Intel is breaking away from its tradition of three Core i7 HEDT (high-end desktop) processors per generation, capturing price points of $400, $600, and $1000; with its upcoming Core i7 "Broadwell-E" HEDT lineup. According to leaked documents accessed by BenchLife.info, the company is readying four SKUs based on the 14 nm "Broadwell-E" silicon, these include the Core i7-6800K, the Core i7-6850K, the Core i7-6900K, and the Core i7-6950X.

The Core i7-6800K and i7-6850K are six-core chips, with HyperThreading enabling 12 logical CPUs, and 15 MB shared L3 cache. The i7-6800K is clocked at 3.40 GHz, with a 3.60 GHz Turbo Boost frequency. The i7-6850K is a notch above, with 3.60 GHz core, and 3.80 GHz Turbo Boost frequency. The slide doesn't mention if either of the two parts feature a limited PCIe root complex, like the one on the i7-5820K.

Crucial, a leading global brand of memory and storage upgrades, today announced the availability of Crucial DDR4 2400MT/s 8Gb-based RDIMM, LRDIMM and ECC UDIMM server modules. Engineered to enable higher density modules, 8Gb-based DDR4 enables increased performance, bandwidth and energy efficiency. The modules are available for immediate purchase through select global channel partners and at www.crucial.com.

Higher-density, 8Gb-based modules allow for greater channel bandwidth and channel density and are also up to 20 percent more energy efficient than 4Gb-based modules. Ultimately, these benefits provide more value per gigabit than current 4Gb-based offerings, making it easy to scale up server deployments in the future. Designed for Intel's next generation processor product families, Crucial's 8Gb-based server memory is extensively tested to mission-critical standards and is backed by a limited lifetime warranty.

Intel is readying its most powerful NUC (next-unit of computing) compact desktop, codenamed "Skull Canyon." Slated for the first quarter of 2016 (between January and March), this NUC will feature Intel's most powerful implementation of its 9th generation Iris Pro graphics. According to FanlessTech, we're looking at a chip with Core "Skylake" CPU cores, and an iGPU with 72 execution units, and 128 MB eDRAM L4 cache, which makes up the company's Iris Pro 580 solution. It remains to be seen how small Intel can make this thing.

MSI, world leading in motherboard technology, announces its 2nd generation of ECO motherboards, based on Intel's 100-series 'Skylake' chipset. Introducing 3 new models, the MSI H170M ECO, B150M ECO, and H110M ECO motherboards offer industry leading power efficiency while retaining optimal performance. This is made possible through the new MSI ECO Series motherboards optimized PCB and circuitry design. This allows for saving more energy without sacrificing performance, compatibility or functionality. ECO Genie and ECO Center Pro allows the user to completely control the system's power consumption and feature set through an easy to use interface.

The 2nd generation MSI ECO Series motherboards offer more features than ever, without impacting it's power efficiency or performance. Reliable and efficient Intel Gigabit LAN with 15kv anti-surge LAN Protect offers a stable and secure networking solution. Through carefully selected and thoroughly tested components and materials, Guard-Pro and Military Class 4 provide industry leading stability. Even Audio Boost can now be found on MSI ECO Series motherboards as a testament to technical ingenuity.

A ominously named app claims to boost certain apps performance on AMD processors. Called "Intel Compiler Patcher," this app scans your machine for apps developed using Intel C++ compilers, and patches them to work better on non-Intel CPU platforms (namely AMD). The idea (suspicion rather), is that apps developed with Intel C++ compilers give modern AMD CPUs a performance disadvantage. The following is how the developer describes the app works:

The compiler or library can make multiple versions of a piece of code, each optimized for a certain processor and instruction set, for example SSE2, SSE3, etc. The system includes a function that detects which type of CPU it is running on and chooses the optimal code path for that CPU. This is called a CPU dispatcher. However, the Intel CPU dispatcher does not only check which instruction set is supported by the CPU, it also checks the vendor ID string. If the vendor string says "GenuineIntel" then it uses the optimal code path. If the CPU is not from Intel then, in most cases, it will run the slowest possible version of the code, even if the CPU is fully compatible with a better version.

