Alienware is reintroducing the iconic Area-51 back into the family, reanimated in desktop and laptop forms. Deep lore underpins Area-51, dating back to 1998. While the design, technology and gameplay have evolved significantly from iteration to iteration, one fact has remained the same: Area-51 represents the best that Alienware offers. Reclaiming its position as the ultimate gaming experience, the new Area-51 Desktop debut an arsenal of cutting-edge features -- including next-gen NVIDIA graphics - to power the next generation of AAA gameplay.

ALIENWARE AREA-51 DESKTOP
Area-51 Desktop makes a bold entrance to retake the throne as Alienware's flagship gaming PC. With this edition, we are returning to our roots with a machine that caters to the desires of PC gaming enthusiasts and longtime Alienware fans who have a deep appreciation for technology and a can-do attitude for manually customizing their build to their needs. It is an icon that honors the wishes of all gamers seeking unyielding performance and the ability to make serious upgrades for years to come.

ORICO introduces the Mac Mini Upgrade Series, a suite of innovative solutions tailored to maximize the potential of Apple's Mac Mini M4. Loved for its powerful performance, compact design, and seamless macOS integration, the Mac Mini's capabilities are often limited by high storage and port expansion costs. ORICO's latest lineup offers stylish, cost-effective solutions designed for graphic designers, HD video editors, content creators, and professionals seeking enhanced productivity.

MiniMate provides a cost-effective external storage solution that enhances capacity while seamlessly blending with the Mac mini's sleek design, enabling users to work efficiently and unleash their creativity with ease, now on sale.

• Massive Storage Options: Up to 4 TB of solid-state storage, with flexible choices ranging from 512 GB to 4 TB.
• Sleek Design: Perfectly complements your Mac mini with identical dimensions for a seamless fit.
• Blazing Fast Transmission: Supports up to 40 Gbps for smooth external editing and ultra-fast file transfers.

AMD's recently announced Strix Point APU lineup has received favorable reviews from critics and consumers alike. Especially for SFF/Mini PC enthusiasts, Strix Point brings commendable efficiency and performance to the table - both of which are absolutely essential for a high-end mini PC. The GMK EVO-X1 is surely among those, and the system is now available for purchase from GMKTec's official online store.

The EVO X1 sports a 110.19 x 107.3 x 63.2 mm chassis, which is decently compact for its class. As mentioned previously, the system is powered by the 12-core (4x Zen 5 + 8x Zen 5c) Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU with the shockingly potent RDNA 3.5-based Radeon 890M iGPU with 16 CUs. For most CPU-centric workloads, the EVO X1 should easily suffice. The iGPU, as mentioned, is potent enough to handle most graphically demanding tasks, including some lightweight gaming, but expecting anything more from it would be futile. Thankfully, an OCuLink port is present, which should allow for extremely fast eGPU connections courtesy of its 64 Gbps bandwidth.

MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation, an industry-leading server platform design manufacturer and a subsidiary of MiTAC Holdings Corporation (TSE:3706), is unveiling its new server lineup at SC24, booth #2543, in Atlanta, Georgia. MiTAC Computing's servers integrate the latest AMD EPYC 9005 Series CPUs, AMD Instinct MI325X GPU accelerators, Intel Xeon 6 processors, and professional GPUs to deliver enhanced performance optimized for HPC and AI workloads.

Leading Performance and Density for AI-Driven Data Center Workloads
MiTAC Computing's new servers, powered by AMD EPYC 9005 Series CPUs, are optimized for high-performance AI workloads. At SC24, MiTAC highlights two standout AI/HPC products: the 8U dual-socket MiTAC G8825Z5, featuring AMD Instinct MI325X GPU accelerators, up to 6 TB of DDR5 6000 memory, and eight hot-swap U.2 drive trays, ideal for large-scale AI/HPC setups; and the 2U dual-socket MiTAC TYAN TN85-B8261, designed for HPC and deep learning applications with support for up to four dual-slot GPUs, twenty-four DDR5 RDIMM slots, and eight hot-swap NVMe U.2 drives. For mainstream cloud applications, MiTAC offers the 1U single-socket MiTAC TYAN GC68C-B8056, with twenty-four DDR5 DIMM slots and twelve tool-less 2.5-inch NVMe U.2 hot-swap bays. Also featured is the 2U single-socket MiTAC TYAN TS70A-B8056, designed for high-IOPS NVMe storage, and the 2U 4-node single-socket MiTAC M2810Z5, supporting up to 3,072 GB of DDR5 6000 RDIMM memory and four easy-swap E1.S drives per node.

