ADATA Technology, the world's leading brand for industrial-grade embedded storage, has released the "A+ Analyzer" data analysis tool, which features technology developed by ADATA's independent R&D team integrating software and hardware to analyze user behavior. This innovative solution aims to accurately depict terminal device usage behavior through in-depth collection and analysis of customer host system data, thereby enabling the selection of the most suitable SSD products for customers.

Since industry customers are widely distributed in disparate fields such as transportation, medical care, automation, network communications, and security, there are significant differences in data patterns, write cycles, and SSD read/write requirements for associated applications (such as sequential read/write, random read/write). The lifespan of flash memory decreases with each write cycle. Therefore, the read/write behavior of specific applications directly affects the durability of SSD flash memory. The ADATA "A+ Analyzer" tool was created to meet these challenges. It not only analyzes customer behavior to gain in-depth insight into their usage patterns, but also provides personalized SSD selection recommendations or customized firmware solutions based on different routines.

The X86-P6 is a freshly unveiled mini PC that primarily aims to function as a NAS or a local backup. The system is powered by up to an Intel Core N355 processor, sitting at the top of Intel's Alder Lake-N product lineup. Packing 8 cores and 8 threads, the N355 is no small fry and packs enough computing grunt to push through moderately intensive workloads without an issue. However, the primary selling point for the system, unsurprisingly, is its storage at networking capabilities.

With dual 2.5G LAN, the X86-P6 packs enough networking prowess for a small home office or backup setup. The system also packs four M.2 2280 slots - albeit limited to only a single PCIe 3.0 lane (1 GB/s) per SSD when utilizing all the SSDs, which should theoretically be enough to saturate the system's networking capabilities. Apart from the LAN, the system also sports dual HDMI 2.0 ports, dual USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, as well as an M.2 B-key slot for wireless network modules.

With a front panel that is both low-key and stylish, the AK2 RGB doesn't miss out on good looks and, at the same time, is the perfect PC case for either gaming, office, or multimedia. And with its modern compatibility, space for large pieces of hardware, and room for up to eleven fans, this case offers plenty of potential for performance, whatever the application.

Thanks to its low-key design and its tempered-glass side panel, the AK2 RGB is ideal for putting the focus on the installed hardware inside. Two 120 mm fans are already pre-installed in the AK2 RGB - one fan behind the front panel and one RGB-illuminated PWM fan on the rear panel. Up to eleven fans will find room in the case. Even water-cooling enthusiasts will be happy with the AK2, as two radiators with up to 360 mm can be simultaneously operated, if required.

ASUS today announced the ASUS Cobble SSD enclosure, a stylish and durable external storage solution. Featuring a unique cobblestone-inspired design and IP55 water- and dust-resistance, ASUS Cobble combines stylish aesthetics with durable, reliable protection in the most demanding environments. The enclosure supports both M.2 NVMe PCIe and SATA SSDs, and features a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x1 interface for superfast data transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps. The tool-free design allows for easy installation, while broad compatibility with Windows 11, macOS, mobile devices, and game consoles makes ASUS Cobble perfect for gamers, professionals, and content creators.

The ASUS Cobble SSD enclosure has a sleek cobblestone-inspired design that's available in gray or black. Speckle-painting techniques enabled designers to incorporate organic textures and colors into the design, giving the enclosure a warm and natural aesthetic that perfectly complements any workspace or gaming setup. A special scratch-resistant coating offers a durable surface that protects the enclosure from minor impacts, and enables the sturdy metallic chassis to withstand high temperatures for long-lasting stability and reliability.

Kioxia Corporation, a world leader in memory solutions, today announced the open-source release of its new All-in-Storage ANNS with Product Quantization (AiSAQ) technology. A novel "approximate nearest neighbor" search (ANNS) algorithm optimized for SSDs, KIOXIA AiSAQ software delivers scalable performance for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) without placing index data in DRAM - and instead searching directly on SSDs.

Generative AI systems demand significant compute, memory and storage resources. While they have the potential to drive transformative breakthroughs across various industries, their deployment often comes with high costs. RAG is a critical phase of AI that refines large language models (LLMs) with data specific to the company or application.

