Editor's note: Our review is here, for those interested.

CORSAIR, a world leader in PC gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced a new line of PC cooling fans to elevate the aesthetics of any build: CORSAIR iCUE QL RGB PWM fans. Available in 120 mm and 140 mm sizes, every QL RGB fan features quad light loops lit by a total of 34 individually addressable RGB LEDs, creating incredible visuals from either side. Multi-fan kits of QL RGB fans are bundled with a CORSAIR iCUE Lighting Node CORE RGB Lighting Controller, capable of controlling the lighting for up to six CORSAIR RGB fans at once through CORSAIR iCUE software.

No other RGB fan comes close to the brightness and vibrancy of QL RGB. With inner and outer light loops on both the front and back of the fan, it is uniquely capable of intricate, bright, and detailed lighting effects that impress from any angle, regardless of whether it's used for intake or exhaust. A semi-transparent fan blade allows the RGB lighting to shine through, while a durable machined aluminium hub cover on either side completes the QL RGB's stunning look.

Rambus Inc., a premier silicon IP and chip provider making data faster and safer, today announced it has achieved industry-leading 18 Gbps performance with the Rambus GDDR6 Memory PHY. Running at the industry's fastest data rate of 18 Gbps, the Rambus GDDR6 PHY IP delivers peak performance four-to-five times faster than current DDR4 solutions and continues the company's longstanding tradition of developing leading-edge products. The Rambus GDDR6 PHY pairs with the companion GDDR6 memory controller from the recent acquisition of Northwest Logic to provide a complete and optimized memory subsystem solution.

Increased data usage in applications such as AI, ML, data center, networking and automotive systems is driving a need for higher bandwidth memory. The coming introduction of high-bandwidth 5G networks will exacerbate this challenge. Working closely with our memory partners, the Rambus GDDR6 solution gives system designers more options in selecting the memory system that meets both their bandwidth and cost requirements.

In times of Tempered Glass, not only the cooling performance and volume development of the PCs want to be adapted to their own and changing requirements, but also the RGB lighting suitable for the hardware. The Lamptron SM436 Sync Edition PCI RGB & Fan Controller offers not only extensive functionality, but also high compatibility. It runs up to four fans with or without PWM control and RGB products with or without digital RGB LEDs. The separate LC display can be attached to PCI slots, which can be admired by a transparent side section made of hard or acrylic glass. The control is operated by an infrared remote control.

CORSAIR, a world leader in PC gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced the launch of the new CORSAIR iCUE 465X RGB Mid-Tower ATX Smart Case, offering PC enthusiasts smart RGB lighting and strong cooling with three included CORSAIR LL120 RGB PWM fans behind two beautiful tempered glass panels in a black or white chassis. Users can create stunning, customizable visuals out-of-the-box with the included iCUE Lighting Node CORE RGB Lighting Controller and iCUE software.

The 465X RGB features premium, 4 mm-thick edge-to-edge tempered glass panels on the side and front of the chassis, perfect for showcasing the vibrant light shows from all of your high-profile RGB components. Three included CORSAIR LL120 RGB PWM fans light up your system with 16 individually addressable RGB LEDs each, while keeping temperatures down with powerful cooling by running up to 1,500 RPM.

At the 2019 Flash Memory Summit, Realtek announced a slew of new Flash memory controllers targeting a diversity of devices, spanning from USB flash drives to USB external SSDs, M.2/U.2 NVMe internal SSDs. Leading the pack is the RTS5771, the company's new flagship NVMe SSD controller that features a PCI-Express 4.0 x4 host interface, 8 NAND Flash channels with up to 1,200 MT/s speeds per channel, NVMe 1.3, and DRAM cache. This becomes the third PCIe gen 4.0-capable client-segment NVMe SSD controller after the Phison E16 and the Marvell 88SS132x.

The RTS5765DL is its cost-effective sibling, which has PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface, just 4 NAND Flash channels, and is DRAM-less, allowing manufacturers to design cost-effective SSDs. It still has 1,200 MT/s bandwidth per channel, so drives that implement it can offer sequential speeds similar to premium drives from the previous generation. The new RTL9210 is a bridge chip that converts USB 3.1 gen 2 (10 Gbps) to PCI-Express 3.0 x2, ideal for cost-effective external NVMe SSDs. The controller also features an integrated RGB LED logic, so drive designers can bling up their creations.