Hypertec proudly announces the launch of its latest breakthrough product, the TRIDENT iG series, an immersion-born GPU server line that brings extreme density, sustainability, and performance to the AI and HPC community. Purpose-built for the most demanding AI applications, this cutting-edge server is optimized for generative AI, machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), large language model (LLM) training, inference, and beyond. With up to six of the latest NVIDIA GPUs in a 2U form factor, a staggering 8 TB of memory with enhanced RDMA capabilities, and groundbreaking density supporting up to 200 GPUs per immersion tank, the TRIDENT iG server line is a game-changer for AI infrastructure.

Additionally, the server's innovative design features a single or dual root complex, enabling greater flexibility and efficiency for GPU usage in complex workloads.

ORICO, an industry-leading brand in data storage solutions, is proud to announce the launch of Dual-Bay Dock for both an M.2 SSD and a SATA HDD, featuring up to 30 TB hybrid storage and two-way data duplication. The dock greatly streamlines the workflow of professionals, enterprises, DIY PC assemble teams and more who need to move and manage extensive data.

Unlike another drive dock, this ORICO dock brings complete compatibility and multi-functionality. It supports an 8 TB M.2 SSD and a 22 TB HDD (total of 30 TB). For professionals, it effectively addresses the hardware upgrade from hard drives to solid-state drives while enabling the fast transfer of hot data to cold data, and provides users with great convenience in cross-protocol data backup.

MSI, a leading global provider of high-performance server solutions, is excited to showcase its comprehensive lineup of motherboards and servers based on the OCP Modular Hardware System (DC-MHS) architecture at the OCP Global Summit from October 15-17 at booth A6. These cutting-edge solutions represent a breakthrough in server designs, enabling flexible deployments for cloud and high-density data centers. Featured innovations include CXL memory expansion servers and AI-optimized servers, demonstrating MSI's leadership in pushing the boundaries of AI performance and computing power.

DC-MHS Series Motherboards and Servers: Enabling Flexible Deployment in Data Centers
"The rapidly evolving IT landscape requires cloud service providers, large-scale data center operators, and enterprises to handle expanding workloads and future growth with more flexible and powerful infrastructure. MSI's new rage of DC-MHS-based solutions provides the needed flexibility and efficiency for modern data center environments," said Danny Hsu, General Manager of Enterprise Platform Solutions.

ProGrade Digital, founded with a mission to provide the highest quality professional grade digital memory cards and workflow solutions, announces its new solid state drive (SSD) product line available in a 2 TB, 4 TB, and 8 TB capacities. The PG10 Pro SSD is based on the latest USB 4.0 technology which is designed to achieve speeds of up to 40Gbits/sec and provides a real-world read and write speed of up to 2500 MB/s, and a sustained write speed of 1500 MB/s (2 TB) and 2000 MB/s (4 TB and 8 TB) with no cache depletion. The PG10 is also equipped with ProGrade's patented magnetic base and comes with an adhesive metal plate that allows users to mount the reader to any work surface. The new SSD is also supplied with a high-quality certified USB 4.0 cable - assuring the maximum performance possible.

"ProGrade Digital is embarking into a new category of professional SSDs (Solid State Drives) with a product offering that aligns with all of the core values of our brand," said Wes Brewer, founder, and CEO of ProGrade Digital. "We have recognized for years that there is an opportunity to expand further into the professional workflow with a high capacity, high performance SSD but were waiting for just the right time to enter with a truly new and defining product that offers unique features and value. Our introduction of capacity points from 2 TB to 8 TB, and a USB 4.0/Thunderbolt 4 interface, allows us to provide industry-leading sustained performance and reliability for professionals that have traditionally had to settle for much slower and less reliable solutions. Our uniquely designed housing and internal heat-sink provide unmatched sustained write and read speeds ideal for long, multi-TB data file transfers".

