QNAP Systems, Inc., today launched the TS-h1290FX NAS. Providing QNAP's first PCIe 4.0 and U.2 NVMe/SATA all-flash NAS in a tower form factor, the TS-h1290FX excels in the most demanding work environments such as collaborative high-resolution video workflows. Featuring AMD EPYC 8/16-core processors, built-in 25GbE and 2.5GbE connectivity, PCIe Gen 4 expansion, and up to petabyte-scale storage capacity, the TS-h1290FX tackles data-intensive and latency-sensitive applications, such as large media file transfer, real-time editing of 4K/8K high-resolution media, online collaborative workflows, and virtualization applications.

"Modern businesses and studios shouldn't need to dedicate entire rooms to accommodate hot and loud servers, and that's where the TS-h1290FX comes in. Contained within a unique tower form factor and utilizing quiet cooling is exceptional performance driven by a server-grade processor, all-flash U.2 NVMe SSD storage, and QNAP's enterprise-grade QuTS hero operating system," said Jason Hsu, Product Manager of QNAP.

For those with older systems, or for those just in need of additional M.2 slots in their system, SilverStone has launched the SST-ECM28 riser card. The SST-ECM28 is a low-profile solution that can house one M-key NVMe drive and one B-key SATA drive, as it allows a drive to be mounted on each side of the riser card. The SATA drive requires a SATA cable to be connected to the rear of the riser card and then to a SATA slot on the motherboard to function.

This isn't the first time we've seen a product that can handle two drives, but it's the first time we've seen one that is as compact as this. The downside is that there's no retention bracket and it appears that the only way to hold the SST-ECM28 is by fitting it into a physical x16 slot that has a locking mechanism for graphics cards, as the PCB has a retention hook, just as you get on most x16 cards. The SST-ECM28 uses a standard x4 PCIe interface, so it will fit in x4 slots as well, with the risk of it popping out of the slot if the system is moved around. Drives of all sizes from 2230 up to 2280 are supported for both SATA and NVMe drives.

Axiomtek - a world-renowned leader relentlessly devoted in the research, development and manufacture of series of innovative and reliable industrial computer products of high efficiency - is pleased to announce the IMB760, a server-grade extended ATX motherboard (330 mm x 305 mm) powered by the dual LGA4189 socket 3rd Gen Intel Xeon scalable processors (code name: Ice Lake-SP) with the Intel C627A chipset. It comes with an effective load balancing between two CPUs and multiple accelerator cards to stabilize computation loads and maximize computing power. Featuring optimized performance, more PCI Express Card slots, and high-density memory expansion, this EATX server motherboard enables high level computing, AI workload and deep learning for the data-fueled future.

"Performance, security, and flexibility are indispensable for AI in next-gen computing. As the first and flagship EATX motherboard of Axiomtek, the IMB760 features built-in AI and crypto acceleration functions as well as advanced security capabilities to meet the specific needs of automated manufacturing, robotics, image or video analytics, and other AIoT applications. This server-grade motherboard has sixteen DDR4-3200 RDIMM sockets with a memory capacity of up to 1 TB. Ready for the demands of massive data storage and high-speed data transmission, the industrial motherboard supports two NVMe SSD, one IPMI LAN, and two 10GbE LAN ports. Rich expansions with enough PCIe x16 slots and PCIe x8 slots for GPU acceleration, making IM760 a perfect solution for computationally intensive imaging, intelligent video analytics, and heavy workload processing," said Wayne Chung, the product manager of AIoT Team at Axiomtek.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of memory modules, USB flash drives, memory cards, solid state drives, portable hard drives, and gaming peripherals, today announces that it will be displaying and unveiling its latest products inside the MERAVERSE. The MERAVERSE is a virtual universe created to engage the world beyond the limitations of distance and time. ADATA is keen to provide consumers with an interactive experience by offering virtual exhibitions. On show will be ADATA and XPG's next-generation DDR5 memory modules, solid state drives, gaming products, and more.

