MSI, a global leader in gaming PC hardware, is thrilled to announce the release of its highly anticipated SSD powerhouse, the SPATIUM M580 FROZR, ushering in a new era of storage performance. With cutting-edge technology and innovative thermal solutions, this SSD is set to redefine the standards of speed and reliability in storage solutions.

SPATIUM M580 FROZR, Reaching New Heights with Crowned Speeds
The SPATIUM M580 FROZR sets a new benchmark in storage performance with its revolutionary features. Powered by the state-of-the-art PHISON E26 PCIe Gen 5 controller and equipped with advanced 3D NAND flash modules boasting 232 layers, this SSD achieves mind-blowing read speeds of up to 14.6 GB/s and write speeds of up to 12.7 GB/s, up to 2 times faster transfer rates compared to current PCIe 4.0 SSDs. This represents a significant leap in speeds, boosted by a DRAM cache buffer and a SLC Cache, providing users with lightning-fast data access and gaining valuable milliseconds in latency for gaming, content creation, and professional applications. Additionally, the M580 FROZR is fortified with LPDC ECC and E2E Data Protection, ensuring data integrity and reliability. With a high TBW (Terabytes Written) value and backed by a comprehensive 5-year warranty, users can trust in the durability and longevity of the SPATIUM M580 FROZR in 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB variants after an easy installation.

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is excited to introduce the SL500 Portable SSD, the latest addition to its portable SSD lineup. Featuring a super-slim, solid aluminium unibody construction that fits in the palm of your hand, the Lexar SL500 Portable SSD delivers exceptional 2000 MB/s max read and 1800 MB/s max write speeds for maximized efficiency.

The SL500 Portable SSD is compatible with a wide range of devices. It is a slim and convenient companion for the iPhone 15 series, serving as a backup for photos, videos, and more. It pairs especially well with iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max devices. It supports Apple Pro Res Recording allowing users to shoot directly to the drive in 4K at up to 60 FPS. Paired with Mac OSX 10.6+, Windows 11/10/7/8, or Android 4.4+, it offers substantial extra storage. It can also be used to store massive game files for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation 5 with system software version 4.50 or higher (playing or storing PS4 games; storing PS5 games), Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S (playing or storing Xbox One games; storing Xbox Series X | S games). It also comes with Lexar DataShield, a 256-bit AES encryption software to keep files secure.

Patriot Memory brought their latest ware to the 2024 International CES that use recent advancements in tech on both the SSD and memory fronts. On the SSD front, this year sees 14 GB/s capable PCIe Gen 5 NVMe SSDs thanks to Phison's E26 Max14um controller; and a new crop of USB4 portable SSDs; while the memory front sees DDR5 speeds go far north of DDR5-6000, thanks to on-module CKDs. Patriot showed us examples of each.

First up, there's the Patriot Viper PV573 Gen 5 NVMe SSD. This thing comes in capacities of up to 4 TB, and combines a Phison E26 Max14um controller with Micron's latest B58R TLC NAND flash chips that offer 2400 MT/s per flash channel. The controller also gets some incremental thermal optimizations, which means the cooling solution for the PV573 is a 16.5 mm-tall fan-heatsink. The drive offers up to 14 GB/s sequential reads, with up to 12 GB/s sequential writes. There's also a slightly de-rated version of this drive, the Viper PV553, which has the same combination of controller and NAND flash, but with transfer speeds of up to 12.4 GB/s reads, with up to 11.8 GB/s writes.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced the 2024 Strix family of laptops, including the Strix SCAR 18, the first 18-inch ROG laptop equipped with the mini LED ROG Nebula HDR Display. As the vanguard of gaming laptops, all 2024 Strix machines feature the latest flagship Intel Core i9 processor 14900HX, with the Strix SCAR 16 and SCAR 18 sporting up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU with 175 W max TGP. Paired with a complete suite of the latest intelligent cooling improvements, including Tri-Fan technology and Conductonaut Extreme liquid metal on both the CPU and GPU, the 2024 Strix family of laptops has arrived to dominate the competition.

