M.2
Western Digital is unveiling its latest addition to the mainstream WD Blue family today - the SN580 NVMe SSD. A DRAM-less PCIe 4.0 x4 drive, it brings in performance improvements over the current lead product in the line - the SN570 launched in late 2021. This DRAM-less drive is the first PCIe Gen4 SSD in the WD Blue lineup. As a mainstream drive, the WD Blue SN580 is meant for consumer systems requiring quick launches of applications in multitasking scenarios, along with high responsiveness. WD has also optimized the firmware for fast loading of large-sized media assets (a nod towards content creators). Most importantly, the DRAM-less nature and a non-overreaching performance goal (up to 4150 MBps, which is on the low end for a Gen4...
New WD Blue SSD Switches To NVMe
In the process of assimilating SanDisk, Western Digital has been re-using their hard drive branding on consumer SSDs: WD Green, Blue and Black can refer to either mechanical hard...
15 by Billy Tallis on 3/14/2019Pictured: Intel and Qualcomm to offer 5G Modules for M.2 Slots
Last week we reported on Fibocom, an Intel partner, had announced a new M.2 module featuring the Intel XMM8160 5G modem to be used in CPEs as well as...
21 by Ian Cutress on 3/4/2019The Silicon Power P34A80 SSD Review: Phison E12 With Newer Firmware
Today we're looking at Silicon Power's P34A80 high-end NVMe SSD, another drive based on the Phison E12 controller and Toshiba 64L 3D TLC NAND, but with newer firmware than...
13 by Billy Tallis on 2/28/2019Intel and Fibocom to Co-Develop a 5G M.2 Module for System Integration
Fibocom Wireless is a company that has won investment from Intel Capital and develops wireless modules as well as communication solutions. As part of the Mobile World Congress event...
1 by Ian Cutress on 2/25/2019The Samsung 970 EVO Plus (250GB, 1TB) NVMe SSD Review: 92-Layer 3D NAND
Samsung is updating its mainstream NVMe SSD with a new generation of 3D NAND that brings improved performance and power efficiency. The new 'Samsung 970 EVO Plus' keeps the...
35 by Billy Tallis on 1/22/2019The Western Digital WD Black SN750 SSD Review: Why Fix What Isn't Broken?
Last year Western Digital overhauled their WD Black NVMe SSD with an upgrade to 3D NAND and a new in-house SSD controller, transforming the product line from one of...
55 by Billy Tallis on 1/18/2019Quick Look: Using WD's Black SN750 SSD as a Thunderbolt 3 External Drive
External SSDs with a Thunderbolt 3 interface are still the only option for users looking to get high-end performance in a bus-powered portable device. These SSDs have become possible...
10 by Ganesh T S on 1/18/2019HP Announces EX950 M.2 NVMe SSD
HP has announced a new high-end consumer NVMe SSD, the HP EX950. The EX950 is the successor to the very successful HP EX920, which for most of 2018 was...
13 by Billy Tallis on 1/9/2019New Generation of Optane M.2 SSDs Coming Soon
Intel's Optane products so far fall into one of two categories. At the high end is the flagship P4800X enterprise SSD and its derivatives for the enthusiast market. At...
27 by Billy Tallis on 1/8/2019Seagate at CES 2019: BarraCuda 510 and FireCuda 510 M.2 NVMe
Seagate recently returned to the consumer SSD market with the BarraCuda SSD. It didn't make much of a splash, but Seagate got their feet wet and kicked off a...
4 by Billy Tallis on 1/7/2019The Enterpise TLC Storage Era Begins: Rounding Up 13 SSDs With Samsung, Intel, and Memblaze
It's been a busy year for consumer SSDs. With all the NAND flash manufacturers now shipping high-quality 3D NAND in volume, we've seen more competition than ever, and huge...
36 by Billy Tallis on 1/3/2019Innodisk Launches M.2 Graphics Card with 4K Output
Innodisk has released a graphics adapter in an M.2 form-factor. The card supports resolutions of up to 1920×1080 at 60 Hz or 3840×2160 at 30 Hz and is designed...
23 by Anton Shilov on 12/5/2018PCI-SIG Warns Of Incompatibilities Between M.2 And Samsung's NGSFF/NF1
PCI-SIG, the standards committee behind PCI Express and related standards, has issued a warning about incompatibilities between their M.2 standard and Samsung's NGSFF/NF1 SSD form factor. The notice from...
17 by Billy Tallis on 11/16/2018HighPoint Releases the SSD7102: A Bootable Quad M.2 PCIe x16 NVMe SSD RAID Card
In the upper echelons of commercial workhouses, having access to copious amounts of local NVMe storage is more of a requirement than ‘something nice to have’. We’ve seen solutions...
28 by Ian Cutress on 10/24/2018Corsair Launches Force Series MP510 NVMe SSD
Today Corsair is launching the Force Series MP510 as their new high-end M.2 NVMe SSD. The MP510 is a big improvement over the preceding MP500, replacing the Phison E7...
12 by Billy Tallis on 10/16/2018The ASUS ROG Strix Z370-F Gaming Review: A $200 Motherboard at 5.1 GHz
The ASUS ROG Strix Z370-F Gaming sits in the middle of its Z370 product stack, intending to deliver users a full assortment of features. The all black board supports...
4 by Joe Shields on 10/1/2018The ASUS ROG Strix B360-G Gaming Review: A Polarizing $100 Motherboard Design
The B360 market should be a battleground for new PC builds: it offers almost all the features needed for everyone. There is a lot of scope for motherboard manufacturers...
26 by Joe Shields on 9/25/2018Intel Expands Optane 905P SSDs To 1.5TB
Intel has officially launched the next wave of Optane SSDs, continuing a gradual rollout of higher density drives as their production of 3D XPoint memory catches up with demand...
14 by Billy Tallis on 9/21/2018SilverStone Launches SST-ECM23 Riser Card for M.2 SSDs
SilverStone has introduced its new PCIe x16 riser card for M.2 SSDs. The SST-ECM23 risers are aimed at those who want to maximize the efficiency of their SSD cooling...
16 by Anton Shilov on 9/17/2018The Toshiba XG6 1TB SSD Review: Our First 96-Layer 3D NAND SSD
For the second year in a row, Toshiba is the first to ship a new generation of 3D NAND. The new XG6 NVMe SSD for OEMs otherwise changes little...
32 by Billy Tallis on 9/6/2018