ASUS today announced TUF Sabertooth X99, the world's first consumer desktop motherboard to support all NVM Express storage devices, including PCI Express (PCIe), M.2 PCI Express and the latest 2.5-inch solid-state drives (SSDs) with SFF-8639 via the mini SAS HD connector on the Hyper Kit1 expansion card. With built-in USB 3.1, TUF Sabertooth X99 maximizes choice for ultra-high-speed transfer options speeds, handing users total flexibility.

TUF's newest motherboard additionally introduces all-new and exclusive TUF Detective technology that displays live system information on smartphones and tablets, right at users' fingertips. TUF Sabertooth X99 is also equipped for ultimate cooling with exclusive TUF Thermal Armor, TUF Thermal Radar 2 and TUF ICe technologies. Exceptional durability and tested reliability is assured, with TUF Fortifier and TUF Components, including 10K capacitors, TUF chokes and a military-grade MOSFET.

ZOTAC joined the 4 GB GeForce GTX 960 party with two factory-overclocked models. The ZT-90308-10M features a minor overclock of 1177 MHz core, with 1240 MHz GPU Boost (vs. reference clocks of 1126/1178 MHz); while the AMP! variant (ZT-90309-10M) offers higher 1266 MHz core with 1329 MHz GPU Boost. The memory clock is untouched on both cards, at 7.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective).

The ZT-90308-10M features a more cost-effective dual-fan cooling solution, while the AMP! offers a meatier dual-fan one. Both cards draw power from single 8-pin PCIe power connectors, and come with back-plates. Display outputs on both include three DisplayPort 1.2, one HDMI 2.0, and one DVI. Based on the 28 nm GM206 silicon, the GTX 960 features 1,024 CUDA cores, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. ZOTAC didn't announce pricing or availability information.More pictures follow.

Kingston showed off its first M.2 PCIe 2.0 x4 SSD, the HyperX Predator. Based on Marvell's 88SS9293 controller, the same one that drives the likes of Plextor M7e, the drive uses 19 nm MLC NAND flash chips, and takes advantage of PCI-Express 2.0 x4 bandwidth, to offer transfer rates in excess of 1.4 GB/s. It will be sold both as bare-drive, and part of a PC upgrade kit, which includes a half-height M.2 riser add-on card. Capacities offered will include 240 GB, 480 GB, and 960 GB.

The other big SSD from Kingston's stable is the HyperX Savage. Built in the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor, these drives take advantage of SATA 6 Gb/s. Based on Phison S10 series platform, and wired to 19 nm MLC NAND flash, these drives will be Kingston's fastest in its class, offering sequential reads of up to 560 MB/s, with up to 540 MB/s up to writes. This drive will come in capacities of 240 GB, 480 GB, and 960 GB. The HyperX Predator M.2 should launch in February, while the HyperX Savage launches a month later.

Plextor showed off its upcoming M7e PCI-Express SSD in the M.2 form-factor, at CES. A successor to the M6e, which was designed to offer 770 MB/s sequential reads, with up to 580 MB/s sequential writes; the new M7e offers double the performance. Although Plextor didn't put out its own manufacturer-rated numbers, the drive was put through CrystalDiskMark on a live-demo, and compared to its nearest market rival, Samsung XP941.

Built around a Marvell 88SS9293 controller, with PCI-Express 2.0 x4 bus interface, the drive features Toshiba A19 MLC NAND flash chips. The drive was tested to offer 1411 MB/s sequential reads, with 1028 MB/s writes; compared to the 1136 MB/s reads and 928 MB/s writes, put out by the Samsung XP941. With these numbers, the drive is targeted at PC enthusiasts. It will be sold both as a bare drive, and with a PCI-Express 2.0 x4 add-on card, with an M.2 riser.

Toshiba Corporation's Semiconductor & Storage Products Company announced it will showcase a reference display of the world's first PCI Express (PCIe) single package SSD, integrating up to 256 GB in a single BGA package, at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), to be held from January 6 to January 9 in Las Vegas, U.S.A.

The "BG Series" SSDs on reference display will be products under development. Utilizing Toshiba's cutting-edge packaging technology applied in products like e・MMC, it is the world's first PCI Express single package SSD, available in capacities up to 256 GB in a 16 mm x 20 mm x 1.65 mm BGA package. Also to be showcased will be a reference display of the world's smallest removable module type SSD, which integrates the BGA single package SSD on a single-sided form factor.

