JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in standards development for the microelectronics industry, today announced the publication of Release 6 of the DDR3 Serial Presence Detect (SPD) document. The updated standard, SPD4_01_02_11: SPD Annex K - Serial Presence Detect (SPD) for DDR3 SDRAM Modules (Release 6), describes new memory timing parameters and enables higher capacity memory modules, and may be downloaded free of charge from the JEDEC website.

"The DDR3 memory module market is in its full stride, with new applications pushing the technology into an ever-widening array of offerings, and the Serial Presence Detect is a reliable and consistent way to document the features of these new modules so that system software can tune system performance," said Mian Quddus, Chairman of JEDEC's JC-45 Committee for Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) Modules. He added, "This release of the DDR3 SPD standard adds support for memory modules with up to 8 ranks of DDR3 SDRAMs, enabling 64GB per slot using mainstream 4Gb memory chips."

Acer is working on a variant of its 13.3-inch Aspire S7 Ultrabook with a higher resolution display. It will offer WQHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) resolution, which works out to a pixel density of 221 ppi, which is not too far away from the 227 ppi that Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display offers. Depending on its other innards, the WQHD Aspire S7 will come in two variants - a base model priced at US $1,499, driven by Intel Core i5-4200U, and a top model priced at $1,799, with a faster Core i7-4500U chip. Both feature 8 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory, and 256 GB of SSD storage, each. The two will begin to show up on leading US retailers in the coming week.

The next level of small form factor PC gaming has arrived when CyberPower Inc., a global manufacturer of custom gaming PCs, today unleashes its Zeus Mini desktop series. Each model, priced from $599-1479, is stuffed with enough AMD or Intel processing and graphics crunching power to rival any full-size desktop PC.

CYBERPOWERPC's new Zeus Mini is ready to tear into games that demand the most system resources. Customers can choose between three AMD's Kaveri A-series processor models (Zeus Mini-A), or five different 4th Generation Intel Core processor models (Zeus Mini-I) starting with a Core i5-4440 up to a screaming fast Core i7-4770K at 3.50GHz. All processors in the Zeus Mini series are mounted to a Mini ITX motherboard packed with the latest AMD and Intel chipset that deliver the latest technologies including 802.11ac wifi, PCI Express 3.0, and more. Both processor options include multi-core support and dual-channel DDR3 gaming performance with a minimum of 8 GBs memory that is expandable to 16 GBs.

MSI has received high marks for its high-end gaming laptops, the good performance but compact gaming design in new gaming notebooks. They featured Intel's 4th Generation Quad Core processor and new Generation NVIDIA GeForce GT820M discrete graphics. CX61 2PC was designed to meet the demands of business usage and casual gamers around the world.

Eric Kuo, vice president for global sales & marketing, MSI Notebook, points out the CX61 2PC featured with GT820M graphics and audio boost for better headset experience, while weighting in at only 2.5 kilograms under. CX61 is the trimmest and most popular classic laptops and are the best choice of casual games players around the world. Not only do they feature the processor using 22nm production technology, CX61 also packed NVIDIA 's latest GT820M 2GB discrete graphics card. Comes with the innovative Audio boost solution - a world first developed by MSI, AMP (Audio amplifier), and gold jacks, bringing the new Generation cinema-grade quality sound to an all-new level.

HighPoint Technologies, a pioneering force in the storage industry for the past 18 years, unveils its latest Thunderbolt Storage Solution, the NA762TB. HighPoint's NA762TB is a full-featured storage powerhouse backed by industry proven hardware-RAID technology, and delivers the uncompromised performance, superior reliability, and effortless every-day usability demanded by today's leading media professionals.

The NA762TB seamlessly merges the simplicity and speed of Thunderbolt with HighPoint's industry proven RAID technology. Powered by a dedicated RAID processor with 512 MB of DDR3, & 8 removable SAS/SATA disk modules, the NA762TB is the ideal storage platform for professional applications that demand uncompromised performance, unparalleled data security, & effortless usability. The integrated hardware RAID technology was validated by HGST and G-Technology, and is suggested as a bundle with G-Speed eS PRO Mini-SAS Storage Solutions.

Here are the first pictures of an AMD A10-7700K "Kaveri" APU with its integrated heat-spreader (IHS, or 'lid') removed. Put next to its predecessors, "Richland," "Trinity," and "Llano," AMD's new APU silicon is its biggest for the DIY PC market, more so because it's built on the 28 nm silicon fab process, compared to its predecessors being built on 32 nm. The die measures roughly 245 mm², and packs a staggering 2.41 billion transistors.

