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.

SMART High Reliability Solutions ("SMART HRS"), a provider of current and next-generation solid-state storage solutions specializing in ruggedized, high-performance and high-capacity solid-state drives ("SSDs") for defense, aerospace and industrial markets, today announced its HRS-S3 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s SSD, which has been successfully sampling with key customers, is now available in volume quantities to qualified customers. As the latest in a robust line of products from SMART HRS that emphasizes the company's exclusive focus on solid-state storage solutions, the HRS-S3 is ideal for industrial temperature applications.

Building on the accomplishments of SMART HRS's long line of SSD products for the defense industry, the HRS-S3 SSD delivers performance metrics of 500MB/s sequential read and 400MB/s sequential write speeds while delivering 35K IOPS and 20K IOPS respectively during random operation. Using highly reliable single-level-cell (SLC) NAND Flash, the HRS-S3 is available in capacities ranging from 120 to 960GB.

Here's one of the first glimpses of a socket LGA1151 motherboard featuring both DDR3 and DDR4 memory slots, the Hi-Fi B150Z5 by BIOSTAR. The board supports up to 16 GB of DDR3L-1600, and up to 32 GB of DDR4-2133. The board is driven by Intel's mid-range B150 Express chipset, and should do just fine for gaming builds with single graphics cards. Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, one PCIe 2.0 x16 (electrical x4), three legacy PCI, and one PCIe 2.0 x1. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s (from which two wire out as SATA-Express 16 Gb/s). BIOSTAR's Hi-Fi 6-channel onboard audio solution, gigabit Ethernet (Intel controller), and six USB 3.0 ports, make for the rest of its connectivity. The board features dual-UEFI BIOS.

Want a compact gaming PC that doubles up as a home storage? The CS380 "Compact Storage" case could be worth checking out. This micro-ATX case features an aluminium door (with noise-dampening material), steel frame, and ABS front panel bits. Behind the door are eight 3.5-inch drive caddies, with SATA backplanes, which let you hot-swap drives; and a standard 5.25-inch drive bay. Apart from the eight 3.5-inch caddies, the case has two internal 2.5-inch drive bays (for OS drives).

The eight 3.5-inch caddies are split between two drive cages of four; which are separated by room meant for long graphics cards. Its ventilation includes two 92 mm front intakes (located in the space between the drive cages); two 120 mm side vents, two 120 mm top vents (which can hold on to a 240 mm radiator); and a 120 mm rear exhaust. The case measures 212 mm x 435 mm x 444 mm (WxHxD).

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash storage solutions, at Computex Taipei 2015 today announced its new CloudSpeed Eco Gen. II SATA SSD, a purpose-built storage device for cloud service providers with up to 2TB capacity. This new SSD is now sampling with select hyperscale customers. Based on 15 nm NAND flash, the new CloudSpeed Eco Gen. II SSD delivers greater storage density with 3x the streaming bandwidth vs. hard disk drives (HDDs). Designed as a drop-in replacement for HDDs, CloudSpeed Eco Gen. II provides datacenters with a lower cost-per-square-foot for hyperscale applications such as analytics, media streaming and content repositories.

Cloud Data Services, such as Big Data Analytics, SaaS, IaaS and PaaS environments, are driving radical data center transformation. The number of connected 'things' is set to explode, with Gartner forecasting this number will reach 25 billion by 2020, generating a deluge of data that will need to be analyzed in real-time. Micropayments, online commerce and similar applications are read-intensive and require high data throughput and scalable storage capacity.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash storage solutions, today introduced the new SanDisk Z400s SSD, a cost effective solid-state drive (SSD) designed to replace hard-disk drives (HDDs) in computing platforms and embedded applications. PCs and embedded systems need consistent, reliable access to storage in order to meet business demands. The Z400s outperforms HDDs by 20x, while providing 5x the reliability with 20x lower average power consumption, all at a price point on par with HDDs. The SanDisk Z400s SSD joins the company's existing portfolio of flash-based solutions that are designed to deliver a delightful user experience and reliability at an affordable price point

"The Z400s represents a feat of engineering that addresses the needs of two distinct markets-PC OEM manufacturers and embedded application designers," said Rizwan Ahmed, senior director of product marketing, client platform solutions, SanDisk. "With a single architecture, SanDisk is able to provide OEMs with an affordable solution for displacing HDDs in today's cutting edge consumer devices, and help embedded application designers avoid overpaying for un-needed space-all while delivering the peak performance and high-reliability that only SSDs can supply."