As the first and only company shipping PCIe Gen4x4 NVMe SSD solutions, Phison Electronics is the industry leader in enabling high-performance computing for bandwidth-hungry applications. In developing these solutions, Phison is ushering in a new era for applications expected to meet the demand for increasingly faster and higher-definition digital experiences.

The PCIe 4.0 standard offers double the data transfer rate over the prior PCIe 3.0 version. The increased data transfer rate, signal reliability and integrity of PCIe Gen4 enables technology solutions providers with the ability to deliver greater performance, additional flexibility and lower latency to a multitude of applications, including PC, gaming, mobile, storage and networking.

Marvell today released the industry's lowest power PCIe Gen4 NVMe solid-state drive (SSD) controller portfolio. Marvell's newest SSD controllers are designed to meet the need for lower power and higher performance in next-generation data centers and edge devices as artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G gain momentum. This breakthrough technology delivers unparalleled performance in an ultra-compact footprint, leveraging the company's complex system-on-chip (SoC) design expertise and groundbreaking storage IP to help data center, notebook, tablet, gaming and edge computing platform architects advance their solutions for the highly distributed data era.

"Marvell's latest family of storage controllers has been architected to optimally address edge computing and data center pain points of power-performance and capacity-performance," said Nigel Alvares, vice president of marketing for the Flash Business Unit at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. "With today's launch, we're once again demonstrating Marvell's leadership in storage, delivering the industry's first 4-Channel PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD controllers with the industry's lowest power consumption that will help revolutionize SSD solutions for the data economy."

CORSAIR, a world leader in PC gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced the new iCUE 220T RGB Airflow Smart Case and iCUE SP RGB PRO range of 120 mm and 140 mm RGB cooling fans, enabling vibrant RGB lighting and strong cooling performance out-of-the-box with full iCUE software integration. The CORSAIR iCUE 220T RGB Airflow offers PC enthusiasts the cooling they need for high-powered systems along with stunning visuals to stand out from the crowd. Meticulously designed for powerful and efficient cooling, the 220T RGB Airflow sports a distinctive removable steel front panel allowing for high airflow into the case, and an internal layout that directs that cool air to your PC's hottest components.

Behind the steel front panel are three included SP120 RGB PRO fans, cooling your system down while lighting it up with eight individually addressable RGB LEDs per fan, for a total of 24. SP120 RGB PRO fans provide high airflow and static pressure along with their stunning lighting, optimized for low-noise operation with a maximum speed of 1,400 RPM. The 220T RGB Airflow offers the potential for even more cooling with ample room for up to 6x 120 mm fans, up to 4x 140 mm fans, or multiple radiators in sizes up to 360 mm.

LIAN LI Industrial Co. Ltd., a world leading manufacturer of aluminum chassis and peripherals, is proud to unveil the latest addition to its family of well-received RGB fan with the BORA Digital. Following the great success of the BORA and BORA Lite cooling fans, the price competitive BORA Digital is here to dominate in style with 3 frame finishes, built-in 12 addressable LEDs customizable via a RGB controller (or motherboard), and one of the most silent performances in the field, thanks to its adjustable speed and fluid dynamic bearings.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced KC2000, its next generation M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD for enterprise and power users. Kingston's KC2000 NVMe PCIe SSD delivers powerful performance using the latest Gen 3.0 x 4 controller and 96-layer 3D TLC NAND. Offering superior read and write speeds up to 3,200 and 2,200MB/s, respectively, KC2000 delivers outstanding performance and endurance, and improves workflow in desktop, workstations and high-performance computing (HPC) systems.

KC2000 is a self-encrypting drive that supports end-to-end data protection using 256-bit AES Hardware-based encryption and allows the usage of independent software vendors with TCG Opal 2.0 security management solutions such as Symantec , McAfee , WinMagic and others. KC2000 also has built-in Microsoft eDrive support, a security storage specification for use with BitLocker.

The farbwerk nano from Aqua Computer is a tiny USB powered RGB LED controller. It is capable of controlling 90 addressable RGB LEDs and offers unique new functions that also include a light sensor. With the integrated button it can be simply switched on and off, stored profiles can be changed by double-clicking the button and the brightness of connected LED strips can be adjusted by pressing it for a longer time. Much work has been invested in the powerful aquasuite control software. As in a video editing program, up to 20 controllers can be freely assigned, moved, copied and even cloned to areas on the LED strips using drag & drop. A newly developed technology that Aqua Computer describes as ALPHApx allows for the first time to freely combine many different effects through transparency in different layers.

