder Lake-N processors. The new NUCs fall under the mainstream category and are marketed with the Pro tag. The Pro line represents the original 4" x 4" ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF).

The new ASUS NUC 14 Pro products fall under the UCFF category. In addition, ASUS is also introducing the NUC 14 Pro+. These are slightly wider (144mm vs. 117mm) than the regular Pro models. Their height of 41mm is slightly more than the slim Pro kit's 37mm, but shorter than the 54mm of the tall Pro kit with 2.5" SATA drive support.


The NUC 14 Pro kits have the Meteor Lake processors configured with a TDP Of 40W, while the Pro+ kits (with space for a better thermal solution?) pushes that up to 65W. As expected, the choice of processors with the Pro+ is restricted to the top Ultra 5 / Ultra 7 / Ultra 9 SKUs, while the Pro version sports processors ranging from the Core 3 100U to the Ultra 7 165H.

The specifications of the different NUC 14 Pro and Pro+ models are summarized in the table below.

ASUS NUC 14 Pro / Pro+ (Meteor Lake) Lineup
Model NUC 14 Pro Mini-PC NUC 14 Pro Kit NUC 14 Pro+ Mini-PC NUC 14 Pro+ Kit
CPU Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 165H Processor
Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 155H Processor
Intel® Core™ Ultra 5 135H Processor
Intel® Core™ Ultra 5 125H Processor
Intel® Core™ 3 100U Processor
(TDP up to 40W)
Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 185H Processor
Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 155H Processor
Intel® Core™ Ultra 5 125H Processor
(TDP up to 65W)
GPU Intel® Arc™ GPU (U7/U5)
Intel® Graphics (Core 3 100U)
Intel® Arc™ GPU
DRAM Two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots
Up to 96 GB of DDR5-5600 in dual-channel mode
Motherboard 4.13" x 4.16" UCFF
NVMe Storage 1x M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x4
1x M.2 2242 PCIe Gen4 x4
SATA Storage 1x 2.5" SATA 6 Gbps N/A
Wireless Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211
2x2 802.11ax Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.3 module
Ethernet 1 x Intel® i226V/LM 2.5G LAN
(vPro SKUs include the i226LM non-vPro include the i226V)
Front I/O 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type C (20 Gbps)
2x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type A
Rear I/O 2x Thunderbolt™ 4 / USB4 Type-C Ports (up to 8K@30Hz when combined)
1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
1x USB 2.0 Type-A
2x HDMI 2.1 (TMDS up to 4K@60Hz with CEC support) ports
1x 2.5 GbE RJ45 LAN Port
Power Supply 120W Power Adapter (U5/U7)
90W Power Adapter (Core 3)
150W Power Adapter (U9)
120W Power Adapter (U5/U7)
Case Material Matte Textured Polycarbonate (Replaceable Lid) Anodized Aluminum
Operating System Windows 11 Pro / Windows 11 Home Barebones Windows 11 Pro / Windows 11 Home Barebones
Dimensions and Weight 117mm x 112mm x 54mm / 750g 117mm x 112mm x 37mm / 600g 144mm x 112mm x 41mm / 800g

The absence of an analog audio output port / headphone jack seems to be the major departure from previous mainstream NUCs. The sliding tabs on the underside for tool-less access to the SSD and DRAM modules is another intersting update. The Pro and Pro+ appear to be using the same motherboard based on the I/O port locations in the two SKU sets. The extra space in the 5" x 4" Pro+ chassis is likely needed to accommodate the 65W thermal solution. ASUS indicated the use of a triple 6mm heat pipe dual-side exchanger for this purpose. It also allows for the Kensington lock to have a prominent position in the rear panel, unlike the side location in the Pro unit.

In other mini-PC news from ASUS, the company has also introduced a ROG NUC which seems to be the successor to the NUC Enthusiast line. It features Intel Meteor Lake Ultra 9 and Ultra 7 processors along with NVIDIA's RTX 4070 / 4060 GPUs (mobile versions in all likelihood) in a 2.5L chassis. Given the success of the ROG brand, it does make sense for ASUS to absorb the NUC Enthusiast line of products into it.

ASUS is also continuing to market mini-PCs under the ExpertCenter line. The PN65 sports Meteor Lake processors along with configurable port options (such as COM) for use in edge computing and other professional scenarios.

We have reached out to ASUS for pricing and availability details, and will update the piece when we get additional information.