DeepCool rolled out the Quanta DQ650 EVO, a new 650W, mid-range power supply. Offering 80 Plus Gold efficiency, this unit features semi-modular cabling, and is ideal for a single, high-end graphics card based gaming PC build, or one with two performance-segment cards. Its fixed cabling includes a 24-pin ATX, and 4+4 pin EPS. Modular cables include four 6+2 pin PCIe, eight SATA, and four Molex connectors. Under the hood, the unit features a single +12V rail design. It is ventilated by a 140 mm fan. Most common protection mechanisms are part of the package. CWT appears to be its OEM. The company didn't mention pricing or availability.

Marvell, a worldwide leader in providing complete silicon solutions from mobile communications to storage, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud infrastructure, digital entertainment and in-home content delivery and Kinoma software enabling the "Smart Life and Smart Lifestyle," today announced the world's first DRAM-less NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) solid state drive (SSD) controller for mass market mobile computing solutions with industry-leading NANDEdge low-density parity check (LDPC) technology supporting triple-level cell (TLC) and 3D NAND. Marvell's 88NV1140 and 88NV1120 enable small form factor SSD solutions with unparalleled performance for integration into low-z-height tablets, Chrome devices and the upcoming wave of new 2-in-1 hybrid/detachable mobile PC platforms.

"As mobile computing and cloud-based services become an integral part of our daily lives, fast, secure, reliable and cost effective storage solutions with a small form factor are the key to bringing the benefit of technology to the mass market. I believe our latest game-changing SSD controller will drive the fast deployment of a new wave of small form factor SSD solutions for the mass market mobile computing platforms," said Weili Dai, President and Co-Founder of Marvell. "I am very pleased to see Marvell's leadership and our long track record of invention and innovation including the world's first DRAM-less NVMe SSD controller and the industry's most advanced LDPC technology enabling the latest TLC and 3D NAND flash memory. I am very thankful for our global engineering teams who continuously raise the technology bar to move our industry forward faster."

PMC-Sierra, Inc. (PMC), the semiconductor and software solutions innovator transforming networks that connect, move and store big data, today announced that Memblaze Technology Co. Ltd, a leading provider of flash storage solutions, is utilizing PMC's Flashtec NVM Express (NVMe) controllers in its next-generation PCI Express (PCIe) flash accelerators.

The Flashtec-based Memblaze PBlaze4 products are targeted at hyperscale and Open Compute Project deployments. They provide ultra-low latency and the lowest CPU load in the industry, with read and write capabilities of up to 850,000 I/Os per second (IOPS) for random read and 265,000 IOPS for random write and 3.2 GB/s sequential read, 2.5 GB/s sequential write performance. Memblaze products enable its customers to define and alter key settings to ensure optimum performance in specific applications and platforms.

Sonnet Technologies today announced the Tempo PCIe SSD PCI Express (PCIe) solid state drive (SSD) card with a 512GB SSD module, as the newest member of the Sonnet Tempo family of high-performance storage cards. The Sonnet PCIe SSD card serves as an ultra-fast alternative to traditional storage solutions mounting a high-performance PCIe SSD on a card that installs into a computer's PCIe expansion card slot.

Available in various form factors and capacities, SSDs have become important components in systems requiring extremely fast data transfer speeds and large numbers of I/O operations. Sonnet designed the Tempo PCIe SSD card around an M.2 PCIe SSD module, the fastest consumer-oriented SSD type now available. Capable of transferring files at up to 1100 MB/s, the Tempo PCIe SSD's module incorporates a PCIe flash controller, enabling the card to significantly outperform a 6Gbps SATA SSD, and to achieve even greater performance than two 2.5-inch form factor SATA SSDs configured in RAID 0.

Lite-ON, leading developer of enterprise flash storage technology, announces the debut of its new EP1 Series M.2 PCIe Gen 2x4 solid-state drive at Dell World 2014 in Austin, Texas. Dell World draws thought leaders, subject matter experts, and IT professionals from around the world who come to learn about new trends, technologies, and how Dell and its partners are working to advance the world of information technology.

