AMD's Smart Access Memory (SAM) is a new technology that AMD decided to launch with its Ryzen 5000 series CPUs and Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs. The technology aims to solve the problem where a CPU can only access a fraction of GPU VRAM at once, making some bottlenecks in the system. By utilizing the bandwidth of PCIe, the SAM expands its data channels and uses all the speed that the PCIe connection offers. However, it appears that AMD might not be the only company offering such technology. Thanks to Gamer's Nexus, they got a reply from NVIDIA regarding a technology similar to AMD's SAM.

NVIDIA responded that: "The capability for resizable BAR is part of the PCI Express spec. NVIDIA hardware supports this functionality and will enable it on Ampere GPUs through future software updates. We have it working internally and are seeing similar performance results." And indeed, it has been a part of the PCIe specification since 2008. This document dating to 2008 says that "This optional ECN adds a capability for Functions with BARs to report various options for sizes of their memory mapped resources that will operate properly. Also added is an ability for software to program the size to configure the BAR to." Every PCIe compatible device can enable it with the driver update through the software.

PCI-SIG has recently confirmed that version 0.7 of the PCIe 6.0 Specification has been officially released to its members. The PCI-SIG organization has already ratified the PCIe 5.0 standard and plans to release the full PCIe 6.0 specification in 2021. PCIe 6.0 will bring the same doubling in data rates seen with previous generations of the standard including a 2x improvement over PCIe 5.0, 4x boost over PCIe 4.0, and an 8x increase in speeds over the common PCIe 3.0 standard.

The organization has been speeding up its timeline for new versions of the PCIe specification with PCIe 3.0 being released in 2010 followed by PCIe 4.0 in 2017, PCIe 5.0 in 2019, and with PCIe 6.0 expected in 2021. The PCIe 6.0 standard is designed to fulfill the needs of future devices in the PC and enterprise markets such as 800 Gb/s Ethernet cards. The earliest we can expect to see PCIe 6.0 devices in the PC market would be 2023 or 2024 depending on requirements.

RISC-V architecture is a relatively new Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) developed at the University of California Berkeley. Starting as a "short, three-month project" the RISC-V ISA is a fifth generation of the Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) ideology. A company working on this technology and helping to grow the ecosystem is SiFive. Today, they announced a big step forward for the ecosystem that will enable developers to make and optimize even more software for this architecture and platform. Called the HiFive Unmatched, the development board represents the first entry of RISC-V ISA to the world of personal computing, with its Mini-ITX form factor and PC-like connectors of power supply and I/O.

The board is home to SiFive's FU740 SoC, a five-core heterogeneous, coherent processor with four SiFive U74 cores, and one SiFive S7 core. This SoC is capable of smooth Linux OS operation, giving the developers a good platform to do their optimizations for. There is 8 GB of onboard DDR4 RAM (unknown frequencies and timing), a MicroSD card slot, and one PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot for system storage. To connect the board to the outside world, you get one Gigabit Ethernet port. For user I/O there are four USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports (1 Charging port) and one MicroUSB Console port. To power the board, you need a proper power supply with a 24-pin power connector. If you plan to build a PC based on the Unmatched board, you would need a standard ITX case, as it comes in the standard Mini-ITX (170x170 mm) form factor. For more information, please check out SiFive's website.

Sonnet Technologies today announced the Fusion Dual U.2 SSD PCIe Card, the latest product in the company's line of high-performance storage cards that enable the installation of SSDs into a computer's or Thunderbolt expansion system's PCIe card slot. The Fusion card supports two U.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 3 SSDs, which share the same form factor as 2.5-inch SATA drives but deliver up to seven times the performance of the fastest SATA SSDs available.

The Fusion Dual U.2 SSD PCIe Card enables users to install two enterprise-class U.2 SSDs (sold separately) into a full-length PCIe card slot, mounting and connecting the SSDs with no cables, adapters, or mounting trays required. For users who need to add storage to their computer setup and require ultra-high-speed data transfer speeds for a smooth workflow—such as video editors working with 6K and greater resolution footage—U.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 3 SSDs are ideal. Mainstream U.2 SSDs are currently available in capacities up to 16 TB and support data transfers at up to 3,500 MB/s. With two SSDs installed on the Sonnet card and configured as a RAID 0 set, sustained data transfers up to 6,250 MB/s are possible.