Under the IHS, AMD is using a thermal paste to transport heat from the die, and not a solder. The chip should be easy to de-lid, if you know what you're doing. Kaveri integrates two "Steamroller" x86-64 CPU modules with two cores each, a total of 4 MB of L2 cache, a massive on-die GPU with 512 stream processors based on the Graphics CoreNext micro-architecture, a dual-channel DDR3 IMC with hUMA and DDR3-2400 native support; and a PCI-Express 3.0 root complex.

MSI rolled out the H81M-E35 V2 entry-level socket LGA1150 motherboard. Designed for Core "Haswell" processors, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 4-pin ATX power connectors. It uses a simple 3-phase VRM to power the CPU, which is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots, and a single PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot. A couple of PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and a legacy PCI make for the rest of the expansion area. Storage connectivity includes two each of SATA 6 Gb/s and SATA 3 Gb/s. Display outputs include one each of DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. Six USB 3.0 ports (four on the rear panel, two by header), six USB 2.0/1.1 ports, gigabit Ethernet, 6-channel HD audio, and legacy PS/2 connectivity make for the rest of it. Expect a sub-$100 pricing.

AMD announced its 2014 A-Series APU for the desktop platform, code-named "Kaveri," after the southern-Indian river. Built in the new FM2+ package, the APUs run only on socket FM2+ motherboards based on the AMD A88X, A78, and A55 chipsets; while the socket itself can seat older FM2 APU families, "Trinity" and "Richland." In many ways, the socket transition is similar to that of socket AM3+. "Kaveri" sees AMD integrate two of its newest CPU and GPU micro-architectures, "Steamroller" for CPU, and Graphics CoreNext 2.0 for the GPU. "Kaveri" is also built on newer generation 28 nm silicon fab process.

"Steamroller" is an evolution of the same modular CPU core design as its predecessors, "Piledriver" and "Bulldozer." AMD promises a 10 percent improvement in performance clock-by-clock, per core, which falls in line with AMD's normal scheme of annual incremental performance updates on its CPU micro-architectures. A "Steamroller" module is a combination of two 64-bit x86 cores, which feature dedicated and shared components. "Kaveri" has two such modules, and so physically, it features a quad-core CPU.

Kingston unveiled its much talked about Fury line of performance DDR3 memory kits. Positioned between its mainstream HyperX Genesis and high-end HyperX Predator lines, HyperX Fury will compete in the market against the likes of Corsair Vengeance series; going after the crowd that builds gaming desktops with mild overclocks on the CPU and memory. HyperX Fury will ship in speeds ranging between DDR3-1600 and DDR3-2400, and in kit sizes ranging between 4 GB and 64 GB. It comes in four color options. In related news, you can find HyperX Genesis SO-DIMM and HyperX LoVo SO-DIMM modules chilling around next to the four.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards announces its attendance at CES 2014, teaming up with Intel, G.SKILL and Enermax to host the 2014 CES Extreme Overclock event, also demonstrating a range of the latest enthusiast motherboards and systems.

Join GIGABYTE during CES 2104 at the Caesar's Palace Conference Center, Las Vegas from January 6th, 2014 where a GIGABYTE Overclocking team led by renowned Overclockers Hicookie and Dinos22 will be joined by other world class talent from around the globe, demonstrating all the skills and experience need to break world records on a GIGABYTE Z87X-OC motherboard.

"We are really excited about hosting some of the world's top Overclockers in Las Vegas," commented Hicookie, Chief Overclocking Evangelist, GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. "It promises to be a fantastic OC showcase event, one that underlines our commitment to extreme overclocking and the development of world-class overclocking motherboards like the Z87X-OC."

Crucial, a leading global brand of memory and storage upgrades, today released a new lineup of high-performance memory solutions specifically designed for the new Mac Pro systems. This new memory is engineered to meet the component densities, speeds, and Serial Presence Detect (SPD) programming specifications of the new Mac Pro workstations, and is now available in densities up to 16 GB through select global channel partners and at www.crucial.com.