Products of note include the ADATA ACE 6400 DDR5 memory module, XPG Gen5 x 4 solid state drive (SSD), and the 2022 Red Dot Design Award winning XPG ALPHA WIRELESS gaming mouse, which has also received several additional awards from other globally recognized media.

Intel is preparing to launch its next-generation desktop platform codenamed Rocket Lake-S. According to the presentation held by Intel today in Shenzen, China, we have official information regarding some of the platform features that Raptor Lake is bringing. Starting with memory support, Raptor Lake is still carrying the transitional DDR4 and DDR5 support, as the full swing towards DDR5 is still in progress. Unlike the previous generation Alder Lake, which brought DDR5-4800 support, Raptor Lake's integrated memory controller can drive DDR5 modules with a 5600 MT/s configuration. As DDR4 support remains, it is limited to 3200 MT/s speed.

Interesting information from the leaked slide points out that support for CPU-attached NVMe storage remains PCIe Gen4. While AMD will provide an AM5 socket with CPU-attached NMVe storage on PCIe Gen5 protocol, Intel is taking a step back and holding on to Gen4. The CPU is outputting 16 PCIe Gen5 lanes on its own. Motherboard vendors for the upcoming 700-series boards for Raptor Lake can still provide a PCIe Gen5 NVMe slot; however, it will have to subtract eight Gen5 lanes from the PCI Express Graphics (PEG) slot and route them to NVMe storage. As our testing shows, this will affect GPU's performance by a few percent. AMD's upcoming AM5 platform has no such issues, as the CPU provides both the PEG and CPU-attached NVMe storage with sufficient PCIe Gen5 bandwidth.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking, and storage solution innovator, today launched the TS-h1290FX NAS. Providing QNAP's first PCIe 4.0 and U.2 NVMe/SATA all-flash NAS in a tower form factor, the TS-h1290FX excels in the most demanding work environments such as collaborative high-resolution video workflows. Featuring AMD EPYC 8/16-core processors, built-in 25 GbE and 10GbE connectivity, PCIe Gen 4 expansion, and up to petabyte-scale storage capacity, the TS-h1290FX provides up to 816K/318K iSCSI 4K random read/write IOPS for tackling data-intensive and latency-sensitive applications, such as large media file transfer, real-time editing of 4K/8K media, and virtualization applications.

"Modern businesses and studios shouldn't need to dedicate entire rooms to accommodate hot and loud servers, and that's where the TS-h1290FX comes in. Contained within a unique tower form factor and utilizing quiet cooling is exceptional performance driven by a server-grade processor, all-flash U.2 NVMe SSD storage, and QNAP's enterprise-grade QuTS hero operating system," said Jason Hsu, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "the TS-h1290FX is a remarkable storage solution that provides exceptional power to deal with the modern demands of businesses and studios - including high-resolution media editing and online collaborative workflows."

AI at the edge comes with a host of challenges: limited processing resources, small storage capacities, insufficient memory, security concerns, electrical power requirements, limited physical space on edge devices, and excessive costs. That being said, there is an enormous need for AI at the edge - for devices to learn fast and make decisions in real time. Issues such as latency and distance are current drawbacks that hold edge-to-cloud AI back from reaching its full potential. In some cases, cloud data centers can be as far as hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from edge devices. Reducing the distance and therefore the latency, by bringing AI into the edge device itself, can open up a world of new possibilities. And, compared to edge-to-cloud AI, AI-enabled edge devices don't need to rely on a stable internet connection, nor do they have as much vulnerability to cyber-security issues, because they don't send data offsite.

Edge AI box computers equipped with compact and high-capacity storage is one of the key factors to make AI come true at the edge. By offloading computation and storage from the cloud to the edge itself, edge computing is enhancing the power and capabilities of the IoT. To help make this a reality, SP Industrial has launched the new MEA3FEV0 SSD Series. This industrial-grade PCIe Gen 3x4 SSD series features support for NVMe 1.3 and BiCS5 112-layer 3D TLC NAND Flash technology. It ticks many boxes that are common problems for edge AI computing: large storage capacities up to 2 TB, small M.2 2242 form factor for minimal space usage, lower power consumption compared to BiCS4, and affordable cost with a DRAM-less design.