Another highlight is the AMBIENTpx feature. This beautifully programmed intelligent backlight for monitors can now cover almost any panel size with up to 90 LEDs. If more LEDs are required, one can combine several farbwerk nano. The analyzed image areas can be configured and AMBIENTpx also features a filter to ignore the letterbox in videos. When it comes to video and sound, the farbwerk nano is really strong. With special Sound-to-Light effects, level indicators and effects controllable via sound, there are incredible possibilities to set sound on stage.

We knew this was coming, given Valve's own teaser confirmation from March, and then a faux pas that resulted in an incomplete Steam store page ending up public for a short time. Valve had promised more details would come in May, and here we are with a lot of information available about the Valve Index headset, the controllers, the base stations, as well as retail pricing + availability.

Name aside, the Valve Index specs that leaked before end up holding true with the retail product. The headset uses dual 1440x1600 RGB LCDs which Valve claims helps provide 50% more subpixels relative to an OLED display. This in turn should result in higher effective sharpness for the same rendering horsepower, and is further accentuated via a 3x better fill factor to mitigate the dreaded screen-door effect. The headset runs at 120 Hz with full backwards compatibility to 90 Hz to work with VR titles built around that specification and, more interestingly, also supports an experimental 144 Hz mode. PC gamers have long known the benefits of higher framerates, and this is especially valid with VR, but time will tell how the rest of the ecosystem works around this. Equally important to VR gaming is the illumination period, which allows on-screen imagery to remain sharp while you are in motion just as well as when at rest. Valve claims up to a 5x reduction here, with a rated illumination period of 0.33 to 0.53 ms depending on the real time framerate. More to see past the break, so be sure to do so if this interests you!

When we first covered Valve's own teaser about their first-party VR hardware ecosystem under the Valve Index moniker, we were not expecting to hear much more until May. Thanks to an error on their part, product pages for the headset, base stands, and controllers were all published prematurely on Steam for a few hours yesterday, and that was enough time for all the information to be saved online by others. The product pages were not complete, and lacked details that we expect to get sooner than later, but Valve has since confirmed that all information inadvertently leaked are accurate and we now more about the retail package now.

To begin with, May 1 is targeted as the official announcement date which will also bring with it pre-order options for those going this route in PC VR. The complete package will contain the headset itself with integrated headphones, of which we have a better render available now as seen below, a tether cable using DisplayPort 1.2 and USB 3.1 Gen 1 connections (and not the VirtualLink standard we were hoping to see), a region-specific power adapter and plug(s), and two face gaskets (narrow and wide). Interestingly the now-renamed Index Controllers are not included and are an optional, separate purchase. This is also the case with the Index base stations, which all leads us to assume that existing HTC Vive controllers and base stations will be compatible with the headset, or there will be another, more complete package to choose from. No pricing information available yet, and Valve says they are still finalizing this as well as actual shipping detail- with an aim to hit it in June.

Phanteks released today the new Universal Fan Controller, a simple solution to controlling all your fans with a single device. A new design for added functionality and expandability for all fans.

The controller can connect up to 8x fans or more and control both 3pin (DC) and 4pin (PWM) fans simultaneously. Fully take control of your fan setup using manual remote with three speed settings, Silent, Balanced, and Performance. The Universal Fan Controller can also be connected and sync to the motherboard with the provided input cable. Easily mount the Universal Fan Controller to any metal surface thanks to the integrated magnets and place your Manual Remote within reach using the provided Velcro. Whether its silent or performance you are looking for, optimize your system easily by using the new Universal Fan Controller from Phanteks.

AMD will launch its 3rd generation Ryzen 3000 Socket AM4 desktop processors in 2019, with a product unveiling expected mid-year, likely on the sidelines of Computex 2019. AMD is keeping its promise of making these chips backwards compatible with existing Socket AM4 motherboards. To that effect, motherboard vendors such as ASUS and MSI began rolling out BIOS updates with AGESA-Combo 0.0.7.x microcode, which adds initial support for the platform to run and validate engineering samples of the upcoming "Zen 2" chips.

At CES 2019, AMD unveiled more technical details and a prototype of a 3rd generation Ryzen socket AM4 processor. The company confirmed that it will implement a multi-chip module (MCM) design even for their mainstream-desktop processor, in which it will use one or two 7 nm "Zen 2" CPU core chiplets, which talk to a 14 nm I/O controller die over Infinity Fabric. The two biggest components of the IO die are the PCI-Express root complex, and the all-important dual-channel DDR4 memory controller. We bring you never before reported details of this memory controller.