Have you ever felt the need that your motherboard needs more ports? Different peripherals can occupy quite a lot of USB ports and almost fill up all of them quickly. That is where the Portwell PEB-9783G2AR motherboard comes into play. Being built on Intel's latest W480E/Q470E chipset designed to accommodate any 10th generation 10 core CPU with a TDP of up to 80 W, the board can run either a Xeon W CPU or regular Comet Lake-S Core CPU. However, what makes this board unique is not its chipset or anything, it is the number of USB ports present.

Portwell has put an astonishing 20 (you read that right) USB 3.1 Gen1 ports on the board, which you can run at a full 5 Gbit/s data signaling rate at the same time. The board doesn't use any splitting technology so you are getting the full bandwidth. To get that many ports to run at full capacity, Portwell has presumably re-routed chipset lanes for SATA 3 connectors and used them for USB ports, leaving only two SATA 3 ports. The board is built for the FlexATX form factor and features a sideways PCIe 3.0 port. Being built for Xeon, the board also features support for ECC memory and up to 128 GB of it. While the pricing is not yet available, you can get a quote on Portwell's website.

GIGABYTE Technology,, an industry leader in high-performance servers and workstations, today announced the launch of the GIGABYTE G242-Z11 with PCIe 4.0, which adds to an already extensive line of G242 series servers, designed for AI, deep learning, data analytics, and scientific computing. High-speed interfaces such as Ethernet, Infiniband, and PCI Express rely on fast data transfer, and PCIe 3.0 can pose a bottleneck in some servers. With the expansion of the AMD EPYC family of processors comes PCIe Gen 4.0, which is valuable to servers so as not to bottleneck high bandwidth applications. The 2nd Gen AMD EPYC 7002 processors have added PCIe Gen 4.0, and GIGABYTE has included an ever-evolving line of servers to accommodate the latest technology.

The G242-Z11 caters to the capabilities of 2nd Gen AMD EPYC 7002 series processors. The G242-Z11 is built around a single AMD EPYC processor, and this even includes the new 280 W 64-core (128 threads) AMD EPYC 7H12. Besides a high core count, the 7002 series has 128 PCIe lanes and natively supports PCIe Gen 4.0. It offers double the speed and bandwidth when compared to PCIe 3.0. Having PCIe 4.0 allows for 16GT/s per lane and a total bandwidth of 64 GB/s. As far as memory support, the G242-Z11 has support for 8-channel DDR4 with room for up to 8 DIMMs. In this 1 DIMM per channel configuration, it can support up to 2 TB of memory and speeds up to 3200 MHz.

The new UD70 PCIe Gen 3x4 is an all-around performer that's perfect for DIY system builders, casual gamers and video editors, and simply those who are looking to upgrade their PC. With 3D QLC NAND storage technology, the UD70 incorporates a much higher memory cell density, allowing for greater storage capacity on a smaller footprint - up to 2 TB. Plus, NVMe 1.3 support, read speeds up to 3,400 MB/s, and write speeds up to 3,000 MB/s make this M.2 2280 SSD a force to be reckoned with.

The UD70 is specially engineered with a dual self-cooling system that operates via active state power management (ASPM) and autonomous power state transition (APST). In addition, thermal throttling effectively monitors and controls the temperature to prevent sudden speed drops or damage of stored data caused by high temperature. With these advanced mechanisms in place, the UD70 will keep its cool to sustain a safe and optimal level of performance at all times, which translates to a longer and more reliable lifespan.

BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today announces the B550MH motherboard that runs the 3rd gen Ryzen processors. Geared towards the business and casual users, the new BIOSTAR B550MH motherboard is designed to be efficient and reliable with bleeding edge technology built to be the best in the market with a new stylish PCB design.

The B550MH motherboard supports up to 64Gb of RAM across 2 DIMMs with the capability of reaching 4400+OC speeds and technologies like PCIe 4.0 that supports 16GT/s bit data transfer rates which is 2 times faster than PCIe 3.0 with backward compatibility, as well as PCIe M.2 4.0 which delivers lower latency on a higher bandwidth of 64 Gb/s which is 2x faster than the old PCIe M.2 3.0 making the new BIOSTAR B550MH motherboard a great choice for many applications.