Brilliant detail
This year marks the introduction of the first ROG 18-inch display powered by Mini LED technology. HDR content and games have arrived on the big screen with the arrival of the 2024 Strix SCAR 18, with its Nebula HDR Display boasting over 2000 discrete dimming zones and 1100 nits of peak brightness. On an 18-inch panel, this dimming zone density coupled with the ROG Nebula HDR Engine minimizes blooming and haloing even in challenging scenes, giving the Strix SCAR 18 incredibly vivid HDR performance.

Other World Computing www.OWC.com -- the leading end-to-end ecosystem solution provider of computer hardware, accessories, and software for both consumers and professionals - today introduced the Express 1M2, the first USB4 drive and fastest single blade NVMe OWC has ever offered.

Exceptional Speed, Ultimate Flexibility
The OWC Express 1M2 was purposefully built to maximize the performance capabilities of today's and tomorrow's USB4-equipped Macs and PCs. It offers photo and video professionals, DITs, and prosumers/performance enthusiasts real-world speeds up to 3151 MB/s. It also offers versatile compatibility to work with millions of existing Thunderbolt and USB-C machines and devices.

Aimed at the thriving creator market, T-CREATE, the creator brand under the leading memory provider Team Group Inc., has announced the T-CREATE CinemaPr P31 Portable External SSD, providing professional photographers, movie creators, and users of smartphones such as the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max with fast and reliable expanded storage, perfect for capturing breathtaking content. For digital creations, this top-of-the-line portable storage device is your best choice.

The T-CREATE CinemaPr P31 Portable External SSD utilizes patent-pending technology and designs, featuring proprietary, first-of-their-kind 12 1/4" screw holes and a bundled screw set that fits all 1/4" screw hole cages. Whether on a cage for a cinema camera, digital SLR camera, or an iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max, the CinemaPr P31 can be installed multi-directionally and is suitable for a variety of situations. Its flexibility makes expansion and setup a breeze. Compact and weighing only 110 g, this lightweight and easy-to-carry external SSD can be installed on photography and video equipment effortlessly.

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today unveiled the T5 EVO, a lightweight portable Solid-State Drive (SSD) that provides up to 8 terabytes (TB) of capacity, which is the largest capacity size currently offered by portable SSDs available on the market. Along with its capacity, the T5 EVO delivers ultra-fast speeds in a compact, durable design as a cutting-edge, versatile SSD solution.

"For consumers who are looking for substitutes for traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), the T5 EVO - offering the largest-available capacity along with speed and durability in a compact design that fits in the palm of your hand - is an innovative, new external storage option," said Hangu Sohn, Vice President of the Memory Brand Product Biz Team at Samsung Electronics. "The T5 EVO is built to fulfill the needs of a wide range of consumers with diverse lifestyles. Its capacity of up to 8 TB, fast speeds, compact design and data protection from external shocks are well-suited for users who want to store and access data anywhere, anytime."

CORSAIR, a world leader in enthusiast components for gamers, creators, and PC builders, today announced the launch of the MP700 PRO, its fastest PCIe Gen 5 M.2 SSD to date. Available in capacities up to 4 TB, with three different cooling options, the MP700 PRO sets a new standard for next-generation storage, with sequential read and write performance reaching a phenomenal 12,400 MB/sec and 11,800 MB/sec respectively—that's up to 75% faster than PCIe 4.0 SSDs.

On top of the impressive sequential throughput, the random read and write performance of up to 1.5 million read and 1.6 million write input/output operations per second (IOPS) put the MP700 PRO way ahead of the best PCIe Gen 4 drives. The MP700 PRO is backward compatible with PCIe 4.0 motherboards, making this an upgrade that will last you for years to come. Native support for Microsoft DirectStorage ensures that you'll get the most from the latest games, while copying files in Windows and loading applications has never felt so fast.