Iodyne, a company dedicated to providing Pro users with the best technology, announced its Pro Mini external solid-state drive sporting unique features like the dual AirJet cooling system. This technology allows the drive to maintain sustained performance without the thermal throttling that plagues other portable SSDs. The Pro Mini can deliver speeds of 3 GB/s, up to two times the sustained throughput of standard professional SSDs, even with active encryption and internal RAID protection.

The drive features a triple-anodized machined aluminum chassis and hardened glass protection with a customizable 2.1" E-paper display. Offered with 4 TB or 8 TB capacities, the iodyne Pro Mini offers versatile connectivity, including a bus-powered USB-C port that automatically detects the connection type and adjusts its speed accordingly, supporting up to 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt connections. Security is another point where this product stands out with the use of Passkeys instead of passwords, along with enterprise-grade encryption and hardware-accelerated RAID-6 data protection. The Pro Mini also incorporates an integrated Bluetooth beacon for location tracking.

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is excited to announce the PLAY 2280 PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD. Delivering blazing performance of 7400 MB/s max read and 6500 MB/s max write, this SSD is made to live up to hardcore gamers' demands, ensuring reduced load times and seamless gameplay. Tested and approved for the PS5, this drive provides additional storage and allows gamers to play directly from the drive, so they don't need to transfer or delete files from their consoles. The included heatsink, optimized for PS5, allows the console to maintain peak performance and power efficiency. With capacity up to 8 TB, users can store about 150+ AAA games and an endurance rating of 6400 TBW offers assurance about the drive's stability.

The PLAY 2280 PCIe 4.0 SSD can also be used for PC gaming. It features HMB and SLC Dynamic cache which deliver improved performance, accelerated data access speeds, and enhanced overall responsiveness when used with a PC.

TrendForce's latest report on enterprise SSDs reveals that a surge in demand for AI has led AI server customers to significantly increase their orders for enterprise SSDs over the past two quarters. Upstream suppliers have been accelerating process upgrades and planning for 2YY products—slated to enter mass production in 2025—in order to meet the growing demand for SSDs in AI applications.

TrendForce observes that increased orders for enterprise SSDs from AI server customers have resulted in contract prices for this category rising by over 80% from 4Q23 to 3Q24. SSDs play a crucial role in AI development. In AI model training, SSDs primarily store model parameters, including evolving weights and deviations.

Toshiba Electronic Components Taiwan Corporation (Toshiba) has announced next-generation S300 Pro Surveillance Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) targeting the latest requirements in the surveillance storage market. With capacities up to 10 TB and double the buffer size of their predecessors, the upgraded HDDs with conventional magnetic recording (CMR) technology enable surveillance system integrators, system installation providers, and end users to record, store and analyze their video streams from up to 64 high-definition (HD) cameras.

The highly scalable, 3.5-inch S300 Pro series, with capacity options of 4 TB, 6 TB, 8 TB and 10 TB, now supports up to 24 bays, and delivers reliable operation even in the most demanding environments, making the HDDs an excellent fit for large-scale video recording systems. Compared to the previous generation, they provide a higher maximum sustained transfer speed of 268MiB/s and double the cache buffer size to 512MiB. They also reduce power consumption, delivering improved total cost of ownership (TCO).

Currently, only Phison offers widely available performance PCIe 5.0 NVMe controllers for consumer SSDs, although the competition is heating up and Chinese SSD controller makers MaxioTek and InnoGrit, as well as Taiwanese Silicon Motion either have or will be releasing competing controllers this year. However, it also looks like Taiwanese Realtek will be joining the fray, albeit a tad late, as their upcoming RTS5782 PCIe 5.0 NVMe controller, but the company didn't reveal a release schedule. Although Realtek is known as a more budget friendly chipmaker, regardless of the product segment, the RTS5782 will be an 8-channel controller with support for 3600 MT/s NAND, and it will have a dedicated DRAM cache using either DDR4, LPDDR3, LPDDR4 or LPDDR4x memory. It's said to deliver sequential read speeds of up to 14 GB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 12 GB/s, with random read and write IOPS hitting 2500K.

