Intel plans to launch the first consumer SSD based on its new 3D Xpoint memory technology, a successor to NAND flash which promises exponential gains in performance and capacity, some time in 2016. The Intel-branded drive will be called Intel Optane, will come in modern form-factors such as M.2/NGFF, SATA-Express, PCI-Express (add-on card), and will take advantage of the new NVMe protocol.

Early prototypes of Optane demoed at IDF already offer up to 5.5 times the throughput of NAND flash-based DC P3700 series SSDs, and we're only talking about single-queue performance. Compared to the queue depth of just 32 commands for AHCI, NVMe offers command queue depth of a staggering 65,535 commands. Since Micron Technology is the co-developer of 3D Xpoint, it's likely that we'll also see Micron/Crucial branded drives based on this tech.

Noctua unveiled two new tower-type (U-type in Noctua-speak) CPU cooler prototypes, based on a new asymmetric design, which creates additional clearance over the memory slots area in a conventional motherboard. The 120 mm version is based on the NH-U12S, with heat pipes bent in a way that pushes the fin-stack a little off-center from the base; creating headroom for memory modules. The 140 mm version features a similar design, and is derived from the NH-U14S.

The 120 mm version offers 50% more surface area for heat dissipation than the NH-U12S; while the 140 mm version offer 30% more surface area than the NH-U14S. Both coolers, offer 100% clearance for memory modules. The 140 mm version has the fin-stack slanted away from not just the memory modules, but also the expansion slots, so the cooler doesn't eat into the topmost PCI-Express slot of your motherboard. Both coolers will feature next-generation 120 mm and 140 mm fans by the company.

Sources tell 3DCenter.org that NVIDIA has successfully taped out its next big silicon based on its upcoming "Pascal" GPU architecture, codenamed GP100. A successor to GM200, this chip will be the precursor to several others based on this architecture. A tape-out means that the company has successfully made a tiny quantity of working prototypes for internal testing and further development. It's usually seen as a major milestone in a product development cycle.

With "Pascal," NVIDIA will pole-vault HBM1, which is making its debut with AMD's "Fiji" silicon; and jump straight to HBM2, which will allow SKU designers to cram up to 32 GB of video memory. 3DCenter.org speculates that GP100 could feature anywhere between 4,500 to 6,000 CUDA cores. The chip will be built on TSMC's upcoming 16 nanometer silicon fab process, which will finally hit the road by 2016. The GP100, and its companion performance-segment silicon, the GP104 (successor to GM204), are expected to launch between Q2 and Q3, 2016.

Thermaltake, a brand that has been associated with DIY PC for decades, is accused of blatantly copying designs of other [smaller albeit popular] brands' products, with some of the new products it unveiled at Computex 2015. It begins with the Suppressor F51, a case that was launched just a month before Computex, and was widely reviewed by the media. Our readers almost instantly noticed (and we agree) that the Suppressor F51 bears an uncanny resemblance to the Define R5, a pioneering case by Fractal Design. We could excuse similarities to an extant, but it appears that Thermaltake copied even intricate design details.

Legit Reviews compiled a list of other products Thermaltake copied in a similar way. These include its Riing series fans, which resemble Corsair Air Series 120 mm; the Commander FT fan-controller copies some UI design elements from the NZXT Sentry 3; and the most blatant rip-off being the W2 CPU water block, which looks identical to the Swiftech Apogee XL. Perhaps the biggest victim of this episode is CaseLabs. A very small player in the PC case industry, CaseLabs is critically acclaimed, and loved by PC enthusiasts to come up with some of the most original high-end case designs. The company's Merlin SM8 and TH10 cases are copied by Thermaltake into two of its prototype cases exhibited at Computex. These examples alone are class-action bait that, if pursued, could lead to a trade-ban for Thermaltake in markets such as the US and EU.

PowerColor showed off its latest custom graphics card cooling solution, the Devil Hybrid. This particular sample was shown off on a Radeon R9 290X-based prototype, which will likely never make it to the market, because AMD AIB partners cannot unveil "Fiji" based parts just yet; but is expected to feature on AMD's upcoming graphics cards. The Devil Hybrid is a combination of an AIO liquid-based GPU block, and a conventional temperature-activated single fan heatsink for the VRM. The GPU block is plumbed to a 120 mm radiator, with a PWM spinner included. Given that such a setup could tame the R9 295X2, it could prove adequate for a single GPU.

