Digital Storm today unveiled Bolt II, a small form factor (SFF) and hybrid Steam Machine gaming PC at CES 2014. Bolt II, the first liquid cooled Steam Machine and will feature with both Steam OS and Windows allowing gamers to play any PC game from the comfort of their couch.

Digital Storm's second generation SFF system features a refined look, increased accessibility and advanced thermal design. With double the cooling power of its closest competitor, Bolt II differentiates itself from other SFF and Steam Machine systems by focusing on delivering the best graphics possible and refusing to compromise on performance.

Dell has this week introduced a new OptiPlex business-ready desktop, a model dubbed OptiPlex 3020 that promises to offer 'industry-leading performance and best-in-class security in a budget-friendly package'.

Coming in two versions - Minitower (MIT) and Small Form Factor (SFF), this compact PC features a tool-free design and packs a 4th gen Intel Core processor, up to 16 GB of RAM, Intel HD 4600 graphics, either a hard drive or a solid-state hybrid drive (for up to 2 TB of storage on the minitower SKU), one PCIe x16 slot for graphics expansion, two USB 3.0 ports, and VGA and DisplayPort 1.2 outputs. The OptiPlex 3020 starts at $499.

Announced early this month, the M8 gaming-craving barebone PC has now become available in the US. Developed by ASRock in collaboration with BMW Group DesignworksUSA, the M8 measures 372 (W) x 123 (H) x 400 (L) mm, it packs a 450 W power supply and is equipped with a Z87-M8 motherboard offering support for 4th gen Intel Core processors, up to 16 GB of RAM, and one dual-slot PCIe graphics card.

ASRock's compact barebone can house a 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch storage drive, one slim optical drive, and includes WiFi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, a 4-in-1 card reader, Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports, plus HDMI and DisplayPort outputs. The M8 is priced at $549.99.

If you're on the hunt for a computer that is not merely capable of running all of the latest hardcore PC games on maximum performance, but also decorated in such sophisticated appearance that it constitutes your right to be a gamer no matter how old you get, then ASRock and BMW Group DesignworksUSA has the perfect answer for you! Gamers beware, the long anticipated Intel 8 Series gaming rig M8 is hitting the markets!

"Our goal was to create desirability and iconic differentiation in a small Gaming-PC," said Sonja Schiefer, Director, Munich Studio, BMW Group DesignworksUSA. "To enhance the perception of pure power we created a design language focused on superlative and a design solution that is very much an exaggerated mode of expression."

Bitspower, the Taiwanese water cooling and modding specialist, recently launched the first water block designed for ASUS' previous generation mITX wonder board, the P8Z77-I Deluxe. While no longer the best mITX board on the market, the Haswell launch parade made sure of that, the P8Z77-I Deluxe did develop quite a following, particularly with the SFF crowd, selling in good numbers for its segment and making the rounds in a plethora of SFF projects that sprung on various enthusiast boards around the web.

The Bitspower AIZ77ITXD block makes use of high quality acrylic for the top cover and nickel plated copper for its base. The top cover comes in two versions, either transparent acrylic (Clear) or a semi-transparent black acrylic (ICE Black). The block's design approaches the full cover idea to a larger degree than any other motherboard block I've seen, accommodating all the heat generating components on the board, the CPU, the Z77 chipset and the vertical VRM as well. A design concept that Bitspower refers to as Unibody Style Construction Design (U.S.C.).

HP today announced the first professional monitors of the new Z Display family as well as new entry-level Z Workstations that offer reliable and flexible workstation performance at PC-like prices. HP is continuing to drive innovation across an evolving workplace with the introduction of the HP Z22i, Z23i and Z24i IPS Displays. Offering outstanding image accuracy and mission-critical reliability, the HP Z Displays are optimized for use with HP Z Workstations. HP Z Displays are ideal for engineers, architects, designers and photographers who require image accuracy at an affordable price.

