EK, the leading computer cooling solutions provider, is now offering an enterprise-grade GPU water block for PNY NVIDIA A100 80 GB PCIe data center GPUs. The EK-Pro GPU WB A100 80 GB Rack - Nickel + Inox is a high-performance water block specifically engineered to make the entire GPU and water block assembly as thin as possible, effectively allowing it to consume only a single PCIe slot width-wise. The water block is equipped with a rack-style terminal, considerably reducing the assembly height and increasing the chassis compatibility.

By spanning the entire PCB, the water block directly cools the GPU, HBM VRAM, and the VRM (voltage regulation module) as the cooling liquid is channeled directly over these critical areas.

In December of 2021, we covered the appearance of Russia's home-grown Baikal-S processor, which has 48 cores based on Arm Cortex-A75 cores. Today, thanks to the famous chip photographer Fritzchens Fritz, we have the first die shows that show us exactly how Baikal-S SoC is structured internally and what it is made up of. Manufactured on TSMC's 16 nm process, the Baikal-S BE-S1000 design features 48 Arm Cortex-A75 cores running at a 2.0 GHz base and a 2.5 GHz boost frequency. With a TDP of 120 Watts, the design seems efficient, and the Russian company promises performance comparable to Intel Skylake Xeons or Zen1-based AMD EPYC processors. It also uses a home-grown RISC-V core for management and controlling secure boot sequences.

Below, you can see the die shots taken by Fritzchens Fritz and annotated details by Twitter user Locuza that marked the entire SoC. Besides the core clusters, we see that a slum of cache connects everything, with six 72-bit DDR4-3200 PHYs and memory controllers surrounding everything. This model features a pretty good selection of I/O for a server CPU, as there are five PCIe 4.0 x16 (4x4) interfaces, with three supporting CCIX 1.0. You can check out more pictures below and see the annotations for yourself.

GIGABYTE Technology, (TWSE: 2376), an industry leader in high-performance servers and workstations, today announced supporting products for the new AMD AM5 platform starting with two GIGABYTE motherboards, MC13-LE0 & MC13-LE1, that pair a consumer CPU with IPMI management functionalities via BMC. Additionally, a new desktop workstation, W332-Z00, was released using the same motherboard series platform that supports remote management, but the W332 does so with a Realtek NIC that enables DASH.

The new GIGABYTE products designed to support host systems are deceivingly powerful with a small micro-ATX form factor motherboard and enterprise rich out-of-band management features on top of PCIe Gen 5 and DDR5 technologies. These new client friendly products will be found in office settings under a desk rather than a rack in a data center, as they be managed from anywhere, provided there is a network connection. Furthermore, these new products are purpose built for the mainstream AMD B650E chipset with AMD Zen 4 architecture for AMD Ryzen 7000 Series desktop processors.

NVIDIA's high-performance computing hardware stack is now equipped with the top-of-the-line Hopper H100 GPU. It features 16896 or 14592 CUDA cores, developing if it comes in SXM5 of PCIe variant, with the former being more powerful. Both variants come with a 5120-bit interface, with the SXM5 version using HBM3 memory running at 3.0 Gbps speed and the PCIe version using HBM2E memory running at 2.0 Gbps. Both versions use the same capacity capped at 80 GBs. However, that could soon change with the latest rumor suggesting that NVIDIA could be preparing a PCIe version of Hopper H100 GPU with 120 GBs of an unknown type of memory installed.

According to the Chinese website "s-ss.cc" the 120 GB variant of the H100 PCIe card will feature an entire GH100 chip with everything unlocked. As the site suggests, this version will improve memory capacity and performance over the regular H100 PCIe SKU. With HPC workloads increasing in size and complexity, more significant memory allocation is needed for better performance. With the recent advances in Large Language Models (LLMs), AI workloads use trillions of parameters for tranining, most of which is done on GPUs like NVIDIA H100.

XPG, a fast-growing provider of systems, components, and peripherals for gamers, Esports pros, and tech enthusiasts, today announces a new series of high performance power supply units. With the newly announced NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs, end users who plan on updating to these latest graphics cards will now need power supply units with a new type of connector. XPG actively works to provide the most up-to-date technology in all their products and happily upgrades/updates product specifications to meet the latest standards where possible. In order to meet the needs of gamers looking to upgrade soon, XPG has developed a new series of power supplies that are both ATX 3.0 compliant and PCIE 5.0 ready.