MSI Announces the Claw: A Handheld PC Game Console with Intel's Meteor Lake Inside

10 janvier 2024 à 14:00

The success of Valve's Steam Deck console has clearly inspired numerous makers of gaming hardware to try their luck with portable gaming systems. One of such companies is MSI, which introduced its Claw handheld console at CES. The Claw A1M mobile console uses Intel's latest Core Ultra 'Meteor Lake' platform along with Windows 11 operating system and is compatible with the vast majority of PC games.

MSI's Claw game console is equipped with a 7-inch touch-enabled IPS LCD display with a 1920x1080 resolution, a 120 Hz refresh rate, and an up to 500 nits typical brightness (which is akin to luminance of premium laptops), which is similar to what Asus ROG Ally offers. As for audio, the gaming device comes equipped with two 2W speakers.

The Claw A1M console is powered by Intel's latest Core Ultra 155H 'Meteor Lake' system-on-chip with six high-performance cores, eight energy-efficient cores, two low-power cones, and a built-in Arc GPU with eight Xe tiles (1024 stream processors, eight ray tracing units). The processor is paired with 16 GB of dual-channel LPDDR5-6400 memory and an SSD in an M.2-2230 form-factor as well as a PCIe Gen4 x4 interface.

To ensure consistent performance of the unit under high loads, MSI equipped it with a cooling system featuring several heat pipes and two fans. Keeping in mind that the processor has a minimum assured power of 20W and a processor base power of 28W, it indeed needs proper cooling. That cooling system of course adds quite some weight, which is why the console weighs 675 grams.

On the connectivity side of matters, MSI's Claw certainly does not disappoint as it features an Intel Killer BE1750 Wi-Fi 7 + Bluetooth 5.4 adapter, a Thunderbolt 4 connector (which naturally supports a DisplayPort output and charging capability), a microSD card reader, and an audio jack for headsets.

As for ergonomics, MSI's Claw has a typical set of controllers, including two sticks, a D-Pad, bumpers, ABXY buttons, and triggers. In addition, MSI equipped its Claw with macro buttons, to make playing games that require tricky combinations on the controller easier.

MSI says that its Claw can work for up to two hours from its 53 Wh battery, which is something to expect given the processor it uses and capacity of the battery. Perhaps, those who would like to enjoy longer gaming sessions while on the go will need to get an external battery and use the TB4 port to charge the console rapidly.

Two distinctive features of MSI's Claw portable game console is MSI's Center M dedicated interface that provides easy access to games as well as App Player that allows to play Android games on the Windows 11 device. There are of course similar emulators available for all Windows PCs, but at least MSI pre-installs the player by default.

For now, MSI remains tight lipped about pricing and launch date for its Claw portable game console.

Micron at CES 2024: USB4 SSD Technology Demonstrations

11 janvier 2024 à 12:00

Micron's consumer brand, Crucial Memory, has been putting extra focus on the SSD market over the last few quarters. The brand was marketing entry-level QLC drives in the 2018 - 2022 time frame. Recently, emphasis has also been placed on cutting-edge SSDs - both internal (such as the Gen4 T500 and Gen5 T700) and external (such as the X10 Pro). Vertical integration, coupled with Micron being the first flash manufacturer to achieve volume production of 200+ layer 3D NAND, has been crucial to Crucial's success in these segments.

At the 2024 CES, Micron had a couple of interesting USB4 SSD technology demonstrations for its resellers / partners and invited media. These are essentially products under development (with no guarantees that they would make it to the market in their current form). Both products are bridge-based solutions using the ASMedia ASM2464PD USB4 to NVMe accessory controller. The key update over the popular ASM2364 (USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 upstream, and PCIe 3.0 x4 downstream) is the shift to a 40 Gbps USB4 upstream port along with a PCIe 4.0 x4 link downstream. The power delivery component of the Type-C specification is also implemented within the controller.

The portable SSD version has a gumstick form-factor, with the transparent casing housing a M.2 2280 SSD - a 2TB Gen4 Micron 3400 OEM drive in this case.

The drive is expected to be passively cooled, with the larger form-factor enabling a thermal performance similar to that of the X10 Pro / X9 Pro. Bridge-based solutions are the standard option for high-performance portable SSDs.

