Proving the Intel X58 architecture's enduring potential and value, the P6X58-E WS ships with multi-GPU support for both NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX, SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3.0. It also includes built-in server-class Intel LAN, as well as ASUS-developed highlights such as Xtreme Phase power delivery and EPU energy consumption optimization. The new board ships with the ASUS "24X24" pledge, meaning 24-hour non-stop operation and 24-month guaranteed market availability to reduce costs due to involuntary product replacement.
Flexible multi-GPU configuration

A dedicated expansion slot controller ensures increased bandwidth availability for each connected graphics card, hence the P6X58-E WS supports up to 3-way NVIDIA SLI, with each of the triple PCI-E channels working at full X16 speeds. For AMD CrossFireX, the P6X58-E WS offers up to quad-GPU arrangements, with each PCI-E channel working in X16.

Lenovo today announced the ThinkCentre M91p desktop designed to give large businesses the highest levels of performance, security and manageability. Available in tower, small form factor and eco small form factor versions, the desktop is designed for speed and performance with technologies including SATA III, USB 3.0, Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 and support for four monitors as well as security and manageability with the latest Intel Core vPro processors.

"We've packed the new ThinkCentre M91p desktop with the latest performance technologies, like Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, to give users and IT departments a noticeable difference in the way they work," said Tom Shell, vice president, ThinkCentre Desktop Marketing, Lenovo. "Now PC users can quickly open and save data, view graphics and video faster and stream work across four monitors."

Corsair's best memory modules come under the Dominator line, the best Dominator modules are marked under Dominator GT, with their distinctive flaming red heatsinks. Corsair is looking to extend the "GT" marker even to its SSDs, and is ready with the Force GT line of 2.5-inch SATA 6 Gb/s SSDs. As you can see, the flaming red product scheme is carried over. Driven by the latest SandForce SF-2000 series controllers, Force GT offers read speeds of up to 520 MB/s, and 500 MB/s write speeds. It is available in number of capacities in the higher quadrant. At least the 240 GB model will be launched very soon.

At the second day of the world's largest IT and computer trade show CeBIT 2011 in Hannover, Germany, Thermaltake debuts their latest mid-tower gaming chassis, the Chaser MK-1. At this world's first debut the Chaser MK-1 shows off a design language that is clearly inspired by modern games. Strong lines and all black coating inside and outside in combination with blue elements lend it its very dynamic and powerful looks. The pulsing logo on top only add even further to the overall mighty appearance. Being the very first XB (extra big) ATX mid tower chassis, the Chaser MK-1 is extra wide, thereby allowing for enough space to install particularly big and powerful CPU coolers of up to 18 cm height. An entirely tool-less design for the hard drive trays makes installation and removal of 3.5" HDDs and 2.5" SSDs a child's play.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co., Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards and other computing hardware solutions today announced the launch of the world's first motherboard designed from the ground up for extreme overclockers, the GIGABYTE GA-X58A-OC. Its overclocking specific performance design defines a whole new category of enthusiast focused motherboards that introduces never-seen-before tweaking and insulating features.

"The GIGABYTE X58A-OC introduces some really exciting and unique overclocking technologies like the PWM frequency switcher, a full range of onboard hardware OC buttons, onboard SATA power connectors for stable multiple graphics configurations, and DualBIOS switcher that up until now have just been ideas discussed in private OC forums and messages," commented HiCookie, GIGABYTE In-house Overclocking Expert. "Tweaking features aside, we have also adopted high current components such as POScaps and MPFC (Max Power Ferrite Core) Chokes that allow overclockers to bench more reliably and with more power so they are able to smash more world records. As an avid overclocker myself, having the freedom to help design a board specifically for overclockers has been a dream come true, and I really hope that overclockers enjoy benching on this board as much as we enjoyed making it!"

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and the world's largest channel manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and mini-PCs, today unleashes the ZOTAC ZBOX AD02 series mini-PCs powered by the AMD E-350 APU platform. The ZOTAC ZBOX AD02 series delivers a premium computing experience with rich high-definition video playback capabilities and outstanding 3D visuals in a compact form factor.

The powerful AMD E-350 APU equips the ZOTAC ZBOX AD02 series with dual processor cores for lightning-fast system responsiveness and snappy multi-tasking abilities. Integrated AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics enable compatibility with the latest Microsoft DirectX 11 titles for stunning 3D visuals on the ZOTAC ZBOX AD02 series.

