SilverStone showed us the ECM22, a neat accessory that provides M.2 slots to machines that lack them. The half-height PCI-Express 3.0 x4 addon card gives you two M.2-22110 (110 mm long) slots with PCI-Express 3.0 x2 wiring. One of the two slots features SATA wiring, which simply relays connection from a SATA port on your motherboard. The card doesn't have any native logic of its own, and as such NVMe booting support will depend on your motherboard BIOS supporting it. It could still come as a boon to setups such as video-editing rigs, in which the creative professional could want as many high-bandwidth storage devices as possible.

At CES 2017, Lian-Li showcased their latest, upcoming additions to their product lines: from a standing desk to numerous computer cases and an external RAID enclosure, there was something for every taste.

First, Lian Li's latest addition to their standing desk line of products: dubbed the DK-05, this standing desk allows the user to install two different systems (supporting E-ATX motherboards) at the same time, something that its predecessor was unable to do. Lian Li suggests that the chassis could house both a file server and a gaming computer, all within a rather striking exterior of tempered glass and brushed aluminum. The desk features a motorized height adjustment, with knobs on a small control panel on the right side of the desk that control both the height adjustment and the speed of the desk's 12 fans (six for intake, and six for exhaust duty). It also supports triple-slot radiators for augmented cooling capabilities.

Colorful Technology Company Limited, professional manufacturer of graphics cards and motherboards, is proud to announce its latest motherboard for enthusiasts and gamers featuring the latest Intel Z270 chipset to support LGA1151 processors including the newly announced 7th generation Core processors from Intel with their new iGame Z270 Gamer. Customization motherboard. This latest products joins the family of iGame enthusiast and performance series of motherboards and graphics cards which focuses on not just the needs of gamers for a faster and robust system but serves as a canvas to promote their creativity and idea with great customization options.

Gigabyte announced six new Z270 motherboards as part of its Aorus product line - and all of them feature RGB LED lighting and swappable LED overlays. Apparently, Gigabyte opted for the standardization of their RGB Fusion LED lighting up and down their Aorus product line - all of the boards have at least two areas that are RGB LED backlit, including a space on the right edge beside the RAM slots. This RAM RGB lighting can be removed and replaced with different overlays according to the users' taste, and each motherboard is also equipped with a LED strip header. Dubbed the Z270X-Gaming 9, Z270X-Gaming 8, Z270X-Gaming 7 , Z270X-Gaming K7, Z270X-Gaming 5, and the Z270X-Gaming K5, these Gigabyte Aorus motherboards are quite well-rounded, as you can see after the break.

In a realm of ever-expanding storage needs, and increasingly constrained time slices, being able to quickly transfer or back-up your files and carry them with you is still an important metric. Even in an increasingly cloud-powered world, sometimes, simply being able to care about a piece of hardware, and not losing a password or having your cloud account hacked, still pulls its weight in some users' considerations. Sharkoon is looking to address those users' needs with the release of the Rapid-Case 2.5" USB 3.1 Type-C, a DIY enclosure which is sure to give your old HDDs (or even SSDs) a new lease of life.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced the TS-831X - a new cost-effective 8-bay business NAS with a quad-core 1.70 GHz CPU to provide users with enhanced system performance for daily business operations. Alongside the standard models with 8 GB or 16 GB RAM, there is also a model with 4 GB RAM (TS-831X-4G) to provide an affordable option for budget-conscious users.

"The TS-831X features a highly-competitive specification, including built-in 10GbE ports, containerized apps, and SSD caching, making it a favorable choice for small and medium-sized organizations," said Jason Hsu, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "The TS-831X-4G option provides an accessible choice for budget-constrained organizations to benefit from the TS-831X's amazing functionalities without breaking the bank."

Western Digital Corp. today further expanded its data center SSD and HDD portfolio with the introduction of next-generation storage solutions designed to help IT managers address the intensive data and extreme performance demands of today's enterprise, cloud and hyperscale workloads.