Similar configurations (bridge + DRAM-equipped M.2 SSD) such as the SanDisk Extreme PRO v2 (E81) have yielded excellent all-round performance for a wide range of workload types. We expect the same to continue in the USB4 era. That said, vendors like ADATA using the same bridge have opted for active cooling to avoid thermal throttling in their USB4 PSSD. It remains to be seen if this design will remain fanless in its final form (and if it does, thermal performance would be an interesting aspect to analyze).

The USB4 desktop SSD is a comparatively unique product. This is an actively cooled design with a small fan, and uses a U.3 SSD inside. Other vendors like OWC have tried multiple M.2 SSDs configured with software RAID in a large-sized enclosure, but this one has a single high-capacity drive (8TB in the sample being demonstrated).

Designed for stacking (without daisy-chaining support), the eSSD also requires external power. The drive can also power notebooks through the USB4 connection, which can make up for the presence of a discrete power adapter. Specifics of the power delivery will only be available when the product is officially introduced. This product could be made more attractive by having some downstream USB Type-A / Type-C ports (eSSD in a dock). That said, there are two aspects that will probably make this the performance and consistency king of USB4 SSDs - the presence of a fan, and the use of a Gen4 U.3 SSD (which is most likely an enterprise drive that advertises worst-case performance and not speeds in the SLC cache region).

The current crop of USB4 SSDs are focused on performance, and sacrifice power- and energy-efficiency. Those aspects will be addressed by native USB4 UFD controllers like Phison's U21. Silicon Motion tends to keep controllers under wraps until reference designs are ready to ship (if the introduction of the SM2320 was anything to go by). We expect external / portable SSD vendors to eventually add native UFD controller-based products to their USB4 lineup, but that seems unlikely to happen in the first half of 2024.

Frore Unveils AirJet Mini Slim: Solid-State Active Cooler Gets Slimmer and Smarter

11 janvier 2024 à 15:00

Frore Systems has introduced a revamped version of its AirJet Mini solid-state active cooling system at CES 2024. The new AirJet Mini Slim device retained performance of its predecessor (the AirJet Mini), but is slightly thinner, slightly lighter, and smarter too, as it can now clean itself and sense its temperature.

On performance side of matters, the AirJet Mini Slim generates 1750 Pascals of back pressure and can dissipate up to 5.25W of heat (at 85°C die temperature and at 25°C ambient temperature), which is in line with its predecessor. It also maintains an identical footprint of 27.5 x 41.5 mm as the original solid-state active cooling system.

Overall, there are two key enhancements in the AirJet Mini Slim compared to its predecessor: its thickness has been reduced to just 2.5mm, coming down from the previous 2.8mm; and it has become lighter, now weighing a mere 8 grams, down from 9 grams.

Another significant upgrade of the AirJet Mini Slim is its intelligent self-cleaning system, which reverses the airflow to remove any accumulated dust in the filters to ensure consistent performance of the cooler itself as well as device it is cooling down. Frore says that the capability is backwards compatible with the original AirJet Mini, which probably indicates that it is enabled by firmware or software.

Finally, the AirJet Mini Slim introduces thermal sensor — called Thermoception — that enabled the cooler to independently sense its own temperature and adapt its cooling efficiency as needed. This self-contained function is particularly advantageous for devices that cool down things which do not have their own temperature sensors, such as processors, SSD controllers, and memory chips.

All of the refinements of Frore's AirJet Mini Slim serve two purposes: expand the addressable markets for these solid-state active cooling systems and make them more adaptable to needs of customers.

"Reducing the chip's thickness by 0.3mm is a game-changer for products requiring excellent thermal management in increasingly thinner devices," said Dr. Seshu Madhavapeddy, Founder and CEO of Frore Systems. "AirJet Mini Slim will bring much-needed performance improvements to ultra-thin electronic devices like fanless laptops, tablets, and smartphones."

What remains to be seen is when we are going to see Frore's AirJet Mini Slim in actual devices. While there are numerous companies evaluating the technology, so far there are just a handful of products that have reached the market that use AirJet Minis.

Asus Unveils Dual-Screen Laptop: Zenbook Duo with two 14-inch OLED Displays

12 janvier 2024 à 12:00

Modern higher-end 14 and 16-inch-class notebooks offer performance that is enough for the vast majority of productivity and even content creation workloads. As a result, the main limitation of notebook's capabilities in many cases is their insufficient screen real estate. Over the past few years, several leading PC makers have made numerous attempts to fix this (e.g., Lenovo's Yoga Book 9iRazer's Valerie, and Apple's Sidecar). Now, it is time for Asus to demonstrate its vision.