On the first day of Computex, we sifted past the In Win 909, which at the time, we thought was a wacky enough case by In Win for this year; until the company dropped this on us, the next day. This unnamed In Win case (working title: "H-tower prototype") is being designed with the ASUS ROG brand licensed; which could be sold directly to the consumers, and part of an ASUS ROG desktop. The case looks like any heavily styled ATX mid-tower with premium aluminium panels, until you push a button, making the case open up like a blooming mech-flower from Cybertron, giving you easy access to its innards. There was nobody around the exhibit who wasn't gaping at it.The way it opens up is so cool that we decided to take a short video (after the break).

Streacom showed off a unique new prototype case, which you can place upside down or downside up in tower orientation; or even either ways in pedestal orientation; and the case would still maintain its rigidity and design. The unnamed prototype is made of 4 mm-thick aluminium panels, and can seat ATX motherboards, with standard ATX-type PSUs. The case lacks air vents in all its panels, except the top and bottom. The PSU bay vents out on the panel. It comes with a rail system, just like the F12C, which allows for plenty of hard drives to be installed without the need of drive bays. The same parts may be used for pumps or reservoirs. The case prototype looked nearly finished even though it was hand-made, and when released later this year, could cost anywhere between $250-300.

Lian-Li Industrial Co. Ltd is pleased to announce that prototypes of the latest O Series Chassis and Desk Chassis will be on display at CeBIT 2015. Lian Li invites all to get a sneak peak at its booth (Hall 17, D26) of the latest editions of the some of the most talked about chassis lines.

Combining the symbiotic relationship of desks and computer cases, the DK-01 and DK-02 were the first desk chassis to be brought to the mainstream market. Now, almost a year after their initial release, Lian Li will be debuting a desk chassis prototype, DK-Q2, that is a result of user feedback. Major updates include a removable motherboard tray, new leg design, and a slimmer body.

Even as 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) is beginning to enter the consumer mainstream, with 28-inch displays being priced around $600, and Apple toying with 5K (5120 x 2880), with its next-generation iMac Retina desktops, Japanese display maker Sharp threw a spanner in the works, by unveiling a working prototype of its 8K (7680 x 4320 pixels) display, at the CETAC trade-show, held in Japan.

Two of the industry's biggest graphics processor makers, NVIDIA and AMD, reacted similarly to the development, calling 8K "a great challenge." Currently, neither company has a GPU that can handle the resolution. 8K is four times as many pixels as 4K. Driving an Ultra HD display over DVI needs two TMDS links, and DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 2.0 have just enough bandwidth to drive Ultra HD at 60 Hz. To drive 8K, both NVIDIA and AMD believe you would need more than one current-generation GPU, the display should connect to both cards over independent connectors, and somehow treat the single display as four Ultra HD displays. We imagine Sharp demoed its display at a very low refresh rate, to compensate for the bandwidth limitation. After 10 years of Full-HD tyranny, display resolutions are finally beginning to see their normal rate of development. It's time now for GPU developers and display interconnects to keep up.

Lian Li showed off prototypes of its new breed of cases, which can be used either as flat-bed open-air cases, or as towers. These include the mini-ITX PC-05, the micro-ATX PC-06, and the ATX PC-07. Their design is extremely simple. A tub-shaped metal structure holds key PC components along its tray, while a tempered glass panel tops it off. You can either place the case flat-on, making it an open-air case with its clear-acrylic panel removed, or you can place it along its side, to resemble a tower. The three feature a forward-oriented standard ATX PSU bay, a slimline optical drive bay, two or more 3.5-inch/2.5-inch drive bays, and a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 riser, letting you install a graphics card. Lian Li is seeking feedback that will help it perfect the three. Leave them in the comments.

MSI teased the first CGI sketches of its next-generation TwinFrozr V cooling solution, designed for high-end GPUs, under its Gaming Series. A prototype of the cooler made its first appearance at Computex 2014, in June. The cooler features a large dual-stack aluminium fin heatsink to which heat drawn from the GPU is fed by five 8 mm thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes. The fin-stack is ventilated by a pair of what's now appearing to be two 100 mm fans. MSI is rumored to be innovating a new impeller design that steps up air-flow to noise ratio.