Solidigm, a leading provider of innovative NAND flash memory solutions, today announced a multi-year extension of its agreement with Broadcom Inc. on the use of high-capacity solid-state drive (SSD) controllers to support artificial intelligence (AI) and data-intensive workloads. Solidigm is the leading provider of high-capacity storage for AI, and Broadcom's custom controllers have served as a critical component of Solidigm SSDs for more than a decade. With more than 120 million units of Solidigm SSDs shipped featuring Broadcom controllers, the partnership between the two companies has continued through key industry SSD milestones including Serial ATA (SATA), Serial-Attached SCSI (SAS) and Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe).

The agreement also includes collaboration on Solidigm's recently announced 122 TB (terabyte) Solidigm D5-P5336 data center SSD, the world's highest capacity PCIe SSD that delivers industry-leading storage efficiency from the core data center to the edge. "With our new 122 TB SSD, Solidigm further extends our high-capacity QLC (quad-level cell) leadership from 8 to 122 TB drives that all share the same controller from Broadcom, making our drives easier for customers to qualify," said Solidigm Co-CEO Kevin Noh. "Our relationship with Broadcom is pivotal to Solidigm as we collectively work to help our customers achieve efficiency benefits in the buildout of AI infrastructure."

SilverStone unveiled a new addition to its expansion card with the ECM40 PCIe 4.0 x16 to 4x M.2 NVMe SSD adapter card. This device supports 4x M.2 SSDs (M Key) in 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280 form factors. The expansion card comes in a single slot format measuring 147.74 x 181 x 21.59 mm and is equipped with a 40 mm dual ball-bearing fan spinning at 7000 RPM to ensure better cooling of the SSDs. The fan can be turned on and off using the included power switch. A two-mode LED indicator provides additional operating status based on signals from the motherboard and SSD. The top cover is made from aluminium and acts as a radiator to dissipate heat. Moreover, thermal pads are included.

In terms of performance, the SilverStone product page informs us that the ECM40 is capable of achieving speeds up to 7,351 MB/s for continuous reads and up to 6,845 MB/s for write speed. These results were achieved using Kingston Fury 2T SSDs on a system built around an ASRock X570 Pro4 motherboard, with an AMD R9 5900X CPU and Micron Crucial DDR4 2133/8G (4Gx2) memory modules. The motherboard or add-on card must support PCIe bifurcation, allowing the PCIe x16/x8 slot to be split into 4x4 or 4x2 configurations. Currently, there is no information about pricing.

Micron at the 2025 International CES showed us product that hint at the company planning a strong comeback to the client and PC-DIY market segments. The company's Crucial brand is already a high-volume player in the client segment, but the company never really approached the enthusiast segment. Products like the company's new T705 Pro and P510 NVMe SSDs, and DDR5 Pro Overclocking memory, seek to change this. We begin our tour with PC memory, and the DDR5 Pro OC CUDIMMs. Crucial has jumped onto the CKD bandwagon, introducing memory modules and kits that come with DDR5-6400 out of the box, but which are geared for manual overclocking to take advantage of the 1β DRAM chips underneath (hence the name).

The company also showed us their first DDR5 CSODIMM suitable for the next generation of notebooks with HX-segment processors. This module comes with a CKD and a DDR5-6400 JEDEC-standard SPD profile out of the box. Lastly, there's the Micron-branded LPCAMM2, which comes in speeds of up to LPDDR5X-8533, and is suitable for the next generation of ultraportables.

Biwin, a PC memory, SSD, and flash storage product licensee for top-tier PC brands, launched its consumer brand in December 2024. Here at CES 2025, the TechPowerUp team headed over to Biwin's booth to check out up close the entire lineup of products ranging from SSDs in all shapes and sizes, and DRAM modules to memory cards, and card readers. The products on display were available on Amazon Japan in December 2024, followed by Amazon UK this January, and at the start of 2025, they will be available in Taiwan, APAC, Mexico, Latin America, and the Indian market.