The Asus Zenbook Duo (UX8406) is a dual-screen 14-inch-class laptop with a detachable keyboard that works as a classic notebook with one display, a machine with two touchscreens, a laptop with two monitors, or a desktop mode. The notebook takes some pages from Lenovo's Yoga Book 9i, but Asus certainly wanted it to be more appealing to those used to classic notebooks but who dare to try something new, not the other way around.

The Asus Zenbook Duo has a thickness of 1.9 cm (0.75 inches) and weighs 1.4 kilograms (3.09 lbs), thinner and lighter than Apple's MacBook Pro 14. The premium version of the machine comes with two 3K 120Hz OLED 120Hz screens (with VESA's True Black 500 badge) and a kickstand to make it possible to use two screens in vertical mode. By contrast, an affordable version of the laptop is equipped with two 2K 60Hz OLED screens.

On the performance side of matters, the Asus Zenbook Duo (UX8406) is based on up to Intel's Core Ultra 9 185H 'Meteor Lake' processor (16 cores, 22 threads) with integrated Arc graphics that can be paired with up to 32 GB of LPDDR5X memory, and up to 1 TB of SSD storage with a PCIe 4.0 interface.

As for connectivity, the Asus Zenbook Duo (UX8406) features a Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth adapter, two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, an HDMI 2.1 display output, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port, and a 3.5-mm audio jack for headsets.

To ensure long battery life (up to 13.5 hours with one screen and up to 10.5 hours on two screens of video playback), Asus equipped its Zenbook Duo with a rather massive 75Wh battery.

For now, Asus does not disclose the pricing of its Zenbook Duo (UX8406) or when it is set to be available. Meanwhile, since the company has disclosed all the specifications, we have every reason to believe the notebook will be available sooner rather than later. As for the price, this is an innovative premium notebook so that it will be priced accordingly. Interestingly, to add value to the laptop, Asus plans to include a backpack and stylus in some countries' product bundles.

EK Reveals All-In-One Liquid Cooler for Delidded CPUs

12 janvier 2024 à 20:00

Historically, delidded CPUs have been the prerogative of die-hard enthusiasts who customized their rigs to the last bit. But with emergence of specially-designed delidding tools, removing the integrated heat spreader from a CPU has become a whole lot easier, opening the door to delidding for a wider user base. To that end, EK is now offering all-in-one liquid cooling systems tailored specifically for delidded Intel LGA1700 processors.

The key difference with EKWB's new EK-Nucleus AIO CR360 Direct Die D-RGB – 1700 cooler is in the cooling plate on the combined base pump block. While the rest of the cooler is essentially lifted from the company's premium 360-mm closed-loop all-in-one liquid cooling systems, the pump block has been equipped with a unique cooling plate specifically developed for mating with (and cooling) of delidded Intel's LGA1700 CPUs.

Meanwhile, since delidded CPUs lose the additional structural integrity provided by the IHS, EK is also bundling a contact frame with the cooler that is intended to protect CPUs against warping or bending by maintaining even pressure on the CPU. A protective foam piece is also provided to prevent liquid metal from spilling over onto electrical components surrounding the CPU die.

According to the company, critical components of the new AIO, such as its backplate and die-guard frame, were collaboratively developed by EK and Roman 'Der8auer' Hartung, a renowned German overclocker who has developed multiple tools both for extreme overclockers and enthusiasts. In addition, EK bundles Thermal Grizzly's Conductonaut liquid metal thermal paste (also co-designed with Der8auer) with the cooling system.

And since this is a high-end, high-priced cooler, EKWB has also paid some attention to aesthetics. The cooler comes with two distinct pump block covers: a standard cover features a brushed aluminum skull, surrounded by a circle of LED lighting that creates a classic yet bold aesthetic, and an alternate, more minimalist cover without the skull.

Traditionally, cooling for delidded CPUs has been primarily handled by custom loop liquid cooling systems. So the EK-Nucleus AIO CR360 Direct Die D-RGB – 1700 stands out in that regard, offering a self-contained and easier-to-install option for delidded CPUs. Especially as delidding has been shown to reduce temperature of Intel's Core i9-14900K CPU by up to 12ºC, it's no coincidence that EKWB is working to make delidding a more interesting and accessible option, particularly right as high-end desktop CPU TDPs are spiking.