The new solutions include the blazingly fast HGST-branded Ultrastar SN200 NVMe-compatible PCIe solid-state drive (SSD) series, which offers class-leading random read performance of up to 1.2 million IOPS in key workloads, and the company's fastest and highest capacity SAS SSD to date, the HGST-branded Ultrastar SS200 Series SSD. The company also introduced its fourth-generation helium-based HelioSeal enterprise-class hard disk drive (HDD), the 12TB HGST-branded Ultrastar He12 drive. Additionally, the company announced it will extend the He12 platform to 14TB, leveraging Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR).

After announcing earlier this week the impending release of their VR Go backpack, ZOTAC has now made pricing details available: $1999 will net you the ability to strap a PC to your body so you can freely engage with enemies or friends alike in VR environments.

The ZOTAC VR GO can work autonomously for up to two hours, feeding on two Li-ion batteries rated at 95Wh (6600mAh). The batteries can be hot-swapped and charged separately, featuring a DC12V-out for powering the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. When not in use as a backpack to play virtual reality games, the VR GO can be used like a normal desktop computer: its form-factor allows it to be placed on a desk either vertically or horizontally and all the ports will remain accessible. It isn't very heavy, either, though at 4.95 kilograms, your mileage may vary.

Finally putting the lid on all of ASUS' leaked and detailed motherboards, comes, the PRIME Z270-A, which doesn't belong to a special, bang-and-whistle-filled product line, and is just concerned with getting the job done. It clads itself in a simple and appealing white and gray color-scheme, and is expected to keep most of the important features in ASUS' more expensive product lines.

The PRIME Z270-A comes with ASUS' 8+2+2 Phase Digital power design, fed by an 8-pin connector, that features 10K black metallic capacitors, MicroFine Alloy Chokes, NexFET PW (Power) block MOSFET and DIGI+ Power Control Utility for real-time adjustment, courtesy of the new ASUS Extreme Engine Digi+ technology that improves CPU stability and overclocking. It features four DDR4 DIMM slots that can support up to 64 GB of memory with speeds of up to 3866 MHZ (O.C+), and expansion slots on the motherboard include three PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16/x8/x4 electrical), four PCIe 3.0 x1 and dual M.2 slots that deliver up to 32 GB/s transfer speeds, with the PCIe slots being armored for higher resistance.

Continuing the trend of revealing ASUS' ROG lineup of motherboards based on the Z270 chipset, and zipping down the product line, comes the ROG STRIX Z270F Gaming, which also sports the standard ATX form factor. The motherboard features an all around solid design with an impressive metallic black / silver color scheme. The LGA 1151 socket supports the latest 6th and 7th generation Intel Core processors. ASUS went with an aggressive heatsink design that features their AURA RGB technology for a full LED illuminated color showcase. In terms of features, the ROG STRIX Z270F Gaming continues the trend of intelligent cost-cutting so as to achieve a product with an (expectedly) lower price-point. Compared to the ROG STRIX Z270E, this mobo cuts on the 2×2 MU-MIMO 802.11ac WI-FI on the back I/O, and the USB front header is downgraded to a 2.0 solution.

The ASUS ROG Strix Z270F comes with a 8+2+1 Phase Digital power design that features 10K black metallic capacitors, MicroFine Alloy Chokes, NexFET PW (Power) block MOSFET and DIGI+ Power Control Utility for real-time adjustment. All of these components are part of the new ASUS Extreme Engine Digi+ technology that improves CPU stability and overclocking. Power is fed through a single 8-Pin connector.

The ROG STRIX Z270G Gaming is the first leaked motherboard that fills customers' needs in the microATX form factor (making it one of the more interesting ones), featuring an impressive metallic black / silver color scheme on the LGA 1151 socket, which I personally find beautiful. ASUS went with an aggressive heatsink design that features their AURA RGB technology for a full LED illuminated color showcase. The STRIX line inherits much of the other features of the Maximus line of motherboards, though they universally do away with the black and red color scheme.

In the world of gaming, time is literally a matter of win or loss. In less than a second, a game's performance is determined. Boost your PC with Apacer's AS682 ARMOR+ solid state drive and get ahead of your opponent in every move! Equipped with SATA III interface, AS682 ARMOR+ operates read/write speed at 540/475MB per second with 95,000 IOPs. Available in 250GB and 500GB, this SSD is advantaged in many ways, including high performance, low power consumption, high durability, excellent value for money, and multiprocessing architecture.