Biwin showcased Black Opal premium SSDs and DRAM modules such as the Biwin Black Opal X570 PRO PCIe Gen 5x 4 NVMe 2.0 SSD capable of reaching read speeds of up to 14,000 MB/s. The Black Opal DW100 RGB DDR5 CUDIMM series stands out with 9200 MT/s and a CAS latency of CL42, a product tailored for professionals and enthusiasts. For mainstream users, Biwin presented SSDs, DRR5 memory modules, memory cards, card readers, and USB flash drives.

Patriot Memory brought an updated line of M.2 Gen 5 NVMe SSDs, and PC overclocking memory products that leverage CKD (client clock driver) technology to achieve high data rates. We begin our tour with the company's flagship OC memory, the Viper Xtreme 5 CKD. Patriot set up a demo build showing off a 48 GB (2x 24 GB) kit doing DDR5-9600 at 46-58-58-154; with the Core Ultra 9 285K running in Gear 4 mode. The memory OC is y-Cruncher stable, both for versions 0.8.5 and Pi-1b. It may come as a surprise, but Patriot Memory has been around for a while in the market. In 2025, the company is celebrating its 40th year in business. All memory products and packaging have a special "40 Years" logo. The Viper Xtreme 5 CKD comes in RGB and non-RGB variants.

Besides Viper Xtreme 5 series, the company unveiled other, more cost-effective CKDIMMs, such as the Signature series CKD. These are bare modules that lack heatspreaders. The CKD helps these modules offer speeds of up to DDR5-6400. Switching gears to non-volatile memory, and we have what is probably the most interesting SSD we've come across this CES—the Patriot Viper PV563. This drive lacks any heatsink or heat spreader, and looks like it belongs in the entry-mainstream market segment, but don't be fooled by its looks. It is the first M.2 NVMe Gen 5 SSD with a DRAMless controller to claim sequential speeds of up to 14 GB/s. Gen 5 drives with DRAMless controllers such as the Phison E31T tend to offer speeds of up to 12 GB/s, but the PV563 uses a Maxiotek MAP1806 the fastest market rival to the E31T.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced expansions across its Crucial consumer memory and storage portfolio, including unveiling the high-speed Crucial P510 SSD, and expanding density and form factor options across its existing DRAM portfolio to enable broader choice and flexibility for consumers. The P510 features read and write speeds of up to 11,000/9,550 megabytes per second (MB/s), bringing blazing fast Gen 5 performance to the masses.

"With the exciting memory and storage offerings we're debuting today, Crucial's portfolio is now broader and stronger than ever before," said Dinesh Bahal, corporate vice president and general manager of Micron's Commercial Products Group. "These updates - from making fast Gen 5 SSDs available to the mainstream to launching high-density memory options - illustrate our commitment to driving innovation, performance and value for every consumer from casual gamers to creatives and students to hardcore enthusiasts."

At CES 2025, we found the SSD controller that will spur high-end NVMe Gen 5 SSD adoption. Until now, high-end Gen 5 SSDs were driven by Phison's E26 series controller that the company built on TSMC's 12 nm process. The company on Monday launched the new E28 series controller (full name PS5028-E28). This chip is built on the much more advanced TSMC 6 nm process. The new process lets Phison to significantly lower the electrical cost of its NAND flash interface serializer-deserializer, and step up performance closer to the interface limits of PCI-Express 5.0 x4. The controller offers sequential speeds of up to 14.5 GB/s, which is an increase from last year's E26 Max14um variant.

The company showed us the bare E28 controller chip, and a reference-design SSD based on it. Not much to report, except that the drive lacked any cooling solution. Production SSDs powered by the E28 will still need heatsinks to achieve optimal performance, although they won't run as hot as drives powered by the E26. The company didn't have any performance demo stations set up with this drive.

According to ITHome, Solidigm has officially ended production of its P44 Pro and P41 Plus solid-state drives, marking its complete withdrawal from the consumer SSD market. These were the only consumer SSDs released under the Solidigm brand since the company's formation. The company has also removed all consumer drive listings from its website, which now focuses entirely on data center and enterprise storage solutions. The decision follows earlier developments in October 2023, when Solidigm reportedly dissolved its consumer SSD division and laid off staff working on consumer drives, Tom's Hardware learned from an unnamed source familiar with the matter. This has been reportedly done to stop consumer SSD development and re-route resources to enterprise SSD, which drives more revenue.

