Corsair has quietly added a new SSD to its portfolio which is currently available on Newegg. The new Neutron NX500 SSDs come in somewhat unusual 400 GB and 800 GB capacities, which likely means an overly increased over provisioning so as to ensure top endurance and performance. The Neutron NX500 SSDs come in the add-in NVMe card form factor, with a beefy heatsink to top it all up. That heatsink serves to cool not only the NAND chips, but also the Phison E7 controller that's lurking underneath.

Interestingly, and even though 3D TLC NAND is all the rage these days due to increased density on the same footprint, without bringing any serious, real-world problems related to endurance, as we've seen, the Neutron NX500 appears to pack MLC memory. Do you even remember that? That's part of the reason why performance is rated so high: there's 3,000 MB/s read, 2,400 MB/s writes, 300,000 IOPS in random read, and 270,000 IOPS on random write workloads. Though you will have to pay a pretty penny for this kind of performance: the 400 GB Corsair Neutron NX500 is currently retailing for $319.99, while the 800 GB version won't give you any benefits from the economy of scale: it retails for $699.99.

Toshiba Memory Corporation, the world leader in memory solutions, today announced development of the world's first BiCS FLASH three-dimensional (3D) flash memory utilizing Through Silicon Via (TSV) technology with 3-bit-per-cell (triple-level cell, TLC) technology. Shipments of prototypes for development purposes started in June, and product samples are scheduled for release in the second half of 2017. The prototype of this groundbreaking device will be showcased at the 2017 Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, California, United States, from August 7-10.

Devices fabricated with TSV technology have vertical electrodes and vias that pass through silicon dies to provide connections, an architecture that realizes high speed data input and output while reducing power consumption. Real-world performance has been proven previously, with the introduction of Toshiba's 2D NAND Flash memory.

After announcing their intention to begin mass production of their latest 72-Layer 3D NAND Flash back in April, SK Hynix has now confirmed that it has entered mass production of the high density NAND modules. Apparently, SK Hynix has already achieved the much sought-after "golden yield" ratios, where the semiconductor yield is now at such a level that it is advantageous to finally enter mass production. Apparently, SK Hynix's leadership was fearful of not being able to achieve the golden yield in a timely manner after their announcement of the technology only three months ago; however, after its "management team and engineers repeatedly spent nights doing research, yield went up vertically and has become comparable to Samsung Electronics'" own yield - and as you know, Samsung is kind of the golden standard when it comes to NAND technology.

According to industry sources, SK Hynix is already mass-producing SSDs (Solid State Drives) with the company's own controllers and firmware which leverage this new 72-layer 256Gb NAND flash memory. This is a welcome change for the company which should allow it to increase revenue, since this is the first time controllers are developed in-house. The company is also said to be already producing eMMC (embedded Multimedia Card) for mobile devices based on this technology, with supply already arriving to its customers.

Apacer introduced the AS350 Panther solid-state drive, beginning (we hope) with a 120 GB variant. Built in the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor with SATA 6 Gb/s interface, the drive features 120 GB of TLC NAND flash memory. It offers sequential transfer rates of up to 440 MB/s reads, with up to 125 MB/s writes, and 4K random access performance of up to 26,000 IOPS. The drive could take up an entry-level price-point, and is backed by a 3-year warranty.

PNY Technologies (PNY) considered one of the worldwide leaders in consumer electronics market and flash memory products, is ready to take on the gaming industry by storm with the launch of the Gaming Series to Asia market. The PNY Gaming Series offers best-in-class PC components to deliver gaming performance ranging from affordable to the most intense for die-hard gamers. Scheduled to be released in the 2nd half of 2017, the product categories will include gaming grade graphics cards, SSDs, and PC memory products that promise to deliver the competitive edge advantage in PC gaming.

Apacer introduced the PT920 Commando, a PCI-Express SSD built in the add-on card form-factor, with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface. The drive is characterized by a plastic shroud shaped like the top of an M4 or M16 assault rifle. Available in 240 GB and 480 GB capacities, the drive takes advantage of the NVMe 1.2 protocol. The company didn't reveal controller or NAND flash manufacturers.

The drives offer sequential reads of up to 2,500 MB/s, with up to 1,300 MB/s sequential writes for the 480 GB model, and up to 860 MB/s sequential writes for the 240 GB model. 4K random write performance is rated at up to 175,000 IOPS for the 480 GB model, and up to 160,000 IOPS for the 240 GB model. The drive feature most common SSD features such as ECC, NCQ, and TRIM. The company didn't reveal pricing, although it backs the drives with 3-year warranties.