Sonnet Technologies today announced the Sonnet M.2 2x4 Low-profile PCIe Card, the latest offering in the company's popular family of high-performance storage adapter cards that enable the installation of multiple SSDs into a computer's or Thunderbolt expansion system's PCIe card slot. The low-profile, half-length PCIe 3.0 card features two M-keyed NVMe M.2 SSD slots that support the installation of M.2 form factor NVMe PCIe SSDs.

The Sonnet M.2 2x4 Low-profile PCIe Card enables users to mount two M.2 NVMe 2280 PCIe SSDs (sold separately) into almost any expansion card space with an available x8 or x16 PCIe card slot; using today's highest-capacity SSDs, up to 16 TB of storage capacity may be installed. RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD configurations are supported, providing users with flexibility in configuring the SSDs for best performance or data safety, or both.

addlink, is introducing a new PCIe 4.0 SSD, the S90 Lite, featuring storage capacities of up to 2 TB and offer speeds up to 5000 MB/s. It is compatible with the latest Intel/AMD PC and laptop computer platforms. The S90 Lite uses the latest Gen4 x4 NVMe controller and 176-layer 3D TLC NAND flash. It utilizes PCIe Gen4x4 and NVMe 1.4 protocol as an interface to achieve rapid sequential read and write speeds up to 5000/4500 MB per second, which is ten times faster than a SATA III SSD. The SSD drive is also backward compatible with the PCIe Gen3 system.

The drive comes with an SLC caching to deliver outstanding performances and better user experiences. It also supports a host memory buffer (HMB) that allows S90 Lite SSD to proactively pursue higher performances by utilizing the memory resource of the host to maximum random read/write speeds of up to 400K/800K IOPS.

Drive docks can be extremely handy, especially the kind with support for two drives, as they generally allow you to duplicate your data quickly and easily. However, with a move towards M.2 drives, SATA based docks are slowly becoming less useful. Akasa has launched a solution to that problem with its new DuoDock MX, which accepts a pair of M.2 NVMe drives. The dock itself looks like a miniature drive dock with the addition of a cup-shaped lid that helps protect the drives from being touched during use. The front is host to a range of LEDs and a drive clone button, whereas around the back there's a power switch, a power connector and a USB Type-C port.

The only real downside is that Akasa has gone with a 10 Gbps PCIe to USB 3.2 bridge chip, which means that the data connection to a PC would be fairly slow by today's standards. Presumably the reason for this is to prevent the need of using some kind of heatsink on the M.2 drives, as most 20 Gbps NVMe to USB 3.2 solutions tend to require heatsinks. That said, Akasa has equipped the DuoDock MX with what the company calls an ultra-thin fan, although a picture on the company website suggests it's a small blower fan. Price-wise it's not what you'd call a bargain at £98 or around US$120, although that price includes British VAT.

VIPER, a trademarked brand of PATRIOT and a global leader in performance memory, solid-state drives, and flash storage solutions, is proud to announce the market launch of its VPR400, the world's first RGB M.2 PCIe Gen 4x4 SSD. A unique aluminium heatspreader has been included to keep the drive thermally stable while accenting the onboard RGB LEDs. This SSD is built using the latest Innogrit IG5220 Gen4 x4 controller along with the highest quality 3D NAND memory chips, allowing the drive to provide the 4K Aligned Random Read and Write speeds up to 600K and 500K IOPs and Sequential Read and Write speeds up to 4,600 MB/s and 4,400 MB/s (1 TB model). Now available in capacities of 1 TB and 512 GB.

"The VIPER VPR400 has been crafted to deliver blazing speeds and performance for intense gaming and video content creation. VIPER understands that keeping high-speed SSDs thermally stable is the key to maintaining the storage unit's performance and longevity." said Roger Shinmoto, Vice President of VIPER GAMING. Onboard RGB is fully synchronizable with other VIPER GAMING RGB peripherals using the smart VIPER RGB 3.0 software, allowing users to customize their lighting profiles or choose any pre-programmed RGB lighting patterns.