The new modules designed for Mac Pro workstations operate at 1866 MHz, which is the fastest mainstream DDR3 ECC UDIMM and RDIMM speed currently available, allowing users to leverage all the capabilities of the new Mac Pro systems. For further performance gains, modules are available in densities up to 16 GB. These high-speed, high-density memory modules provide users with increased system responsiveness, faster application load times, and an increased ability to multitask with ease when using data-intensive programs such as Apple FinalCut Pro or Adobe Photoshop software.

The Avexir brand is an established manufacturer associated with producing top quality, high-end RAM memory. Avexir is one of the only manufactures in which the factories hand check each module when it comes to overclocking and working in dual and quad channel modes. The modules are packed into elegant boxes only when they pass thorough quality control tests on different systems including AMD and Intel processors. Other manufacturers unfortunately don't do such controlled hand quality checks, which means users are more likely to encounter a faulty DDR module, which can cause incompatibilities and headache for the user.

Avexir presents today on European market five new series of quality checked memories:

• Avexir BLITZ 1.1 Original White LED
• Avexir BLITZ 1.1 OCF Yellow LED
• Avexir BLITZ 1.1 ELG Yellow LED
• Avexir BLITZ 1.1 ELR Red LED
• Avexir BLITZ 1.1 GBOC Orange LED

Thecus is pleased to introduce the N7710 and N8810U. These latest NAS for SMB and enterprise networks will debut next month at the renowned IT trade show, CES 2014. With upgraded hardware and new features and software, these two towers are powerful performers for high-speed, efficient networks. Thecus will also be showcasing its latest SOHO/Home NAS models, and invites all visitors to come by its booth, #80236 in the Gold Pavilion.

Powered by Intel Pentium G850 Dual Core processors (2.9GHz) and 4GB DDR3 ECC memory, the N7710 and N8810U represent major upgrades over their predecessors. They are capable of delivering blistering network speeds, and can be equipped with an optional 10Gb Ethernet card (N7710-G and N8810U-G).

SMART Modular Technologies, Inc., a leading independent designer, manufacturer and supplier of value added subsystems including memory modules, flash memory cards and other solid state storage products, today announced MIP, the industry's first module-in-a-package memory form factor. SMART's innovative tiny form factor design is targeted for broadcast video, mobile router, high-end video/graphics cards and embedded computing applications where power consumption, performance and space limitations are of principle concern.

While SMART's MIP occupies just one-fifth the area of an SO-DIMM, it offers higher performance and consumes less power. Key improvements with MIP include 42% power savings, 42% jitter reduction, and 39% PK/PK savings. Being a "soldered down" module, unlike an SO-DIMM, the need for a mating connector is eliminated with MIP. SMART's MIP supports both, applications requiring ECC and the ones that do not. These are key benefits for applications where memory capacity in a small space is critical. And unlike other DRAM down-board usage scenarios, the MIP contains on-package address and CNTRL termination.

Taiwan-based Team Group Inc. has this week announced the Xtreem White line of high-end DDR3 memory. This new speedy RAM comes in 8 GB and 16 GB flavors (dual channel only), makes use of tall aluminum heatspreaders, features Intel XMP 1.3 support, and is backed by a lifetime warranty.

The Xtreem Series White offering includes DDR3-2133 CL11, DDR3-2400 CL10, DDR3-2666 CL11 and DDR3-2800 CL12 kits that go from 69.90 Euro all the way up to 449.90 Euro. All are set to ship this month and can be found at Caseking.de.

Apple today redefined pro computing with the launch of the all-new Mac Pro. Designed around an innovative unified thermal core, the Mac Pro features the latest Intel Xeon processors with up to 12 cores, dual workstation-class GPUs, six Thunderbolt 2 ports, PCIe-based flash storage and ultra-fast ECC memory. Packing amazing performance in a stunning new design, the all-new Mac Pro starts at $2,999 (US) and will be available in December.

"The new Mac Pro is our vision for the future of the pro desktop, everything about it has been reimagined and there has never been anything like it," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "The new Mac Pro packs up to 12-core Xeon CPUs, dual FirePro GPUs, ultra-fast ECC memory, new PCIe flash storage, Thunderbolt 2 expandability and more into a radical new design that is one-eighth the size of the previous generation Mac Pro."