"We are extremely excited to present our new M.2 PCIe Gen 2x4 solid state drive at Dell World 2014," said Darlo Perez, Lite-ON Managing Director. "The new EP1 represents a significant step forward in enterprise storage technology, offering up to 1TB of storage on a compact and highly power efficient M.2 PCIe form factor. Now supporting power loss protection, it offers the perfect balance of performance, enterprise-grade reliability, and cost efficiency."

Lepa is readying a new line of high-wattage PSUs, for high-end gaming desktop and workstation builds, which feature multiple graphics cards, and maybe even multi-socket processors. Named MaxPlatinum, these PSUs will come in three variants, the P1050M, the P1375, and the P1700M, featuring 1050W, 1375W, and 1700W capacities, respectively. While the P1050M and P1375M offer their advertised continuous power output in both 115VAC and 230VAC areas, the P1700M is a different beast. It will only be sold in markets with 230VAC, and it won't support 115VAC.

The P1050M and P1375M come with enough cabling for systems with three to four high-end graphics cards. Their cabling includes a 24-pin ATX, two 8-pin EPS, six 6+2 pin PCIe, twelve SATA, eight Molex, and one Berg. The P1700M, on the other hand, is loaded for bear, with 24-pin ATX, two 8-pin EPS, ten 6+2 pin PCIe, twelve SATA, eight Molex, and one Berg. The P1050M features a four +12V rail design, while the P1375M and P1700M features a six-rail one. The three are originally manufactured by Enermax. Lepa didn't announce availability.

GIGABYTE Technology, a leading creator of high performance server hardware, is happy to announce today the release of its G210-H4G. Developed in partnership with Carri Systems, a French specialist of GPU computing & HPC solutions, this product is a 2U rackmount housing 4 blades capable of receiving one NVIDIA GRID, Tesla or AMD FirePro card each.

In the context of an unfolding GPU virtualization market and the vast amount of new possibilities that it opens, the G210-H4G is an elegant solution designed with simplicity and flexibility in mind to let organizations, big and small, enjoy the benefits of this fast-growing computing trend.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has started mass producing 3.2-terabyte (TB) NVMe* PCIe solid state drives (SSDs) based on its 3D V-NAND (Vertical NAND) flash memory technology, for use in high-end enterprise server systems. The new NVMe PCIe SSD, SM1715, utilizes Samsung's proprietary 3D V-NAND in an HHHL (half-height, half-length) card-type form factor, to offer 3.2TB of storage capacity -- doubling Samsung's previous highest NVMe SSD density of 1.6TB.

"Beginning with mass production of this new V-NAND-based NVMe SSD, which delivers the highest level of performance and density available today, we expect to greatly expand the high-density SSD market," said Jeeho Baek, Vice President, Memory Marketing, Samsung Electronics. "Samsung plans to actively introduce V-NAND-based SSDs with even higher performance, density and reliability in the future, to keep its global customers ahead of their competition."

Ahead of its 19th September launch, more pictures of MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming surfaced, confirming that the company's new TwinFrozr V cooling solution will debut with it. These latest set of leaks include detailed shots of the card's custom-design PCB, which draws power from a combination of 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors, and uses a 6+2 phase VRM to condition power. The card's display outputs include two dual-link DVI, and one each of HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 connectors. Its cooling solution features a glowing logo, and a unique 6-pin fan header, which lets you control speeds of individual fans of the cooler.

Here are the first pictures of the reference-design GeForce GTX 980 graphics card. This gorgeous looking board is something to get used to, as it could be a while before we see non-reference boards for the GTX 980. Its smaller sibling, the GTX 970, could launch with non-reference design boards right off the bat. Outwardly, the GTX 980 looks exactly like a GeForce GTX 780 reference board, with NVIDIA's space-age cooling shroud.

The only difference here is a metal backplate decking up the card. This backplate isn't cooling anything, and traces reveal that the card is indeed holding just 8 memory chips, confirming its 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. The GeForce GTX 980 is based on NVIDIA's new GM204 silicon, a derivative of the company's new "Maxwell" architecture, which made its debut with the GeForce GTX 750 Ti. The package of GM204 looks roughly as big as a GK104. The card draws power from a pair of 6-pin PCIe power connectors, and uses a 4+1 phase VRM to condition power.

Since the PCIe SSD was adopted by Apple as a standard accessory in MacBook Air in 2013, its excellent flash storage performance featuring high-speed transmission has led the competition to follow, including the fully PCIe SSD-supported Microsoft Windows 8.1 operating system and the new generation Intel CPU chip.