KIOXIA America, Inc. today announced sampling of the industry's first XFM DEVICE Ver. 1.0-compliant removable PCIe standard attached, NVMe storage device: the XFMEXPRESS XT2. With a new form factor and connector, the XFM DEVICE Ver. 1.0 standard delivers an unparalleled combination of features designed to revolutionize ultra-mobile PCs, IoT devices and a variety of embedded applications.

First introduced in August of 2019, and then presented as a proposal to the JEDEC Subcommittee for Electrical Specifications and Command Protocols, KIOXIA XFMEXPRESS XT2 is a new form factor for PCIe/NVMe specification devices. Featuring a powerful combination of small size, speed and serviceability, XFMEXPRESS technology was developed to enhance next-generation mobile and embedded applications. The XFMEXPRESS XT2 from KIOXIA is the first product to meet the specification of the new JEDEC standard.

Phison Electronics Corp., a global leader in NAND flash controller and storage solutions, today unveiled two new PCIe Gen4x4 Enterprise Class SSDs: the EPR3750 in M.2 2280 form factor and the EPR3760 in M.2 22110 form factor. The EPR3750 and EPR3760 SSDs are backward compatible in PCIe Gen3 M.2 slots at even faster speeds while offering significant performance enhancements when matched with PCIe Gen4 chipsets. Also, the EPR3750 and EPR3760 SSDs provide a faster quality of service (QoS) command execution with Enterprise SSD firmware. Workstation and Server boot applications require consistent and predictable performance from storage. Phison's new SSDs are ideal to use as boot drives in workstations, servers, and in Network Attached Storage (NAS) and RAID environments.

HighPoint M.2 HPC Series RAID Controllers establish a new benchmark for NVMe performance: up to 55,000 MB/s for a single RAID array. HighPoint manufactures the industry's most comprehensive selection of M.2, U.2 and U.3 NVMe RAID controllers. The 8-Port SSD7540 and SSD7140A represent the best M.2 solutions available in today's marketplace. HighPoint 8-Port High-Port-Count (HPC) M.2 controllers deliver unbeatable performance and storage capacity in a compact PCIe device that can be easily integrated into any industry standard computing platform. Our SSD7540 PCIe Gen4 x16 controller can support up to 64 TB of storage at speeds up to 28,000 MB/s. Dual-Card Cross-Sync configurations can double performance and capacity thresholds - up to 120+TB at an astonishing 55,000 MB/s.

HighPoint's unique performance-focused NVMe architecture utilizes intelligent switch technology to allocate up to x4 lanes of bandwidth to each NVMe device port. This enables our 8-port controllers to fully saturate x16 lanes of host bandwidth using as little as four NVMe SSDs. However, additional SSDs can be added to maximize storage capacity, or fine tune the configuration for a specific application by optimizing a RAID array for sequential or random I/O.

LG Electronics USA announced pricing and availability of its 2022 LG gram lineup of premium laptops. Ideal for a wide variety of users who value supreme portability and sleek, ultra-light designs that adopt innovative software and the latest hardware to offer even more power and convenience, LGs latest gram lineup - LG gram, LG gram 2-in-1 and +view for LG gram are available now at LG.com and at select LG-authorized retailers nationwide. The 2022 LG gram lineup features : gram 17 (17Z90Q), gram 16 (16Z90Q), gram 15 (15Z90Q), gram 14 (14Z90Q), gram 2-in-1 (16T90Q and 14T90Q), and the series' first-ever portable monitor, +view for LG gram (16MQ70).

Each new LG gram laptop provides powerful performance backed by a 12th Gen Intel Core processor. This year's laptops have also been upgraded to the latest Gen4 NVMe SSD, and employ low-voltage LPDDR5 RAM to achieve a performance boost versus outgoing models. Intel Evo Platform certified, the 2022 LG grams deliver excellent battery life, giving users the freedom to work, or play, wherever their day takes them. LG's premium laptops are synonymous with superb picture quality.. Featuring 16:10 aspect ratio, WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600) resolution IPS panels, the new grams provide sharp, vibrant images with high brightness, 99 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, and plenty of screen real estate to meet users' diverse productivity and entertainment needs. What's more, LG's advanced IPS displays are now anti-glare, reducing distracting reflections and making it easier for users to see what they're working on, regardless of ambient light conditions.