We don't have an AMD machine at hand to put our benches ourselves, and so we invite AMD CPU users from our community to post their results by using this "patcher" at their own risk.DOWNLOAD: Intel Compiler Patcher

The next update to Intel's high-end desktop (HEDT) platform will arrive no sooner than Q2-2016 (April-June), according to a leaked company roadmap slide for its client computing platforms. These chips will be based on Intel's 5th generation Core "Broadwell" micro-architecture, although in the lineup, they will be sold as Core i7-6800 and i7-6900 series.

Core i7 "Broadwell-E" will see Intel release its first consumer 10-core processor, besides 6-core and 8-core. The cheapest ($400-ish) part will likely be 6-core, the mid-tier part ($600-ish) will likely be 8-core, and the top-dog $1000 part 10-core. The TDP for these parts will continue to be rated at 140W. These chips will be supported by existing LGA2011v3 motherboards, with a firmware update, just like Core i7 "Ivy Bridge-E" were supported by existing LGA2011 motherboards of the time. Elsewhere on the roadmap, we see Core "Kaby Lake" desktop processors making an entry in Q4-2016.

Intel isn't new to giving away games or in-game DLC with its processors. The company is making a comeback on that front with an even bigger game bundle. Called "Never Stop Gaming," it rewards buyers of the company's Core i7 processors (Skylake, Haswell-E, and Haswell LGA1150); with $125 worth games/DLCs. These include Just Cause 3, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, and World of Warships ($50 worth items and in-game currency). The offer will be applicable to retail channel boxed processor purchases, as well as branded PCs with Core i7 processors. The bundle will be shipped as a voucher given with each Core i7 product purchase, which can be redeemed on Intel website. It is valued at $125, with the $60 Just Cause 3, $50-worth in-game goodies for World of Warships, and $15 worth Counter Strike: Global Offensive. The offer will be retailer specific.

Intel officially launched its new generation NUC desktops, complete with reference-design chassis; based on the company's 6th generation Core "Skylake" processors. Intel launched two main models, which each have variants based on chassis design - the NUC6i5SY, based on the Core i5-6260U processor; and the NUC6i3SY. The two each have variants with a compact chassis, with just enough room for an M.2 SSD (NUC6i5SYK and NUC6i3SYK); and those with room for a 2.5-inch SATA drive in addition to the M.2 SSD (NUC6i5SYH and NUC6i3SYH). NUC boards for the two are available without the chassis, opening things up for custom, third-party cases.

AMD reportedly finished testing some of its first "Zen" micro-architecture CPU prototypes, and concluded that they "meet all expectations," with "no significant bottlenecks found" in its design. This should mean that AMD's "Zen" chips should be as competitive with Intel chips as it set them out to be. The company is planning to launch its first client CPUs based on the "Zen" micro-architecture in 2016, based on its swanky new AM4 socket, with DDR4 memory and integrated PCIe (a la APUs). Zen sees AMD revert to the large, monolithic core design, from its "Bulldozer" multi-core module design with a near doubling of number-crunching machinery per-core, compared to its preceding architecture.

Compact desktop maker Shuttle is giving final touches to its XPC SH170R6 compact desktop barebones system. Designed to support 6th generation Intel Core "Skylake" processors, the SH170R6 gets you started with a custom-design motherboard based on the Intel H170 Express chipset, with two expansion slots (one PCI-Express 3.0 x16 and one PCI-Express 3.0 x4); four DDR4 DIMM slots, a 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, four SATA 6 Gb/s ports; a heat-pipe based CPU cooler, and an 80 Plus Bronze rated 300W power supply.

The case itself offers room for a 5.25-inch optical drive, and two 3.5-inch drives (one of which is an externally accessible bay). The system board offers external connectivity of two DisplayPort 1.2 connectors (supports one Ultra HD display), an HDMI port, six USB 3.0 ports, an eSATA 6 Gb/s port, gigabit Ethernet, and 8-channel HD audio. There's provision for an mPCIe WLAN card. Slated for release later this month, the SH170R6 is expected to be priced at 258€ excluding VAT (around 307€ with 19% VAT).