Greenliant Systems, a leader in energy-efficient, highly secure and reliable solid-state storage products, is now sampling the industrial-grade version of its SATA interface NANDrive GLS85LS embedded solid-state drive (SSD) product family to select customers. Available in 2, 4 and 8 GB, the new NANDrive devices operate at temperatures between -40 and +85 degrees Celsius, giving customers long operating life and high reliability storage that can endure harsh environments.

The industrial-grade Greenliant NANDrive combines a SATA NAND controller with single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash die for a fully-integrated SSD in a multi-chip package. For applications requiring the durability and speed of solid-state storage in very small form factors, SATA NANDrive devices are one of the industry's smallest SSDs at 14mm x 24mm x 1.85mm. NANDrive is offered in a 145 ball grid array (BGA), 1mm ball pitch package for easy, space-saving and cost-effective mounting to a system motherboard.

Intel Corporation announced today the next in a line of new solid-state drives (SSD), the Intel Solid-State Drive 510 Series. The new Intel SSD 510 features fast SATA 6 Gigabits per second (Gbps) performance to take full advantage of Intel's transition to higher speed SATA bus interfaces on the recently introduced 2nd Generation Intel Core processor-based platforms. Supporting data transfers of up to 500 megabytes per second (MB/s), the Intel SSD 510 doubles the sequential read speeds, and at up to 315 MB/s more than triples the sequential write speeds of Intel's current 3 Gbps SSDs, to transfer more data in less time. This makes it ideal for demanding gamers, media creators, performance-intensive workstation users and any technology enthusiast.

The Intel SSD 510 offers the fastest sequential read and write speeds of any consumer SATA SSD available today, providing industry leading performance that beats a traditional hard disk drive (HDD) by more than 50 percent. In addition to better overall system responsiveness when compared to a mechanical hard drive, SSDs have no moving parts so are more rugged, consume less power and run quieter and cooler than HDDs. SSDs reduce boot times, launch applications and files faster and recover from sleep mode quicker, resulting in noticeable improvement. Conventional HDDs are also unable to effectively take advantage of 6 Gbps platform technology, since HDDs fail to maximize even the current 3Gbps SATA interface.

World-renowned mainboard and graphics card manufacturer MSI has released the latest board to support Inte's Sandy Bridge processors and aimed towards enthusiasts: the P67A-GD80 (B3) mainboard. Utilizing MSI's various P67's exclusive specifications and technologies, such as the Military Class II Components standard which symbolizes high quality and stability, the comprehensive OC Genie II one-touch overclocking system, the uEFI-based ClickBIOS technology, and the SuperCharger function that provide mobile devices with the optimal charging. It also has a built in 12 phase DrMOS power supply and 3 sets of PCI-E x16 2.0 expansion slots, providing a more stable power supply for overclocking and for support up to a maximum of three-way multi-GPU computing.

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced it will preview its new Force Series GT line of solid-state drives at its booth at CeBIT.

The new Force GT SSDs will use the new SandForce SF-2000 SSD Processor with native support for SATA 6Gb/s (SATA 3) to deliver incredible performance, with up to 60K Random Write IOPS, read speeds of up to 520 MB/s, and writes speeds of up to 500 MB/s. The new SSD line is designed for enthusiasts who demand the fastest performance available.

Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash, storage and enthusiast computer products, today announces the new Wildfire series solid-state drives powered by a new SandForce SSD processor. The Patriot Wildfire series obliterates expectations of storage devices and delivers enterprise-class performance to consumer desktops and notebooks.

Storage bottlenecks are a thing of the past with the Patriot Wildfire series SSD. The new SandForce SF-2200 SSD processor enables the Patriot Wildfire series to shatter previous performance records with up to breathtakingly-fast 500 MB/s sequential read and write speeds backed by a SATA 6.0 Gb/s interface.

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today the OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 hardware RAID storage drive with massive 12TB of storage/backup in a desktop-sized brushed aluminum enclosure. Featuring four 3TB high performance hard drives in four hot swappable drive bays, the Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 12TB RAID storage drive offers the flexibility of a "Quad Interface" of FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA; four selectable Hardware RAID settings of 0, 1, 5, 10; and 300 MB/s data transfer rates for high speed, Plug & Play storage and redundancy for Macs and PCs.

One of consumer SSD's pioneers, Intel, is expected to launch its next-generation 510 series solid state drive (SSD) in the 2.5-inch SATA form factor on March 1, 2011. The Intel 510 series is targeted at PC enthusiasts, workstations, and high-end notebooks. It uses the latest 6 Gb/s SATA specification, and make use of 34 nm MLC NAND flash chips. The drives can dole out transfer rates of up to 470 MB/s read, and 315 MB/s write. It delivers 20,000 IOPS random 4K read, and 5,000 IOPS random 4K write performance. At least initially, it will be available in only two capacities, 120 GB and 250 GB, priced at around US $366 and $767, respectively.