When reading through the Gen11 GT2 whitepaper by Intel, which describes their upcoming integrated graphics architecture, we may have found a groundbreaking piece of information that concerns the memory architecture of computers running 10 nm "Ice Lake" processors. The whitepaper mentions the chip to feature a 4x32-bit LPDDR4/DDR4 interface as opposed to the 2x64-bit LPDDR4/DDR4 interface of current-generation chips such as "Coffee Lake." This is strong evidence that Intel's new architecture will have unganged dual-channel memory controllers (2x 64-bit), as opposed to the monolithic 128-bit IMC found on current-generation chips.

An unganged dual-channel memory interface consists of two independent memory controllers, each handling a 64-bit wide memory channel. This approach lets the processor execute two operations in tandem, given the accesses go to distinct memory banks. On top of that it's now possible to read and write at the same time, something that's can't be done in 128-bit memory mode. From a processor's perspective DRAM is very slow, and what takes up most of the time (= latency), is opening the memory and preparing the read/write operation - the actual data transfer is fairly quick.

Micron has curiously been releasing client-segment SSDs these recent weeks. The company's main brand was focused on enterprise products, while subsidiary brands Crucial and Ballistix catered to the client-segment. Following up on its late-February launch of the 1300-series client-segment SSDs, Micron unveiled the even faster 2200-series. These drives ditch Silicon Motion-sourced controllers in favor of a new controller Micron designed in-house. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface, taking advantage of the NVMe protocol. This in-house controller is mated with Micron's 64-layer 3D TLC NAND flash, cushioned by its own LPDDR4 DRAM cache.

Available in capacities of 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB, the Micron 2200 is rated to offer sequential transfer rates of up to 3000 MB/s reads, with up to 1600 MB/s writes, up to 240,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 210,000 IOPS 4K random writes, with an endurance rating of 75 TB, 150 TB, and 300 TB, for the 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB variants, respectively. Micron-exclusive features also make their way, such as native power-loss data-protection, and TCG Opal SED. The company hasn't revealed pricing or availability for these drives.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Valve had promised continued support to the Steam Link after discontinuing it last year, and most took it to mean basic updates to the hardware device itself at the time. That was 2018, and it is remarkable how the topic of in-house game streaming has come up since. Be it Google's Project Stream which seemingly is leading up to a major announcement by the company at GDC coming up very shortly, or Microsoft introducing their new Wireless Display app for PC game streaming on the XBOX One, as well as bringing its XBOX Live service to mobile platforms on iOS or Android alike, 2019 seems to herald a re-focus into the concept of game streaming whether the infrastructure is ready or not.

Valve for their own part has had their Steam Link be enjoyed by a fairly niche audience, one that shares a more local form of game streaming from a host device to another on the same network. NVIDIA's Shield offered a similar concept, and that too has not really made the news as much as NVIDIA would surely have wanted. This latest news from Valve allows streaming of one's Steam library (games, in particular) to phones, tablets, and TVs with no download or service fees applicable. Interested users can participate in the open beta program by simply downloading the app (Google Play store only for now) or on the Raspberry Pi as has been the case for a few months already. The Steam Link app is compatible with a number of popular Bluetooth controllers, including the Steam Controller, and Valve recommends a 5 GHz network or wired Ethernet for best experience. Looks like the weekend just got busier than I originally planned!

The RGB lighting theme remains a hot topic. The German manufacturer Aqua Computer is also following this trend and is expanding its product range with the new farbwerk 360.

With the farbwerk 360, Aqua Computer launches probably the most powerful RGB controller for PCs currently on the market. It is capable of controlling up to 360 addressable RGB LEDs on 4 channels. A newly developed technology that Aqua Computer describes as ALPHApx allows for the first time to freely combine effects through transparency in up to 20 levels.

SteelSeries, the global leader in gaming peripherals, today announces full Fortnite compatibility across all its mobile controllers including the new Stratus Duo, Stratus XL and Nimbus. This comprehensive family of critically acclaimed controllers is ready for Fortnite on mobile or PC. "With the massive success of Fortnite, we want to ensure gamers have the best possible gaming experience regardless of what platform they're playing on," said Tino Soelberg, SteelSeries Chief Technical Officer.