ASUS today announced that the ExpertBook B9450 based on the Intel vPro platform is now available for purchase at US resellers starting at $1,599.99 USD. The ASUS ExpertBook B9450 provides unmatched business-grade performance, durability and design within an incredibly thin and light form factor weighing in at just 2.2 lbs with a 0.59-inch thin profile. Paired with the Intel vPro platform, the B9450 is ideal for businesses of any size that require top-notch performance, built-in security and better overall value and reliability for the long-term.

Designed for business professionals on-the-go, the ExpertBook B9450 delivers top-tier performance thanks to up to an 10th Gen Intel Core i7 vPro processor, dual-storage design accommodating up to two ultrafast 1 TB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSDs, and up to 16 GB of RAM and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) connectivity. Expect uninterrupted performance on the B9450 with long-lasting battery life delivering up to an impressive 24 hours of use on a single charge, with extra comfort features like the ErgoLift hinge, built-in voice assistant support, and a Harman Kardon-optimized audio system.

HighPoint launches the third generation SSD7202 NVMe RAID controller - the industry's first ultra-compact, low-profile, bootable NVMe RAID solution for Windows and Linux platforms. The SSD7202 is ideal for PC's that require NVMe boot performance or an ultra-compact storage solution. The low-profile SSD7202 smaller than your average video card, yet can host up to 8 TB of storage and can be easily installed into any industry standard PCIe 3.0/4.0 x8 or x16 slot.

Our third-generation NVMe architecture utilizes our Smart-Switching PCIe 3.0 x8 host interface to ensure broad compatibility with a wide range of hardware platforms without compromising performance; the dedicated x8 bandwidth enables the SSD7202 to deliver up to 7000 MB/s using just two M.2 SSD's. The SSD7202 is the first NVMe RAID controller to feature our ultra-efficient two-stage cooling solution, which removed the need for a bulky, external case. The card-length heat sink features an integrated low-noise fan to ensure the NVMe SSDs and critical chipset components remain cool even under sustained load.

Sabrent, a company focused on making storage devices and PC accessories, today announced the release of the world's first 8 terabyte NVMe SSD delivered in the M.2 form factor. The new SSD dubbed Rocket Q 8 TB NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD is a real treat for all SSD enthusiasts. Besides its staggering capacity, it has plenty of features as well. Built on top of 3D QLC NAND Flash memory chips, the Rocket Q SSD is supposed to deliver very high speeds on PCIe 3.0 x4 bus. With up to 3.4 GB/sec reads, and up to 3 GB/sec writes, the SSD is pushing the limits of the PCIe 3.0 x4 bus that it is designed to work for.

Rocking a Phison's E12S controller, it is supposed to maintain high speeds even on random 4K reads and writes. The company didn't reveal too many details about the performance, however, we can wait for some reviews. The SSD is PCIe 3.1 Compliant, NVMe 1.3 Compliant, and supports SMART and TRIM commands. With a purchase of this SSD, you get a free copy of Sabrent Acronis True Image for Sabrent Software for easy cloning. Pricing and availability are unknown.

ASUS has apparently begun listing motherboards on the as-of-yet-unreleased, as-of-yet-undetailed AMD A520 chipset. Lower in the chipset rung than AMD's X570 and B550 chipsets, the A520 is expected to not offer any dedicated PCIe 4.0 lanes by itself - at most, motherboards will support the same 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes offered by AMD's CPUs, with the rest I/O being PCIe 3.0-based in order to further cut platform and chipset costs.

All of the A520 chipset motherboards listed by ASUS seem to be in the mATX form-factor - which again makes sense, as having the most basic chipset in order to cut costs and then using the same PCB real-estate as more expensive chipset solutions doesn't seem like a wise choice. The listed motherboards are the
PRIME A520M-A; PRIME A520M-E; PRIME A520M-K; TUF GAMING A520M-A; and TUF GAMING A520M-PLUS. As you can see, these motherboards are set in the ASUS TUF and Prime product lines - there's no mention of any Strix-branded products.

Icy Dock has introduced their new ToughArmor MB840M2P-B, a PCIe adapter that allows you to connect a single NVMe drive through an open PCIe port. To do so, it makes use of 4 PCIe 3.0 lanes, as per the NVMe protocol, but that's not its call to fame, however practical that may be in older systems without any M.2 form-factor support. Rather, the ability to hot swap NVMe storage drives is. Not all drives support such a feature: you'll have to check specific drive models that allow you to remove them from operation even whilst your PC is turned on.

