ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of highperformance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products,today launched industrial-grade ISSS314 solid state drives in 3D MLC and 3D TLC versions. All models can withstand a wide temperature range, extreme shocks and vibrations, as well as humidity to meet the needs of industrial users. Using hardened and carefully sorted components, ISSS314 SSDs consume just 2.5W to lower operating costs while providing speedy 560 MB/s read and 520 MB/s write. They are offered in 3D MLC and 3D TLC NAND plus capacities ranging from 32GB to 512 GB in order to better cover and serve as many budgets and needs as possible.

The increased durability and power efficiency of stacked NAND Flash compared to older planar NAND offers very appealing advantages in applications that require non-stop and long term use. The ISSS314 range has an MTBF of 2 million hours, which is 25% more than comparable 2D NAND drives. At the same time, they consume just 2.5W per drive while reaching 512 GB in capacity. Modest power draw translates into major electricity savings over the life of the drive, especially in large installations where many units are needed. Across the range, ISSS314 drives reach 560 MB/s read and 520 MB/s write.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it is increasing the production volume of its 8-gigabyte (GB) High Bandwidth Memory-2 (HBM2) to meet growing market needs across a wide range of applications including artificial intelligence, HPC (high-performance computing), advanced graphics, network systems and enterprise servers.

"By increasing production of the industry's only 8GB HBM2 solution now available, we are aiming to ensure that global IT system manufacturers have sufficient supply for timely development of new and upgraded systems," said Jaesoo Han, executive vice president, Memory Sales & Marketing team at Samsung Electronics. "We will continue to deliver more advanced HBM2 line-ups, while closely cooperating with our global IT customers."

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, today announced that its upcoming XPG SPECTRIX D40 RGB DDR4 has been certified compatible with ASUS AURA Sync software. This allows users of ASUS motherboards to personalize the RGB lighting elements built into D40 modules with choice of color range, lighting sequence, and more. SPECTRIX D40 modules have been optimized for the Intel X299 platform with a starting speed of 2666MHz. They are also compatible with AMD AM4 motherboards. Designed for gamers, overclockers, and case modders, SPECTRIX D40 DDR4 modules provide more options and customization features and support the trend towards builds that incorporate sophisticated RGB and LED.

Graphene has been hailed for some time now as the next natural successor to silicon, today's most used medium for semiconductor technology. However, even before such more exotic solutions to current semiconductor technology are employed (and we are still way off that future, at least when it comes to mass production), engineers and researchers seem to be increasing their focus in one specific part of computing: internal communication between components.

Typically, communication between a computer's Central Processing Unit (CPU) and a system's memory (usually DRAM) have occurred through a bus, which is essentially a communication highway between data stored in the DRAM, and the data that the CPU needs to process/has just finished processing. The fastest CPU and RAM is still only as fast as the bus, and recent workloads have been increasing the amount of data to be processed (and thus transferred) by orders of magnitude. As such, engineers have been trying to figure out ways of increasing communication speed between the CPU and the memory subsystem, as it is looking increasingly likely that the next bottlenecks in HPC will come not through lack of CPU speed or memory throughput, but from a bottleneck in communication between those two.

If you didn't already know, semiconductor production plants are some of the most aseptic locations you can usually find deployed around the world (remember those pictures of engineers wearing full-body suits and face masks?) As is often the case with cutting edge technology, there is usually no place for variable conditions; precision-level manufacturing requires the most stable, predictable working and manufacturing conditions that can possibly be achieved. When something goes wrong, say, when the nitrogen gas dispensing system of a major semiconductor manufacturing facility acts up and releases uncalibrated amounts of gas, things can go very wrong, very quickly.

That is exactly what happened with Micron's Fab 2 in Taiwan. Fab 2 was a result of Micron's Inotera acquisition, and production from this fab accounts for around 5.5% of the global DRAM supply (125,000 wafers per month) Due to the nitrogen gas dispenser malfunction, both wafers and equipment were contaminated, which Trendforce says reduced Inotera's production capability by 60,000 wafers. Now, granted, Micron has already officially come out and say that this was all a "minor accident" which "had no impact" on business. However, one has to consider that Fab 2 mainly specializes in production of LPDDR4 memory, which is essentially used in mobile phone environments - Apple being the company's biggest consumer of DRAM chips. With iPhone 8 production supposedly in full swing, if I were Micron, I would certainly prefer to take a bite out of my DRAM supplies than admit production capacity reduction and shortages to such a partner. If Apple were to take its business elsewhere, Micron would be hard-pressed to find another customer of that caliber.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, and mobile accessories today launched the HD710 Pro durable external hard drive alongside an addition to the best-selling HD650 range. The HD710 Pro improves on its HD710 predecessor by exceeding IP68 dust and waterproofing plus military-grade shock resistance. It enhances the safeguarding of stored data against accidents, damage, and the rigors of active lifestyles, and is available in four colors. The HD710 Pro offers up to 4TB capacity. The refreshed HD650 arrives in a stylish light blue over black color scheme, also providing 4TB capacity - a new milestone for unpowered USB external hard drives. Together, these two new USB 3.1 models bolster the ADATA external hard drive portfolio, giving consumers more choice.

DRAM prices have been high for quite some time now, due to a general increased demand over a slowly improving supply capability from manufacturers. Pricing of DRAM has been increasing (to the tune that if I wanted to double my memory capacity, I would have to pay double of what I paid a mere 11 months ago.) NAND pricing has been affected as well, with newer technologies such as 3D NAND not having a relevant impact on end user pricing as was expected, since tight supply and growing demand means process-level savings are dwarfed by the increasing prices on the balance of supply and demand.