According to a survey conducted by the global market research firm TrendForce, the transmission speed of PCIe G2 (PCIe Generation 2.0) surpassed that of SATA III SSD in 2014. Moreover, several high-end notebooks are expected to replace SATA III SSD with PCIe SSD since Apple and Microsoft are boosting the market demand. With the price gap between them shrinking, PCIe G2 will potentially become the mainstream specification in the PC SSD marketin 2015.

Enterprise storage leader HGST, a Western Digital company, today announced its new series of NVMe-compliant Ultrastar SN100 PCIe SSDs. HGST's NVMe PCIe SSDs, integrating Toshiba's current MLC NAND Flash, will drive the next wave of application acceleration with simplified PCIe SSD system integration paired with HGST's renowned quality and reliability. The standardized NVMe protocol for PCIe SSDs enables broad system interoperability and ease of deployment, resulting in lower cost of ownership.

Targeting application and database acceleration, virtualization and big data analytics, the Ultrastar SN100 series of SSDs will be offered as a half-height, half-length (HH-HL) add-in card, as well as in a standard 2.5-inch drive form factor, with industry-leading capacities up to 3.2 TB. For added NAND Flash endurance and reliability, the Ultrastar SN100 series will deploy HGST's CellCare NAND management technology optimized for Toshiba MLC NAND Flash.

OCZ Storage Solutions -- a Toshiba Group Company and leading provider of high-performance solid state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, will unveil its latest storage solutions at the 2014 Intel Developer Forum (IDF), September 9-11 at Moscone West, San Francisco. New drives to be showcased include the upcoming Saber 1000 SATA III Series which is designed to deliver the best cost per GB for hyperscale data center customers, and the innovative Z-Drive 6000 2.5-inch PCIe 3.0 NVMe series that provides industry-leading IOPS per dollar.

OCZ has long been a major supplier to customers in the hyperscale and cloud markets, and the new Saber 1000 SATA III SSD was conceptualized and designed with key input from customers within this space to offer the best of both worlds with an enterprise-optimized feature-set, high capacity, and exceptional price point. Because these massive scalable infrastructures require premium yet practical storage, Saber 1000 is designed to be a more cost-effective solution than traditional enterprise-grade SSDs, effectively eliminating I/O bottlenecks and maximizing storage efficiency to meet the evolving demands of the fast growing hyperscale and cloud computing markets. Based off the proven OCZ Barefoot 3 platform which delivers superior and sustainable performance, Saber 1000 also provides enhanced data integrity with the addition of features like partial power fail protection and will also leverage the latest generation A19 NAND flash from Toshiba.

GIGABYTE Technology, a leading creator of high performance server hardware, is happy to introduce today its new lineup of motherboards based on the new Intel C612 chipset. Supporting the brand new Intel Xeon processor E5-2600/1600 V3 product families (former codename Haswell-EP) and the also brand new DDR4 server memory, this new lineup initially consists of one workstation motherboard and six server motherboards.

On Intel's previous server platforms, by design the maximum supported memory frequency has always been automatically downgraded the more DIMMs were being added on a server motherboard. As this trade-off between performance and capacity represents a dilemma to many memory-hungry server applications, GIGABYTE offers a unique solution. All our motherboards based on the LGA 2011-3 socket support by default a maximum frequency of 2133 MHz in any memory configuration.

AMD today announced the AMD FirePro S9150 server card -- the most powerful server Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) ever built for High Performance Computing. Based on the AMD Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture, the first AMD architecture designed specifically with compute workloads in mind, the AMD FirePro S9150 server card is the first server card to support enhanced double precision and break the 2.0 TFLOPS double precision barrier. With 16 GB of GDDR5 memory -- 33 percent more than the competition -- and maximum power consumption of 235 watts, AMD FirePro S9150 server GPUs provide supercomputers with massive compute performance while maximizing available power budgets.

"Today's supercomputers feature an increasing mix of GPUs, CPUs and co-processors to achieve great performance, and many of them are being implemented in an environmentally responsible manner to help reduce power and water consumption," said David Cummings, senior director and general manager, professional graphics, AMD. "Designed for large scale multi-GPU support and unmatched compute performance, AMD FirePro S9150 ushers in a new era of supercomputing. Its memory configuration, compute capabilities and performance per watt are unmatched in its class, and can help take supercomputers to the next level of performance and energy efficiency."