Realtek is also working on a pair of new DRAM-less models, the PCIe 4.0 RTS5776DL and the PCIe r5.0 RTS5781DL, both having support for 4-channel flash, but still supporting NAND speeds of up to 3600 MT/s. Engineering samples of the RTS5776DL are expected to be available before the end of this year, and it's said to deliver sequential read and write speeds of up to 7400 MB/s and random read and write IOPS of 1200K. The RTS5781DL will enter the engineering sample stage in the beginning of 2025 and will up the sequential read and write performance to 10 GB/s and the random read and write IOPS to 1400K. In addition to the new NVMe controllers, Realtek also had its RTS5736DL on display at Computex, which the company claims is the world's lowest power DRAM-less SATA SSD controller, that also supports size of up to 8 TB. Realtek claims the RTS5736DL is an ideal solution to pair with a USB 3.x bridge chip for external drives.

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation ("Silicon Motion"), a global leader in designing and marketing NAND flash controllers for solid-state storage devices, today launched the SM2322, the industry's fastest single-chip high-performance, low-power, and cost-effective solution for external portable SSDs, supporting up to 8 TB of storage and achieves unparalleled data transfer rates of 20 Gbps for storing and accessing large amounts of content seamlessly from AI smartphones, high-performance multimedia devices, and game consoles.

With the increase of AI-capable devices, high density and high-performance storage solutions are becoming more critical to consumers. Portable SSDs powered by the new SM2322 controller are the only solution that offers low-cost, high-density and high-performance, making it the ideal solution for these applications. Equipped with a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 interface with 20 Gb/s bandwidth and fully integrated hardware and software solution delivering peak sequential read and write transfer speeds of 2,100 MB/s and 2,000 MB/s, respectively, with up to 8 TB capacity, SM2322 powered high-performance portable SSDs enable an ultra-compact and lightweight form factor. The SM2322 supports the ProRes format and MFi specification for iPhone users while also being compatible with Windows, Android OS, and macOS, making it an ideal high-density, high-performance portable storage solution for AI smartphones, HD content creators, and gaming enthusiasts who require high-density, high-performance portable storage.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) has expanded its SanDisk portfolio with the new 8 TB SanDisk Desk Drive, its highest capacity yet on an external desktop solid state drive (SSD). Featuring the speed and reliability of an SSD, this new class of drives gives content creators and business professionals an easy way to back up and access their high-resolution photos, videos and files quickly in a single, convenient location. From photo and video pros to tech enthusiasts, there are a growing number of digital creators generating massive amounts of content who need flexible high-capacity storage solutions to do more, faster.

"As digital content creation continues to soar, there is an increasing need for high-performing and high-capacity storage solutions to help manage and preserve it. Expanding our SSD portfolio is the first step in offering creators backup solutions that deliver the speed and flexibility they need to unlock their creativity," says Susan Park, Vice President, Consumer Solutions, Western Digital. "By next year, we expect to double the capacity of the SanDisk Desk Drive from 8 TB to 16 TB on a single desktop SSD."

Thanks to recent developments in the AI field, and following in the wake of the world's recovery from COVID-19, the transition of factories to partial or full automation proceeds with unstoppable momentum. And the best place to learn about the latest technologies that aim to make this transition as painless as possible is at Automate 2024. This is North America's largest robotics and automation event, and it will be held in Chicago, Illinois from May 6 to 9.

Automate attracts professionals from around the world, and Apacer is no exception. Apacer team will be on hand to discuss the latest technological developments created by our experienced R&D team. Many of these developments were specifically created to reduce the pain points commonly experienced by fully automated facilities. Take CoreSnapshot, for example. This backup and recovery technology can restore a crashed system to full operation in just a few seconds, reducing downtime and associated maintenance costs. Apacer recently updated CoreSnapshot, creating CoreRescue ASR and CoreRescue USR. The name of CoreRescue ASR refers to Auto Self Recovery. This technology will harness AI to learn the system booting process and analyze how long a boot should take. If this average boot time is significantly longer than usual, the system will trigger the self-recovery process and revert to an earlier, uncorrupted version of the drive's content. CoreRescue USR offers similar functionality, except the self-recovery process is triggered by connecting a small USB stick drive.