[Editor's note: Our in-depth review of the MP700 Pro is now live]

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced the release of a new 4-terabyte (TB) offering in its SSD 990 PRO series. The 990 PRO series is a lineup of high-performance PCIe 4.0 SSDs powered by Samsung's eighth-generation V-NAND (V8) technology and enhanced proprietary controller. Offering blazing-fast speeds and ultimate power efficiency, the 990 PRO series is optimized for massive data volumes, such as 3D/4K graphics work, data analytics and high-quality games, making it the ideal SSD for today's PCs, laptops, game consoles and computing systems. With improved total bytes written (TBW) ratings of up to 2,400 TB, the 990 PRO series ensures increased SSD reliability and longevity, ideal for those with highly demanding workloads and large storage capacity needs.

"Today's gamers and creative professionals require high-capacity, high-performance SSDs and Samsung's new 4 TB SSD 990 PRO is the perfect storage solution to meet their needs," said Hangu Sohn, Corporate Vice President of the Memory Brand Product Biz Team at Samsung Electronics. "As the demand for high-resolution content and ultra-fast data-processing speeds continues to grow, high-performance NVMe storage has become a core requirement."

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is unveiling a variety of new products that are estimated to be launched in Q4 2023. Designed for photography professionals and PC enthusiasts to accelerate their workflow, the expanded portfolio includes a new microSD card, internal SSDs, DRAM, and portable SSDs.

The new Professional GOLD micro SDXC UHS-II card, available in 128 GB and 256 GB, leverages the high-speed performance and a Video Speed Class 60 (V60) rating, allowing users to quickly capture, play back, and transfer high-definition multimedia files, including 4K video, with a read transfer speed up to 280 MB/s. This card is also great for use with gaming devices, sports camcorders, tablets, or smartphones, and drones.

Samsung Semiconductor introduced its 990 PRO Flagship PCIe Gen 4 SSD range a year ago, with 1 TB and 2 TB models available day one on launch. The South Korean company also teased a 4 TB variant for release in 2023—recent activity on social media indicates that the higher capacity model will be coming soon (but no firm date was touted): "You wanted it so badly, we had no choice but to deliver. The 4 TB 990 PRO by Samsung SSD is coming. Same blazing-fast storage with double the max capacity for gaming, video, 3D editing, and more. Stay tuned for more details."

According to Samsung's specification sheet, the 990 Pro 4 TB is due to arrive in two forms—a plain drive (MZ-V9P4T0BW) with a simple/thin graphene heat spreader and a fancier version sporting an aluminium heatsink (MZ-V9P4T0CW). The latest marketing blurb continues to place emphasis on the 990 Pro M.2 2280 drives being ideal candidates for upgrading the PlayStation 5's (PCIe 4.0) internal storage—we will have to wait closer to launch time for the 4 TB variant's MSRP, although its eventual pricing is most likely going to target enthusiast PC users. The 2 TB model (w/ heatsink) is currently available for $149.99 (down from the original launch value of $309.99) at the time of writing.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced the Crucial X9 Pro Portable SSD and Crucial X10 Pro Portable SSD, two new performance offerings in the Crucial Pro Series product portfolio, designed for content creators such as photographers, videographers, designers, or any performance-seeking consumer. Both drives utilize Micron TLC NAND and leverage a revolutionary single-ASIC portable storage architecture to enable a breakthrough, ultra-compact, lightweight form factor and allows Micron to ship the most capacity per square millimeter in the industry. With either the Crucial X9 Pro and X10 Pro, users can safely store, transport and backup important videos, photos, files and more on the go, without cloud or internet access at lightning-fast speeds.

"We recognize that fast, efficient workflow processes are essential to the success of videographers, photographers and other content creators," said Jonathan Weech, senior director of product marketing for Micron's Commercial Products Group. "We designed and built our two new portable SSDs, the Crucial X9 Pro and the Crucial X10 Pro, to specifically address these demanding workloads. With more photos and videos being taken than ever before, consumers are looking for ways to save, preserve and protect their digital lives reliably and quickly. These two new Crucial Pro Portable SSDs are a great choice for anyone who needs dependable, fast, high-capacity storage."

The European brand expands its portfolio of PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSDs in M.2 format with a model dedicated to the PS 5 console. It is the IRDM PRO SLIM - ideal not only for gamers, but also professionals and enthusiasts.