Intel today announced the SSD 545s line of mainstream SATA solid-state drives. Built in the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor with SATA 6 Gbps interface, the drives combine new 64-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory by IMFlash Technology, with a Silicon Motion SMI SM2259 controller, and a custom firmware by Intel. For now, the drive is only available in one capacity, 512 GB. It offers sequential transfer speeds of up to 550 MB/s, with up to 500 MB/s sequential writes; 4K random read performance of up to 75,000 IOPS, 4K random write performance of up to 85,000 IOPS, and endurance of at least 144 TBW. Besides common SSD features such as NCQ and TRIM, the drive offers native 256-bit AES encryption. Available now, and backed by a 3-year warranty, the SSD 545s 512 GB is priced at USD $179.99.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) today announced the latest generation of its BiCS FLASH three-dimensional (3D) flash memory. The newest BiCS FLASH device features 4-bit-per-cell, quadruple-level cell (QLC) technology and is the first 3D flash memory device to do so. Toshiba's QLC technology enables larger (768 gigabit) die capacity than the company's third-generation 512Gb 3-bit-per-cell, triple-level cell (TLC), and pushes the boundaries of flash memory technology.

Toshiba's new QLC BiCS FLASH device features a 64-layer stacked cell structure and achieves the world's largest die capacity (768Gb/96GB). QLC flash memory also enables a 1.5-terabyte (TB) device with a 16-die stacked architecture in a single package - featuring the industry's largest capacity. This is a fifty percent increase in capacity per package when compared to Toshiba's earlier announcement of a 1TB device with a 16-die stacked architecture in a single package - which also offered the largest capacity in the industry at the time.

No, that isn't a major typo on this article's headline. According to print magazine c't, who conducted a test bench consisting of two pieces each of OCZ's TR150, Crucial's BX 200, Samsung's 750 Evo, Samsung's 850 Pro, SanDisk's Extreme Pro and SanDisk's Ultra II, the last SSD to actually give out the last breath was Samsung's 256 GB 850 Pro, with a staggering 9100 TB (that's 9.1 Petabytes) written. This is well beyond Samsung's suggested longevity for this particular SSD, which stands at 150 TBW.

The first particular model to give out was one of Crucial's BX 200, at 187 TBW (still more than twice over the manufacturer's 80 TBW). The second model to fail was the second Crucial BX 200, at 280 TBW. The remaining SSDs apparently died after a power peak (unclear whether a surge or a spike), save for the Pro models, in the form of SanDisk's Extreme Pro and Samsung's 850 Pro (it seems those Pro-oriented features do serve some purpose, eh?.) One of these SanDisk Extreme Pro models lasted for about 2,200 TBW, the same amount of writes the first Samsung 850 Pro model endured. However, the second Samsung 850 Pro broke through all records with its total 9,100 TB written. Naturally, these are interesting and impressive overall results, but they can't really be counted upon as being statistically significant; two models each aren't enough to achieve a representation of the tested SSD models' endurance. However, this also probably means that save a defect on your SSD's manufacturing, you can count on it for a considerable amount of writes.

Beijing Memblaze Technology Co., Ltd. today announced the launch of its next generation of PCIe NVMe SSD products, PBlaze 5 700 and 900 series, for hyper-scale data center deployment and for enterprise mission critical applications, respectively. PBlaze5 utilizes high-quality 3D Enterprise-level TLC NAND and supports NVMe 1.2a protocol, with SSD user capacities up to 11 TB.

PBlaze5 comes in 2.5-inch U.2 and HHHL add-in card form factors and provides high performance 6GB/s read bandwidth (128KB) and >1M IOPS random read (4KB), with typical read write latency of 90/15μs. PBlaze5 U.2 interface is hot plugable, hot removable and hot swapable, effectively reducing data center operation complexity.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products,today launched the industrial-grade IM2P3388 PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 solid state drive. It employs 3D MLC NAND Flash and an SMI controller to deliver performance several times faster than SATA III SSDs, with read up to 2500MB/s and write reaching 1100MB/s. The M.2 2280 form factor fits easily in the IT setup of industrial and enterprise users, while the IM2P3388 can withstand a wide temperature range, shocks, and vibration. The IM2P3388 is offered in up to 1TB and supports a range of features such as S.M.A.R.T, TRIM, power fail protection, and secure erase.