All-in-one computers are often traditionally seen as lower-powered alternatives to traditional desktop workstations. However, a new offering from Alafia AI, a startup focused on medical imaging appliances, aims to shatter that perception. The company's upcoming Alafia Aivas SuperWorkstation packs serious hardware muscle, demonstrating that all-in-one systems can match the performance of their more modular counterparts. At the heart of the Aivas SuperWorkstation lies a 128-core Ampere Altra processor, running at 3.0 GHz clock speed. This CPU is complemented by not one but three NVIDIA L4 GPUs for compute, and a single NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada GPU for video output, delivering a combined 28,416 CUDA cores for accelerated parallel computing tasks. The system doesn't skimp on other components, either. It features a 4K touch display with up to 360 nits of brightness, an extensive 2 TB of DDR4 RAM, and storage options up to an 8 TB solid-state drive. This combination of cutting-edge CPU, GPU, memory, and storage is squarely aimed at the demands of medical imaging and AI development workloads.

The all-in-one form factor packs this incredible hardware into a sleek, purposefully designed clinical research appliance. While initially targeting software developers, Alafia AI hopes that institutions that can optimize their applications for the Arm architecture can eventually deploy the Aivas SuperWorkstation for production medical imaging workloads. The company is aiming for application integration in Q3 2024 and full ecosystem device integration by Q4 2024. With this powerful new offering, Alafia AI is challenging long-held assumptions about the performance limitations of all-in-one systems. The Aivas SuperWorkstation demonstrates that the right hardware choices can transform these compact form factors into true powerhouse workstations. Especially with a combined total output of three NVIDIA L4 compute units, alongside RTX 4000 Ada graphics card, the AIO is more powerful than some of the high-end desktop workstations.

TYAN, a leading server platform design manufacturer and a MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation subsidiary, today introduced upgraded server platforms and motherboards based on the brand-new 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, formerly codenamed Emerald Rapids.

5th Gen Intel Xeon processor has increased to 64 cores, featuring a larger shared cache, higher UPI and DDR5 memory speed, as well as PCIe 5.0 with 80 lanes. Growing and excelling with workload-optimized performance, 5th Gen Intel Xeon delivers more compute power and faster memory within the same power envelope as the previous generation. "5th Gen Intel Xeon is the second processor offering inside the 2023 Intel Xeon Scalable platform, offering improved performance and power efficiency to accelerate TCO and operational efficiency", said Eric Kuo, Vice President of Server Infrastructure Business Unit, MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation. "By harnessing the capabilities of Intel's new Xeon CPUs, TYAN's 5th-Gen Intel Xeon-supported solutions are designed to handle the intense demands of HPC, data centers, and AI workloads.

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.

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."

Supermicro, Inc., a Total IT Solution Provider for AI, Cloud, Storage, and 5G/Edge, is expanding its AI reach with the upcoming support for the new NVIDIA HGX H200 built with H200 Tensor Core GPUs. Supermicro's industry leading AI platforms, including 8U and 4U Universal GPU Systems, are drop-in ready for the HGX H200 8-GPU, 4-GPU, and with nearly 2x capacity and 1.4x higher bandwidth HBM3e memory compared to the NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPU. In addition, the broadest portfolio of Supermicro NVIDIA MGX systems supports the upcoming NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchip with HBM3e memory. With unprecedented performance, scalability, and reliability, Supermicro's rack scale AI solutions accelerate the performance of computationally intensive generative AI, large language Model (LLM) training, and HPC applications while meeting the evolving demands of growing model sizes. Using the building block architecture, Supermicro can quickly bring new technology to market, enabling customers to become more productive sooner.

Supermicro is also introducing the industry's highest density server with NVIDIA HGX H100 8-GPUs systems in a liquid cooled 4U system, utilizing the latest Supermicro liquid cooling solution. The industry's most compact high performance GPU server enables data center operators to reduce footprints and energy costs while offering the highest performance AI training capacity available in a single rack. With the highest density GPU systems, organizations can reduce their TCO by leveraging cutting-edge liquid cooling solutions.

With the holiday season and a new wave of exciting game releases approaching, today we're pleased to roll out an all-new PS5 system software update globally. Thanks to support from our beta participants, this update includes a number of features from the latest PS5 beta. PS Remote Play is now supported on more Android devices, . Additionally, we're also introducing new features like support for PS Remote Play on more Android devices—providing new options to stream your favorite PlayStation games—alongside some new enhancements coming to PS App in the coming weeks.