It's interesting to note that in its CGI render of a card equipped with this cooler, MSI showed a PCB with two NVIDIA SLI bridge fingers, and two 6-pin PCIe power inputs. Could this be the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, in effect making the card the MSI GTX 980 Gaming OC? Wait until the 19th of September to find out. GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 are NVIDIA's next high-end GPUs, based on the 28 nm "GM204" silicon, derived from the company's new "Maxwell" architecture.

ADATA's claim of being the first memory maker with DDR4 overclocking modules wouldn't fly with anyone, if they weren't using a live Haswell-E HEDT platform to show it off. The system appears to be using a prototype Intel X99 chipset micro-ATX motherboard by ASRock, and a Haswell-E engineering sample. The module comes with JEDEC SPD profile of 2133 MHz, but claims to offer tons of overclocking headroom. The system was wired to a display, and evidently, CPU-Z can't read the memory config. It can, however, read out DRAM clock and timings. The system was doing 1373 MHz (2746 MHz DDR), with timings of 14-14-14-36-CR2T.

Noctua gave its U-type compact CPU cooler prototype a second showing at Computex. The cooler was displayed with a pair of 65 mm fans. The design goal of the cooler is to provide tower-type ventilation (in which hot air is pushed out of the case through the rear fan vent), in a package the size of a compact top-flow one. A dense aluminium fin heatsink, to which heat drawn from a nickel-plated base, is fed by four 6 mm thick heat pipes, is ventilated side-ways, by a pair of 65 mm fans in partial push-pull configuration. The cooler, by the looks of it, should be able to handle most mainstream CPUs, even with some overclocks thrown in. There's still no word on when Noctua plans to launch it.

Lian-Li Industrial Co. Ltd, is pleased to announce that the DK01 desk chassis, along with community collaborated chassis and two unreleased models, will be on display at CeBIT 2014 in Hannover, Germany from March 10 to 14, 2014. Lian Li invites all interested parties to visit them at Hall 17, Booth F24. Combining the symbiotic relationship of desks and computer cases, the DK01 is a chassis like no other. Constructed of aluminum, this hybrid chassis allows DIY builders to build a full computer inside the desk and show off their hardware creations through the tempered glass desktop. The DK01 eliminates the need for PC towers.

Modified according to feedback across the social media and tech media sphere, the newly released, community collaborated PC-A51 mid-tower chassis as well as the updated versions of the previewed PC-B16 and PC-A61 will also be on display at Lian Li's booth. These three fully aluminum chassis are a conglomeration of user feedback on prototype models and Lian Li's time-honed expertise and engineering capabilities. Visitors to the booth will be able to provide their feedback for the PC-B16 and PC-A61 as well as the DK01, which will be updated additionally after the show.

Lian Li posted pictures of prototypes of two of its upcoming cases, the PC-B16 and PC-A61 (pictured in that order). The two will be launched in March, at the 2014 CeBIT. Both cases are based on a common frame design (the same innards), but the PC-B16 has an added level of noise reduction with its front door. Measuring 230 mm x 490 mm x 530 mm (WxDxH), the two dry-weigh around 6.5 kg. Color options include all-black (including interiors); and white (with bare aluminium interiors).

The PC-B16 and PC-A61 feature a unique new drive cage design, in which individual 3.5-inch drive bays can be detached, so you don't have to lose 3-4 bays just to make room for a dual-slot graphics card of abnormal length. Each bay has retention holes for two 9.5 mm-thick 2.5-inch drives. With the drive bays in place, you get room for graphics cards as long as 280 mm. With the bays out of the way, your cards can be as much as 420 mm long. There's room for CPU coolers as tall as 170 mm. Behind the motherboard tray, there's a crawl-space of 30 mm, letting you comfortably manage even the thickest cable your PSU throws at you (the 24-pin ATX). Cooling system on the PC-B16 and PC-A61 include two 120 mm front intakes, a 120 mm rear exhaust, and two top 140 mm exhausts. Lian Li didn't finalize pricing, or even the design for that matter, and is taking in community feedback. Fire away.