The ToughArmor accessory from Icy Dock features a tool-less design meant to make it easier and faster for you to hot-swap your drives (30 mm to 110 mm in length), and the chassis is made of aluminium and features an integrated thermal pad to improve heat dissipation of your M.2 SSD, thus alleviating any throttling issues. A header allows you to connect it to your PC's HDD activity gauge. It's a pretty flexible design, featuring both full-height and low-profile PCIe expansion slot covers, and as other PCIe add-in cards, it can slot in any PCIe slot from the lowest-supported links (4 lanes) all the way to a 16-lane connector. No pricing information was available at time of writing.

ASUS has inadvertently leaked images of their upcoming PRIME Z490-P and Z490-A motherboards, which will accompany the introduction of Intel's 10th Gen "Ice Lake" CPUs. As is usual with Intel, the new generation CPU release will be met with a new chipset launch, of which ASUS apparently has finalized designs: the company has uploaded Z490 pictures on their current Z390 PRIME webpage.

Like with previous ASUS designs, the PRIME Z490-P seems to target budget-conscious users, with a reduced feature set including a no-frills VRM heatsink design (which means the VRM itself isn't a top-tier one) and a pretty basic on-board sound processor. The motherboard still packs 2x M.2 slots and 2x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots, though the rest of the expansion slots are of the 1x kind (4x slots in total). The Z490-A, though, boasts of a more premium construction, with oversized heatsinks (including for at least one of the M.2 slots) and 3x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots alongside 3x Pcie 3.0 1x slots. The sound processing subsystem has also been clearly beefed up in comparison.

MSI got bored of old dark/gray/white laptop designs and decided to spice things up a bit. Say goodbye to the old boring laptops and enter the MSI Prestige 14 Limited Edition Rose Pink laptop. Designed as a premium-looking machine, it has decent specifications to back up the good looks. Equipped with a 14-inch IPS display comes in two variants, a 1080p version, and 4K edition, and it has 100% coverage of the AdobeRGB spectrum. With such specifications, we know that it is targeting the professional content creators.

Under the hood, there is Intel's 10th generation Core i7-10710U "Comet Lake" processor paired with 16 GB of LPDDR3 2133 MHz RAM running in single-channel mode. For graphics, NVIDIA's GTX 1650 Max-Q GPU is on board with 4 GB of GDDR6 memory. Storage is limited to 512 gigabytes of PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD space, as there is no room for expansion. Connectivity options include Bluetooth 5 and Wi-Fi 6 powered by Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 wireless adapter. When it comes to the IO, the Prestige 14 laptop is rocking two USB 2.0 adapter along with two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one 3.5 mm headphone jack, and one Micro-SD card reader. There is also a 3-cell 50 Whr battery powering the system. Price-wise, this laptop is retailing for around $1399 on stores like Amazon and Newegg.

Mushkin has announced availability of their updated PILOT-E NVMe M.2 SSDs, which build upon their previously released PILOT family of SSDs. The PILOT-E are offered in the M.2 2280 form-factor, and make use of the PCIe 3.0 x4 interface to achieve speeds of up to 3,500 MB/s sequential reads and 3,100 MB/s sequential writes. The PILOT-E SSDs make use of Silicon Motion's SM2262EN" controller, which supports up to 8 NAND channels for increased throughput which connects to the PILOT-E's 3D TLC NAND.

The PILOT-E family of NVMe SSDs will be available in capacities ranging from 500 GB up to 2 TB, which seems about right for current market trends. The 500 GB model will feature the lowest performance figures at 3,500 MB/s sequential reads,2,300 MB/s sequential writes, random reads at 344,400 IOPS, random writes at 343,000 IOPS, and a write endurance rated at 350 TBW. The PILOT-e counts with SLC cache for improved performance, as well as LDPC ECC, end-to-end protection, global wear leveling, static data refresh, HMB, and AES 256-bit encryption. MTBF is set at 1.5 million hours, and typical warranty is set at three years. I'm seeing pricing starting at $74,99 for the 500 GB version and $249.99 for the 2 TB one.