The first generation of ARMOR was born out of Apacer's dedication in perfecting SSD for better gaming experience. The latest release, AS682 ARMOR+ is even more advanced in processing speeds, with 540 MB/s (read) and 475 MB/s (write). The 95,000 IOPS makes one thing clear: from scene changes, battles, to fast moves, the smooth fluidity is unparalleled even with most complicated in-game actions. Compatible with most of the PCs and motherboards, the SATA III interface delivers a blazing fast performance, making it an ideal must for enhancement.

Western Digital Corporation today announced WD Blue and WD Green solid state drives (SSDs), the first WD-branded SATA client SSDs. The new SSDs complement the company's industry leading family of hard drives for PCs and workstations, providing a full portfolio of WD storage devices for virtually any application.

The ultimate solution for building DIY PCs, extending the life of current PCs or upgrading existing storage, the WD Blue and WD Green SSDs boast near-maximum speed of SATA drives, best-in-class endurance and MTBF and WD Functional Integrity Testing (F.I.T.) Lab certification, resulting in quick boot times and increased program responsiveness. Consumers benefit from the combination of reliable storage with an industry-leading 1.75M hours MTTF, coupled with reduced power and less heat when compared to HDDs. Both include free, downloadable, WD SSD Dashboard software, which allows continuous performance and capacity monitoring. For consumers who are looking for instant-on responsiveness, durability, low power consumption, and ultra-thin, ultramobile form factors, the WD Blue and WD Green SSDs are the perfect options.

VIA Labs, Inc., a leading supplier of SuperSpeed USB and Power Delivery Controllers, today announced that the VIA Labs VL716 USB 3.1 to SATA III Bridge Controller with native USB Type-C support has achieved SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps certification from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). Optimized for the latest USB Type-C external storage applications such as USB Type-C optical drives, SSD's, and HDD's, the VL716 single-chip USB 3.1 Gen 2 to SATA III Bridge Controller offers blazing data transfer rates up to 10 Gbps and is fully backwards compatible with USB 3.1 Gen 1, USB High-Speed, and USB Full-Speed modes. With native USB Type-C support built-in, the VL716 offers advanced features such as USB-C connector orientation detection and USB Mux to enable the reversibility feature without additional components or cost.

"Integrating SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps and USB Type-C support minimizes the need for multiple components and reduces cost for developers," said Jeff Ravencraft, USB-IF President and COO. "Companies like VIA Labs are growing the USB ecosystem by developing compliant solutions and submitting products for USB-IF compliance testing."

Sharkoon expands its range of docking stations and introduces the fastest QuickPort to the product family, which thanks to USB 3.1, offers a data transfer rate of up to 10 gigabits per second. The Sharkoon QuickPort USB 3.1 Type C is a compact docking station for convenient connection of a SATA hard drive to a PC or laptop. With USB 3.1 support, the QuickPort offers a transfer rate of up to 10 gigabits per second and is backwards compatible to USB 3.0 and USB 2.0. The docking station is suitable for a 2.5" HDD/SSD or a 3.5" hard drive, which slides easily into the drive bay of the QuickPort.

Installation is also simple; your operating system recognizes the QuickPort without having to install a driver. If there is no hard drive inserted, a spring-loaded flap protects the inside against dust and dirt. The internal SATA interface of the docking station supports SATA Revision 3.0 and is backwards compatible to previous SATA Revisions. A status LED on the front indicates operation and data transfer. The on/off switch is located on the back, along with the power inlet and USB the USB 3.1 Type C port for connecting to a computer. A USB 3.1 cable (Type A plug to Type C plug) and a power adapter is included, as well.

Plextor, a leading developer of high performance storage devices, will be adding the new third generation, four-lane PCI-Express NVMe M.2 M8Pe solid-state drive (SSD), and the M7V Series mainstream SATA SSD to its exemplary line of solid-state drive products at the upcoming 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the Plextor suite at the Aria.