QNAP, Inc. has sprung another surprise on the enterprise storage marketplace with the announcement of the new TVS-ECx80U-SAS-RP unified NAS-SAS storage solution. This new system bridges the gap between all three different types of drives: speedy all-SSD storage, large capacity SATA drives and cost-effective SAS HDD systems.

The new TVS-ECx80U-SAS-RP series marries high-performance 12 Gbps SAS drives with built-in ultra-high performance 256 GB SSD caching. Powered by QNAP's new QTS 4.2 management software along with the new Qtier automated data-tiering technology, the system keeps frequently accessed data readily accessible and infrequently accessed data close at hand in less-costly HDD storage, significantly improving the overall performance while reducing data warehousing costs.

EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana based premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to introduce its first solid-state drive water block - the EK-FC I750 SSD for Intel Solid-State Drive 750 Series. EK-FC I750 SSD is a Full-Cover water block for water cooling the Intel SSD 750 Series solid-state drive. Designed in cooperation with Intel, we followed the overall look of the original passive cooler and made sure the entire PCB is covered, thus delivering the best possible cooling performance.

The water block features a high flow design allowing it to be easily used with systems using weaker water pumps. The base is made of nickel-plated electrolytic copper while the top cover is made of stainless steel. Screw-in brass standoffs are pre-installed and allow for safe, painless installation procedure. Enclosed is the additional EK-FC Terminal with two G1/4" threaded ports on the side (right picture below). Customers might need it if there isn't enough space to install the fittings on a regular pre-installed terminal (left picture below).

Microsoft acquired Havok Physics, the industry's most popular in-game physics API, from Intel. Microsoft intends to add Havok's IP to its existing tools and platforms, including DirectX 12, Visual Studio, and Azure. Havok will continue to remain accessible to all its existing licensees and partners, including Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Nintendo, and Sony. It currently features in more than 600 AAA game titles across major platforms, such as the PC, PlayStation, Wii, and Xbox.

AMD "Zen" CPU micro-architecture has a design focus on significantly increasing per-core performance, particularly per-core number-crunching performance, according to a 3DCenter.org report. It sees a near doubling of the number of decoder, ALU, and floating-point units per-core, compared to its predecessor. In essence, the a Zen core is AMD's idea of "what if a Steamroller module of two cores was just one big core, and supported SMT instead."

In the micro-architectures following "Bulldozer," which debuted with the company's first FX-series socket AM3+ processors, and running up to "Excavator," which will debut with the company's "Carrizo" APUs, AMD's approach to CPU cores involved modules, which packed two physical cores, with a combination of dedicated and shared resources between them. It was intended to take Intel's Core 2 idea of combining two cores into an indivisible unit further.

Arctic announces the i32/A32 semi-passive coolers. The Freezer i32/A32 is the first semi passive Arctic cooler. The smaller and lighter successor of the Freezer i30/A30 is the perfect gadget for PC enthusiasts looking for an ultra-quiet but efficient solution for the CPU cooling. It is the first ARCTIC cooler which comes with the new fan controller developed in Germany.

Arctic cooler are well-known for optimum cooling performance at a low noise level. By semi passive performance the Freezer i32/A32 provides again a special feature. A sophisticated fan controller enables that the CPU is completely passively cooled during typical Windows operation. The F12 PWM fan only start up at a higher temperature (from 40% PWM).

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.

Introducing the B150M Night Elf and Z170I Gaming Pro AC. A great gaming rig doesn't have to be large anymore. The Z170I GAMING PRO AC is the next-generation ITX GAMING model featuring Wi-Fi AC while the B150M NIGHT ELF motherboard is the unique mATX GAMING choice featuring an imprinted NO.1 IN GAMING RED LED highlight to add style to gaming. The new B150M NIGHT ELF and Z170I GAMING PRO AC motherboards are the perfect foundation for a portable yet powerful system. MSI managed to pack the most advanced gaming features into these small sized powerhouses, ideal for gamers on the go.