The IRDM PRO SLIM is a twin model of the IRDM PRO M.2 SSD. Unlike its predecessor, the new drive is offered without a heatsink, making it 100% compliant with Sony's requirements for PlayStation 5 console drives. The technical parameters speak in favour of choosing an SSD from a European manufacturer. Maximum read and write speeds are 7000/6850 MB/s, respectively. The PCIe 4 x4 NVMe interface delivers twice the speed of older 3 x4 solutions. The memory speed is also influenced by DRAM buffer of up to 2 GB, thanks to which the drive works stably even under heavy use.

Not entirely unexpected, Seagate is getting ready to launch its first PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD which will be going under the name of FireCuda 540 and now details of the upcoming drive have appeared online courtesy of Amazon UK, B&H Photo and others that have put up the product for pre-order. For those worried about the lack of a 4 TB SKU, you can relax, as the company is planning a 4 TB SKU, which is made clear from the pictures posted by Amazon UK. However, changing the digit in the model number that represents the drive size, doesn't bring up any info about a 4 TB SKU at the moment.

It doesn't look like the FireCuda 540 will be competing with the fastest PCI 5.0 NVMe drives, as it's only listed as offering sequential drives speeds of up to 10 GB/s, although this applies to both read and write speeds for the 2 TB SKU, with the 1 TB SKU being somewhat slower with read speeds of 9.5 GB/s and write speeds of 8.5 GB/s. The 1 TB SKU is good for 1,000 TB TBW, with the 2 TB SKU doubling this to 2,000 TB and the 4 TB SKU apparently hitting 3,949 TB or as Seagate put it, this allows you to erase 90 percent of the drive every day for five years. B&H Photo has the drives listed at US$189.99 for the 1 TB SKU and US$319,99 for the 2 TB SKU—making both SKUs cheaper than Crucials T700—with Amazon UK listing the 1 TB SKU for £203.48 and no pricing for the 2 TB SKU. It's unclear when the Seagate FireCuda 540 will launch, but it can't be far away.

VisionTek Products LLC, a leading provider of high-performance upgrades and accessories for PCs and Macs, today unveiled its new lineup of M.2 solid-state drives (SSDs) featuring exceptional speed, thermal management and durability. These next-generation form factor M.2 drives cater to demanding workloads and offer blazing fast read and write speeds up to 7,500 MB/s.

The DLX4 PCIe 4.0 SSDs feature a PCIe 4.0 interface for high-bandwidth, low-latency performance for the most demanding of workloads. The range includes 2230, 2242 and 2280 SSDs to support a variety of systems and devices. Capacities range from 500 GB to 4 TB, making the SSDs perfect for applications like 3D rendering, gaming and video editing.

Transcend Memory introduced a high-capacity 4 TB variant of its MTE250H (with heatsink) and MTE250S (without heatsink) M.2 NVMe Gen 4 SSD that the company debuted in October 2022. The former comes with an extruded-aluminium heatsink, while the latter has a graphene-coated film on top of the hot components. The drive offers an NVMe 1.4-compliant 8-channel controller that uses a DRAM cache; paired with 3D TLC NAND flash memory. The drives take advantage of PCI-Express 4.0 x4 host interface. The 4 TB variant offers sequential transfer rates of up to 7.5 GB/s reads, with up to 6.7 GB/s writes; up to 540k IOPS random reads, and up to 440k IOPS random writes; along with a rated endurance of 3,120 TBW. Transcend is backing these drives with 5-year warranties.

ADATA today unveiled a 4 TB variant of its Premier series M.2 NVMe SSD with integrated heatsink (APSFG-4TCS). The drive takes advantage of PCIe Gen 4 x4 interface, and targets the crowd that wants storage upgrades for their Sony PlayStation 5 consoles. The drive offers sequential read speeds of up to 6300 MB/s when used with a PS5. It's slightly faster when used with a PC, with sequential transfer rates of up to 7400 MB/s sequential reads, with up to 6600 MB/s sequential writes. ADATA is backing the drive with an impressive 2960 TBW endurance rating, and with a 5-year warranty. The company didn't reveal pricing.