Building upon HP's award-winning Z series of workstations, the new HP Z230 Workstation, available in a tower or small form factor (SFF), is built for demanding application workloads. The HP Z230 is a great choice for knowledge workers and specialists, design engineers and creative designers who require rock-solid reliability at an affordable price. Designers using applications like Autodesk AutoCAD and photographers using Adobe Photoshop will benefit from the new functionality of the HP Z230.
"Our customers want products that are designed and engineered to meet the most demanding computing and visualization needs, and HP's Z moniker has become synonymous with meeting that challenge," said Jeff Wood, vice president, Worldwide Product Management, Commercial Solutions Business Unit, HP. "The new HP Z230 Workstations and Z Displays meet these workload demands at an affordable price, and demonstrate HP's leadership in providing solutions for professional solutions at all levels."

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has developed the industry's first 2.5-inch (SFF-8639) NVM Express (NVMe) PCIe solid state drive (SSD), to open up the high-end enterprise storage market. The newly developed high-speed 1.6 TB NVMe SSD provides a sequential read speed at 3,000 MB/s, which allows it to process 500 GB (gigabytes) of data (equivalent to 100 Full HD movies 5 GB in length) in less than 3 minutes. When compared to other products with similar specifications, this new SSD is 14 times faster than a high-end enterprise HDD for server use, and six times faster than Samsung's former high-end enterprise SSD storage.

The XS1715's random read performance reaches up to 740,000 IOPS (Input Output Operations Per Second), which is more than 10 times as fast as existing high-end SSD storage options. The new NVMe SSD XS1715 comes in 400 GB, 800 GB and 1.6 TB (terabytes) versions. It can also be found on the NVMe Integrators List (IL), which makes it an easy-to-manage and highly reliable solution for data center and server storage customers. System performance can be improved dramatically by upgrading to the NVMe SSD XS1715 from a 2.5-inch HDD or a 2.5-inch SATA SSD.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today held the 2013 Samsung SSD Global Summit at the Westin Chosun Seoul in celebration of the launch of its new solid state drive (SSD), the Samsung SSD 840 EVO. Along with the announcement of its latest SSD under the theme of "SSDs for everyone", the Samsung SSD Global Summit also explored the future of the global SSD market, which is quickly replacing the HDD market.

"After accelerating the growth of the SSD market by last year's launch of entry-level, high-performance SSDs we are introducing a much faster SSDs with up to 1 TB capacities offering consumers a wider range of choices," said Young-Hyun Jun, executive vice president, memory sales & marketing, Samsung Electronics. "Samsung continues to enhance its SSD brand image by delivering the industry's highest quality solutions and continuously increasing its SSD market share by expanding the adoption of higher density SSDs especially in client PC segments"

The modding and custom water cooling scene has never been a particularly stable or reliable medium to build a business in and around of, with its intrinsically superfluous character making it a particularly risky bet for a start-up of any sort, and indeed a losing bet for very many of those who did bite the bullet, invested the money and delivered the goods, but failed to capitalize on what can best be described as a frivolous demand. A multitude of brands with a wide variety of products have come and gone, while some of those still on the scene are slowly fading into irrelevance, all of whom failed to correctly grasp the nature of that demand.

Thankfully, all is not gloom, this is a vibrant scene I'm talking about, with many household names that have been around for many many years, and some quite new ones also, doing very well and in some instances thriving. All of whom brought and bring to market products that not only meet existing demand, but primarily come to generate it. While generally a low volume market, the sheer variety of products is quite overwhelming, from completely over the top contraptions such as the Aqua Computer GIGANT radiators or the obscenely expensive, functional artwork boasting the Murderbox branding, to grotesquely designed and executed kitsch that will remain unnamed, in-between you'll find anything meeting every taste or budget. And from this busy, vibrant and idiosyncratic scene a new player by the name or Parvum Systems is looking to carve a piece for itself.

SilverStone unveiled Raven Mini-ITX, a new compact SFF case fit for mini-ITX gaming PC builds. The case feature signature Raven series styling, and bears design elements from its recently launched sibling, the Raven RV-04. The case is designed to look great in both tower-type (vertical) and rack (horizontal) orientations, with its slot-in slimline optical drive bay, discrete-looking air vents, USB and audio jacks.