Flash memory expert PhotoFast expanded its line of ultra-high performance SSDs with the GMonster3 XV2 series, which are based on the 2.5-inch SATA form-factor, making use of SATA 6 Gb/s interface. The drives use a Marvell-made controller, which combined with MLC NAND flash chips, churns out transfer rates of up to 500 MB/s read and 450 MB/s write. The drive supports the TRIM garbage-collection feature that keeps write performance up to the mark at all times. Available in capacities of 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB; the GMonster3 XV2 drives will be priced at $110, $200, $400 and $800, respectively, when initially released in Japan, later this year in April.

Sharkoon rolled out a nifty little gadget that gives you quick and fast access to HDDs, SSDs, or pretty much any SATA device. The DriveLink USB 3.0 from Sharkoon is quick to snap on to any SATA device with its standard SATA link/power connector, and gives fast access to it over USB 3.0. The device supports HDDs with capacities up to 2 TB. Measuring 58 (L) x 56 (W) x 21 (H) mm, the device connects to its host using a USB 3.0 cable (backwards compatible with USB 2.0, as well), and powers the drive and itself using a 12V DC input. It also includes a one-touch backup feature. Using the bundled backup software, users can quickly sync/backup data between the host and the drive at the press of a button. The DriveLink USB 3.0 from Sharkoon is priced at €21.

Shuttle Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of multi-form-factor solutions such as the world-famous XPC Mini-PC Barebones, showcases two models for Intel's new 32 nm-technology processor generation (code name: Sandy Bridge) at CeBIT 2011.

Shuttle, as the Mini-PC pioneer, is set to launch the XPC Barebone SH67H3 and SH67H7 at the end of March 2011. Both are based on the Intel H67 Express chipset and boast extremely impressive technical features to support all Intel Core 2nd generation i3, i5 and i7 processors with LGA1155. There are four DIMM slots that enable DDR3 memory support with a maximum capacity of 16 GB.

World leading flash memory manufacturer Silicon Power today announces the new 2.5" SATA Velox V20 series Solid State Drive (SSD). Instantly boosting PC performances, it uses the latest SandForce controller, featuring a maximum read-speed of 285MB/s and write-speed of 275MB/s so enthusiasts can sit back and enjoy the speedy transfer rates!

Silicon Power's V20 SSD uses the latest SandForce controller, it boasts a continuous read / write speed up to 285MB/ 275MB per second, respectively. An actual test using a 40GB V20 required only 13 seconds to boot into Windows and open up a program. It is the perfect enterprise office PC storage solution or the ideal boot-up disk in any PC! In addition, V20 SSD also supports TRIM Command and Garbage Collection technology to counter performance drop issues due to long period of use and continuous write actions.

ASRock seems to be in a hurry to be out with the first socket AM3+ motherboard that supports AMD's next-generation "Zambezi" Fusion Black processors, and so again put its creativity to use. The company designing a new motherboard based on the AMD 890FX + SB850 chipset instead, called the ASRock 890FX Deluxe5. The selling point with this board is the ability to have an AM3+ as early as possible, with capability to accommodate AM3+ processors as they come. For now, ASRock's idea in the public domain is only in the form of a layout drawing.

The typically-sized ATX motherboard from ASRock makes use of AMD's 890FX + SB850 chipset. The CPU socket is compatible with existing socket AM3 Phenom II and Athlon II processors, and future Fusion Black processors. This isn't particularly an advantage, because every AM3+ motherboard in the future based on 990FX will retain support for AM3 processors. On the other hand, 990FX motherboards could also embrace UEFI, something this board seems to lack prima facie.

Intel seems to have fast-tracked its Cougar Point chipset flaw rectification. The silicon giant claims that it will be in a position to start shipping B3 stepping of Cougar Point chipsets (Intel P67, H67, etc,) from 14 February, to OEM partners. According to the latest PCN (product change notification), number 110456-00 dated 2/9/2011, Cougar Point B3 will carry the following changes/features:

• Revision ID will change from 04h to 05h
• BIOS Update (Revision 1.1.4 of the BIOS Specification Update and Reference Code)
• B3 stepping package is pin compatible with B2 stepping package
• Minor metal layer change from B2 to B3 improving lifetime wear out with no changes to functionality or design specifications

Of the above, the last bullet point affirms that the SATA 3 Gb/s port defect issue, which caused physical parts of the chipset to wear out abnormally fast, degrading performance, is resolved.