MSI is announcing the launch of our new Gen4 PCIe NVMe models to its SSD category - SPATIUM M461, M452 & M453 in M.2 2280 form factors that can be easily installed into compatible desktop motherboards and laptops. These new products allow MSI to continue to refine its identity as a high-performance PC brand and grow its product ecosystem by expanding SPATIUM, our high-performance storage category. Our SSDs are built with high-quality, high-density 3D NAND flash that delivers astonishing performance and endurance for professionals, content creators, and gamers.

SPATIUM M461, The Competitive PCIe 4.0 SSD for Mainstream Segment.
SPATIUM M461 was developed to meet the expectations of mainstream SSD consumers. Blazing fast speeds up to 5000 MB/sec sequential read and 4200 MB/sec sequential write speeds allow users using the latest generation of PCs to enjoy the capabilities of the PCIe Gen4 interface. Available storage capacities are 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, and 4 TB.

Intel's Sapphire Rapids CPUs are designed to represent the company's finest work for the server/enterprise and high-end desktop processor (HEDT) sector. According to Wccftech, we have an idea of the launch date and availability of the HEDT Sapphire Rapids Workstation counterparts, codenamed Fishhawk Falls. The Intel Sapphire Rapids-WS CPU and W790 motherboard unveil should happen on the 7th week of 2023, which means the 12th Feb - 18th Feb launch window. For availability, April of 2023 is scheduled to meet the needs of the upcoming HEDT clients. With a declining HEDT market, Intel is in no rush to deliver the CPUs, with priority being the server Sapphire Rapids designs.

As a reminder, the HEDT models should come with up to 56 cores and 112 threads, 105 MB of L3 cache, 350 W TDP, and 112 PCIe Gen 5.0 lanes. For memory, the platform support 8-channel DDR5-4400 (1DPC) / DDR5-4800 (2DPC) configurations with a capacity of up to 4 TB.

Kingston FURY, the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced the addition of Kingston FURY Renegade SSD with Heatsink, its second-generation PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 drive for console and PC gamers. Kingston FURY Renegade SSD with Heatsink maintains speed and temperature while delivering cutting-edge performance in high capacities using the latest Gen 4x4 controller.

By maximizing the available bandwidth of PCIe 4.0, Kingston FURY Renegade SSDs achieve speeds up to 7,300/7,000 MB/s read/write and up to 1,000,000 IOPS to deliver amazing consistency for an exceptional gaming experience. The drives are optimized to reduce game and application load times, stream and capture with ease and give your system an overall boost in responsiveness. Available in high capacities up to 4 TB, users can store an extensive library of their favorite games and media and still have space for the latest titles. Kingston FURY Renegade SSD offer two options for users both with formidable speeds and massive capacities:

ASUS, a global technology leader renowned for continuously reimagining today's technologies for tomorrow, today announced ExpertBook B6 Flip (B6602F)—the first Expert-series flippable mobile workstation.

This high-performance mobile workstation with its versatile 360° hinge is designed specifically to help architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) companies running industry-leading software solutions like 3ds Max, MicroStation, and Vectorworks. With immense power packed in a slim and flippable form, ExpertBook B6 Flip handles complex workloads seamlessly across AEC disciplines. It helps users bring design concepts to life through BIM software like ArchiCAD, effortlessly transition from 2D sketches to 3D modelling and printing via tools like Creo and Solidworks, and handle data-intensive applications for deeper insights and better decision-making—delivering the edge that AEC companies need in today's competitive market.

Corsair has quietly launched two new SSD SKUs, the MP600 PRO NH and the MP600 GS. Although the model names seem similar, the two models couldn't be more different. Both are PCIe 4.0 x4 drives and in both cases controllers from Phison are used, but beyond both using a black PCB, the common features end here. The MP600 PRO NH is based around the Phison E18 and delivers sequential read speeds of up to 7000 MB/s, with the write speeds peaking at 6500 MB/s, depending on the storage capacity and this is where things get really interesting. Corsair is offering the MP600 PRO NH in capacities of up to 8 TB, but the SKU with the overall best performance is the 4 TB SKU. Random write performance is said to be up to 1.2 million IOPS, with random read performance topping out around 1 million IOPS. For some reason Corsair is offering a 500 GB SKU as well, but it offers fairly poor performance compared to its larger siblings. All drives use 3 TLC NAND, so we're not looking at QLC drives here.