Wrapping things up, EKWB has priced the direct die cooler at $170, about $20 more than the EK-Nucleus AIO CR360 Lux D-RGB cooler designed for stock Intel processors. The company is taking pre-orders now, and the finished coolers are expected to start shipping in mid-March 2024.

Network-Attached Storage Market Update: ASUSTOR, Terramaster, and QNAP Introduce New NAS Units

13 janvier 2024 à 12:00

The network-attached storage (NAS) market had a break-out decade in the 2010s, with a large number of vendors trying to get a slice of the pie. Brands such as EMC / Lenovo and Thecus have fallen by the wayside, and even established storage vendors like Seagate decided to drop out of the market. QNAP and Synology have held firm in the commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) NAS market meant for home users, prosumers, SOHO, and SMB installations. ASUSTOR (backed by ASUS) has also been regularly releasing NAS units since their first product appeared in late 2012. TerraMaster released their first NAS around the same time, but opted to focus more on the direct-attached storage segment throughout the 2010s. The brand has shown renewed interest in the NAS market over the last few years. Despite the cut-throat competition in the COTS NAS market, some Asian vendors are attempting to get a toe-hold after establishing themselves in allied markets. UGREEN, a consumer electronics brand known for its power banks, chargers, USB adapters, and docks has also announced its entry into the NAS market, but we will cover that in a separate article.

Asustor, Buffalo, QNAP, Synology, TerraMaster, and Western Digital are currently the main options available for users looking to purchase a COTS NAS for SOHO / SMB use. Out of these, Buffalo and WD update their hardware options only once every 3 or 4 years. The others have a more regular cadence to their portfolio additions while continuing to maintain software support for the legacy units - sometimes even NAS units released as far as 10 years ago.

CES has usually been a good platform for NAS vendors, allowing them to show their latest and greatest in both hardware and software, and occasionally announce new models. However, the allure has been lost in recent years. It started with Synology and QNAP starting their own conference aimed towards partners / resellers and developers. Eventually, CES became relatively quiet for this market segment. Other business conferences focused on virtualization, security etc. are turning out to be better events for these NAS vendors. Overall, CES is no longer an important show for the NAS market. Having said that, the rest of this piece captures some of the announcements made in the NAS space around the 2024 CES time-frame.

At the 2024 CES, UGREEN made a big splash with the hardware options for their upcoming NASync series. Synology's booth rehashed units that have been around for a major part of 2023. A chuckle-worthy DS224+ (using an ancient Intel Celeron J4125) was also on display. ASUSTOR had a tiny presence in ASUS's suite, and the other NAS vendors gave the show a miss.

ASUSTOR Drivestor Lite and Drivestor 2/4 Pro Gen2 : Arm NAS with btrfs Support

ASUSTOR has updated their lineup of Arm-based NAS units for home / personal use, and the units are already available for purchase. The new Drivestor 2 Lite, 2 Pro Gen2, and 4 Pro Gen2 use a new Realtek processor - the RTD1619B. This is a quad-core Cortex-A55 SoC with the CPU running at 1.7 GHz. The Arm Mali-G51 MP3 in the SoC is clocked at 650 MHz. This lineup takes over the Drivestor 2, 4, 2 Pro, and 4 Pro units which had the Realtek RTD1296 (quad-core Cortex-A53 at 1.4 GHz). The increased processing power in the new processor, coupled with a new SDK from Realtek, has now allowed ASUSTOR to bring btrfs support in this lineup.

Despite using the same SoC, the Lite model differentiates itself from the Pro model by opting for half the RAM, and restricting itself to a 1 GbE LAN port (compared to the 2.5 GbE in the Pro ones). Two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports in the Pro models are placed by a USB 2.0 port in the Lite model. There are two drive bays, but the drives themselves are not hot-swappable. ASUSTOR is promoting the transcoding performance of the new performance and portraying the Drivestor 2 Lite as a capable NAS for Plex and their own 'LooksGood' application.


The Pro Gen2 models have hot-swappable bays. In addition to the hardware configuration updates, ASUSTOR is promoting a different set of applications such as Portainer (Docker) compared to the Lite model. The differences in the specifications are brought out in the table below.