The 12VHPWR (12 + 4 pin) connector is now required for the next generation of top-tier gaming performance. Meaning you will need a compatible PSU to upgrade. In light of this new connector type and the updated Intel ATX 3.0 specifications, XPG CYBERCORE II series models will come equipped with this new connector type and an updated internal platform.

Intel is preparing to launch its next-generation desktop platform codenamed Rocket Lake-S. According to the presentation held by Intel today in Shenzen, China, we have official information regarding some of the platform features that Raptor Lake is bringing. Starting with memory support, Raptor Lake is still carrying the transitional DDR4 and DDR5 support, as the full swing towards DDR5 is still in progress. Unlike the previous generation Alder Lake, which brought DDR5-4800 support, Raptor Lake's integrated memory controller can drive DDR5 modules with a 5600 MT/s configuration. As DDR4 support remains, it is limited to 3200 MT/s speed.

Interesting information from the leaked slide points out that support for CPU-attached NVMe storage remains PCIe Gen4. While AMD will provide an AM5 socket with CPU-attached NMVe storage on PCIe Gen5 protocol, Intel is taking a step back and holding on to Gen4. The CPU is outputting 16 PCIe Gen5 lanes on its own. Motherboard vendors for the upcoming 700-series boards for Raptor Lake can still provide a PCIe Gen5 NVMe slot; however, it will have to subtract eight Gen5 lanes from the PCI Express Graphics (PEG) slot and route them to NVMe storage. As our testing shows, this will affect GPU's performance by a few percent. AMD's upcoming AM5 platform has no such issues, as the CPU provides both the PEG and CPU-attached NVMe storage with sufficient PCIe Gen5 bandwidth.

Intel is preparing to launch its 13th generation of desktop processors codenamed Raptor Lake. Succeeding Alder Lake, the 13th gen design will implement up to eight P-cores with 16 E-cores manufactured on Intel's improved 7+ technology node. Today, we got a performance preview from SiSoftware that has collected SiSoftware Sandra database scores of Intel Core i9-13900 Raptor Lake-S processor. They present an overview of a few benchmarks. Firstly, the SoC features 36 MB of unified L3 cache versus 30 MB in Alder Lake. With DDR5 memory running up to 5600 MT/s and PCIe 5.0, the SoC features the latest IO and memory standards. The big P-cores now lack AVX-512 and feature 2 MB of L2 cache per core. We see 4 MB of L2 cache for a cluster of small E-cores. An exciting addition to E-cores is the AVX/AVX2 support, which is a first for Atom cores.

Regarding testing, the author has collected a few tests that seemed appropriate to compare to the equivalent Alder Lake model. Starting with ALU/FPU tests that benchmark basic arithmetic tasks, Raptor Lake delivered 33% to 50% improvement over Alder Lake. The Raptor Lake design achieved this with 3.7 GHz P-Core and 2.76 GHz E-Core frequency. In vectorized and SIMD tests, the 13th gen design showed only 5% to 8% improvement over the previous generation. For more benchmarks and accurate results, we have to wait for TechPowerUp's test, which will be coming on the release day.

According to TrendForce research, North American data centers saw an improvement in components supply after February, driving a recovery in purchase order volume. As Server brands returned to normal in-office work following the pandemic, the increase in capital expenditures on related information equipment has also boosted order growth. The addition of Kioxia's raw material contamination incident led to an increase in the pricing of certain rush orders, pushing up overall Enterprise SSD revenue in 1Q22 to US$5.58 billion, or 14.1% growth QoQ.

According to TrendForce, Samsung and SK hynix (including Solidigm) were the top two players in 1Q22. At the beginning of the year, demand from hyperscale data centers resulted in high inventory levels due to component mismatches, leading Samsung's order growth missing expectations. However, as repercussions from the WDC and Kioxia contamination incident hit NAND Flash production capacity in 1Q22, server customers quickly turned to Samsung for additional orders, driving the company's 1Q22 revenue to US$2.77 billion, up 14.8% QoQ.

One of the largest cloud providers in China, Alibaba, has today announced a preview for a new instance powered by Yitian 710 processor. The new processor is a collection of Alibaba's efforts to develop a home-grown design capable of powering cloud instances and the infrastructure needed for it and its clients. Without much further ado, the Yitian 710 is based on Armv9 ISA and features 128 cores. Ramping up to 3.2 GHz, these cores are paired with eight-channel DDR5 memory to enable sufficient data transfer. In addition, the CPU supports 96 PCIe 5.0 lanes for IO with storage and accelerators. These are most likely custom designs, and we don't know if they are using a blueprint based on Arm's Neoverse. The CPU is manufactured at TSMC's facilities on 5 nm node and features 60 billion transistors.