Lian Li is feeling experimental again. After taking the PC enthusiast community's opinion on the PC-A51 prototype late last year, the company undertook another such exercise, this time with an emerging form-factor, desk-type chassis, chassis that doubles up as your desk. The DK-01 prototype by Lian Li Measures 800 mm x 795 mm x 600 mm (WxHxD), the business end of the case is its top drawer, which houses your hardware, and metal u-frames that make up its legs. A clear glass or acrylic top gives you a bird's eye view of your creation from above.

The DK01 features room for a gargantuan HPTX motherboard, which means it can also hold EATX, XL-ATX, and standard ATX motherboards. The case has room for up to fourteen (14) 3.5-inch drives, which are arranged in detachable bays. Removing half the bays creates room for large motherboards, and long (up to 410 mm) add-on cards. With the caddies in place, that room shrinks to a still respectable 280 mm. The case supports PSUs as long as 280 mm, and CPU coolers as tall as 180 mm. At various locations, there is room for up to seven 120 mm fans, which you can use to deploy a 240 x 120 mm and 360 x 120 mm radiators.More pictures follow.

ASUS released a prototype of the first desktop PC motherboard with SATA-Express support, the Z87-Deluxe/SATA-Express. A variant of ASUS' flagship socket LGA1150 motherboard from its mainline Z87 series, the Z87-Deluxe, the board features two SATA-Express ports. SATA-Express sees a fusion between two of the most successful serial I/O interfaces, SATA and PCI-Express. It's essentially ATA over PCI-Express 2.0 x2, which offers a raw bandwidth of 8 Gbps per direction, 16 Gbps total. The SATA-Express port is structured similar to the classic SATA port, with PCI-Express lanes running over two 7-pin SATA connectors, and an additional block of 4 pins that make up the 18 pins required by 2-lane PCI-Express. A SATA-Express connector is thus unified, and legacy SATA devices should still be able to run off one of the two 7-in SATA connectors in a SATA-Express block.

Since there are no SATA-Express drives in the market, ASUS gave TweakTown a MacGyver contraption that adapts SATA-Express to a physical PCI-Express 2.0 x4 slot (electrical x2). An ASUS RAIDR Express PCI-Express SSD was found to offer sequential transfer rates of around 750 MB/s on ATTO. The rest of the board is practically identical to the Z87-Deluxe. The board uses a 16-phase VRM to condition power for the LGA1150 CPU. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors. Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/NC/NC or x8/x8/NC or x8/x4/x4, depending on how they're populated); and four PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slots.

Next year PC maker iBuyPower is planning to embrace Valve's Steam OS and release its own Steam Machine. Seen below in prototype form, iBuyPower's upcoming Steam OS-running 'console' looks a bit like a PlayStation 4, design-wise, and packs an AMD processor (likely an APU) and AMD Radeon R9 270 graphics card (in contrast, Valve's own Steam Box prototypes have Intel CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs), and a 500 GB hard drive.

The iBuyPower Steam Machine also has a glossy white chassis with a customizable light bar, and is set to cost $499 (as much as an Xbox One). The Steam Controller wasn't mentioned but it's likely at least one will be bundled.

Asetek will showcase its range of RackCDU hot water liquid cooling systems for HPC data centers at SC13 including a running 92 node cluster cooled by RackCDU D2C (Direct to Chip) with monitoring software providing real-time reporting and alerting in Denver, Colorado - November 18-21.

Asetek's RackCDU range includes RackCDU D2C and RackCDU ISAC (In-Server Air Conditioning). RackCDU D2C provides cooling cost reductions up to 80% and density increases of 2.5x-5x. RackCDU ISAC provides cooling cost reductions exceeding 80% and enables operation without concern for air quality. Operating demonstrations of both technologies will be on display in Asetek's booth #4329.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced the availability of a replay-protected monotonic counter (RPMC) feature for their SPI NOR Flash memory devices, which are validated for future Intel Ultrabook platforms. The cost-effective 64Mb density is the sweet-spot solution currently available for immediate platform-enablement activities.

The RPMC feature in Micron's SPI NOR device is the first in a family of cryptographic primitives that will significantly enhance preboot security in cost-sensitive embedded, mobile, and personal computing architectures. The RPMC-enabled device facilitates critical nonvolatile data storage, while making systems resistant to rollback and replay attacks. It enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to further strengthen code/data storage in the boot memory and deliver more secure systems to customers.