Internally, the case is nothing short of an engineering marvel, you can install a high-end, dual-slot, full-height graphics card, and a 240 x 120 mm radiator for your liquid cooling loop. It works using a PCI-Express x16 riser that lets you install the graphics card along the plane of the motherboard, with enough room to spare underneath for the radiator. On the storage front, you get a slimline slot-in optical drive bay, and a number of 3.5/2.5-inch drive bays. An SFF PSU bay appears to be located towards the front. The Raven mini-ITX is still under development, SilverStone will formally announce the case later.

ASUS announced its first Republic of Gamers (ROG) motherboard in the mini-ITX form-factor, the Maximus VI Impact, which could go on to become choice number one for SFF gaming PC builders. Arguably the most feature-rich mini-ITX motherboard ever made, the Maximus VI Impact is a socket LGA1150 motherboard based on Intel Z87 Express chipset, which supports 4th generation Core "Haswell" processors.

The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, and conditions it using a 10-phase VRM that off-shoots into its own little PCB, with heatsink. The other three daughterboards on the Maximus VI Impact include the SupremeFX Impact, a sound-card with an audiophile-grade 115 dBA DAC, OPAMPs, and audio-grade capacitors; and an mPCIe combo card that lends it 802.11 ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0; and an ImpactControl card that gives overclockers POST diagnostic readouts and CMOS reset/restore at the push of a button, right from the rear panel.

Dell today announced an expanded and stronger Dell Precision workstation portfolio that includes the smallest tower workstation chassis in its class, the Dell Precision T1700 small form-factor, and the world's most powerful rack workstation, the Dell Precision R7610. In addition, the Dell Precision family features a more powerful and reliable Dell Precision T1700 Mini-Tower rounding out a workstation portfolio that offers increased performance, dependability and smart design for entry-level and high-end workstation users.

Industry's Smallest Entry-Level Tower Workstations
Offering powerful workstation performance at near desktop PC prices, the new Dell Precision T1700 small form-factor (SFF) is the smallest, approximately 30 percent smaller than competitive systems, and lightest workstation in its class allowing IT to easily deploy an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) certified workstation almost anywhere, regardless of space constraints.

CyberPower Inc., a global manufacturer of custom gaming PCs, has retooled its small form factor LAN-event PC series into a new family of systems named the LAN III, which is packed with the power and the headroom to accommodate the latest gaming hardware and titles.

The CyberPowerPC LAN III series debuts with four distinct models priced from $439-$1395 and loaded with the latest performance hardware from Intel, AMD and NVIDIA. Gamers can tap CyberPowerPC's "armory" to build a custom LAN-party worthy system with a wide choice of components from Intel's flagship X79 platform with 3rd Gen Core processors to AMD's 990FX Chipset with Vishera 8-core processors. Users can drop the latest arsenal of GPUs into their LAN III, which includes NVIDIA GeForce series powered by the new "Kepler" architecture and AMD Radeon's "Southern Islands" Graphics. Both series deliver the latest PCI express 3.0 for flawless gaming and multimedia performance.

Apart from motherboards, the only big product segment ASRock made a name for itself is with pre-built mini-PCs. The company wants to put its experience to good use by cashing in for the market's newfound love for compact (mini-ITX) gaming PCs, the ones that save precious real-estate on congested living room TV racks and dorm rooms. Pictured below is the company's first such effort, timed with the launch of Intel's next-generation Core "Haswell" processor, and supporting socket LGA1150 platform based on Z87 Express chipset.

There are three components to ASRock's creation: a unique SFF case, co-designed by BMW Design; the ASRock Z87E-ITX motherboard, and a GeForce GTX 680 graphics card. The case looks pretty slick, coming from BMW. It stays slim by using a PCI-Express riser, allowing you to install graphics cards along the plane of the motherboard. The Z87-E ITX, like most efforts by ASRock in the past, is extremely feature-rich for its size. It uses a 6-phase VRM to power the LGA1150 CPU, features two DDR3 DIMM slots, PCI-Express 3.0 x16 and mini-PCIe 2.0, for the WLAN+Bluetooth card.

