Micron Technology, Inc., today announced it has begun qualification of the 6550 ION NVMe SSD with customers. The Micron 6550 ION is the world's fastest 60 TB data center SSD and the industry's first E3.S and PCIe Gen 5 60 TB SSD. It follows the success of the award-winning 6500 ION and is engineered to provide best-in-class performance, energy efficiency, endurance, security, and rack density for exascale data center deployments. The 6550 ION excels in high-capacity NVMe workloads such as networked AI data lakes, ingest, data preparation and check pointing, file and object storage, public cloud storage, analytic databases, and content delivery.

"The Micron 6550 ION achieves a remarkable 12 GB/s while using just 20 watts of power, setting a new standard in data center performance and energy efficiency," said Alvaro Toledo, vice president and general manager of Micron's Data Center Storage Group. "Featuring a first-to-market 60 TB capacity in an E3.S form factor and up to 20% better energy efficiency than competitive drives, the Micron 6550 ION is a game-changer for high-capacity storage solutions to address the insatiable capacity and power demands of AI workloads."

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced the release of two SSDs, the Micron 6500 ION NVMe SSD and the Micron XTR NVMe SSD. Designed to keep pace with the accelerating growth of data, these drives provide a major advancement for data centers by lowering operating costs and improving storage efficiency. The Micron 6500 ION is a high-capacity SSD that offers a superior value over competitive QLC-based drives by providing best-in-class performance and enabling a more environmentally sustainable data center. The 6500 ION is able to deliver TLC performance and QLC-like cost due to Micron's 232-layer technology node leadership compared to the competition's use of sub-200-layer QLC technology. When paired with Micron 6500 ION drives or other SSDs, the Micron XTR SSD delivers extreme endurance that enhances system performance.

"Customers are looking for new capabilities to address the data growth and performance needs of artificial intelligence data lakes and other demanding workloads. As a result, we are seeing tremendous traction on the 6500 ION and XTR with customers who are deploying storage at scale due to their unrivaled combination of large capacity, superior performance, and amazing endurance," said Alvaro Toledo, vice president and general manager of Micron's Data Center Storage group. "The 6500 ION SSD offers QLC value with TLC performance and up to a 20% reduction in power consumption versus competing QLC SSDs, allowing our customers to reduce their carbon footprint. Together, these SSDs enable customers to leap ahead and harness the power of artificial intelligence without compromising performance."

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced two additions to the popular DeathAdder line - the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro Faker Edition and the Razer DeathAdder V3.

Designed in collaboration with world renowned esports player and League of Legends icon Lee "Faker" Sang-Hyeok, the DeathAdder V3 Pro Faker Edition showcases a unique personalized design for the Unkillable Demon King, while equipped with high-performance hardware. The cult-favorite esports mouse has always been Faker's weapon of choice, with the DeathAdder V3 Pro Faker Edition as a testament. Separately, the DeathAdder V3 presents a wired option updated with Razer's latest mice technology, for the best advantage in competitive play.

China is reacting to new outbreaks of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus with partial lockdowns. This could further delay the availability of laptops with 12th Gen Intel Core processors and NVIDIA's Ti graphics cards, which debuted at the beginning of the year. The first factories have already been closed in Suzhou in the east of the country. Supply chain and logistics bottlenecks, a shortage of certain chip types and price increases are already on the horizon.

At the 2021 International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) Intel is showcasing how the company is extending its lead in high performance computing (HPC) with a range of technology disclosures, partnerships and customer adoptions. Intel processors are the most widely deployed compute architecture in the world's supercomputers, enabling global medical discoveries and scientific breakthroughs. Intel is announcing advances in its Xeon processor for HPC and AI as well as innovations in memory, software, exascale-class storage, and networking technologies for a range of HPC use cases.

"To maximize HPC performance we must leverage all the computer resources and technology advancements available to us," said Trish Damkroger, vice president and general manager of High Performance Computing at Intel. "Intel is the driving force behind the industry's move toward exascale computing, and the advancements we're delivering with our CPUs, XPUs, oneAPI Toolkits, exascale-class DAOS storage, and high-speed networking are pushing us closer toward that realization."

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced new Micron 5210 ION enterprise SATA SSD capacity and features, solidifying Micron's leadership in QLC technology volume production. The world's first QLC solid-state drive (SSD), the Micron 5210 is based on the company's advanced QLC NAND technology and quickly replacing legacy hard disk drives (HDDs).

From SQL and NoSQL databases to big data and analytics, object stores and vSAN capacity tiers, customers are now reaping the benefits of NAND flash on performance-sensitive workloads that used to live on HDDs. Rapidly supplanting 10K HDDs, the Micron 5210 delivers 175 times faster random reads, 30 times faster random writes, two times more sequential throughput, and three times more energy efficiency than the largest 10K RPM HDDs - all at a compelling price point.