ASUS has released a ROG-branded riser cable for your graphics card, which will allow you to display it in different configurations on your case. Whether you make a custom solution or have a case that supports vertical graphics cards already, the ROG Strix Riser Cable is the perfect solution. There is no RGB lighting, but ASUS has equipped the ROG Strix Raiser Cable with EMI shielding and special PCB layout to prevent any signal losses from the extended travel distance between your graphics card and your boards' PCIe slot.

The ROG Strix Riser Cable also includes ASUS' patented Safe Slot design, which they employ in their motherboards for securely fastening your graphics cards to your system. The ROG Riser Cable supports PCIe 3.0 x16 signaling, and is available for a relatively hefty €49.99.

Intel's upcoming 400-series desktop chipset will lack support for PCI-Express gen 4.0. The motherboards will stick to gen 3.0 for both the main x16 PEG slots wired to the LGA1200 socket, and general purpose PCIe lanes from the PCH, according to a Tom's Hardware report. It was earlier expected that 400-series chipset motherboards will come with preparation for PCIe gen 4.0, so even if the upcoming 10th gen "Comet Lake" desktop processors lacked gen 4.0 root-complexes, the boards would be fully ready for the new bus standard in 11th gen "Rocket Lake" desktop processors.

10th gen "Comet Lake" desktop processors are built on 14 nm process, and implement Intel's current-gen CPU core design Intel has been implementing since 6th gen "Skylake." It's only with 11th gen "Rocket Lake" that the mainstream desktop platform could see a new CPU core design, with the company reportedly back-porting "Willow Cove" CPU cores to the 14 nm process. "Rocket Lake" is also expected to feature a small Gen12 iGPU with 32 execution units, and a new-gen uncore component that implements PCIe gen 4.0. PCIe gen 4.0 doubles bandwidth over gen 3.0, and while only a handful GPUs support it, the standard is made popular by a new generation of M.2 NVMe SSDs that are able to utilize the added bandwidth to push sequential transfer rates beyond M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 limitations.

AMD today announced the AMD Radeon Pro W5700, the world's first 7 nm professional PC workstation graphics card. It delivers new levels of performance and advanced features that enable 3D designers, architects and engineers to visualize, review and interact with their designs in real time, dramatically accelerating decision-making processes and product development cycles.

The AMD Radeon Pro W5700 workstation graphics card features the high-performance, energy-efficient AMD RDNA architecture and state-of-the-art GDDR6 memory to handle large models and datasets, and is the first PC workstation graphics card to support high-bandwidth PCIe 4.0 technology. It is ideal for professionals who push performance beyond traditional 3D design by generating photorealistic renders of their concepts and reviewing virtual prototypes of their designs in virtual reality (VR) environments.

Brainbox, a Korean media outlet, has gathered information on Intel's newest Ice Lake and Cooper Lake server processors from a presentation ASUS held for its server lineup. With Cooper Lake-SP paving the way for the first server CPU model to be released on the new "Whitley" platform, it is supposed to launch in Q2 of 2020. Cooper Lake-SP comes with TDP of 300 W and will be available with configurations of up to 48 cores, but there also should be a 56 core model like the Xeon Platinum 9282, that has a TDP of 400 W. Cooper Lake-SP supports up to 64 PCIe 3.0 lanes, 8 channel memory (16 DIMMs in total) that goes up to 3200 MHz and four Ultra Path Interconnect (UPI) links.

Ice Lake-SP, built on the new 10 nm+ manufacturing process, is coming in soon after Cooper Lake-SP release, with a launch window in Q3 of 2020. That is just few months apart from previous CPU launch, so it will be a bit hard to integrate the launches of two rather distinct products. As far as the specifications of Ice Lake-SP goes, it will have up to 38 core for the top end model, within 270 W TDP. It supports 64 PCIe 4.0 lanes with three UPI links. There is also 8 channel memory support, however this time there is an option to use 2nd generation Optane DC Persistent Memory. Both CPU uArches will run on the new LGA 4189 on the P+ socket.

We've known for some time that AMD's mainstream-segment B550 chipset wouldn't bring all the bangs and whistles of its bigger, enthusiast-class cousin X570. For one, it wouldn't make sense to increase development and implementation costs of both the chipset and motherboards built for mainstream enthusiasts by adding PCIe 4.0 support and the more stringent signaling and power requirements the new standard entails. As such, B550 reportedly cuts down fully on PCIe 4.0 support, as well as on the latest USB standards, to offer a product that's sufficiently rounded up on I/O while offering overclocking support for users that demand it.