Phison has showcased the expected performance of its upcoming PS5026-E26 controller, built to usher NVMe SSDs into the PCIe 5.0 realm. The company showcased its new controller's prowess by building a reference SSD design based on 1 TB of Micron's TLC NAND. Phison's new controller has been built from the ground-up to accelerate next-generation SSD workloads - including direct access technologies based on Microsoft's DirectStorage API, accelerated by two ARM Cortex-R5 cores and three proprietary CoXProcessor 2.0 accelerators built on TSMC's 12 nm process.

Phison's internal testing shows its reference SSD achieving sequential read speeds of over 12 GB/s in CrystalDiskMark, with sequential writes going as high as 10 GB/s - a 70% performance increase compared to the world's fastest PCIe 4.0 SSDs, which currently top out at around 7 GB/s sequential speeds. As to 4K performance, one of the most tangible metrics for user experience, random reads are set at around 16.000 IOPS, showcasing room for improvement with further firmware optimizations for actual shipping products.

Today, rugged embedded computer brand Cincoze added the high-performance and essential DV-1000 rugged embedded computer series to its DIAMOND product line. The DV-1000 is a high-performance embedded computer with a compact chassis and flexible expansion options. It is an excellent fit for high-performance industrial applications with limited installation space, such as smart manufacturing, machine vision, and railway computing. With Cincoze's unwavering focus on smart manufacturing, the new DV series rounds out the Cincoze DIAMOND product line, providing industrial customers more performance, scalability, size, power, and certification options. Cincoze now holds its selection of product series to satisfy every requirement as a key advantage in smart manufacturing.

The DV-1000 has a footprint of only half a sheet of A4 paper, with a chassis measuring 224 × 162 × 64 mm, and is powered by a 9/8th Gen Intel Core i7/i5/i3 CPU (Coffee Lake-R S series) that supports up to 128 GB of DDR4 2666 MHz memory. Storage options include 1x 2.5 SATA HDD/SSD tray, 2x mSATA slots, and 1x M.2 Key M 2280 slot for a high-speed NVMe SSD. It is small in size, but it can meet applications in different fields with high-speed computing and multiple storage options.

NVMe SSDs based on the M.2 form factor come in several different lengths today, ranging from 30 to 110 mm, although the 30 mm drives are rare and the 110 mm drives have so far been reserved for the server space. However, they've all had one thing in common, the 22 mm width, as otherwise there might be issues in terms of fitting the drives, especially in notebooks. However, it appears that the PCI-SIG snuck in a wider, 25 mm option for M.2 SDDs at the end of 2020, but seemingly forgot to mention it to anyone. The only reason we even noticed, was because Gigabyte listed its upcoming X670 and X670E motherboards as having support for 25110 SSD's, where you'd expect to see support for 2280 or 22110 drives.

An extra 3 mm in width might not sound like much, but many M.2 drives seem to be somewhat space constrained, mainly with regards to the passive components and the power regulation. It also seems like this is in preparation for PCIe 5.0 NVMe drives, where the host controller is expected to run hotter, even though it might not be as bad as initially expected. Regardless, it seems like motherboard makers are now making space for this slightly wider M.2 form factor, as well as implementing suitable cooling solutions to match. Whether we'll see drives using this slightly wider form factor or not, is still up in the air and one reason why the SSD manufacturers might choose not to go wider, is because new drives might not fit in older motherboards and laptops, if the clearance is too small.

Sonnet Technologies today announced the McFiver PCIe Card, the latest offering in the company's expansive family of computer adapter cards. The McFiver card features five interfaces — two M.2 NVMe SSD slots, one 10 Gigabit Ethernet port, and two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C ports — and fits neatly inside a single-width card space. The Sonnet card is compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux computers with an available x8 PCIe slot, and with computers with Thunderbolt ports when installed in a Thunderbolt to PCIe card expansion system with an available x8 PCIe slot.

