MAINGEAR, a leading provider of high-performance custom PC systems, and Phison, a global leader in NAND controllers and storage solutions, today unveiled groundbreaking MAINGEAR PRO AI workstations with Phison's aiDAPTIV+ technology. Specifically engineered to democratize Large Language Model (LLM) development and training for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), these ultra-powerful workstations incorporate aiDAPTIV+ technology to deliver supercomputer LLM training capabilities at a fraction of the cost of traditional AI training servers.

As the demand for large-scale generative AI models continues to surge and their complexity increases, the potential for LLMs also expands. However, this rapid advancement in LLM AI technology has led to a notable boost in hardware requirements, making model training cost-prohibitive and inaccessible for many small to medium businesses.

Welcome to an immersive experience that is ever-changing—and yours for the making. Explore infinite worlds, connect with friends, and discover new things with an exclusive line of Razer | Roblox gear as you take the plunge into a new horizon of endless possibilities. Launching on 28 April, 4PM BST.

ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES. LIMITLESS PERFORMANCE
Welcome to an immersive experience that is ever-changing—and yours for the making. Explore infinite worlds, connect with friends, and discover new things with an exclusive line of Razer | Roblox gear as you take the plunge into a new horizon of endless possibilities.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the new Barracuda and Barracuda Pro, along with a refresh of the existing Barracuda X. The new family of street-styled gaming headsets comes packed with cutting edge technologies to bring gamers the purest sound whether at home or out and about. Featuring Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation Technology (ANC) the Barracuda Pro provides the user with an uninterrupted audio experience in all surroundings, ideal for intense gaming sessions requiring maximum focus, as well as for anyone wanting to enjoy their music outdoors while muting any distractions from the outside world.

Using Razer SmartSwitch Dual Wireless, the Barracuda Pro can be connected to two devices at the same time, switching seamlessly between the two as needed. This allows a user to game on their PC, and with a single button press, switch the Barracuda Pro to take a call without the need to unpair and pair between devices. All Barracuda models support both Razer HyperSpeed Wireless (2.4 GHz) and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, for high-speed gaming performance and mobile-friendly Bluetooth convenience. "The Barracuda Pro is the hybrid headset that does it all," said Chris Mitchell, Head of the PC Gaming Division at Razer. "Whether it's your main gaming setup at home or your favorite music playlists on the go, the Barracuda Pro combines the fuss-free convenience of lifestyle headphones along with the high-performance gaming features you'd expect in a Razer gaming headset, to create a no-compromise experience, packaged in a sleek, premium design."

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers (Hong Kong Stock Code: 1337), today announces the Barracuda X Wireless Multi-platform Gaming and Mobile Headset, for gaming on multiple devices at home or outdoors. Offering true versatility and freedom backed by long-lasting comfort, powerful drivers, and a crystal-clear mic, the Barracuda X is an all-purpose, 4-in-1 wireless headset compatible with PC, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and Android devices.

Many modern wireless headsets are designed for use either at home or on-the-go, and switching between devices can be a time-consuming process, with unpairing and pairing over Bluetooth often leading to connection issues. The Barracuda X has been designed with ease of use and versatility in mind - with its reliable ultra-low latency wireless connection combined with a comfortable, sleek, and ergonomic design, powerful Razer TriForce drivers and a detachable, Discord-certified Razer HyperClear Cardioid microphone, it is the perfect all-in-one-solution for multi-platform gaming.

Earlier this week, Western Digital was in the line of fire when it emerged that several of its WD Red family of "NAS-optimized" hard drives allegedly employ some form of shingled magnetic recording (SMR), a physical-layer data writing technique that maximizes density at a heavy cost of random write performance that effectively makes the HDDs unfit for use in RAID volumes, and in turn most NAS applications that commonly employ RAID and encourage end-users to build RAID volumes for data redundancy. A new report by Blocks & Files finds that the issue is more widespread than previously thought, and that even Seagate employs it without disclosure on certain models.

Several of Seagate's higher capacity Barracuda desktop internal hard drives use SMR without disclosing it in their data-sheets. These include the 8 TB ST8000DM004, and 5 TB ST5000DM000. Both these drives are sold under the Barracuda Compute brand, which markets "home servers, entry-level DAS, and desktop computers" among its use-cases. Seagate does market its Archive and Exos lines of HDDs are employing SMR, but mention of the technique is buried in their data-sheets, and not prominently in product marketing or packaging. Archive and Exos are targeted at bulk cold storage setups where capacity is more important than performance. Meanwhile, Toshiba has confirmed that its Desktop HDDs too employ SMR. The company's MQ04 2.5-inch and DT02 3.5-inch HDDs employ "managed SMR" (i.e. use conventional recording and switch to SMR as the platters are running out of space).

Seagate eyes itself a slice of the M.2 NVMe SSD market targeting DIY gaming PC builders in 2019. It's come up with slightly more imaginative branding than arch-rival WD, with the FireCuda 510 and BarraCuda 510. The FireCuda 510 is the company's flagship drive, built in the M.2-2280 form-factor, and featuring a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface. This drive offers stellar sequential transfer speeds of up to 3450 MB/s reads, with up to 3200 MB/s writes, and random-access numbers of up to 620,000 IOPS reads, with up to 600,000 IOPS writes; which upstages even existing segment leaders such as Samsung 970 PRO and WD Black 3D, at least on paper. It comes in capacities up to 2 TB, and is backed by 5-year warranties.

The BarraCuda 510 isn't far behind its sibling, and despite its deceptive "green" branding, isn't a drab M.2-SATA drive. It's out to compete with the likes of the Samsung 970 EVO. With speeds of up to 3400 MB/s sequential reads, up to 3100 MB/s sequential writes, and a 5-year warranty, this drive debuts in just two models initially - 256 GB and 512 GB, with more models in the pipeline. Retail availability is expected to be in March, 2019 and pricing is not yet confirmed.

Seagate, who are making strides in both storage density and performance of traditional HDDs with their HAMR and Multi-actuator technologies aren't going to let themselves be left dry in the SSD race. To that effect, the company, via a blog post, has just announced the introduction and availability of their barracuda SSDs, available in capacities up to 2 TB (in 250 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB additional tiers).

Like most recent SATA III SSDs, the Barracuda SSDs max out the data channel with maximum sequential read and write speeds reaching 540 and 520 MB/s respectively. There's a five-year warranty on these SSDs, which is in line with industry standards, and Seagate is asking $74.99 for the 250 GB SSD; $119.99 for the 500 GB one; and $229.99 for the 1 TB capacity. The 2 TB model will be available at a later date.