Plextor is excited to reveal they will be launching their first solid state drive (SSD) in the UK next month - the world-class 2nd generation M2S Series. Plextor has a deserved, solid reputation for high performance, high quality products, especially in the storage sector. This leap into the SSD sector in the UK and Europe is a new move for the ever-expanding manufacturer, and a demonstration of their continued position as pioneers in a market likely to grow rapidly in future years. SSDs are increasing in popularity as a complement alongside traditional HDDs and the technology may eventually replace the HDD entirely for the OS and working environment.

Available in 3 capacities (64GB, 128GB and 256GB), the perfectly engineered 2.5" internal M2S Series SSD is one of the first of its kind to support the new SATA III 6B/s interface and boasts exclusive technologies to increase speed, stability and lifespan - offering up to 10 years of performance which doesn't degrade over time as other SSDs might. With read speeds of up to 480 MB/s, write speeds of up to 330 MB/s and performing significantly highly in benchmark tests, the M2S is currently the fastest SSD available on the market.

Gigabyte released a free software utility that works on any motherboard (of any brand) that uses Intel's defect-prone 6-series chipsets (such as P67, H67), and checks if the installed hard drives are connected to defective SATA ports, or whether the board is prone to defects at all. According to Intel, it's not that every 6-series motherboard out there carries defective ports, and that whatever defects there may be, would only surface over time. Some users, however, are beginning to see signs of defects right away. The 6 Series SATA Check utility from Gigabyte is the company's contribution to resolving what is a chronic market-wide error affecting all motherboard vendors selling socket LGA1155 motherboards. You can grab the tool from here.

Apparently there's a "slim" chance of users actually being affected by the recently-discovered chipset design error plaguing Intel's Cougar Point 6-series chipsets that drive the SandyBridge processors. Intel pegs this at 5% performance degradation caused due to data transfer errors over a period of 3 years. Users of Romanian tech community Lab 501 found out a way of detecting if your hard drives connected to the damage-prone SATA ports are already showing signs of errors.

To do so, you need the HD Tune Pro software, you can try out the Pro version. Select a hard drive connected to the damage-prone SATA 3 Gb/s port, click on the "Health" tab. HD Tune checks out various self-diagnostic parameters of the drive, including SMART values. A drive connected to an affected port should fail a number of tests as shown in the screenshot below. As a stopgap solution, you can connect the drive to one of the SATA 6 Gb/s ports available. Most motherboards should have 2 internal 6 Gb/s ports, some have additional 6 Gb/s ports driven by 3rd party controllers. It's advisable to use ports of those controllers. This stopgap fix should pull you through till April-May, when motherboard vendors are expected to have motherboards with B3 revision of the Cougar Point chipset. You can then claim replacement of your board under warranty.

ECS ELITEGROUP USA branch office has worked with Intel and has been made aware of a design flaw in its newest generation Intel 6 Series Express Chipsets (codenamed Cougar Point, B2 Stepping) which could, under normal operation, experience an issue with SATA ports 2-5 that may result in these SATA ports experiencing a functional issue over time.

ECS USA, along with all motherboard manufacturers, is working closely with Intel (who has identified the problem) on containing the distribution of the B2 Stepping of this product on its motherboards. ECS USA takes pride in its products' quality and is passionate about offering the best possible customer experience. ECS USA stands by its products and is committed to its customers by offering the following:

Plextor have expanded their high-performance optical storage portfolio with the addition of the PX-LB950UE - their first external Blu-ray Writer. The PX-LB950UE boasts a combination of an incredibly fast 12x writing speed with USB 3.0 technology, advanced software applications and a stylish external chassis designed to offer reliability, accuracy and low noise.

Every facet of the PX-B950UE has been designed to provide home and business users with a high performance, easy to use and versatile solution for backing-up large quantities of data or enjoying their favourite Blu-ray movies. The PX-LB950UE is available across the UK and Europe from February at an RRP of approximately £179.

MSI has been informed by Intel about the design issues in the Intel 6 series chipsets. According to Intel the performance of some of the Intel SATA ports on Intel 6 series products can degrade over time. MSI takes the quality of our products very serious, so at this moment we are investigating product batches that may be affected and, meanwhile, have stopped all shipments to our distributors and resellers. Additionally, we asked resellers to hold sales of the Intel 6 series based MSI products to customers until the issue can be resolved.

As of the 31st of January MSI informed all our distributors, retails and reseller to stop directly the sales of Intel 6 series based products of MSI and to hold any products pending shipments to customers. No need to worry in the case that you purchased an Intel 6 series based product form MSI after the 31st of January because we will take care for you. Consumers can check the section "How to get serviced".