The IM2P3388 complies with NVMe 1.2 specifications to provide performance optimized for low latency, big bandwidth PCI Express 3.0 x4 (four lanes). Users tap up to 2500MB/s read and 1100MB/s write, greatly accelerating data transfers to help increase productivity and efficiency. ADATA is offering the IM2P3388 in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. All models carry premium 3D MLC NAND that has been carefully sorted, tested, and verified to the highest standards. SLC and DRAM caching provide speed boosts for sustained performance during even the most intense activity sessions, preventing bandwidth or IOPS drop offs.

Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun volume production of 64-layer, 256Gb V-NAND flash memory for use with an expanding line-up of storage solutions for server, PC and mobile applications. Since Samsung began producing the industry's first SSD based on 64-layer 256Gb V-NAND chips in January for key IT customers, it has been working on a wide range of new V-NAND-based mobile and consumer storage solutions. These include embedded UFS memory, branded SSDs and external memory cards, which the company plans to introduce later this year.

To solidify its competitive edge in the memory market, Samsung intends for its volume production of the 64-layer V-NAND chip, which is widely referred to as 4th generation V-NAND, to cover more than 50 percent of its monthly NAND flash production by year end. "Following a long commitment to innovative technology, we will continuously push the limits of generations of industry-first V-NAND production, in moving the industry closer to the advent of the terabit V-NAND era," said Kye Hyun Kyung, Executive Vice President of the Flash Product and Technology team, Memory Business at Samsung Electronics. "We will keep developing next-generation V-NAND products in sync with the global IT industry so that we can contribute to the timeliest launches of new systems and services, in bringing a higher level of satisfaction to consumers."

Mushkin introduced the an update to its Reactor line of SATA SSDs with the new Reactor Armor3D series. Built in the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor with SATA 6 Gbps interface, the drives combine Silicon Motion SM2258 controllers with 3D MLC NAND flash. The drive is available in 240 GB, 480 GB, and 960 GB models. All three offer sequential read speeds of up to 565 MB/s. The sequential write speeds are rated at up to 300 MB/s, 500 MB/s, and 510 MB/s for the 240 GB, 480 GB, and 960 GB models, respectively.

4K random read performance is rated at up to 63,000 IOPS for the 240 GB model, up to 80,000 IOPS for the 480 GB, and up to 77,000 IOPS for the 960 GB model. 4K random write performance of the drives are rated at up to 70,000 IOPS for the 240 GB model, and 80,000 IOPS for the 480 GB and 960 GB. As with all SMI-based drives, the Reactor Armor3D offers LPDC ECC, and SLC cache, which treats a small portion of the MLC NAND flash as SLC, and juggles frequently accessed data in and out of it, for improved performance. The drives are backed by 3-year warranties, and could replace the current Reactor series from the product stack. We expect them to be priced around $90 for the 240 GB model, $160 for the 480 GB, and $270 for the 960 GB.

Plextor today introduced the S3 series value SATA SSDs. The series has two main variants based on form-factor, the S3C built in the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor with SATA 6 Gbps interface; and the S3G series, built in the M.2-2280 form-factor, featuring SATA 6 Gbps wiring. Both drives combine Silicon Motion SMI2254 controllers with SK Hynix planar TLC NAND flash memory. The S3C comes in 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB capacities, while the S3G comes in only 128 GB and 256 GB.

All capacities of the S3C and S3G series offer sequential reads of up to 550 MB/s, while sequential writes are rated at up to 500 MB/s, 510 MB/s, and 520 MB/s, for the 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB variants, respectively. 4K random read performance is rated at up to 72,000 IOPS, 90,000 IOPS, and 92,000 IOPS, respectively; and 4K random write performance at up to 57,000 IOPS, 71,000 IOPS, and 72,000 IOPS, respectively. Endurance is rated at 35 TBW for the 128 GB variant, and 70 TBW for the 256 GB and 512 GB variants. Available now in the EU, the 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB variants are priced at 62€, 106€, and 213€, respectively (including taxes).

MSI today announced its Infinite A Gaming desktop PC. The desktop is build around a custom-design chassis by MSI, which incorporates RGB LED elements along a stylish front-bezel, with a tempered glass side panel, with lighting controlled by MSI Mystic Light RGB software. The Infinite A is positioned in MSI's "Enthusiast Gaming" segment for gaming desktops, which includes the likes of the Aegis Ti3.