Fractal Design today introduced the Ion SFX Gold PSU - a modular, high-performance power supply that brings the enhanced cable flexibility and superior output quality of the critically acclaimed Ion series to the SFX-L form factor.

The diminutive footprint of the Ion SFX houses a surprisingly large 120 mm fan for better airflow and quieter operation - partly thanks to its semi-passive Zero RPM mode that ensures the fan spins only when needed. The Ion SFX Series also features Fractal Design's revolutionary new guru UltraFlex DC cabling, an extremely high strand-count wire with specially formulated insulation affording all the efficiency and current capacity of competing products but with significantly less bulk. UltraFlex cables bend and twist effortlessly to eliminate the inherent hassles of traditional rigid power supply wiring to make installation and cable-routing easier than ever before.

ZOTAC International, a global innovator and leading manufacturer of graphics cards, mainboards and mini-PCs today starts the Consumer Electronics Show 2013 with a new 3rd Generation ZOTAC ZBOX and a refreshed mobile-on-desktop 2nd Generation ZBOX mini-PCs. The new ZOTAC ZBOX mini-PCs both receive Intel Core processors for outstanding performance.

3rd Generation ZOTAC ZBOX Chassis

The 3rd Generation ZOTAC ZBOX is the most substantial evolution of the ZBOX since its introduction three years ago and receives a slight 7-mm increase in thickness to accommodate higher-performance components. Network connectivity receives an upgrade with the 3rd Generation ZOTAC ZBOX chassis for dual Gigabit Ethernet ports with teaming capabilities and dual external Wi-Fi antenna's for superior wireless networking and Bluetooth reception.

Pictures of the Sapphire HD 7950 3 GB graphics card have been leaked on the Guru3D forum by user asder00. No further details or specifications were given other than "Product name: Sapphire HD7950 3G GDDR5 PCI-E HDMI/DVI-I/DUAL MINI DP OC VERSION".

As can be seen by the cooler, this is a non-reference design - at least for the cooler. The cooler is coloured black, has a very modern, sharp, angular and somewhat futuristic look to it and sports two large Sapphire-branded fans. Of course, it has heatpipes and five are visible. The design of this cooler suggests that it should work quietly and cool efficiently. Connectivity is aided and abetted by one DVI port, one full size HDMI port and two mini-DisplayPorts, like on its bigger brother the HD 7970. Moving on to the box, one can see that it has a 384-bit bus and 3 GB GDDR5, again like the HD 7970. The box also shows a logo with "OverClock" written boldly in white on it. The inevitable attractive lady box art in this instance has her wearing a grey top, a partial face mask and a helmet from what looks like the wars of yesteryear, plus she is carrying a rifle over her shoulder.

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and a channel manufacturer, today launches the ZOTAC D2700-ITX WiFi Supreme - a next-generation mini-ITX platform for DIY home theater PC users. The ZOTAC D2700-ITX WiFi Supreme combines the latest energy-efficient Intel Atom processor with world-class NVIDIA GeForce graphics processors for superior energy-efficiency and stunning high-definition video playback.

The latest generation Intel Atom D2700 CedarTrail processor with dual cores and Intel HyperThreading technology enables the ZOTAC D2700-ITX WiFi Supreme to deliver snappy multitasking responsiveness for everyday computing tasks. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 520 graphics processor equips the ZOTAC D2700-ITX WiFi Supreme with hardware-accelerated Blu-ray 3D playback capabilities and HDMI 1.4a technology for the ultimate 3D high-definition experience.

SteelSeries the leading manufacturer of premium-quality, competitive gaming peripherals today, introduced the SteelSeries Ion Wireless Controller. Through a licensing partnership with Zeemote Technology Inc., the SteelSeries Ion is designed to work fully with your PC, additionally the controller brings classic control schemes to touch screen devices like tablets and phones.

The compact controller connects wirelessly through Bluetooth and can be easily customized and configured through its own application on the device.

AMD today updated its A-Series line-up of desktop and notebook Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), further improving its top-performing family of dual- and quad-core APUs. Along with speed and performance improvements, AMD Steady Video update make this unique feature more compelling than ever. For desktop users, AMD extends its overclocking pedigree to the APU; for the first time users can tune both x86 and graphics settings in a single processor for boosted performance.

The updated AMD A-Series APUs combine up to four x86 CPU cores with up to 400 Radeon cores, delivering powerful DirectX 11-capable, discrete-level graphics and dedicated HD video processing on a single chip. These new APUs increase performance and deliver a richer feature set than existing AMD A-series APUs. Plus, only AMD APUs offer AMD Dual Graphics for an up to 144 percent visual performance boost when a select APU is paired with a select AMD Radeon HD 6500 Series graphics card.

Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), announced today that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 crossed the $1 billion mark in sales since its launch on November 8, 2011, according to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information. Highlighting the trend of interactive entertainment gaining a greater hold of audiences worldwide, the game achieved this milestone in just 16 days, eclipsing the record set in 2009 by the feature film "Avatar," which reached the $1 billion milestone in 17 days.

While 2011 box office revenue is on the decline - down 4 percent this year at $9.4 billion, compared with $9.8 billion in 2010 -- the number of people purchasing and participating in gaming is on the rise, with no sign of slowing.(1) With more than 30 million gamers, the Call of Duty community now exceeds the combined populations of the cities of New York, London, Tokyo, Paris and Madrid.

TechPowerUp released the latest version of GPU-Z, our popular graphics hardware information and monitoring utility. Version 0.5.4 packs a large number of changes, beginning with faster start-up, support for the entire line of NVIDIA GeForce 500M series GPUs, new models of Intel Sandy Bridge processor graphics, a number of AMD Radeon HD 6000M series GPUs, improved support for AMD APUs, and a number of bug fixes.

GPU-Z has overcome the slow start-up issue on AMD Radeon GPUs, it loads slightly faster on NVIDIA GPUs, too. ROP count reading on AMD Radeon HD 6790, Turks & Whistler was fixed; along with sensor count on Caicos, Whistler, Turks. OpenCL detection on some NVIDIA drivers was fixed. The ability to read UMA-shared memory on AMD APU systems was added. GPU-Z has better ability to detect and warn of spurious graphics cards with faked IDs. GPU-Z 0.5.4 is available in both its standard form and the ASUS Republic of Gamers themed variant.DOWNLOAD: GPU-Z 0.5.4 | GPU-Z 0.5.4 ASUS ROG Themed

A complete list of changes with this version follows.

HP today expanded its consumer and business notebook portfolios with 11 new models utilizing AMD's latest VISION Technology for exceptional performance at an affordable price. Powered by AMD's A-series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that combine leading-edge CPU cores and powerful discrete-graphics onto a single die of silicon, HP's new notebooks offer solutions for consumers, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and large corporations.

The HP Pavilion dv-series (Pavilion dv4, dv6 and dv7) provides the ultimate entertainment notebook experience and is equipped with innovative features such as HP CoolSense, HP True Vision HD webcam and HP Beats Audio (Pavilion metal dv6 and dv7). The dv-series also offers more than two times the graphics performance compared with previous-generation integrated graphics.

AMD today launched its 9-Series chipset line-up today, helping PC builders to develop next generation high performance desktop platforms. The company also unveiled its 2011 HD Tablet Platform, based on the AMD Z-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), enabling vivid media display and content creation capabilities for the fast-growing market of Microsoft Windows-based tablets. These new AMD products are designed to enable more immersive digital experiences for the PC and tablet markets.

"As consumer appetites for more compelling, lifelike visual experiences increase, there is greater need for high performance, smooth, vibrant graphics as well as unparalleled computing power," said John Taylor, product marketing director, AMD. "From tablets to desktops, AMD is making powerful computing accessible to everyone."

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and the world's largest channel manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and mini-PCs, today introduces the new FUSION-ITX WiFi A-series - a world-class mainboard that combines the power of AMD Radeon HD graphics processing with class-leading energy-efficiency for the ultimate flexible mini-ITX form factor.

The ZOTAC FUSION-ITX WiFi A-series features the AMD E-350 APU platform that incorporates a dual-core 1.6 GHz processor with Microsoft DirectX 11 compatible AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics for the ultimate synergy of CPU and GPU performance. The combination enables flawless high-definition Blu-ray and streaming Internet video playback capabilities for a visually rich computing experience in a mini-ITX platform.

Everyone in the family can enjoy a beautiful view of their favourite videos, photos, games and more with the stylish new VAIO L series multimedia PC from Sony. The all-in-one VAIO L Series makes an elegant focal point for your home multimedia collection. Ideal for any living space, the slim, space-saving design features a glossy black finish, with the tilt-adjustable 'floating' display resting on a sleek V-shape stand.

The stunning design of new VAIO L Series is accented by a 24" (61cm) Full HD VAIO Display Plus screen with LED backlight. This super-size display brings all your movies, photos, music and games vividly to life with superb clarity and contrast. It's beautifully easy to interact with your media collection using the full-frame multi-touch screen. Open and scroll through files, zoom and rotate images with intuitive fingertip gestures... and no mouse or menus needed.