Axiomtek is pleased to announce the arrival of the MANO830 mini ITX motherboard supports Intel Atom processor D2550 1.86 GHz or N2600 1.6GHz with the Intel NM10 Express chipset. The MANO830 provides high-density yet low-power solutions. One DDR3 SO-DIMM slot on board implements maximum up to 4 GB of system memory. The industrial-grade mini ITX motherboard featuring Intel Graphics Media Accelerator core engine support HD-rich content and provide VGA, HDMI, and LVDS display outputs. Considering to the various demands in the embedded field, it comes with both PCIe x1 slot and PCI Express Mini Card slot and also shared with mSATA. This typical embedded motherboard is a great choice for medical healthcare, in-vehicle infotainment, mobile kiosk, mobile gaming, digital entertainment, digital signage, portable POS and much more.

"Early on in the planning phase, easy maintenance, compact size, good availability and future end-of-life support were carefully considered to ensure MANO830's sustainability for high quality operation in medical healthcare, in-vehicle infotainment, mobile kiosk, gaming, digital entertainment, signage, portable POS and much more applications. The super compact MANO830 offers improved processing and graphics performance and is designed to operate at a very low-power consumption. It equips with multiple display outputs: VGA, HDMI, LVDS and has a wide range for storage, I/O and expansion connectivity. In addition to Intel Atom Processor D2550, the embedded board supports Intel Atom N2600 which is energy efficient and provids very completive price. This mini ITX SBC is ideal for embedded and industrial applications." said David Chiu, PM of Product Planning Division at Axiomtek.

Following the launch of two factory-overclocked, WindForce-equipped Radeon R9 200 graphics cards, Gigabyte rolled out its entry-level Radeon R7 200 series, with five models based on the Radeon R7 260X, Radeon R7 250, and Radeon R7 240. To begin with, the company launched three kinds of R7 260X graphics cards, by reusing two of its PCB designs for the "Bonaire" silicon, the GV-R726XWF2-2GD revisions 1 and 2 (pictured in that order). A third variant is based on a simpler fan-heatsink cooler. The three cards come with identical factory-overclocked speeds of 1188 MHz core (vs. 1100 MHz reference), while leaving the memory untouched, at 6.50 GHz. The cards feature 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, across a 128-bit wide memory interface.

Moving on, the company launched a Radeon R7 250 graphics card, the GV-R725OC-1GI. Based on the 28 nm "Oland" silicon, the chip integrates 384 stream processors, 24 TMUs, 8 ROPs, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 1 GB of memory. The card comes with factory-overclocked GPU core clock speed of 1100 MHz (vs. 1050 MHz reference), and 4.60 GHz memory. Lastly, there's its toned down version the Radeon R7 240, based on the same chip, and board design, the GV-R724OC-2GI, featuring factory-overclocked 900 MHz core (vs. 780 MHz reference), and 2 GB of DDR3 memory clocked at 1.80 GHz.

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend), a worldwide leader in storage and multimedia products, is proud to announce its launch of 4 GB DDR3-1866 Registered DIMM (RDIMM) and 4 GB DDR3-1866 Unbuffered ECC DIMM (ECC UDIMM) memory modules. Ideal for use in Intel Xeon E5-2600 v2 processor-based servers, the new DDR3 modules ensure optimal performance in today's virtualized data centers.

Developed to support increasing use of server virtualization, Transcend's DDR3-1866 memory modules are tested to be fully compatible with Intel Romley-EP platforms based on Intel's latest generation server processor, the Xeon E5-2600 v2 family (code named "Ivy Bridge-EP"). As Transcend's highest frequency DDR3 server modules, the 4 GB DDR3-1866 DIMMs are constructed with top quality DDR3-1866 DRAM chips that deliver exceptional performance and durability.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today officially launched five business-class, SAS-enabled Turbo NAS models, including TS-EC1679U-SAS-RP and TS-EC1279U-SAS-RP which support both SAS and SATA 6Gbps hard drives, and the 2.5" high-density SS-EC2479U-SAS-RP, SS-EC1879U-SAS-RP and SS-EC1279U-SAS-RP. The support of SAS hard drives increases disk input/output performance and offers high reliability for data transmission and storage. The new models offer storage expansion port(s) allowing seamless capacity expansion with QNAP RAID expansion enclosures to easily fulfill mission-critical storage needs of small and medium businesses, with persistent throughput to balance resource-demanding applications.