Under the hood, the Infinite A features a micro-ATX motherboard, although the primary graphics card is flipped vertical (along the plane of the motherboard), using a PCIe riser. This, MSI states, is the reduce graphics card PCB bending over time. The Infinite A is driven by a 7th gen Core "Kaby Lake" quad-core processor (various Core i5 and Core i7 options available); up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory (options); NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-series graphics (Gaming series graphics cards); M.2 NVMe SSD; wired GbE, and WLAN with 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.1.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today launched the TVS-882BR Blu-ray NAS series (including the TVS-882BR and TVS-882BRT3 models). QNAP also announced a partnership with Fengtao Software to provide an all-in-one backup solution with its DVDFab software. DVDFab provides a complete solution for backing up disc-based files to the NAS for more convenient storage while also enabling NAS-based files to be written to discs for disaster recovery purposes. The TVS-882BRT3 also features four Thunderbolt 3 ports, providing a highly-efficient collaborative environment for media professionals, while also allowing instant writing of their creative works to disc. The TVS-882BR can also serve as a Blu-ray player, allowing direct playback via HDMI using Linux Station or Virtualization Station (third-party media player software required - may require separate license purchase).

"The TVS-882BR series - available with a pre-installed Blu-ray Disc drive or an empty 5.25-inch bay - takes a unique place in the QNAP NAS line-up by enabling users to directly consolidate optical disc-based data to their NAS for easier management and sharing. The ability to write data to discs also provides another layer of data protection alongside modern NAS and cloud-based methods," said Dan Lin, Product Manager of QNAP. "With robust hardware and M.2 SATA 6Gb/s support, the TVS-882BR provides users with a complete range of IT solutions, including deploying resource-demanding virtualization applications, online collaboration, and building a shared Blu-ray NAS workstation," Lin added.

PCI-SIG Developers Conference 2017 - PCI-SIG, the organization responsible for the widely adopted PCI Express (PCIe) industry-standard input/output (I/O) technology, today announced 32GT/s as the next progression in speed for the PCIe 5.0 architecture, targeting high-performance applications such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, gaming, visual computing, storage and networking. Slated for completion in 2019, the specification development is well underway with Revision 0.3 already available to PCI-SIG member companies.

"In our 25-year history, PCI-SIG has maintained its commitment to our rigorous specification development process, while delivering specifications that are in lock-step with industry requirements for high-performance I/O," said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG Chairman and President. "PCIe 5.0 technology is the next evolution that will set the standard for speed, and we are confident that its 32GT/s bandwidth will surpass industry needs."

The preceding PCIe 4.0 specification is designed with key functional enhancements that future-proof the PCIe architecture design, thereby accelerating future specification development. This undertaking, along with improved silicon design processes, serves as the foundation for the PCIe 5.0 specification.

Intel introduced the SSD DC P4501 series enterprise solid-state drives based on its latest-generation 3D TLC NAND flash memory. The drives are available in 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor with 32 Gb/s U.2 interface, and the M.2-2280 form-factor with 32 Gb/s interface. It takes advantage of PCI-Express 3.0 x4 with the NVMe 1.2 protocol.

Available in 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, and 4 TB capacities, the drives offer sequential transfer rates of up to 3,200 MB/s reads, with up to 900 MB/s writes. Their 4K random-read performance is rated at up to 360,000 IOPS, with up to 46,000 IOPS 4K random writes. Their endurance is rated at up to 1 DWPD (random) and up to 3 DWPD (mostly sequential). Both form-factor variants of the drives feature power-loss imminent protection, where a bank of capacitors gives the drives just enough power to finish its outstanding write operations in the event of a power-failure, to mitigate data-loss. The drives are backed by 5-year warranties.

Apple today gave a sneak peek of iMac Pro, an entirely new workstation-class product line designed for pro users with the most demanding workflows. The all-new iMac Pro, with its gorgeous 27-inch Retina 5K display, up to 18-core Xeon processors and up to 22 Teraflops of graphics computation, is the most powerful Mac ever made. Featuring a stunning new space gray enclosure, iMac Pro packs incredible performance for advanced graphics editing, virtual reality content creation and real-time 3D rendering. iMac Pro is scheduled to ship in December starting at $4,999 (US).

In addition to the new iMac Pro, Apple is working on a completely redesigned, next-generation Mac Pro architected for pro customers who need the highest-end, high-throughput system in a modular design, as well as a new high-end pro display. "We're thrilled to give developers and customers a sneak peek at iMac Pro. This will be our fastest and most powerful Mac ever, which brings workstation-class computing to iMac for the first time," said John Ternus, Apple's vice president of Hardware Engineering. "We reengineered the whole system and designed an entirely new thermal architecture to pack extraordinary performance into the elegant, quiet iMac enclosure our customers love - iMac Pro is a huge step forward and there's never been anything like it."