Expect new accessibility features, such as using a second DualSense controller for assistance, new audio options that allow 3D Audio powered by Tempest 3D AudioTech to be enjoyed on compatible Dolby Atmos-enabled HDMI devices, new ways to connect with other players and customize your multiplayer sessions, and
support for larger-capacity M.2 SSDs (up to 8 TB).

TrendForce expects that memory suppliers will continue their strategy of scaling back production of both DRAM and NAND Flash in 2024, with the cutback being particularly pronounced in the financially struggling NAND Flash sector. Market demand visibility for consumer electronic is projected to remain uncertain in 1H24. Additionally, capital expenditure for general-purpose servers is expected to be weakened due to competition from AI servers. Considering the low baseline set in 2023 and the current low pricing for some memory products, TrendForce anticipates YoY bit demand growth rates for DRAM and NAND Flash to be 13% and 16%, respectively. Nonetheless, achieving effective inventory reduction and restoring supply-demand balance next year will largely hinge on suppliers' ability to exercise restraint in their production capacities. If managed effectively, this could open up an opportunity for a rebound in average memory prices.

PC: The annual growth rate for average DRAM capacity is projected at approximately 12.4%, driven mainly by Intel's new Meteor Lake CPUs coming into mass production in 2024. This platform's DDR5 and LPDDR5 exclusivity will likely make DDR5 the new mainstream, surpassing DDR4 in the latter half of 2024. The growth rate in PC client SSDs will not be as robust as that of PC DRAM, with just an estimated growth of 8-10%. As consumer behavior increasingly shifts toward cloud-based solutions, the demand for laptops with large storage capacities is decreasing. Even though 1 TB models are becoming more available, 512 GB remains the predominant storage option. Furthermore, memory suppliers are maintaining price stability by significantly reducing production. Should prices hit rock bottom and subsequently rebound, PC OEMs are expected to face elevated SSD costs. This, when combined with Windows increasing its licensing fees for storage capacities at and above 1 TB, is likely to put a damper on further growth in average storage capacities.

With each PlayStation 5 system software release, we've introduced new features designed to enhance the many ways you can access your favorite content, navigate your console, or create new gaming memories with friends. Today, we're thrilled to roll out a new PS5 system software beta that introduces new accessibility features as well as audio options that allow 3D Audio powered by Tempest 3D AudioTech to be enjoyed on compatible Dolby Atmos-enabled HDMI devices such as sound bars, TVs, or home theater systems. The beta also includes more options to quickly find games and console tips, new ways to connect with other players and customize your multiplayer sessions, and support for larger-capacity M.2 SSDs (up to 8 TB).

While beta access will be limited to invited participants in select countries*, we plan to release the update globally later this year. If you're selected to participate in the beta, you'll receive an email invitation today when it's available to download. Some features available during the beta phase may not make it into the final version or may see significant changes. Without further ado, here are some of the highlights from the beta release...

Sabrent USA was in a boastful mood yesterday, and proceeded to gloat on Twitter about an upcoming gargantuan storage solution: "At Sabrent, we run on the cutting edge of technology. Working with Apex, we received one of these new cards and currently running it through tests. We call this the Sabrent Apex X21 Destroyer. 21X 8 TB SSDs for 168 TB of storage on single card!" The company has revealed that it is collaborating with Apex Solutions on the single PCIe card offering, but the smattering of text and two photos uploaded to Twitter are just teaser material for the moment. There have been no reports of preview units getting sent to potential testers or hardware influencers. Sabrent and Apex will continue to tweak and evaluate.

The Destroyer is formed of already existing parts, namely Apex Solution's own x21 NVMe mounting platform card, and twenty-one of Sabrent's Rocket 4 Plus SSD 8 TB NVMe 4.0 Gen 4 PCIe M.2 Internal SSD model (SB-RKT4P-8TB). A single Apex x21 card will set you back $2800, and the 8 TB Rocket 4 Plus SSD is currently discounted to $1099 (from $1499). That grand total comes to a whopping $25,879, and extra expenses are expected in the form of adequate cooling solutions and a hardware controller capable of managing that unruly gang of SSDs. Sabrent is expected to post updates about finalized fittings, features and exact pricing in the near future.