The shutdown reportedly occurred abruptly, just before the planned launch of a new consumer SSD that had already been distributed to reviewers. Consumer SSD space has been recording a lot of uncertainty recently, as larger brands have been able to launch consumer SSDs while enjoying profits from the enterprise buildout, and AI expansion is requiring massive storage units. These larger brands can distill some of their products into consumer-focused sections without much impact on margins, as the enterprise is willing to pay top Dollar for SSDs. Sadly, Solidgm has not chosen that path and is instead going all-in on the enterprise segment. Sadly, fewer SSD makers in the consumer space means less competition, so we hope that this trend doesn't continue.

A South Korean online retailer has listed Huawei's eKitStore Extreme 200E M.2 NVMe SSD for sale at 47,500 Won ($32) for the 1 TB model. This marks Huawei's entry into consumer storage products after previously only manufacturing server SSDs. The PCIe 4.0 drive's specifications show read speeds of 7,400 MB/s and write speeds of 6,700 MB/s. Beyond confirming the use of QLC memory without a DRAM cache, Huawei has not disclosed the drive's internal components. Due to trade restrictions, both the controller and memory chips likely come from Chinese manufacturers, though specific suppliers remain unknown. Chinese makers have been recorded to use Silicon Motion's SSD controllers, but domestic controllers are also an option here.

Manufacturing costs for similar drives typically exceed $32, raising questions about the pricing strategy. The drive's components could match those used in other brands' SSDs, as multiple storage companies often use identical parts in their products. For NAND Flash, Huawei likely sourced its chips from YMTC, whose Xtacking 4.0 proves to be quite a success. The drive has appeared only at one retailer so far, and Huawei has not announced plans for sales in other regions. This price is notably lower than comparable PCIe 4.0 drives. Common retail prices for 1 TB PCIe 4.0 SSDs are typically more than double this amount. Whether this represents a temporary price or a long-term strategy remains unclear. Perhaps Huawei is operating at a net loss to gain some customers, with possible plans for more SSDs in the future, along with the PCIe 5.0 version.

Intel Arc board partner MAXSUN earlier this month announced that it is working on an Arc B580 custom-design graphics card with two M.2 Gen 4 NVMe slots on the card, so you can utilize the unused 8 lanes from the x16 PEG slot to connect a pair of SSDs, since the B580 makes do with a PCIe Gen 4 x8 host interface. In the previous report, we were shown renders of what the card could look like—with two M.2 slots sticking out from the tail of the PCB, with an aluminium heatsink that cools the SSDs under airflow from the second- and third fans. We now have the first picture of this PCB in the flesh.

A Tom's Hardware report reveals the first picture of this contraption, thanks to a leak on Chinese social media. The picture reveals what looks like an 18 cm-long PCB, with two M.2 Gen 4 slots at the tail end. One can make out PCIe interface traces making their way from the x16 PEG interface to the M.2 slots. You can make out the key components of the card, including the "BMG-G21" ASIC, wired to six GDDR6 memory chips, and a 6-phase VRM. The card draws power from two 8-pin PCIe power connectors. The second 8-pin connector might prove useful in managing the card's power budget, given that the B580 comes with a power limit of 190 W, and the M.2 Gen 4 SSDs each have a peak power draw of around 10 W. This wouldn't be the first time someone decided to put M.2 slots on graphics cards; the ASUS DUAL GeForce RTX 4060 Ti SSD OC introduced this concept, but with just one M.2 slot.

With decades of expertise in building critical storage and memory for world-leading digital devices, Biwin will now bring its innovative and high-performance products to meet the evolving demands of today's digital consumers.

Biwin's featured products will be showcased at CES 2025 and available on Amazon JP in December 2024, followed by Amazon UK in January 2025, and will roll out to key markets in APAC, Latin America and India with the start of 2025.