Alibaba offers these processors as a part of their Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance called g8m, where users can select 1/2/4/8/16/32/64/128 vCPUs, where each vCPU is equal to one CPU core physically. Alibaba is running this as a trial option and notes that users should not run production code on these instances, as they will disappear after two months. Only 100 instances are available for now, and they are based in Alibaba's Hangzhou zone in China. The company notes that instances based on Yitian 710 processors offer 100 percent higher efficiency than existing AMD/Intel solutions; however, they don't have any useful data to back it up. The Chinese cloud giant is likely trying to test and see if the home-grown hardware can satisfy the needs of its clients so that they can continue the path to self-sustainability.

If you owned an Apocalypse 3d/3dx or Matrox m3D, you would've been one of many gamers that had bought a PowerVR Series 1 based 3D graphics accelerator and was both excited and underwhelmed at the same time. Released originally in 1996 and the PCX1 manufactured a 500 nm and a core clock speed of whopping 60 MHz, it was the only direct competitor of 3dfx's original Voodoo graphics card, which was technically slower at 50 MHz, but delivered a lot better in terms of 3D quality. Here we are in 2022 and Imagination Technologies, the company behind the PCX1 and the die shrunk PCX2 that was launched a year later, is releasing the drivers for both 3D accelerators as open source. Outside of a big nostalgia trip for those that might still have their card knocking around, there's questionable value in these drivers.

The second generation of PowerVR GPU's ended up powering the Sega Dreamcast with the third generation ending up in PC GPUs that were competitive with the NVIDIA GeForce 256, at least until NVIDIA changed from SDR to DDR memory. The most unique part of the PowerVR Series 1 was that the 3D accelerator could use the main 2D display cards memory as a framebuffer over the PCI bus. Sadly most games didn't support the PowerSGL API at the time and weren't able to take full advantage of the hardware when DirectX 3.0 was used. The open source drivers are provided as is and it seems like some libraries are missing for the Tomb Raider port for the PoverVR Series 1 3D accelerators, but beyond that, there should be no limitations.

NVIDIA has today announced its Grace CPU Superchip, a monstrous design focused on heavy HPC and AI processing workloads. Previously, team green has teased an in-house developed CPU that is supposed to go into servers and create an entirely new segment for the company. Today, we got a more detailed look at the plan with the Grace CPU Superchip. The Superchip package represents a package of two Grace processors, each containing 72 cores. These cores are based on Arm v9 in structure set architecture iteration and two CPUs total for 144 cores in the Superchip module. These cores are surrounded by a now unknown amount of LPDDR5x with ECC memory, running at 1 TB/s total bandwidth.

NVIDIA Grace CPU Superchip uses the NVLink-C2C cache coherent interconnect, which delivers 900 GB/s bandwidth, seven times more than the PCIe 5.0 protocol. The company targets two-fold performance per Watt improvement over today's CPUs and wants to bring efficiency and performance together. We have some preliminary benchmark information provided by NVIDIA. In the SPECrate2017_int_base integer benchmark, the Grace CPU Superchip scores over 740 points, which is just the simulation for now. This means that the performance target is not finalized yet, teasing a higher number in the future. The company expects to ship the Grace CPU Superchip in the first half of 2023, with an already supported ecosystem of software, including NVIDIA RTX, HPC, NVIDIA AI, and NVIDIA Omniverse software stacks and platforms.

At Intel's 2022 investor meeting, the company has presented a technology roadmap update to give its clients an insight into what is to come. Today, team blue announced one of the first discrete data-centric graphics cards in the lineup, codenamed Arctic Sound-M GPU. Based on the DG2 Xe-HPG variation of Intel Xe GPUs, Arctic Sound-M is the company's first design to enter the data center space. The DG2 GPU features 512 Execution Units (EUs), which get passive cooling from the single-slot design of Arctic Sound's heatsink, envisioned for data center enclosures with external airflow.

One of the most significant selling points that Intel advertises is support for hardware-based AV1 encoding standard. This feature allows the card to achieve a 30% greater bandwidth, and it is the main differentiator between consumer-oriented Arc Alchemist GPUs and itself. The card is powered by PCIe power and an 8-pin EPS power connector. Arctic Sound-M is already sampling to select customers and it will become available in the middle of 2022.Below is Intel's teaser video.