Reportedly, AMD's B550 will only support up to 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 devices, 6x USB 2.0, 4 + 4 SATA3 connections, and the interlink between the chipset and the CPU occurs via a 4x PCIe 3.0 interface, which means there's less bandwidth for communication between the CPU and the chipset than on X570 - not that that was a real problem on AMD's previous-gen Ryzen products, though, so that's more of a technicality at this point. Ryzen 3000 CPUs still offer 4x PCIe 4.0 ports, though, so these could be used for speeding up a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, for instance. The launch of B550-bound products is expected towards October.

Intel's development of their Core architecture in the post-Ryzen world has been slow, with solutions slowly creeping up in core counts with every new CPU release - but much slowly than rival AMD's efforts. Before Intel can capitalize on a new, more scalable and power-efficient architecture, though, it has to deliver performance and core count increases across its product line to stay as relevant as possible against a much revitalized rival. Enter Comet Lake-S: the desktop parts of Intel's new round of consumer CPUs, which will reportedly see an increase in the maximum core count to a 10-core design. This 10-core design, however, comes with an increase in power consumption (up to 135 W), and the need, once again, for beefier power delivery systems in a new, LGA 1200 package (with 9 more pins that the current LGA 1151).

The move to a new socket and the more stringent power requirements give Intel the opportunity to refresh its chipset offerings once again. If everything stays the same (and there's no reason it should change), new Z470 and Z490 chipsets should be some of the higher tier offerings for builders to pair with their motherboards. The new Comet Lake-S CPUs will still be built in the now extremely refined 14 nm process, and allegedly keep the same 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes as current Coffee Lake Refresh offerings. The new CPU offerings from Intel are expected to roll out in Q1 2020.

UL Benchmarks via its 3DMark product have announced that they'll be introducing a new, comprehensive test that aims to test PCIe bandwidth across generations. Citing the introduction of PCIe 4.0 to the masses - soon available in the consumer market via AMD's Ryzen 3000 series release - UL wants users to be able to know what a difference this makes towards allowing for more complex games and scenarios that aren't data-constrained by PCIe 3.0.

The 3D Mark PCIe Performance Test will be made available this summer for free for 3DMark Advanced Edition and for 3DMark Professional Edition customers with a valid annual license.

Klevv today announced the launch of the CRAS C700 RGB NVMe M.2 SSD, which dials RGB goodness up to at least 12. The new SSD makes use of the PCIe 3.0 4x interface through the NVMe 1.3 protocol, enabling up to read 1500MB/s read and 1300MB/s write speeds. Klevv have made this SSD available in 120 GB, 240 GB and 480 GB capacities. There's SLC caching on-board, which means performance will certainly be slower in more data-heavy operations, in the event that the SLC cache overflows. The RGB goodness is distributed through 8 individually-addressable LEDs behind a gem-like diffuser, which provides an even glow that's programmable through most motherboard RGB control software.

Klevv also announced that the CRAS C700 RGB NVMe M.2 SSD makes use of 10-layer PCB for "better data integrity", as well as a 27% reduction in operating temperatures for the SD due to KLEVV's heatsink design. An unannounced feature for the RGB power in these SSDs is the ability to illuminate even Game of Thrones' Season 8, Episode 3 from inside your PC case.

Kingston at CES 2019 also showcased their high-tier KC2000 series SSD. These differ from the likely market-warping A2000 series SSDs in terms of pure performance, for those that only care for that metric. While the A2000 series has the potential to bring SATA SSDs completely out of the equation (if promises of lower pricing paired with three to four times higher performance come true), the KC2000 will be gunning for the upper tiers of the market in terms of performance.

The KC2000 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSDs will be available in capacities ranging from 256 GB to  2TB, boasting performance of 3 GB/s read and 2 GB/s write. Unlike their lower-tier counterparts, which make use of a variety of lower-tier controllers and Toshiba's 3D TLC NAND, these will contain the SMI SM2262en controller paired Intel 3D TLC NAND flash memory. These SSDs should be released sometime in Q2 2019 and will have a security software suite included.