SteelSeries, the global leader in gaming peripherals, today announced its newest full-size, multi-platform controller, the Stratus Duo. Gamers can swap between the low latency 2.4GHz wireless connection for gaming on Windows, and Bluetooth for mobile gaming on Android, Oculus Go and Samsung VR. Gamers can utilize the Stratus Duo in multiple ways using the 2.4GHz wireless, Bluetooth and wired connections. With its Bluetooth connection, the Stratus Duo supports Android, Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Go. Gamers no longer need to struggle with awkward touchscreen controls while playing mobile games on their Android devices.

The Stratus Duo allows gamers to enjoy playing on their Android device via Bluetooth or on their PC via the 2.4GHz wireless connection with no additional software needed for setup. "The gaming ecosystem is continuing to evolve and grow beyond PC and consoles to include mobile devices and VR systems," said Tino Solberg, SteelSeries CTO. "The Stratus Duo allows gamers to easily navigate across several platforms through wireless and Bluetooth technology to create a truly seamless experience."

Today Starblaze announced the availability of the STAR1000P NVMe solid state drive (SSD) controller for high-end client and entry-level enterprise applications. Performance optimizations enable the new controller to achieve sequential reads at 3.6GB/second and sequential writes at 3.2GB/second, up to 50% higher than Starblaze's previous generation controller, STAR1000. The STAR1000P achieves random reads at 750K input/output operations per second (IOPS) and random writes at 600K IOPS, up to 120% higher than Starblaze's STAR1000. The STAR1000P features PCIe Gen3x4, NVMe 1.3 and eight flash channels to support up to 32 terabytes (TB) of storage. The STAR1000P also incorporates a multicore implementation of Synopsys' DesignWare ARC HS38 processor, taking advantage of ARC's extensible architecture with custom instructions that improve scheduling efficiency.

"Enterprise SSD applications need increasing processor performance to support much higher throughput with reduced latency," said John Koeter, vice president of marketing for IP at Synopsys. "Synopsys' ARC HS processors deliver the scalability that Starblaze needs to extend the performance of their STAR1000P platform for the rapidly evolving SSD controller market."

If you had told me this time last year that Valve of all companies would be peeling away secrecy layers galore, I would have laughed in your face. As it turns out, Valve is doing just that in an attempt to dissuade fears after Steam's API changed earlier this year making services such as SteamSpy less informative and useful to the public. Their latest blog post on Steam shares user details on controllers, given PC gamers have enjoyed the flexibility to use the beloved keyboard + mouse combo or go with controllers from console makers, or 3rd-party alike. As it stands, there are a lot of things to see here too.

To begin with, there have been over 30 million user accounts to register the use of a controller since 2015, of whom over 15 million have used two or more controllers. With shared and multiple accounts to consider in addition, Valve estimates as many as 60 million accounts to have a controller paired up in the last three years. Seen below is a pie chart showing the distribution of use of various different controllers, and the Xbox 360 controller reigns supreme here with over 27 million account pairings of the device (45% share). The Xbox One controller comes in next, and Valve's own Steam Controller fares decent with over 1 million pairings. More to follow past the break.

NZXT, a leading developer of software-powered hardware solutions for PC gaming, today announces the HUE 2 family of RGB accessories for the PC, powered by CAM. Consisting of 10 new products, including the four-channel HUE 2 RGB controller and the external HUE 2 ambient light controller, along with several new accessories, the new HUE 2 ecosystem provides PC builders more options for customizing their systems.

"If our H Series cases provide a canvas for people to build the gaming PC of their dreams, then our new HUE 2 family provides the palette they paint with," said Johnny Hou, founder of NZXT. "We love to celebrate the creativity of PC builders and we can't wait to see the amazing battlestations they create with this complete line of RGB lighting accessories."

Cooler Master, a global leader in manufacturing CPU coolers, computer components and peripherals, introduces its first 360mm all-in-one (AIO) liquid CPU cooler. The MasterLiquid ML360R features addressable RGB LEDs on both the fans and water block and is certified compatible with ASUS, MSI and ASRock motherboards.

The MasterLiquid ML360R RGB features Cooler Master's newly designed pump with 12 addressable RGB LEDs on the water block and eight addressable RGB LEDs on each fan, capable of 16.7million color options. Users can easily customize each LED, individually, through the addressable RGB software from ASUS, MSI and ASRock motherboards, or with Cooler Master's MasterPlus+ software for complete ambient control.