Gigabyte rolled out a new mini-ITX motherboard based on the AMD E350 "Zacate" APU, for entry-level PC and home-server builds, the E350N-WIN8. As the name might suggest, the board is designed to run Windows 8 with its entire feature set, including Fast Boot. It does that by replacing legacy AwardBIOS on older variants, with modern AMI UEFI, backed by Gigabyte's Dual-UEFI redundant BIOS technology that protects against failed BIOS updates. The E350N WIN8 uses a fairly big (SFF-safe) fan-heatsink to cool the APU, while a tiny heatsink cools its companion A45 FCH chipset.

The AMD E350 packs two x86-64 cores clocked at 1.60 GHz, with a maximum memory support of 16 GB, and AMD Radeon HD 6310D DirectX 11 graphics that rides on 80 stream processors. The APU is wired to two standard-size 240-pin DIMM slots. The lone expansion slot, sadly, is a legacy PCI. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin and 4-pin ATX connectors. Connectivity includes four SATA 3 Gb/s ports, eight USB 2.0/1.1 ports (four on the rear panel, four by headers), serial RS232 (COM) and parallel (LPT) ports, PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors, and display outputs that include D-Sub (VGA) and HDMI (with 7.1-channel digital HD audio). Expect a sub-$100 price point.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) today reveals a full product line of Thin Mini-ITX motherboards, in three segments where low power consumption and a small footprint are desirable: enterprise, multimedia and consumer - to fulfill the different demands for AIO (All-in-one) and SFF (small form factor) applications.


Enterprise/Corporate Solutions: Q77H2-TI & B75H2-TI
For corporate and industrial use, the all solid capacitor ECS Q77H2-TI & B75H2-TI motherboards are based on the Intel 7-Series Chipset, which support 3rd generation Intel Core i7, Intel Core i5 and other Intel processors. Both of these platforms feature 2 x Mini PCIe x1 expansion slot, SATA 3.0/2.0/mSATA, 4x USB 3.0, 5x USB 2.0 along with support for digital signage.

MSI has announced the launch of its new-generation barebone PC system: the Hetis H61 series. This series uses the latest Intel H61 chipset, and support the 3rd Generation Intel Core Processor and 2nd Generation Intel Core Processor as well, the first processor of its kind to have the graphics processing unit (GPU) and CPU integrated onto the same chip, while also building a set of visual functions into the chip that ensure higher image quality when viewing video content or photos.

Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) introduces the XPand6104 Small Form Factor (SFF) system supporting a 3rd generation Intel Core i7 COM Express module. With commercial connectors, this SFF system can be utilized as an XPedite7450 COM Express development platform, a deployable SFF system, or a demo platform for applications requiring a high-performance Intel Core i7 processor solution.

In a natural convection-cooled SFF enclosure, the XPand6104 is ideal for Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP)-constrained applications at 2.10 in. (H) x 4.88 in. (W) x 7.70 in. (L) and weighing less than 4 lbs. It includes an XPedite7450 Intel Core i7 ruggedized COM Express module and an optional 1.8 in. SSD. The front panel features an RJ-45 Ethernet connector to a10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet port, a USB 2.0 connector to a USB 2.0 port, an eSATA connector to a SATA 3.0 Gb/s port, two micro-DB-9 connectors to RS-232 serial ports, a DisplayPort connector for graphics, reset and power switches, and status LEDs. It includes an integrated MIL-STD-704 28 V DC input voltage power supply with MIL-STD-461 EMI filtering and an external AC/DC 110 V AC input voltage power supply for development.

Consistently devoted to the compactness and lightweight of the terminal devices, Apacer, one of top ten PC SSD manufacturers in the world, rolls out mSATA Mini M4 SSD of Small Form Factor (SFF for short) today to meet the market demands. The product is only 26.8 × 29.85 mm in size. Compared with mSATA SSD adopting JEDEC MO-300 standard specification, this latest model has its size reduced by over 1/2. Featuring ultra-compactness and slimness, it can break through the physical limit of the spatial design, and significantly reduce the size and weight of the terminal device. In addition, it also boasts anti-shock, anti-vibration and low power consumption, thus enabling itself to become the most reliable storage choice for the portable devices applied in the military, medical equipment, on-board navigation system, tablet computer, etc.