WDC recently stated that certain materials were contaminated in late January at NAND Flash production lines in Yokkaichi and Kitakami, Japan which are joint ventures with Kioxia, according to TrendForce's investigations. Before this incident, TrendForce had forecast that the NAND Flash market will see a slight oversupply the entire year and average price from Q1 to Q2 will face downward pressure. However, the impact of WDC's material contamination issue is significant and Samsung's experience during the previous lockdown of Xi'an due to the pandemic has also retarded the magnitude of the NAND Flash price slump. Therefore, the Q1 price drop will diminish to 5~10%. In addition, according to TrendForce, the combined WDC/Kioxia NAND Flash market share in the 3Q21 was as high as 32.5%. The consequences of this latest incident may push the price of NAND Flash in Q2 to spike 5~10%.

The contaminated products in this incident are concentrated in 3D NAND (BICS) with an initial estimate of 6.5exabytes (approximately 6,500M GB) affected. According to TrendForce, damaged bits account for 13% of the group's output in 1Q22 and approximately 3% of the total output for the year. The normal production schedule for the entire line has yet to be confirmed. It is worth noting that the damages announced by WDC likely do not account for total losses stemming for this event and the number of damaged Kioxia parts has not been aggregated, so the total number of affected bits may increase further.

Phanteks debuts a host of new products for the upcoming year at CES 2022 - The brand new Evolv Shift XT Mini-ITX Chassis and Revolt SFX Power Supplies, Matte White Editions for the Evolv X & Eclipse P600S Chassis, white SK PWM D-RGB Fans, white AMP Power Supply and a complete range of Gen4 PCIe Riser Cables and Gen4 Vertical GPU Bracket.

Brand new and unique Evolv Shift XT Mini-ITX Chassis and super compact Revolt SFX Power Supplies
Evolv Shift XT - Compact, Powerful, Futureproof
The Evolv Shift XT brings a unique small form factor that can extend in size to tailor to your cooling performance needs. The Evolv Shift XT has no compromise on performance with support for powerful hardware, whether in Compact, Aircooled, or Liquid Cooled Mode.

congatec - a leading vendor of embedded and edge computing technology - introduces the 12th Generation Intel Core mobile and desktop processors (formerly code named Alder Lake) on 10 new COM-HPC and COM Express Computer-on-Modules. Featuring the latest high performance cores from Intel, the new modules in COM-HPC Size A and C as well as COM Express Type 6 form factors offer major performance gains and improvements for the world of embedded and edge computing systems. Most impressive is the fact that engineers can now leverage Intel's innovative performance hybrid architecture. Offering of up to 14 cores/20 threads on BGA and 16 cores/24 threads on desktop variants (LGA mounted), 12th Gen Intel Core processors provide a quantum leap [1] in multitasking and scalability levels. Next-gen IoT and edge applications benefit from up to 6 or 8 (BGA/LGA) optimized Performance-cores (P-cores) plus up to 8 low power Efficient-cores (E-cores) and DDR5 memory support to accelerate multithreaded applications and execute background tasks more efficiently.

For a significant period, Intel's Next Unit of Computing (NUC) series has featured soldered processors on the PC's motherboard. However, according to the latest leaks from Twitter hardware leaker @9550pro, we have a potential Alder Lake-based NUC featuring desktop processor versions and a dedicated LGA1700 socket. As the leaked image shows, it looks like Intel's NUC 12 Extreme edition will feature an LGA1700 socket that features support for desktop-class of Alder Lake processors. If this leak is correct, we could see a compelling NUC solution filled with Intel-only processors, meaning an Alder Lake CPU and Arc Alchemist discrete graphics card.

There is room for PCIe expansion, which means that theoretically, you could connect any GPU to the mainboard. However, it is natural to assume that Intel could force their own GPU SKUs to launch this mini PC. We have to wait and see what Intel presents at tomorrow's CES 2022 event for more information.

Demand for NAND Flash products will undergo a noticeable and cyclical downward correction in 1Q22 as major smartphone brands wind down their procurement activities for the peak season and ODMs prepare for the New Year holidays, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. As such, the NAND Flash market will remain in an oversupply situation, with prices continuing to undergo downward corrections accordingly. However, PC OEMs have been reinstating certain orders for client SSDs since early November in response to improvements in the supply of upstream semiconductor materials. By fulfilling these orders, suppliers are able to keep their inventory level relatively low, meaning they are not under as much pressure as previously expected to reduce inventory by lowering prices. Taking these factors into account, TrendForce expects NAND Flash ASP to undergo a 10-15% QoQ decline in 1Q22, during which NAND Flash prices will experience the most noticeable declines compared to the other quarters in 2022.