ASUSTOR 2024 Drivestor Lineup
Model Drivestor 2 Lite Drivestor 2 Pro Gen2 Drivestor 4 Pro Gen2
ID AS1102TL AS3302T v2 AS3304T v2
SoC Platform Realtek RTD1619B
(4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.7 GHz / Arm Mali-G51 MP3)
RAM 1 GB DDR4 (Soldered) 2 GB DDR4 (Soldered)
OS Storage 8GB eMMC
Internal Storage / Bays 2x 3.5" SATA 4x 3.5" SATA
I/O Ports 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1
1x USB 2.0
3x USB 3.2 Gen 1
Network Ports 1x RJ-45 (1 GbE) 1x RJ-45 (2.5 GbE)
Power Adapter 65W (External) 90W (External)
Dimensions and Weight 165mm x 102mm x 218mm / 1.14 kg 170mm x 114mm x 230mm / 1.6 kg 170mm x 174mm x 230mm / 2.2 kg
Price $175 $269 $339

ASUSTOR has moved to the same platform adopted by Synology for the DS223 and other 23-series personal / home NAS models, keeping pace with the processing power offered by the competition. The introduction of btrfs support in this lineup now brings easy snapshots (and a bit of ransomware protection) to ASUSTOR's customers at an affordable price point.

TerraMaster 424 and 424 Pro: High-Performance 2.5 GbE NAS Units with Alder Lake-N

TerraMaster recently updated their entry-level x86 NAS lineup for SOHO / SMB setups. This segment was served last year by the 423 series based on Jasper Lake (Celeron N5095). The 424 series utilizes Alder Lake-N. With Intel promoting an octa-core configuration as a Core i3 in this series, TerraMaster is also launching a 424 Pro utilizing the Core i3-N300.

The specifications of the three units are summarized in the table below.

TerraMaster 424 NAS Series (Alder Lake-N)
Model F2-424 F4-424 F4-424 Pro
SoC Platform Intel N95
(4x Gracemont @ up to 3.4 GHz / Intel UHD Graphics)
Intel Core i3-N300
(8x Gracemont @ up to 3.8 GHz / Intel UHD Graphics)
RAM 1x 8 GB DDR5-4800 SODIMM (Expandable to 1x 32 GB) 1x 32 GB DDR5-4800 SODIMM
Internal Storage / Bays 2x 3.5" SATA
2x M.2 2280 Gen3 x4 NVMe
4x 3.5" SATA
2x M.2 2280 Gen3 x4 NVMe
I/O Ports 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type-A)
1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type-C)
Network Ports 2x RJ-45 (2x 2.5 GbE)
Power Adapter 40W (External) 90W (External)
Dimensions and Weight 222mm x 119mm x 154mm / 2.2 kg 222mm x 179mm x 154mm / 3.4 kg
Price $380 $500 $700

The TNAS operating system (TOS) is currently at 5.1, with the release of TOS 6.0 in the near future. Being a comparatively new entrant to the NAS world, the OS and mobile applications lack the polish of the offerings from established vendors, but the good news is that things can only improve from here. The hardware itself is quite capable, and the new 424 series is the first Alder Lake-N-based COTS NAS that we have seen for purchase. Terramaster had earlier experimented with a 10 GbE NAS using Apollo Lake, though it was unable to saturate that interface. The company seems to have opted for a more cost-effective platform with Alder Lake-N in the 424 series.

QNAP Ryzen 7000 Rackmounts, Wider TBS-h574TX NASBook Availability and Application Updates

QNAP remains busy throughout the year, regularly announcing hardware with the latest and greatest from Intel / AMD / ARM-based SoC vendors. The company also takes pride in updating different 'plugins' / first-party applications for their QTS / QuTS Here operating systems to increase their usefulness. Similar to Synology, the focus is slowly shifting more towards business users as a majority of their recent announcements have been related to their ZFS-enabled QuTS Hero-running NAS units.

At the 2023 CES, the company had teased their first consumer-focused hot-swappable all-flash NAS with M.2 / E1.S SSD support. The TBS-h574TX reached retail in late 2023, and QNAP uploaded a comprehensive video detailing the usage and features of the unit last month. After participating in the launch webinar prior to that, my expectations were tempered a bit. In the year since its teaser, the E1.S form-factor has not taken off as expected. Instead, we saw vendors like Solidigm and Micron focus on the traditional 2.5" form-factor with U.2 and U.3 SSDs. E1.L is making more sense for rackmount machines requiring very high storage density, but the general market trend seems to be more towards U.2 / U.3 for both consumer and SMB / SME on-premise usage. 2023 also saw the launch of 64TB-class U.2 / U.3 SSDs, and this form-factor seems widely available for purchase.