The B150M NIGHT ELF has gaming in its looks but also in its DNA. This Micro-ATX motherboard is based on the Intel B150 chipset supporting 6th Gen Intel Core processors for LGA1151, combined with four DDR4 memory slots. DDR4 Boost technology provides maximum stability and compatibility while also improving memory performance. No more broken PCI-Express slots because of heavy high-end graphics cards, the Steel Armor reinforced slot can handle even the most extreme models. MSI Gaming LAN ensures lagfree gaming by automatically prioritizing games above other applications. The motherboard is also equipped with Audio Boost 3 technology for studio grade sound quality using an EMI-shielded HD audio processor and an isolated PCB for crystal clear audio. The red LED illumination makes the Night Elf a real eye-catcher in any gaming system.

HyperX, a division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the launch of HyperX Savage DDR4 memory. With its fast speeds and aggressive timings, HyperX Savage DDR4 offers ultra-responsive multitasking and an overall faster system making it perfect for advanced gamers, overclockers and power users.

With speeds up to 3000MHz, HyperX Savage DDR4 allows for faster video editing, 3D rendering and gaming. The built in XMP ready profiles are optimized for Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, as well as Z170 on 100 Series and X99 chipsets enabling users to easily overclock just by selecting a memory profile without any adjustments in BIOS. Available in single modules and kits up to 64GB, Savage DDR4 runs as low as 1.2V and at max 1.35V resulting in less power consumption than DDR3 and higher reliability.

Lenovo today announced seven new desktops, laptops and tablets across its popular ideacentre and ideapad sub-brands, giving discerning shoppers multiple reasons to upgrade this holiday season. The fresh portfolio of devices include the new ideapad MIIX 700 2-in-1 tablet, new ideacentre AIO 700 desktop and five new laptops - ideapad 300 and 500 and their thinner and lighter cousins ideapad 100S, 300S and 500S.

The new ideacentre AIO 700 desktop delivers up to double the power, screen resolution and memory capacity from its three-year-old previous generation - ideal for watching videos and gaming. In addition to the performance leap, all the new devices boast state-of-the-art Lenovo design, significantly improved portability and the promise of intuitive, new technology like Windows 10 and Intel RealSense Cameras. The new trio of ideapad MIIX 700 2-in-1 tablet, ideacentre AI0 700 desktop and ideapad 500 laptop are all available with optional Intel RealSense Cameras so users can explore, discover and create new and intuitive ways to 3D game, video chat, scan and print through gesture-based computing.

Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced the Satellite Radius 12, a compact 2-in-1 laptop designed with expert technologies to best meet the performance demands of today and tomorrow. The world's first 12.5-inch convertible laptop with a 4K Ultra HD display, the Satellite Radius 12 features top-of-the-line screen and sound quality, a sleek, lightweight design and 6th Gen Intel Core processors that deliver maximum mobile performance and excellent battery life.

"Through our deep relationships with our partners at Microsoft, Intel and Technicolor we have designed a top-of-line compact PC that delivers the new gold standard in screen, sound and performance for an unmatched computing experience on Windows 10," said Philip Osako, senior director of product marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "The Satellite Radius 12 expertly blends the latest technology into an extremely powerful, yet compact and easy-to-carry PC that is not only versatile, but durable enough to handle a highly mobile lifestyle."

ASUSTOR Inc., a leading innovator and provider of network storage solutions, has announced the launch of 4 high performance tower model NAS devices.These new models are the first in the world to be equipped with Intel Braswell processors and feature the AS6202T and AS6204T powered by quad-core processors and the AS6102T and AS6104T powered by dual-core processors. Featuring rock-solid design and a wide variety of expansion ports, these new models also feature an AES-NI hardware encryption engine, the latest version of the intuitive ADM operating system, secure data protection mechanisms and energy saving features, providing first-class performance for both work and play and making them the first choice in cloud storage for both prosumer and SMB user segments.

The fast pace of modern emerging technologies and innovation demand high-performance hardware that is flexible in application. ASUSTOR's 62 and 61 series devices all utilize high performance Intel processors and feature a high degree of expandability via a wide range of hardware ports including eSATA, USB 3.0, HDMI, and S/PDIF ports which provide for flexible application possibilities. Additionally, pre-installed dual-channel high speed memory allows for smooth system operation. Users are also able to expand memory up to a maximum of 8GB in order to enhance overall multitasking performance.