The new SAS-enabled models are equipped with a Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3.4GHz processor with 8GB DDR3 ECC RAM, feature 10GbE-ready network connectivity, and support SSD caching to greatly boost IOPS performance, perfect for improving overall workflow of IOPS-demanding applications such as virtualization and data center deployment. "The new SAS-enabled Turbo NAS models support enterprise-level SAS hard drives that will greatly satisfy performance-demanding businesses," said David Tsao, product manager of QNAP. "The new models also support lower cost high-capacity SATA hard drives for large data archiving and high-speed, high stability SSDs for I/O-intensive operations. With the new SAS-enabled Turbo NAS, businesses can enjoy great flexibility in hard drive selection."

Other World Computing, the world's leading destination for cutting-edge and easy-to-install Mac and PC upgrades and accessories, announced the immediate availability of the OWC Memory Upgrade Kits from 8GB to 32GB for 2013 iMac 27" models that became available today. OWC's kits offer memory configurations not offered by the factory as well as savings of more than $240 compared to same-size factory options. Like all OWC Memory Upgrade Kits, a 'how-to' install video and OWC Lifetime warranty are included.

What it does: upgrading the memory of this iMac gives you more options and better performance. It's a low-cost improvement that gives Apple's latest OSX-including the upcoming Mavericks release-the space it needs for maximum performance. For hundreds less than what Apple charges, users can select an OWC upgrade to unlock the machine's true potential. Installation takes just a few minutes, and OWCs iMac Memory Upgrade Guide makes it easy to select the right memory for any Apple iMac model.

No limit is too high for G.SKILL memory. In just a week after the official release of the new Intel Ivy Bridge-E Core i7 Extreme processors, G.SKILL memory is already testing the extreme limits of the Intel processors and broke the world record for fastest DDR3 yet again. This time a 16GB (4x4GB) G.SKILL TridentX memory kit is overclocked to a blistering DD3 4072MHz - the first instance of a quad-channel DDR3 memory kit to break the 4GHz barrier (validation). This astounding feat was made possible and achieved on the new Intel i7-4960X CPU and the ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition motherboard under LN2 extreme cooling. Below is a screenshot of the record validation by CPU-Z.

Thunderbird is the ruler of sky in American Indian legends that the spreading of his wings summoning hurricane and thunder, changing the color of the sky! The heroic posture of thunderbird inspired Apacer Technology to the design of memory modules, developing the spectacular overclocking artifact in such a mythological creature class - Thunderbird overclocking memory module!

With a clock rate up to DDR3-2933, 8-layer PCB in supreme quality, special aluminum thunderbird wing-shaped heat spreading module, and the blue/ orange/red/ black color to go with other colors of the overclocking motherboard of major brand on the market, the Thunderbird overclocking memory will definitely build a dazzling personal overclocking platform.

At the OC Main Event in San Francisco, co-hosted by ASUS, Corsair and Intel, the ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) Rampage IV Black Edition motherboard was used to break five overclocking world records. Combining the Rampage IV Black Edition motherboard with ASUS GeForce GTX Titan graphics cards, the latest 4th generation Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition processors and Corsair Vengeance Extreme and Dominator Platinum DDR3 memory, world-renowned members of the international overclocking community worked with ROG engineers to claim new top scores with the 3DMark 11Entry, 3DMark 11 Performance, 3DMark Fire Strike, Cinebench, and quad-channel memory frequency.

"We are proud that previous ASUS X79 motherboards have dominated overclocking rankings by breaking 26 world records since the chipset launch," said Jackie Hsu, ASUS Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Worldwide Sales, Open Platform Business Group. "The accomplishments we demonstrated here at the OC Main Event San Francisco are a testament to what is achievable by combining world-class R&D with incredible talents from the enthusiast community." Xavier Laurent, Director of Product Marketing for Corsair adds "As a company that creates products by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, collaborating with like-minded partners ASUS and Intel to break world benchmarking records using Corsair Dominator Platinum and Vengeance Pro memory was a natural fit. The success of the OC Main Event San Francisco demonstrates the continued strength of the enthusiast community and validates our commitment to this portion of the ecosystem."

G.SKILL International Co. Ltd., the world's leading designer and manufacturer of extreme performance memory, proudly displays several engineering sample DDR4 modules at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF). The next generation of DDR memory is still under development, and G.SKILL is working to push the new technology to its limits in the future. G.SKILL also features a live demo of DDR3 3000MHz 32GB (8x4GB) with the Intel Core i7-4960X CPU and ASUS X79-Deluxe motherboard. Driving the new Ivy Bridge-E processor to new limits, G.SKILL looks forward to offer a wide range of high performance memory kits on the Intel X79 platform.A video presentation follows.