We believe that the M.2 form-factor in the NAS is better suited for caching and/or non-hot-swappable storage, while U.2 / U.3 makes more sense for hot-swappable units. QNAP pioneered the all-flash consumer NAS with the TBS-464 and ASUSTOR's Flashstor series made additional options available. The TBS-h574TX brings hot-swap into the picture, but some of the drawbacks of the designs still remain. For example, none of the SSD slots get the full four-lane capability, even though they physically accept x4 SSDs. QNAP contends that this is enough to saturate the 10GbE link, but that seems like a trade-off best avoided when it is possible to use the network port along with Thunderbolt (acting in IP mode with only 10 Gb capability per port) to have a 30 GbE up / 30 GbE down configuration. Single-slot occupancy can't deliver full performance in that configuration. In any case, QNAP believes their video production house customers will still find this unit delivering better performance than other options currently available in this form-factor, and they may be right on the practical front.

At $1200, this Raptor Lake-based system is not particularly cheap. Despite using an embedded part (Core i3-1340PE) which comes with in-band ECC support from Intel, QNAP doesn't have that enabled in the system (hopefully it is something that can be addressed in a future update). Overall, this product seems like a missed opportunity for QNAP in the all-flash consumer NAS market.

Moving on to the latest hardware introductions, QNAP is focusing more on ZFS-enabled NAS units now. The company recently introduced two rackmount units based on the Ryzen 7000 series, and their specifications are summarized in the table below.

QNAP TS-h77AXU-RP Series (Ryzen 7000 Series)
Model TS-h1277AXU-RP-R5-16G TS-h1277AXU-RP-R7-32G TS-h1677AXU-RP-R7-32G
Platform AMD Ryzen 5 7600
(6C/12T Zen 4 @ up to 5.1 GHz / AMD Radeon Graphics)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700
(8C/16T Zen 4 @ up to 5.3 GHz / AMD Radeon Graphics)
RAM (ECC UDIMMs Supported) 1x 16 GB DDR5-5200 UDIMM (Expandable to 4x 32 GB) 1x 32 GB DDR5-5200 UDIMM (Expandable to 4x 32 GB)
Internal Storage / Bays 12x 3.5" SATA
2x M.2 2280 Gen5 x2 NVMe
16x 3.5" SATA
2x M.2 2280 Gen5 x2 NVMe
I/O Ports 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type-A)
Network Ports 4x RJ-45 ([2x 2.5 GbE] + [2x 10GBASE-T])
PCIe Expansion Slots (Slot 1 + Slot 2): (Gen4 x4 + Gen4 x4) or (N/A + Gen4 x8)
Slot 3: Gen4 x4
Power Supply 550W x2
Dimensions and Weight (2U) 88.65mm x 432.05mm x 511.3mm / 13 kg (3U) 131.32mm x 482.09mm x 550.93mm / 15.64 kg
Price $3299 $3999 $4699

All models utilize 5GB of flash storage with dual-boot OS protection. ZFS support brings in deduplication and other features important for enterprise deployments. These are some of the first NAS units to support Gen5 M.2 SSDs (albeit, with x2 links), and QNAP advises use of their own heat-sink on them for use in these rackmounts. The redundant power supply configuration is also important in the use-case scenarios for these units, and the available expansion slots allows end users / IT administrators to add 25GbE network cards or SAS / SATA storage expansion cards as required. GPU pass-through is also supported, which can help specific virtualization setups where the VM and associated storage setup run on the same server block.

In software news from QNAP, the company is also promoting its machine-learning based drive failure prediction tool that uses a cloud-based engine beyond the traditional SMART readouts. It uses a third-party engine and requires a license purchase for use on more than one disk per NAS. QNAP is also touting its SSD anti-wear leveling features (QSAL) as a differentiating aspect of its QuTS ZFS operating system. These types of value-additions may help QuTS go head-to-head against options like TrueNAS.

The Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5 CPU Cooler Review: When Less Is More

16 janvier 2024 à 14:00

Last month we took a look at Be Quiet's Dark Rock Elite, the company's flagship CPU tower air cooler. The RGB LED-equipped cooler proved flashy in more ways than one, but true to its nature as a flagship product, it also carried a $115 price tag to match. Which is certainly not unearned, but it makes the Elite hard to justify when pairing it with more mainstream CPUs, especially as these chips don't throw off the same chart-topping levels of heat as their flagship counterparts.