The MP600 GS on the other hand is based on the Phison E21T, which is a DRAM-less controller that targets the more affordable drive segment. Here we're looking at only two SKUs, 500 GB or 1 TB, with the 1 TB drive offering sequential read speeds of up to 4800 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 3900 MB/s. The random read speed hits 580k IOPS with the random write speeds reaching 800k IOPS. This drive is also using 3D TLC NAND. The MP600 GS costs US$57.99 for the 500 GB SKU and US$92.99 for the 1 TB SKU. The MP600 PRO NH starts at US$72.99 for the 500 GB SKU, followed by US$112.99 for 1 TB, US$212.99 for 2 TB, US$529.99 for 4 TB and finally a rather steep US$1,074.99 for the 8 TB SKU. Both models come with a five year warranty.

be quiet!, the German manufacturer for premium PC components, is proud to announce that its MC1 M.2 SSD cooler is a perfect match for the brand-new PlayStation 5 SSD expansion capabilities.

For those running out of storage space on the built-in solid-state drive of the PlayStation 5, Sony has recently released a firmware update that unlocks the M.2 SSD expansion slot, allowing users to add an additional solid-state drive to the console. These drives can run very hot, which could cause SSD throttling, prompting Sony to recommend only using M.2 SSDs with a heatsink. be quiet! offers gamers the ideal solution with its MC1 cooler, which is compatible with any single-sided or double-sided 2280 M.2 SSD that does not feature a built-in heatsink. It is also one of the only M.2 SSD coolers on the market compact enough to perfectly fit inside the expansion slot of the PlayStation 5 and able to cool double-sided SSDs, protecting the memory modules on both sides of the PCB from overheating. The result is much lower and safer SSD temperatures, which translates into trouble-free gaming sessions and an increased lifespan of the drive.

TEAMGROUP unveils the T-FORCE CARDEA Z44Q PCIe 4.0 SSD with two patented cooling modules, QLC Flash, and PCIe Gen 4x4 interface that supports the latest NVMe 1.4 standard and provides a massive capacity of up to 4 TB. Consumers can opt for different specs based on their preference and needs, and gamers can have everything from cooling, performance, and capacity in one SSD, and explore the infinite possibilities with T-FORCE CARDEA Z44Q PCIe4.0 SSD.

Equipped with QLC Flash, the T-FORCE CARDEA Z44Q PCIe 4.0 SSD supports the latest PCIe Gen 4x4 interface and NVMe 1.4 standards, meaning that it is compatible with PCIe Gen3.0 interface while offering up to 4 TB in capacity. The read/write speeds reach up to 5,000/4,000 MB/s, which are 10 times faster than traditional SSDs, making it a pioneer for the new TB M.2 era and the best choice for players in terms of cooling, speed, and capacity.

Crucial, Micron's global consumer brand of memory and storage, today launched an expansion of its award-winning portable solid-state drive (SSD) portfolio to offer consumers more options for external storage performance, capacity and value at any price point. The new products include the high-capacity 4 TB portable SSD at a RRP of 489.95 USD, and a new 500 GB portable SSD for a wallet-friendly RRP of 69.95 USD. Consumers looking to store large gaming libraries or more movies for long road trips will find an ideal solution in the Crucial X6.

With read speeds up to 800 MB/s, the 4 TB drive performs up to 5.6 times faster than portable hard drives in the market and are drop-proof up to 6.5 feet. Similar to the existing products in the Crucial X6 portable SSD lineup, the 4 TB and 500 GB versions deliver compact portable SSDs in these capacities to consumers for the first time. The entire award-winning Crucial portable SSD product line is compatible with the latest USB-C-enabled devices, such as PCs, Macs, PlayStation 5, Android devices and more. When used with the Crucial USB-C to USB-A adapter, the portable drives also work with PS4, Xbox One, XBOX Series S|X and other USB-A devices.