BiTMICRO Networks, Inc. today announced MAXio E-Series PCIe solid state drives (SSDs). Powered by BiTMICRO's patented Talino ASIC Architecture, the new MAXio E-Series SSD delivers superior capacity, performance and reliability for companies that need to support high volume application workloads.

BiTMICRO MAXio E-Series SSDs are based on the company's industry proven Talino ASIC Architecture which is used by strategic partners including RunCore, one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of solid state products and solutions in China. "BiTMICRO has developed a truly revolutionary architecture that is very high performance, but also high capacity to meet the burgeoning application demands of our customers in China and around the globe," said Limuel Yap, Vice President, Technical and Business Development, RunCore. "It changes the way people think and address their enterprise storage requirements."

PMC, the semiconductor and software solutions innovator transforming networks that connect, move and store big data, today established a new ultra-fast storage class memory tier to accelerate critical applications in scale-out storage and all-flash arrays. The PMC Flashtec NVRAM Drives combine the speed and endurance of DRAM with the persistency of NAND flash to deliver ten times higher performance than the fastest Solid State Drive (SSD), at more than 10 million I/Os per second (IOPS), with sub-microsecond latency.

Leveraging PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0, the Flashtec NVRAM Drives connect directly to the host to optimize CPU utilization and maximize overall system performance. The latest member of PMC's enterprise-class Flashtec portfolio of controllers and drives, the new solutions are based on the industry-standard NVMe interface to enable plug-and-play PCIe connectivity, which decreases time to market in data center and enterprise storage deployments.

Marvell today announced the introduction of its first native Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) solid-state drive (SSD) controller, the 88SS1093. The Marvell 88SS1093 NVMe SSD controller delivers high-performance solid-state storage solutions with a fully Flash-optimized architecture overcoming the SAS/SATA performance limitations by optimizing hardware and software to take full advantage on NAND and addressing the needs of data centers and client systems that utilize next-generation PCIe 3.0 SSD storage. The 88SS1093 also integrates Marvell's third generation NANDEdge error-correcting, low-density parity check (LDPC) technology for higher reliability and endurance boost that was previously announced with Marvell's fifth generation SATA SSD controller, the 88SS1074.

"As the global leader of the storage industry, we are very proud of our innovation, invention, and contribution to the advancement of a wide range of storage technologies and products. I am very excited to see that our new SSD controller solution has once again raised the technology bar with superior performance, high reliability and robust security," said Weili Dai, President and Co-Founder of Marvell. "I am very proud of our close collaboration with leading tier one OEM and ODM partners around the world in enabling the rapid growth of the SSD market from client devices to data centers and enterprise systems. At Marvell, it is our pride and long term commitment to drive innovation to better lives for all in the new era of 'Smart Life and Smart Lifestyle'."

Enterprise storage leader HGST, a Western Digital company, today is previewing a new architecture for solid-state drives (SSDs) that enables applications to provide faster insights to the data-intensive questions of tomorrow. The demonstration shows unprecedented SSD performance levels that are achieved by utilizing a combination of HGST's new, latency-optimized interface protocols with next-generation non-volatile memory components.

The SSD demonstration utilizes a PCIe interface and delivers three million random read IOs per second of 512 bytes each when operating in a queued environment and a random read access latency of 1.5 microseconds (us) in non-queued settings, delivering results that cannot be achieved with existing SSD architectures and NAND Flash memories. This performance is orders of magnitude faster than existing Flash based SSDs, resulting in a new class of block storage devices.

HGST, a Western Digital company, today announced the launch of its new FlashMAX III family of PCIe accelerators, which deliver a dramatic improvement in price/performance for today's most demanding database and cloud workloads. Also introduced today is the new HGST ServerCache software that allows IT administrators to inject acceleration into their existing storage infrastructure by quickly and easily deploying a hybrid flash environment with any SSD.

"For businesses to remain competitive, application performance matters. Data needs to be instantly accessible for real-time processing, analytics and insights," said Ulrich Hansen, vice president of SSD product marketing, HGST. "To address this need, enterprise customers are actively looking to add flash into their storage infrastructure. Whether focused on peak application acceleration with an all-SSD environment, improving lagging performance by tiering or using caching to leverage combined HDD and flash environments, our new hardware and software solutions help strike that balance among performance, complexity and cost."