Crucial has reportedly discontinued the MX500 line of SATA SSDs after nearly 7 years of market presence. The MX500 is arguably the most popular line of SATA 6 Gbps SSDs, and comes in both the 2.5-inch and M.2-SATA form-factors. The drive continued its run into 2020s given its extremely low price-per-GB, and reasonable levels of performance to serve as a warm storage solution in client PCs. The market is changing, with the advent of cheap QLC NAND NVMe SSDs, an increase in the number of NVMe slots on today's motherboards, and a reduction in SATA ports, which mean that it is time for Crucial to retire the MX500. The MX500 is still in stock with retailers, and comes in capacities of up to a respectable 4 TB, although at prices similar to NVMe Gen 3 or Gen 4 drives based on QLC NAND, such as Crucial's own P3 Plus. The 4 TB variant of the P3 Plus Gen 4 NVMe SSD in fact costs less than the 4 TB MX500, but with significantly higher performance.

HighPoint Technologies, a leader in advanced PCIe Switch and RAID AIC, Adapter and Storage Enclosure solutions, has announced an extensive line of M.2 and E1.S RAID AICs engineered to accommodate high-performance GPU-centric workloads. Designed for enterprise and datacenter class computing environments, HighPoint NVMe RAID AICs deliver class-leading performance and unmatched scalability, enabling modern x86/AMD and Arm platforms to support 4 to 16 NVMe SSDs via a single PCIe Gen 4 or Gen 5 x16 slot. State-of-the-art PCIe Switching Architecture and flexible RAID technology enable administrators to custom tailor M.2 and E1.S storage configurations for a broad range of data-intensive applications, and seamlessly scale or expand existing storage configurations to meet the needs of evolving workflows.

Unprecedented Storage Density
HighPoint NVMe AICs have established a new milestone for M.2 NVMe storage. HighPoint's revolutionary Dual-Width AIC architecture enables a single PCIe Gen 4 or Gen 5 x16 slot to directly host up to 16 M.2 NVMe SSDs, and 128 TB of storage capacity, at speeds up to 28 GB/s; a truly unprecedented advancement in compact, single-device storage expansion solutions. State-of-the art PCIe switching technology and advanced cooling systems maximize transfer throughput and ensure M.2 configurations operate at peak efficiency by halting the performance sapping threat of thermal throttling in its tracks.

TrendForce's latest investigations found that the enterprise SSD market experienced significant growth in 3Q24, driven by robust demand from AI-related applications. Prices surged as suppliers struggled to keep pace with market needs, pushing overall industry revenue up by an impressive 28.6% QoQ. Demand for high-capacity models was especially strong, fueled by the arrival of NVIDIA's H-series products and sustained orders for AI training servers. As a result, the total procurement volume for enterprise SSDs rose 15% compared to the previous quarter.

Looking ahead to 4Q24, TrendForce forecasts a slowdown in enterprise SSD revenue as procurement demand begins to cool. Total procurement volume is expected to dip, with the peak buying period behind and server OEM orders being slightly revised downward. As shipment volume declines, overall industry revenue is also projected to decrease in the fourth quarter.

PNY announced the addition of the CS2150 M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 5 x4 SSD to its lineup of solid-state drives. The CS2150 leads the way in advanced storage technology, utilizing the NVMe PCIe Gen 5 x4 interface to achieve exceptional data transfer speeds. With sequential read speeds reaching up to 10,300 MB/s and write speeds up to 8,600 MB/s, this groundbreaking solution elevates computing performance to new heights. Perfect for professionals, tech enthusiasts, content creators, and anyone demanding top-tier storage performance, the CS2150 sets a new standard for speed and efficiency.

Enhanced Gameplay with Microsoft DirectStorage
PNY's CS2150 SSD harnesses the power of Microsoft DirectStorage, a revolutionary Windows 11 feature that accelerates game load times and enhances image quality. Combined with the legendary PNY XLR8 Gaming DDR5 DRAM and a high-performance graphics card like the PNY GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16 GB XLR8 Gaming VERTO EPIC-X RGB Overclocked Triple Fan, you'll enjoy faster load times and smoother gameplay, giving you more time to spend immersed in the world of gaming.

KIOXIA America, Inc. today announced that the cryptographic module used in KIOXIA CM7 Series PCIe 5.0 NVMe Enterprise SSDs has been validated to meet Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-3, Level 2 for cryptographic modules.