Other World Computing announced today the Accelsior S, a new PCIe card with direct mount support for a 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s SSD. The latest addition to OWC's award-winning Accelsior line enables PC, Mac Pro tower and Thunderbolt interface expansion chassis users to quickly and easily add additional storage. Utilizing the robust PCIe architecture, the Accelsior S card offers both storage expansion and 6Gb/s speeds up to 550MB/s - more than double the performance of SATA 3Gb/s.

When equipped with the Accelsior S PCIe card and an SSD, Mac Pro tower and PC users can launch, capture, render and process I/O-intensive apps without long wait times. The Accelsior S PCIe card is also extremely easy to install - no drivers or software are required.

Sharkoon expands its range of external drive enclosures and presents a variant for the new USB 3.1 standard: The QuickStore Portable USB 3.1 provides an elegant dwelling for a 2.5" SATA HDD/SDD. The internal controller supports the SATA Revision 3.0 and is backward compatible to Revision 2.0 and 1.0. External connection occurs via a micro-B port. The USB 3.1 case supports Windows 8 UASP and offers a maximum transfer rate of 10 gigabits per second.

Disks with a height up to 9.5 mm can be installed. Assembly is completely tool-free and is done within a few simple steps. To do this, the case frame can be simply unlocked and slid open. With the black, brushed aluminium cover, the QuickStore Portable USB 3.1 visually impresses. A blue LED also indicates operation and data transfer. The hard drive case measures a compact 134 x 85 x 14 mm (L x W x H) and weighs only 51 grams. Packaging includes short instructions as well as a USB 3.1 cable (type-A plug to micro-B port).

ZOTAC International, a global innovator and manufacturer of graphics card and mini PCs, today puts the limelight on the brand new R Series, the new member of the ZBOX mini PC family. This is the small form factor solution that is more than a personal PC with its storage solution and functionalities while providing the same power efficiency and space saving features that users expect from ZBOX.

"This is certainly a breakthrough for both the mini PC and personal computing," explains Tony Wong, CEO, ZOTAC International. "We are adding more functions to elevate the mini PC to a whole new plane while keeping our signature space saving design and power efficiency. This new addition to the mini PC family will open new doors to even more functionalities."

MSI, world leading in motherboard design, is pleased to announce the launch of 8 new AMD FM2+/FM2 socket based motherboards supporting the latest AMD Godavari APU. These new models are available in ATX, micro-ATX, and mini-ATX form factors and are backwards compatible with FM2 processors (Kaveri, Richland, Trinity, 6000 and 5000 series). MSI has packed these models with a rich blend of features and technologies, such as onboard LAN, PCI Express 3.0 x16, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0 and multiple display support, offering the most stable and most cost-effective solution available.

HyperX, a division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced HyperX Savage, its next-generation SATA Rev. 3 (6Gb/s) SSD. HyperX Savage is powered by the Phison S10 quad-core, eight-channel controller delivering incredible read/write speeds for both compressible and incompressible data, as well as high IOPS. It replaces the highly successful HyperX 3K SSD.

HyperX Savage is the fastest SATA-based SSD in the HyperX family. With sequential speeds of up to 560MB/s read and 530MB/s write, and IOPS of up to 100,000 read and 89,000 write, HyperX Savage offers higher performance, ultra-responsive multitasking and an overall faster system. It features an eye-catching red steel and aluminum case with a low profile to fit most notebooks, desktops and small-form factor PC builds. This new design continues the HyperX trend as a leader in stylish gaming products.