The M8Pe is the first Plextor SSD with the revolutionary NVMe protocol that helps reduce access latency, allowing for faster speeds. It connects via PCIe, enabling 4KB random read performance up to 270,000 IOPS, and 4KB write performance up to 150,000 IOPS. M8Pe PCI express drives are designed to give gamers and other high intensity users complete synergy and maximum performance. M8Pe features M.2 form factor allowing better airflow and cooling, increases the speed and performance of the SSD. PlexTurbo latest version 3.0, an intelligent RAM caching solution uses the system memory to boost access storage performance compared to standard factory SSDs. Other features of M8Pe include PlexCompressor, a smart compression technology that gives the user more storage capacity without impacting user experience and system performance., and PlexVault, a useful feature allowing private data to be hidden securely for shared computers using Plextor SSDs.

OCZ Storage Solutions -- a Toshiba Group Company and provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the introduction of Host Managed SSD (HMS) technology, first supported by the Saber 1000 Series SSDs. HMS technology enables Host controls over internal SSD background processing tasks that were previously not exposed to host-level software. System-level software control of background processing tasks, such as Garbage Collection, enable improving overall storage performance, and specifically enable obtaining consistent and predictable latency across a large pool of SSDs.

Hyperscale, Cloud, and datacenters now run software defined storage applications which manage large pools of SSDs across multiple servers. Consistent performance of these SSDs is critical to many modern applications, such as modern data bases and online trading, that have migrated to the Cloud. Exposing HMS functions via API enables integration of HMS functions into the storage stacks.

ZOTAC International, a global innovator and leading manufacturer of graphics cards, ZBOX Mini PCs, and Solid State Drives (SSDs), ramps up a new line of storage aimed at offering enduring speed in desktops, notebooks, and external storage as it becomes an essential to every PC.

Available in 240GB and 480GB capacities, the Premium Edition SSDs bring with it a suite of features. At the heart sits a quad-core Phison SSD controller and outstanding MLC NAND for marathon reliability with up to 480 TBW and up to 3,000 PE cycles. With robust performance delivering sequential read/write speeds of up to 520MBps and 500MBps, the Premium Edition SSDs are within a hair's width of the SATA III bandwidth saturation point.

According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research "Solid State Drive Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2022," the global Solid State Drive (SSD) market was valued at US$15.1 billion in 2014 and is expected to reach US$229.5 billion by 2022, expanding at a CAGR of 40.7% from 2015 to 2022.

Asia Pacific was the largest revenue contributor in 2014 and accounted for 57.0% of the global solid state drive market. The higher performance requirement in enterprise applications and consumer mobile devices is fueling the demand for solid state drives. Features such as lower power consumption, cooler computing, low form factor, and reduced latency are cementing the demand for solid state drives. The solid state drive market has witnessed rising demand for client SSDs, owing to their use in devices such as notebooks, tablets, and mobiles. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing market for solid state drive in terms of revenue during the forecast period. Growth in this region is mainly attributed to an expanding customer base and high IT infrastructure spending in countries such as Japan, China, and Taiwan. Competition in the market is paving way for the development of novel technologies in the solid state drive market. Furthermore, benefits offered by SSDs over HDDs, and the resulting replacement demand, are expected to drive the growth of solid state drive market during the forecast period.

WD, a Western Digital company and a world leader in hard drives, today announced the expansion of its award-winning WD Black line of performance hard drives up to 6 TB capacity. Shipping now, the 3.5-inch, 7200 RPM drive is the perfect solution for gamers and professionals in need of high-performance desktop systems and workstations.

WD Black hard drives combine 7200 RPM spin speed, 128 MB cache, dual stage actuator technology, SATA 6 gigabits per second (Gb/s) interface, and an integrated dual processor to deliver ultimate performance in a maximum-capacity drive. The WD Black 6TB is up to 29% faster than the previous WD Black 4TB version in maximum data rate throughput and 10% faster in PCMark Vantage.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules and NAND flash products, today launched the Premier SP550 SSD, which uses triple-level cell (TLC) architecture to offer an affordable SSD without compromising performance. The Premier SP550 is the first ADATA drive to include the Silicon Motion (SMI) SM2256 controller, which uses NANDXtend technology to help ADATA implement SSD technologies such as data shaping, LDPC ECC, and a RAID engine for enhanced data protection, stability, and reliability. SLC caching technology has been implemented to boost performance.