Regarding the price trend of NAND Flash products across the whole 2021, TrendForce further indicates that suppliers have actively transitioned their output to higher-layer technologies, resulting in a bit supply growth that noticeably outpaces demand, though the tight supply of components such as controller ICs and PMICs has constrained the production of NAND Flash end-products. Hence, the decline in contract prices of NAND Flash products has not been as severe as previously expected. Moving ahead to 2022, however, the supply of relevant components is expected to gradually improve, so the market for various NAND Flash products will also likely shift towards a noticeable oversupply. As a result, prices of NAND Flash products will steadily decline before the arrival of the peak season in 3Q22.

Sapphire, along with various other AIB partners from AMD, has been making graphics cards exclusively for cryptocurrency mining. With the arrival of AMD's RDNA2 generation, this has continued as well. However, the company has been doing it more quietly to avoid backslash from its customers already furious about the poor availability of graphics cards in general. Fortunately, El Chapuzas Informatico managed to get ahold of two datasheets from Sapphire that highlight features and use cases of its GPRO X080 and GPRO X060 mining graphics cards, primarily targeting Ethereum coin mining.

According to the source, the company has readied two models based on RDNA2 chipsets. That is GPRO X080 SKU based on Navi 22 with 2304 Streaming Processors, running at 2132 MHz frequency. Paired with Navi 22 GPU, 10 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 16 Gbps speed on a 160-bit bus. This model has no display outputs, and the only connector is a PCIe 4.0 x16 slot that connects the GPU to the motherboard. Running at the default 165 Watt TGP, the card produces a 38.0 MH/s hash rate, while the optimized form of 41.6 MH/s reduces TGP to just 93 Watts.

During the Supercomputing (SC) 21 event, Intel has disclosed additional information regarding the company's upcoming Xeon server processor lineup, codenamed Sapphire Rapids. One of the central areas of improvement for the new processor generation is the core architecture based on Golden Cove, the same core found in Alder Lake processors for consumers. However, the only difference between the Golden Cove variant found in Alder Lake and Sapphire Rapids is the amount of L2 (level two) cache. With Alder Lake, Intel equipped each core with 1.25 MB of its L2 cache. However, with Sapphire Rapids, each core receives a 2 MB bank.

One of the most exciting things about the processors, confirmed by Intel today, is the inclusion of High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM). These processors operate with eight memory channels carrying DDR5 memory and offer PCIe Gen5 IO expansion. Intel has confirmed that Sapphire Rapids Xeons will feature up to 64 GB of HBM2E memory, including a few operating modes. The first is a simple HBM caching mode, where the HBM memory acts as a buffer for the installed DDR5. This method is transparent to software and allows easy usage. The second method is Flat Mode, which means that both DDR5 and HBM are used as contiguous address spaces. And finally, there exists an HBM-only mode that utilizes the HBM2E modules as the only system memory, and applications fit inside it. This has numerous benefits, primarily drawn from HBM's performance and reduced latency.

XPG, a fast-growing provider of systems, components, and peripherals for Gamers, Esports Pros, and Tech Enthusiasts, today announces XPG, a fast-growing provider of systems, components, and Peripherals for Gamers, Esports Pros, and Tech Enthusiasts, today announces a new series of solid state drives (SSD), the XPG ATOM series, geared toward creators of different needs and budgets. They include the XPG ATOM 30, 40, and 50.

The ATOM 30 and 40 utilize PCIe Gen3x4 and NVMe 1.3 to deliver sequential read and write speeds of up to 2,500/2,000 and 3,500/3,000 MB per second, respectively, to give creators the performance they need to create without limitations. Their M.2 2280 specifications support the latest Intel and AMD platforms for creating on the latest PCs, including desktop and laptops. For users seeking a further boost, the ATOM 50 takes advantage of PCIe Gen4 x4 and NVMe 1.4 to offer read and write speeds of up to 5, 000/4,500 MB per second.

ADATA Technology, a manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, mobile accessories, gaming products, electric power trains, and industrial solutions today announces a new series of solid state drives (SSD), the ADATA LEGEND series, geared toward creators of different needs and budgets. They include the ADATA LEGEND 740, 750, and 840.