The FIPS 140-3 standard specifies a set of security requirements of the Cryptographic Module Validation Program administered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), used as a security metric for federal agencies to procure validated IT equipment. Companies and federal agencies may prefer or may now be required to deploy newer, more stringent government standards - which SSDs validated to FIPS 140-3 requirements would meet. Compared to the previous FIPS 140-2 requirements, 140-3 provides higher standards for SSDs, including a stronger authentication method and updated implementation guidance.

Thanks to the discovery of VideoCardz, we get a glimpse of MAXSUN's latest Arc 580 GPU with not only a GPU but extra room for two additional M.2 SSDs. The PCIe connector on the Intel Arc B580 has x16 physical pins but runs at PCIe 4.0 x8 speeds. Intel verified it runs only x8 lanes instead of the full x16 slot, leaving x8 lanes unsued. However, MAXSUN thought of a clever way to put the leftover x8 lanes to good use by adding two PCIe x4 M.2 SSDs to thelatest triple-fan iCraft B580 SKU. Power delivery for the M.2 drives comes directly from the graphics card, which is made possible by the GPU's partial PCIe lane utilization. This configuration could prove particularly valuable for compact builds or systems with limited motherboard storage options.

Interestingly, the SSD pair appears to have its own thermal enclosure, which acts as a heatsink. Having constant airflow from the GPU's fans, the M.2 SSD configuration should be able to maximize the full bandwidth of the SSDs without thermals throttling the SSD read/write speeds. The design follows in the footsteps of AMD's Radeon Pro SSG, which introduced integrated storage in workstation cards with PCIe 3.0 M.2 slots. Back then, it was mainly a target for workstation users. However, MAXSUN has envisioned gamers unusually expanding their storage space now. The pricing of the card and availability date remains a mystery.

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is thrilled to announce two new portable SSDs - the SL300 and the ES3, designed for everyday users and business professionals looking for speed, efficiency, and security in their data storage solutions. These workhorse drives boast speeds up to 9.5 times faster than traditional HDDs, with read speeds reaching 1050 MB/s and write speeds of 1000 MB/s, ensuring significantly faster data transfers and super-fast backups.

Equipped with built-in double-layer graphite sheets, the ES3 and SL300 effectively conduct heat to keep the drive cool during intensive tasks. Its sleek and sturdy design is not only durable but also features drop-resistance up to 2 meters, providing added protection against accidental falls. With plug-and-play compatibility via a 2-in-1 USB-C/USB-A cable, users can effortlessly connect these drives to their PC, Mac, tablet, smartphone, and more. Additionally, the SSDs come with Lexar DataShield 256-bit AES encryption software to safeguard files, along with access to the Lexar Recovery Tool to help recover accidentally deleted data.

Western Digital announced it has released several new Flash storage solutions to help pros and consumers get ready for the holidays. Whether looking for the perfect gift, or planning a new venture in the New Year, the innovative products from its award-winning SanDisk and WD_BLACK brands reach new levels of speed, reliability, and capacity, serving a diverse set of digital storage needs.

High Performance, Super Capacity Portable SSDs
The expanded SanDisk portfolio of portable SSDs includes two offerings that feature next-generation SSD speeds and help defy the limits of durability. The new drives are perfect for pros or creators and anyone else who needs to store large amounts of data on the go in the toughest of climates.

HighPoint's RocketAIC 6542AWW has established a new milestone for turnkey NVMe Storage. Despite the external RAID solution's tidy dimensions (it stands only 4.84 inches tall, 8.27 inches deep, and 9.25 inches in length), it is equipped with eight of Solidigm's D5-P5336 NVMe SSDs, and provides an astonishing 491.52 TB of enterprise storage capable of delivering 28GBs of real-world transfer speed; ideal for Edge Applications that demand fast, high-density storage solutions with small hardware footprint.

The compact external storage chassis' integrated power supply and powerful cooling system enable the NVMe media to be completely isolated from the host hardware platform. Not only does this free up interior space for the host server or workstation, it can significantly improve reliability and efficiency by offsetting power consumption and ensuring that waste heat generated by the SSDs never enters the computing environment.