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and the world's largest channel manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and mini-PCs, today takes the award-winning ZBOX to SuperSpeed with the new ID41 series. The ZOTAC ZBOX ID41 series introduces SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and DDR3 technologies to the ZBOX mini-PC.

"External expansion is vital with mini-PCs. By adding SuperSpeed USB 3.0 technology to our award-winning ZBOX mini-PCs, we are able to offer external connectivity capable of speeds up to 5.0 Gb/s," said Carsten Berger, marketing director.

The new ICY BOX IB-NAS6220 is a network storage for networking people who love music and movies, who want to share this love with friends and family and who are no IT-experts. The new ICY BOX IB-NAS6220 combines what commonly exists in separation: store your own data; enjoy your own data like movies and music wherever the Internet is available; confer rights to use while maintaining the control.

The NAS6220 has space for two 3.5" SATA HDDs with up to 2 TB. All data can be made available to the home network and are thus accessible through the Samba server. Also the printer server can be shared. For the installation you don't need special IT skills. If you can use a computer you are also fine with the NAS6220.

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and the world's largest channel manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and mini-PCs, today introduces three new do-it-yourself friendly mini-ITX platforms - the new ZOTAC ION-ITX R, S and T-series. The new ZOTAC ION-ITX R, S and T series reinvigorates the ION-ITX series with an added boost of graphics power.

Next-Generation NVIDIA ION graphics and a dual-core Intel Atom D525 processor combine to deliver a perfect balance of performance and energy-efficiency in the new ZOTAC ION-ITX R, S and T series. High-definition video playback capabilities enable the ZOTAC ION-ITX R, S and T series to deliver a premium multimedia experience with hardware decode acceleration for smooth playback of high-definition Blu-ray 3D and streaming Internet video content.

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and the world's largest channel manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and mini-PCs, today reinvigorates the DVD-format with the new ZBOX DVD series mini-PCs powered by Next-Generation NVIDIA ION technology. The new ZOTAC ZBOX DVD series packs energy-efficiency, hardware high-definition streaming acceleration and advanced video processing capabilities into a slim chassis to create the perfect home theater PC for DVD aficionados.

A power-packed combination of Next-Generation NVIDIA ION graphics processor and dual-core Intel Atom D525 processor power the ZOTAC ZBOX DVD series for superior graphics performance, system responsiveness and energy-efficiency. The Next-Generation NVIDIA ION graphics processor is the heart of the ZBOX DVD series and delivers hardware decode acceleration and Adobe Flash acceleration for smooth playback of online and offline high-definition media.

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and the world's largest channel manufacturer, today introduces the new ZBOX HD-ID40 series - a new mini-PC powered by Intel Atom and NVIDIA Next-Generation ION technologies. The new ZBOX HD-ID40 packs full HD video playback capabilities, enhanced performance and greater expansion capabilities into a miniature form factor that can fit virtually anywhere.

An Intel Atom D525 dual-core processor with Intel Hyper Threading technology provides smooth multi-tasking capabilities for quick responsiveness with everyday applications and computing tasks with the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID40 series. Next-Generation NVIDIA ION graphics processing equips the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID40 series with rich multimedia capabilities for playback of Blu-ray movies and streaming high-definition content.

NVIDIA today released GeForce 260.89 driver suite. The software provides WHQL-signed drivers for all GeForce 6-series onwards, and ION platform GPUs. It also provides 3D Vision software, GPU-integrated audio device driver (version 1.1.9.0), and PhysX system software (version 9.10.0514). As with almost every new release, GeForce 260.89 WHQL packs a host of performance enhancements, official support for new GPUs (it's GeForce GT 430, this time), and a host of bug-fixes. What's different this time around is that the performance enhancements are specific to two GPUs, GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 460. SLI profiles are added for new game titles.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 260.89 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit

A detailed list of changes follows.

Introducing a more personal, intuitive and entertaining computing experience for consumers, HP today unveiled the sleekly appealing HP TouchSmart310 PC, which features the most advanced version of the company's exclusive TouchSmart software to date. The company also announced the HP TouchSmart Apps Center for one-touch access to free and subscription-based applications, as well as the HP Omni100, which offers the performance users demand from a tower and monitor in an all-in- one design.

HP also is helping businesses make touch an integral part of the customer experience through relationships with American Airlines, ESPN and the National Football League's San Francisco 49ers. "Each generation of TouchSmart is a reflection of what HP has learned from its customers, complemented by the latest technologies," said James Mouton, senior vice president, Desktop Organization, Personal Systems Group, HP. "The TouchSmart PC's unique interface lets users do more than just basic computing - it acts as the anchor of one's digital lifestyle, encouraging creativity, organization and a truly immersive experience."