The LEGEND 740 and 750 utilize PCIe Gen3 x4 and NVMe 1.3 to deliver sequential read and write speeds of up to 2,500/2,000 and 3,500/3,000 MB per second, respectively, to give creators the performance they need to create without limitations. Their M.2 2280 specifications support the latest Intel and AMD platforms for creating on the latest PCs, including desktop and laptops. For users seeking a further boost, the LEGEND 840 takes advantage of PCIe Gen4 x4 and NVMe 1.4 to offer read and write speeds of up to 5,000/4,500 MB per second.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic led to severe delays in manufacturing and logistics. In particular, governments worldwide began implementing border restrictions in 2Q20 to combat the ongoing health crisis, leading to a sudden decline in order volumes for channel-market SSDs, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. Annual shipment of SSDs to the channel (retail) market reached 111.5 million units in 2020, a 15% YoY decrease. In terms of market share by shipment, Kingston, ADATA, and Kimtigo once again occupied the top three spots, respectively.

Looking at the channel market for SSDs as a whole, NAND Flash suppliers (among which Samsung possessed the largest market share) accounted for around 35% of the total shipments in 2020, while SSD module makers accounted for the other 65%. The top 10 module makers accounted for 71% of channel-market SSD shipments from all SSD module makers. Taken together, these figures show that the market remained relatively oligopolistic in 2020. However, it should be noted that TrendForce's ranking of SSD module makers for 2020 takes account of only products bound for the channel market and under brands owned by the module makers themselves; NAND Flash suppliers were therefore excluded from the top 10 ranking.

The upcoming graphics cards based on PCIe Gen5 standard will utilize the latest PCIe connector with double bandwidth of the previous Gen4 that we use today and bring a new power connector that the next generation of GPUs brings. According to the information exclusive to Igor's Lab, the new connector will be called the 12VHPWR and will carry as many as 16 pins with it. The reason it is called 12VHPWR is that it features 12 pins for power, while the remaining four are signal transmission connectors to coordinate the delivery. This power connector is supposed to carry as much as 600 Watts of power with its 16 pins.

The new 12VHPWR connector should work exclusively with PCIe Gen5 graphics cards and not be backward compatible with anything else. It is said to replace three standard 8-pin power connectors found on some high-end graphics cards and will likely result in power supply manufacturers adopting the new standard. The official PCI-SIG specification defines each pin capable of sustaining up to 9.2 Amps, translating to a total of 55.2 Amps at 12 Volts. Theoretically, this translates to 662 Watts; however, Igor's Lab notes that the connector is limited to 600 Watts. Additionally, the 12VHPWR connector power pins have a 3.00 mm pitch, while the contacts in a legacy 2×3 (6-pin) and 2×4 (8-pin) connector lie on a larger 4.20 mm pitch.

Today, we got ahold of the first picture showing Intel's upcoming Z690 chipset, the highest-end chipset offering for the Alder Lake lineup of processors. From previous leaks, we have concluded that Intel has enabled the Z690 chipset to be a very powerful offering. Featuring support for running either DDR4 or DDR5 memory, the Z690 chipset will allow motherboard AIBs to offer motherboards with both the new and current DDR standards, easing the transition to the new DDR5 memory. As far as PCIe connectivity, this high-end chipset produces 12 PCIe Gen5 lanes, along with 16 PCIe Gen3 lanes. This is, of course, just an addition to the 16 PCIe Gen5 lanes that the Alder Lake processor provides, enabling a wide portfolio of PCIe lanes for connecting SSDs and graphics cards.

Below, you can see the Z690 chipset image (热心市民描边怪 image), compared to the Z590 (AnandTech image) chipset, where there is a clear difference in size. The new Z690 chipset seems quite a lot bigger, and that is really not a surprise given the new technology stack that it brings.

While the server industry transitions to the latest generation of processors based on the x86 platform, the Intel Ice Lake and AMD Milan CPUs entered mass production earlier this year and were shipped to certain customers, such as North American CSPs and telecommunication companies, at a low volume in 1Q21, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. These processors are expected to begin seeing widespread adoption in the server market in 3Q21. TrendForce believes that Ice Lake represents a step-up in computing performance from the previous generation due to its higher scalability and support for more memory channels. On the other hand, the new normal that emerged in the post-pandemic era is expected to drive clients in the server sector to partially migrate to the Ice Lake platform, whose share in the server market is expected to surpass 30% in 4Q21.