Apple today updated its iMac line with up to three times more powerful graphics, faster processors, Thunderbolt 3, faster storage options and brighter Retina displays, and added a Retina 4K display and discrete graphics to the $1,299 (US) 21.5-inch iMac. With its incredibly thin and seamless enclosure, fast processors and storage and stunning Retina display, iMac sets the gold standard for desktops. iMac delivers powerful performance for 3D graphics, video editing and gaming, and with macOS High Sierra coming this fall, iMac becomes a great platform for virtual reality content creation. Apple also today updated MacBook and MacBook Pro with faster processors, added faster SSDs to MacBook and introduced a new $1,299 (US) 13-inch MacBook Pro.

"With major updates to iMac, and a refresh of our MacBook and MacBook Pro lines, the Mac is stronger than ever," said John Ternus, Apple's vice president of Hardware Engineering. "Today iMac gets a huge graphics performance increase, faster CPU performance, Thunderbolt 3 and a brighter Retina display with support for 1 billion colors. We're also increasing CPU and SSD speed on MacBook, adding faster processors and making faster graphics standard on our 15-inch MacBook Pro and introducing a new $1,299 (US) 13-inch MacBook Pro."

Patriot Memory unveiled its Singe series performance-segment SATA SSD, and its Spark series external SSD at Computex 2017. Built in the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor, the drives take advantage of the SATA 6 Gbps interface. The Spark, on the other hand, features 5 Gbps USB 3.0 interface. The company didn't talk about the NAND flash type or even the controller, but focused on their performance figures.

The Singe comes in 240 GB and 480 GB capacities, and offers sequential transfer speeds of up to 555 MB/s reads, with up to 500 MB/s writes, and up to 70,000 IOPS 4K random read/write performance. The Spark, on the other hand, comes in a wider variety of capacities - 120 GB, 240 GB, 480 GB, and 960 GB; and offers performance of up to 465 MB/s reads, with up to 460 MB/s writes. It uses a single cable for both power and host connectivity.

At Computex 2017, Teamgroup put on a show with their products, hoping to place itself in consumers' eyes as having all the latest technologies they could possibly want. Starting with their SSD, there's the heatspreader-equipped M.2 NVMe SSD T-Force Cardea, an MLC SSD (so, a dying breed) with either 240 or 480 GB capacity, which includes a beefy red heatsink to reduce throttling possibilities.

At Computex 2017, Patriot put on a scorching show with their high-speed M.2 2280 NVMe SSDs, the Patriot Scorch. These leverage a Phison 5008-E8 controller to deliver up to 1200 MB/s reads and 800 MB/s writes at a 240 GB capacity. This controller is one of the only budget solutions to include a multi-core processor at its heart, which bodes well to the Scorch's rated speeds. MTBF operation is rated at over 2,000,000 hours, which is more than you'll ever need in your lifetime (and if it isn't, you really have to tell me your secret.) The Scorch will utilize Toshiba's 64-layer BiCS FLASH with 3-bits per cell (TLC) memory, which should decrease their cost, which should help Patriot release these Scorch SSDs on Q3 of this year, with a touted "attractive, budget" pricing.

Here are some of the first pictures of GeIL Shuttle series SSDs. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface, the drives take advantage of the NVMe 1.2 protocol, and are characterized by a prominent aluminium heatsink over the controller, DRAM, and NAND flash chips, which keeps temperatures of these chips below 38°C in a common work environment. The GeIL Shuttle series drives combine a Silicon Machines SM2260 controller with 3D MLC NAND flash (G2 variant) and 3D TLC NAND flash (G1 variant). The drives offer sequential performance of up to 2,000 MB/s reads, with up to 1,000 MB/s writes.

Crucial is giving final touches to its next-generation mainstream SATA SSDs, under the BX300 series. A follow-up to its MX300 series, the BX300 series will be launched later this Summer. The drives combine a Marvell-made controller with Micron 3D TLC NAND flash memory, and likely come in capacities of 240 GB, 480 GB, and 960 GB. Crucial will sell these drives only in the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor with SATA 6 Gb/s interface, initially. While the company didn't talk about performance, it mentioned that the drives offer "SATA-saturating performance," meaning that at least its sequential reads could be around the 530 MB/s mark (that of the MX300), if not higher. With the BX300, Crucual is launching a new multi-media SSD install tutorial website that's made as simple to understand as possible, so anyone with a screwdriver can replace their HDD with a new SSD.