"The launch of ADATA's Premier SP550 SSD with our SM2256 client controller represents a milestone in SSD adoption," said Nelson Duann, Silicon Motion's Vice President of Product Marketing. "TLC-based SSDs significantly improve the affordability of high performance, low power SSDs."

Mushkin Enhanced MFG, an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance and cost-effective solid state storage products, today announced its latest addition to the ATLAS family of products - the new ATLAS VITAL M.2 2280 Series for Ultrabooks, notebooks, and small form-factor PCs. Atlas Vital is suitable for mobile gamers, professionals, or general end-users looking to take their computing experience to the next level with solid state storage.

Leveraging Seagate's SandForce SF-2000 series SSD processor with a SATA 3.0 interface, the ATLAS VITAL provides stable performance with sequential read and write speeds up to 550 and 535MB/s respectively and 4KB random transactional performance of up to 86,000 IOPS for low-latency computing and high throughput. With these features, the ATLAS VITAL is an ideal solution for value-minded users looking to improve their systems' response time and greatly reduce their operating system boot and application load times compared to a traditional hard drive.

Addonics Technologies today announced a rack-mount SATA to USB 3.1 Converter, which allows users to turn any SATA device into the latest SuperSpeed+ USB 3.1 storage.

When connected to a USB 3.1 port, the converter can deliver data throughput up to 10 Gbps. This effectively doubles the speed of USB 3.0 and is 20 times faster than USB 2.0. Since it is backward compatible with previous USB standards, any SATA hard drive, SSD (Solid State Drive), and even optical drives can easily be converted into USB 3.1 storage. It comes mounted on a SCIS-I bracket, which means it can easily be mounted onto any storage enclosure with a standard SCSI-1 (Centronic 50) cut out. It can be mounted on a standard desktop computer chassis by using an optional PCI mounting bracket.

The Storage Products Business Unit of Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., a committed technology leader, announces a new, high-capacity addition to the MC04 Series launched in May of last year. The 6TB version of the MC04 Series of enterprise high-capacity HDDs is designed for bulk storage systems and servers supporting cloud-based applications and scale-out workloads. With an industry standard 3.5-inch form factor, the MC04 Series delivers 7,200 revolutions per minute (RPM) performance, enabling suitable service levels for high performance cloud-based applications and storage.

Toshiba's highest capacity enterprise cloud HDD delivers a 20 percent increase over the previous generation's 5TB capacity, enabling more efficient high-density, high-growth storage for multi-petabyte rack deployments. Furthermore, the newest addition to the MC04 Series improves ROI for scale-out storage solutions with a 20 percent increase in power efficiency (TB/W) over previous generations, enabling more cost-effective delivery of cloud storage services.

QNAP Inc. knows small and medium business IT storage needs well; and starting today has a new Turbo NAS offering that perfectly blends storage capacity, performance, and business productivity - the TS-563. This new 5-drive desktop NAS features up to 30 TB (with five 6 TB drives) of storage and is 10 GbE network ready. This new model also features 2 GB of DDR3L RAM (an 8 GB model was launched in May). The TS-563-2G is the second QNAP product line to be introduced; which features the AMD G-series quad-core 2.00 GHz embedded processor with its impressive, virtualization and hardware accelerated encryption capabilities.

Today's small and medium businesses need to wring every dollar of productivity out of their IT spends and that extends to storage. QNAP's Turbo NAS' have evolved into being far more than just networked storage, file/printer sharing, and backup solutions. Today they can host virtual machines without the expense of VMware, host websites, and a bevy of other business critical applications. Extend the capabilities of a QNAP NAS further with a wide range of free Apps available from 3rd party developers, right from the dashboard of the embedded QTS management interface. QNAP's brand new Qsirch search feature makes it fast and easy to find documents, videos, photos, music, and more on the NAS through natural-search terms similar to how one would use a search engine.