Intel expanded its 6th generation Core "Skylake" processor lineup for the desktop, with seven new models. Built in the LGA1151 package, these chips work on motherboards running the company's 100-series chipset. Besides the overclocker-friendly Core i7-6700K and the i5-6600K already launched, the lineup now includes the i7-6700, i5-6600, i5-6500, i5-6400, i3-6320, i3-6300, and the i3-6100. Of these, the Core i7 and Core i5 models are quad-core, while the Core i3 ones are dual-core.

The Core i7-6700 and i5-6600 are not just different from the i7-6700K and i5-6600K in that they lack unlocked BClk multipliers, they also come with lower clock speeds out of the box. The i7-6700 is clocked at 3.40 GHz with 4.00 GHz max Turbo Boost (i7-6700K offers 4.00 GHz with 4.20 GHz Turbo), while the i5-6600 is clocked at 3.30 GHz, with 3.90 GHz Turbo Boost (i5-6600K offers 3.50 GHz with 3.90 GHz Turbo). The i7-6700 is priced at US $312, while the i5-6600 goes for $213 (single-unit box price).

Razer, a world leader in connected devices and software for gamers, is working with Intel to deliver a consumer-ready desktop and VR-enabled camera based on Intel RealSense technology for a wide range of experiential applications.

With Intel RealSense technology incorporated into a new Razer product design, users can expect to enjoy significantly enhanced game broadcasting and VR gaming capabilities. Among the novel features of this technology is automatic background removal, which allows game streamers and video conferencing users to remove or replace backgrounds for a more entertaining and immersive experience.

Intel RealSense Cameras are also capable of 3D scanning, motion and gesture recognition, allowing product designers to bring real-world objects and bodies into virtual spaces easily. Many more features and related applications are anticipated for the Intel RealSense technology-enabled Razer device.

Intel plans to launch the first consumer SSD based on its new 3D Xpoint memory technology, a successor to NAND flash which promises exponential gains in performance and capacity, some time in 2016. The Intel-branded drive will be called Intel Optane, will come in modern form-factors such as M.2/NGFF, SATA-Express, PCI-Express (add-on card), and will take advantage of the new NVMe protocol.

Early prototypes of Optane demoed at IDF already offer up to 5.5 times the throughput of NAND flash-based DC P3700 series SSDs, and we're only talking about single-queue performance. Compared to the queue depth of just 32 commands for AHCI, NVMe offers command queue depth of a staggering 65,535 commands. Since Micron Technology is the co-developer of 3D Xpoint, it's likely that we'll also see Micron/Crucial branded drives based on this tech.

The "Skylake" CPU microarchitecture is as much important to Intel as "Sandy Bridge" was, a few years ago. It allows Intel to facilitate mainstream adoption of the DDR4 memory standard (with DDR3 backwards compatibility encouraging cheap upgrades), and gives users IPC increases over older architectures. While users of Core "Haswell" processors and reasonably fast DDR3 memory will find "Skylake" a hard-sell, it should look appealing to users of much older chips, such as "Lynnfield," and perhaps even "Sandy Bridge."

The "Skylake" core is bigger than "Haswell," owing to wider pipelines, prefetcher improvements, more execution units, a bigger front-end with a higher-capacity branch predictor, cache optimizations, and an update to the way HyperThreading works. The instruction window is nearly 1.5x the size of Sandy Bridge, with an out-of-order execution window size of 224 (vs. 168 on Sandy Bridge), load/store sizes of 72/56 (vs. 64/36 on Sandy Bridge), 97 scheduler entries (vs. 56 on Sandy Bridge), and an allocation queue size of 64/thread (vs. 28/thread). The platform of "Skylake" is similar to that of its predecessor, with four notable changes - an integrated camera ISP with the chipset, DDR4 memory support, double the chipset bus bandwidth (64 Gb/s), and eDRAM support on certain CPU SKUs.