On Thursday at Computex, Intel unveiled a prototype thumb drive which employs the Thunderbolt interface and claims data transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps. Dubbed the "world's fastest thumb drive," Intel's prototype device boasts transfer speeds far beyond those reachable by established standards such as the omnipresent USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 devices, of which the latter attains a theoretical maximum transfer speed of 5 Gbps.

The small drive hosts a 128 GB SanDisk SSD and connects directly to a Thunderbolt port on your PC or laptop, dismissing the need for the usually expensive cables associated with Thunderbolt peripherals, typically external storage solutions but also monitors. Thunderbolt hasn't seen wide adoption yet, primarily because of high costs, both implementation costs (expensive controllers) as well as adoption costs (few and expensive compatible devices). However that could soon change, seeing how many motherboards that offer Thunderbolt support were unveiled only in the last few days at Computex, one would think that Intel's Haswell platform could accelerate Thunderbolt adoption despite lacking native chipset support for the standard.

A star attraction at Noctua's Computex booth was a prototype CPU air cooler featuring an active noise-cancellation technology co-developed by RotoSub. Pictured below, this aluminum monstrosity looks like a huge fanless cubical fin-stack, but in reality, is a D-type (twin-tower) heatsink with a large fan between its two stacks, equipped with active noise cancellation device. It works much in the same way as noise-cancellation in premium headphones and smartphones. A mic inputs noise from the cooler, speakers give out the same noise with a phase difference, this causes destructive interference between noise coming from the speakers and the cooler, and noise is reduced. The speakers are positioned along each of the two fin-stacks. The mics are just as discrete. Noctua stuck a mic into the test chamber with the cooler running, and visitors couldn't hear a thing, at least nothing that's louder than the morning crowds at Nangang, after the event has been opened up to the general public. The technology 'sounds' promising.

Razer, the world leader in high-performance gaming hardware, software and systems, today announced the Razer Atrox Arcade Stick for Xbox 360, the final product following an extensive beta testing program. Tested by some of the world's best pro-gamers and Fighting Game Community members all over the world, the Razer Atrox Arcade Stick is constructed with modders and tournament gamers in mind. Featuring premium quality Sanwa components, the 10 highly responsive buttons and a precision eight-way joystick allow gamers to strike instantly and surely, game after game, while maintaining peak performance and reliability.

An extremely moddable controller, the inside of the arcade stick platform opens up at the touch of a button, making the Razer Atrox a breeze to customize for all tastes and play styles. Users can swap in their own personal designs for a unique look, while also getting access to the internal compartments and honeycomb structure for easy screw mounting.

Intel Corporation announced a collaboration with Facebook to define the next generation of rack technologies used to power the world's largest data centers. As part of the collaboration, the companies also unveiled a mechanical prototype built by Quanta Computer* that includes Intel's new, innovative photonic rack architecture to show the total cost, design and reliability improvement potential of a disaggregated rack environment.

"Intel and Facebook are collaborating on a new disaggregated, rack-scale server architecture that enables independent upgrading of compute, network and storage subsystems that will define the future of mega-datacenter designs for the next decade," said Justin Rattner, Intel's chief technology officer during his keynote address at Open Computer Summit in Santa Clara, Calif. "The disaggregated rack architecture includes Intel's new photonic architecture, based on high-bandwidth, 100 Gbps Intel Silicon Photonics Technology, that enables fewer cables, increased bandwidth, farther reach and extreme power efficiency compared to today's copper based interconnects."

Case Western Reserve University researchers have developed technology aimed at making an optical disc that holds 1 to 2 terabytes of data -- the equivalent of 1,000 to 2,000 copies of Encyclopedia Britannica. The entire print collection of the Library of Congress could fit on five to 10 discs. The discs would provide small- and medium-sized businesses an alternative to storing data on energy-wasting magnetic disks or cumbersome magnetic tapes, the researchers say. To push technology to market, the leaders of the effort have launched a company.

"A disc will be on the capacity scale of magnetic tapes used for archival data storage," said Kenneth Singer, the Ambrose Swasey professor of physics, and co-founder of Folio Photonics. "But, they'll be substantially cheaper and have one advantage: you can access data faster. You just pop the disc in your computer and you can find the data in seconds. Tapes can take minutes to wind through to locate particular data."