Sonnet's McFiver PCIe Card enables users to add high-performance internal SSD storage, plus 10GBASE-T (copper), 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE), and 10 Gbps USB-C ports to their systems but requires only a single card slot (instead of the three slots single-purpose cards would occupy). The McFiver card mounts one or two single- or double-sided M.2 NVMe 2280 PCIe SSDs (sold separately) for ultra-fast file access; using today's highest capacity SSDs, up to 16 TB of storage may be installed. The card's 10GbE port connects to 10GbE network infrastructure and shared storage systems via inexpensive Cat 6 or Cat 6A cabling. The USB-C ports connect and power two high-performance USB peripherals, supporting a full 10 Gbps connection through each port, and providing USB bus-powered SSD, SSD RAID, and hard drive devices with up to 7.5 watts of power through each port.

ADATA Technology, today announces two M.2 2280/2242 NVMe PCIe Gen 3 x4 industrial-grade solid state drives (SSD), the IM2P32A8 and IM2P32A4. The firmware of both SSDs are NVMe 1.4 certified by the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) and complies with the PCIe 3.1 standard. Their read and write speeds and data transmission accuracy are ideal for industrial automation, servers, data centers, networking, surveillance, and transportation.

The IM2P32A8 M.2 2280 and IM2P32A4 M.2 2242 SSDs both feature WDC and KIOXIA 112-layer 3D TLC flash memory, support PCIe Gen 3 x4 and NVMe 1.4, deliver read and write speeds up to 3300/2900 MB/s, and 3K P/E Cycle ratings. To meet the needs of different applications, they come with capacities of up to 2 TB as well as lower capacities.

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is proud to announce the new Lexar SL660 BLAZE Gaming Portable SSD. The new drive offers gamers and creatives the latest USB 3.2 Gen2 x2 technology and blazing-fast NVMe performance with speeds up to 2000 MB/s read and 1900 MB/s write. It is perfect for boosting the performance of your consoles and editing work stations.

Beyond the outstanding performance, it's got style. The new Lexar SL660 BLAZE Gaming Portable SSD comes with RGB LEDs to create a lively atmosphere making your gameplay or work station more dynamic by adding a touch of color to your setup. The Lexar SL660 BLAZE Gaming Portable SSD also recently won the Red Dot Design Award which has recognized the best products for design in a given year since 1995. The international panel of experts and judges who reviewed the products that entered the competition were guided by assessment criteria such as the product's formal quality, ergonomics and longevity.
In addition, the Lexar SL660 BLAZE Gaming Portable SSD is durable as it is stylish and built with a premium aluminium enclosure and features a sandblasted finish for added protection against shock and vibration. It also features advanced security software with 256-bit AES encryption to protect essential files against corruption, loss, and deletion.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced the upcoming availability of two new consumer storage products, the Crucial P3 Plus Gen4 NVMe and Crucial P3 NVMe solid state drives (SSDs), as an expansion of its award-winning Crucial NVMe SSD product portfolio. The all new Crucial P3 Plus SSD product line will deliver attractive price-performance metrics with sequential read/write speeds up to 5000/4200 MB/s, while next-generation Crucial P3 SSDs will provide read/write speeds up to 3500/3000 MB/s. Both drives will be available in capacities up to 4 TB, making them the ideal scalable storage solutions that professionals, creatives, gamers and other high-performance users need.

"For users that have been waiting to upgrade their PCs to Gen4 SSDs, the wait is over. With the forthcoming availability of the new Crucial P3 Plus SSD, anyone seeking high-performance SSDs can upgrade to NVMe Gen4 storage and affordably futureproof their PC," said Teresa Kelley, vice president and general manager of Micron's Commercial Products Group. "Both the Crucial P3 Plus and P3 SSD products will strengthen our overall SSD portfolio and NVMe product category by offering competitive choices for high-performance storage that enables users to get more done in less time."