Recognizing the limited audience for a $100+ cooler, Be Quiet! is also offering what is essentially a downmarket version of that cooler with the Dark Rock Pro 5. Utilizing the same heatsink as the Dark Rock Elite as its base, the Dark Rock Pro 5 cuts back on some of the bells and whistles that are found on the flagship Elite in order to sell at a lower price while still serving as a high-end cooler. Among these changes are getting rid of the RGB lighting, and using simple wire fan mounts in place of the Elite's nifty rails. The end result is that it allows the Dark Rock Pro 5 to hit a notably lower price point of $80, putting it within the budgets of more system builders, and making it a more practical pairing overall with mainstream CPUs.

But perhaps the most important aspect of all is a simple one: cooling performance. What does the Dark Rock Pro 5 give up in cooling performance in order to hit its lower price tag? As we'll see in this review, the answer to that is "surprisingly little," making the Dark Rock Pro 5 a very interesting choice for mid-to-high end CPUs. Particularly for system builders looking for an especially quiet CPU cooler.

Synopsys to Acquire Ansys: Set to Offer EDA, Analysis, and Simulation Tools

16 janvier 2024 à 23:30

Synopsys on Tuesday announced that it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire Ansys in a deal valued at $35 billion. Synopsys specializes primarily on electronic design automation (EDA) tools and hardware intellectual property (IP) development, whereas Ansys develops electronics design analysis, and simulation tools, so the deal will create a chip design software powerhouse with expertise in different fields.

Chip development is getting harder these days as evolution of process technologies slows down whereas transistor count goes up. To achieve the best power, performance, and area (PPA) results, chip designers nowadays have to work closely with foundries to optimize their design and process technology, an approach called design-technology co-optimization (DTCO). Going forward, chip designer will have to build multi-chiplet solutions to better address demanding applications, go beyond DTCO and optimize their solutions on the system level, an approach known as system technology co-optimization (STCO).

This is where Ansys' design analysis and simulation will get particularly useful for customers using Synopsys' EDA tools. Once they are fully integrated with Synopsys software (particularly those which are enhanced with artificial intelligence), the company will be able to offer a top-to-bottom software package to design next-generation processors and systems. This will greatly strengthen its competitive positions against rivals like Cadence and Siemens EDA.

Meanwhile, Synopsys and Ansys have collaborated since 2017, so the tools by the two companies already provide a decent development flow.

"The megatrends of AI, silicon proliferation and software-defined systems are requiring more compute performance and efficiency in the face of growing, systemic complexity," said Sassine Ghazi, President and CEO of Synopsys. "Bringing together Synopsys' industry-leading EDA solutions with Ansys' world-class simulation and analysis capabilities will enable us to deliver a holistic, powerful and seamlessly integrated silicon to systems approach to innovation to help maximize the capabilities of technology R&D teams across a broad range of industries. This is the logical next step for our successful, seven-year partnership with Ansys.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ansys shareholders will get $197.00 in cash and 0.3450 shares of Synopsys stock per Ansys share, valuing Ansys at about $35 billion based on Synopsys' stock price as of December 21, 2023. This deal offers a per-share value of roughly $390.19, a 29% premium over Ansys' closing price and 35% above its 60-day average price as of that date. Post-deal, Ansys shareholders will own about 16.5% of the merged company. Synopsys plans to fund the $19 billion cash part of the transaction with its cash reserves and $16 billion in committed debt financing.

Following the acquisition of Ansys, Synopsys is anticipated to see its total addressable market (TAM) expand by 1.5 times, reaching around $28 billion annually, and its annual revenue of around $8 billion. The merged entity is aiming for roughly $400 million in annual cost synergies within three years after closing and about $400 million in annual revenue synergies by the fourth year, with expectations to exceed $1 billion annually over a longer period.

"Joining forces with Ansys, a company we know well from our long-standing partnership, is the latest example of how Synopsys remains at the forefront," said Aart de Geus, Executive Chair and Founder of Synopsys. "Our Board and management team carefully evaluated our top strategic options to lead and win in this fast-growing new wave of electronics and system design. The technology-broadening team-up with Ansys is an ideal, value-enhancing step for our company, our shareholders, and the innovative customers we serve."

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