Acer is now preparing its next generation of mini PCs, the new Veriton N Series. Set to be available in two versions - with or without an optical drive, these incoming SFF PCs feature an Intel Celeron or Core i3 processor, up to 8 GB of RAM, integrated graphics, and up to a 1 TB hard drive (or an SSD topping 128 GB).

Acer's compact creations also have Gigabit Ethernet (WiFi is optional), a multi-in-one card reader, two USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports, plus DVI and HDMI outputs. The updated Veriton N Series PCs start at 356 Euro and will become available in November.

Tacens announced the sixth-generation of its Radix series power supplies. The series includes 550W, 650W, 750W, and 850W models; all of which feature single +12V rail designs, and over 85% efficiency (according to the company), making them 80 Plus Bronze eligible. The 550W variant features a single 6+2 pin PCIe power connector, the 650W and 750W models feature two, and the 850W model features four. All four are cooled by 140 mm Aura Pro fans. In addition to the four standard Radix ATX v2.3 PSUs, Tacens also introduced two Radix Eco series PSU models, 500W and 400W. The Radix Eco 500W sticks to the standard ATX form-factor, while the 400W model is built in the SFF ATX form-factor. Both Eco models lack PCIe power connectors.

Liantec announce ITX-QM77 industrial Mini-ITX Intel QM77 Ivy Bridge Mobile motherboard solution. The ITX-QM77 is based on Mini-ITX form factor and Intel Ivy Bridge (IVB) computing platform, supports Intel 3rd generation Ivy Bridge and 2nd generation Sandy Bridge Core i3 / i5 / i7 mobile processors, 16 GB of memory capacity, onboard dual Intel Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, DVI, HD audio, SATA-III 6Gbit/s, and SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports. The ITX-QM77 also offers x16 PCI Express slot and onboard MiniCard socket with x1 PCI Express and HiSpeed USB 2.0 interface for additional expansion.

With Intel latest Ivy Bridge platform, the ITX-QM77 provides advanced graphics computing capacity with Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU, supports Microsoft DirectX 11, OpenGL 3.1, and OpenCL 1.1. Besides, the ITX-QM77 also supports x16 PCI Express 3.0 bus interface with 8 GT/s of data transfer rate on the expansion slot, suitable for add-on graphics or I/O card that need more data transfer bandwidth.

SilverStone is now preparing the release of a new PC case, a SFF (small form factor) model called Sugo SG09 that supports micro ATX, mini ITX and DTX motherboards. Set to become available in about two weeks, the chassis measures 220 (W) x 295 (H) x 354 (D) mm, it weights 5.3 kg, and features two front-placed USB 3.0 ports, one (slim) 5.25-inch bay, two 3.5-inch and four 2.5-inch bays, and three pre-installed fans (one 120 mm spinner at the rear, one on the side and a 180 mm Air Penetrator on top).

The Sugo SG09 supports CPU coolers up to 165 mm tall and graphics cards up to 13.3-inch long, and is set to cost 90 Euro.

Acer America today unveiled new commercial desktop PCs specified for corporate customers, government agencies and educational institutions. Multi-monitor support, significant power and expandability make the new Veriton 6620G Series desktops well-suited for enterprise environments.

The Acer Veriton X6620G, a small form factor (SFF) desktop and the Acer Veriton M6620G, a mini tower, offer a three-year warranty(1) and support up to a third-generation Intel Core i7 processor with significant application and graphics performance benefits when compared to prior generations.

Every year, technology is able to become more and more advanced and is constantly improving. Also, with being physically the smallest, and performing the best is the end goal of any storage system. This is why SFF (Small Form Factor) storage systems are becoming more popular due to its low power consumption and space-saving benefits. With the advent of recent solid state technology, this allows 2.5" SSD's to easily achieve 500MB/sec in transfer rate, which overcomes the 3.5" SATA hard drives in every category except capacity. Therefore, maximize the capacity in a limited space becomes the most important task that many storage consulting firms are faced with often. For SFF systems, we introduce the Icy Dock MB992SK-B 2.5" SATA Mobile Rack solution for use in 3.5" device bays (Floppy bay).