AMD today unveiled its next-generation Ryzen 7000 desktop processors, based on the Socket AM5 desktop platform. The new Ryzen 7000 series processors introduce the new "Zen 4" microarchitecture, with the company claiming a 15% single-threaded uplift over "Zen 3" (16-core/32-thread Zen 4 processor prototype compared to a Ryzen 9 5950X). Other key specs about the architecture put out by AMD include a doubling in per-core L2 cache to 1 MB, up from 512 KB on all older versions of "Zen." The Ryzen 7000 desktop CPUs will boost to frequencies above 5.5 GHz. Based on the way AMD has worded their claims, it seems that the "+15%" number includes IPC gains, plus gains from higher clocks, plus what the DDR4 to DDR5 transition achieves. With Zen 4, AMD is introducing a new instruction set for AI compute acceleration. The transition to the LGA1718 Socket AM5 allows AMD to use next-generation I/O, including DDR5 memory, and PCI-Express Gen 5, both for the graphics card, and the M.2 NVMe slot attached to the CPU socket.

Much like Ryzen 3000 "Matisse," and Ryzen 5000 "Vermeer," the Ryzen 7000 "Raphael" desktop processor is a multi-chip module with up to two "Zen 4" CCDs (CPU core dies), and one I/O controller die. The CCDs are built on the 5 nm silicon fabrication process, while the I/O die is built on the 6 nm process, a significant upgrade from previous-generation I/O dies that were built on 12 nm. The leap to 5 nm for the CCD enables AMD to cram up to 16 "Zen 4" cores per socket, all of which are "performance" cores. The "Zen 4" CPU core is larger, on account of more number-crunching machinery to achieve the IPC increase and new instruction-sets, as well as the larger per-core L2 cache. The cIOD packs a pleasant surprise—an iGPU based on the RDNA2 graphics architecture! Now most Ryzen 7000 processors will pack integrated graphics, just like Intel Core desktop processors.

Although AMD didn't provide too many details during its Computex 2022 keynote speech about the upcoming AM5 platform, the company did announce that there will be at least three chipsets for the platform and showed pictures of some upcoming motherboards. ASUS has kindly filled in some more details about its upcoming ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme, which will be one of its higher-end models. Sadly the pictures posted are kind of tiny and the company didn't provide a shot of the rear I/O. That said, ASUS did point out some of its new features that we can expect to find on the ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme.

For starters, the board will have a pair of PCIe 5.0 x16 slots, although each slot is likely to only have eight lanes each, when both slots are in use, but ASUS doesn't mention any details here. The board has support for up to five M.2 NVMe SSDs, four of which support PCIe 5.0. Only two are onboard, with the other three being via ASUS' proprietary ROG PCIe 5.0 M.2 card and ROG GEN-Z.2 card. ASUS also promises USB4 support, as well as a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 header with Quick Charge 4+ as well as up to 60 W charging support, for cases with a front USB-C port. On top of the rear I/O is an AniMe Matrix LED display that can be user customised.

Phison Electronics Corp., a leading provider of NAND controller and flash storage solutions, announced today a strategic collaboration with AMD and Micron to build a cooperative PCIe Gen5 ecosystem of compatible products that elevate the gaming and creator experience. Phison's role includes delivering a class-leading PCie Gen5 SSD controller - PS5026-E26 - that features nearly a 2x performance increase over the previous generation flagship while adhering to the same power limitations of the M.2 form factor.

"We are pleased to announce our cooperative effort with Micron and AMD to advance the technological development of PCIe Gen5 storage offerings, as this validates Phison's commitment to upholding customer-centric values," said Leo Huang, Sr. Director, Product Marketing, Phison. "The E26 controller enables gamers to compete at the highest level and helps content creators to maximize the overall system performance to increase productivity." The need for high-speed storage has increased with the popularity of 5G Wireless availability worldwide. Global markets including desktop PC, notebooks, gaming consoles, cloud servers and even mobile devices will benefit from increased data transfer rates and the bandwidth available for multitask purposes. The ecosystem consisting of AMD's AM5 platform, Phison's PS5026-E26 controller, Micron's DDR5 DRAM and Replacement Gate 3D NAND allow for platform acceleration across the entire system to meet the requirements for today's always-connected lifestyle.