Most of our woes can be traced back to high-end smartphones, which make use of up to 6 GB of RAM and have copious amounts of NAND memory. Now, reports are coming in that due to the iPhone 8's impending launch, supply is even tighter, with several firms being either unable to secure the amount of Ram they are looking for, or having to order in significant advance (futures speculation anyone?) Reuters is reporting that some clients have moved to 6-month supply agreements for their DRAM and NAND purchases, accepting higher prices than the customary quarterly or monthly deals, to make sure they get enough memory chips for their products.

Patriot took the opportunity to tease an upcoming line of LED-lighted DRAM modules. Details on these were extremely scarce (actually, nonexistent), which could mean that Patriot is either playing its cards extremely close to its chest, or that specifications haven't been finalized as of yet. However, it seems the final design for the modules is, and that's what Patriot was proud enough to show. However, I think it's a given that these are DDR4 modules.

I have to say I really like the design on these heat-spreaders; they're both understated and bold, which isn't that much of a frequent combination. Expect more details on these memory sticks to come in the coming months.

GeIL showed off its AMD Ryzen-optimized EVO-X AMD Edition DDR4 memory, with integrated RGB LED lighting. The modules feature Ryzen-friendly DRAM chips (although we're not sure if they're Samsung b-die), coupled with an SPD profile that's readable by prominent third-party one-click optimization standards such as ASUS DOCP, MSI A-XMP, and XMP-translation. The modules have been tested for stability in sustaining their advertised clocks and timings on motherboards of various brands.

The RGB LED lighting on the EVO-X series supports various RGB LED control software such as ASUS/ASRock Aura Sync, MSI Mystic Light RGB, BIOSTAR Vivid LED DJ, and GIGABYTE RGB Fusion. You can also manually set the color and brightness physically on the module itself, using a slider button-set called "Sliding Hot Switch." The EVO-X AMD Edition runs at DDR4-3466 MHz, with timings of 16-18-18-38. They are available in module densities of 8 GB, and in dual-channel kits of 16 GB. The modules are available in white and black heatspreader colors. The company could launch quad-channel kits in the wake of the Ryzen Threadripper TR4 platform.

You've probably heard of AMD's AGESA updates by now - the firmware updates that are ironing out the remaining kinks in AMD's Ryzen platform, which really could have used a little more time in the oven before release. However, kinks have been disappearing, the platform has been maturing and evolving, and AMD has been working hard in improving the experience for consumers and enthusiasts alike. As a brief primer, AGESA is responsible for initializing AMD x86-64 processors during boot time, acting as something of a "nucleus" for the BIOS of your motherboard. Motherboard vendors take the core capabilities of AGESA updates and build on them with their own "secret sauce" to create the BIOS that ultimately populate your motherboard of choice. The process of cooking up BIOS updates built on the new AGESA will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but AMD's Robert Hallock says you should be seeing BIOSes based on this version halfway through the month of June - if your vendor isn't already providing a Beta version of some kind.

This new AGESA update code, version 1.0.0.6, should be just up the alley of enthusiasts, however, in that it adds a grand total of 26 new parameters for memory configuration, improving the compatibility and reliability of DRAM, especially for memory that does not follow the industry-standard JEDEC specifications (e.g. faster than 2667, manual overclocking, or XMP2 profiles). Below you'll find the 26 parameters that were introduced.

TechPowerUp and G.Skill Memory bring you three more reasons to take the AMD Ryzen leap, with the "Game Faster with Flare X" Giveaway. Up for grabs are three G.Skill Flare X 16 GB (2x 8GB) dual-channel DDR4-3200 memory kits, which are based on Samsung b-die DRAM chips, and are recommended by AMD for the best performance on its Ryzen series desktop processors. The Flare X series kits are renowned for reliably sustaining DDR4-3200 speeds on Ryzen machines, which have a direct impact on their performance, since DRAM clock is synced with the clock speed of the Infinity Fabric interconnect between the two CCX quad-core units on Ryzen processors. The giveaway is open worldwide.For more information, and to participate, visit this page.

Early on in Intel's 3D XPoint teasers and announcements, the company planned to have this memory integrated not only as a system cache solution or SSD replacement, but also as a potential substitute for DRAM memory. The objective: to revolutionize the amount of DRAM memory a given system can carry, at a much lower price per GB, with a somewhat acceptable performance penalty. Intel describes the current DRAM implementation as too small, too expensive, and too unstable (read: data loss on power loss) to continue being on top of the memory food chain. This is where the 3D Xpoint DIMM implementation can bear fruits, by offering significantly higher amounts of storage at much lower pricing, while keeping attractive bandwidth and latency performance. DRAM will still be used for system-critical operations and booting, albeit in lower capacities, and will be used side by side with these 3D XPoint DIMM slots, which will take in the bulk of the work.

This kind of usage for Intel's 3D XPoint also delivers an interesting side-effect: since this memory is persistent (which means that data isn't lost when the power is turned off,) interruption or loss of power won't erase the work in memory. At the same time, this means that this kind of DRAM-substitute memory requires some security precautions DRAM doesn't, since anyone with direct physical access to the stick could just remove one and take it with all the data inside. Even though a 2018 time to market seems a little to optimistic, considering all the changes this implementation would require from adopters, the technology is definitely promising enough to tempt users to make the jump.

South Korean DRAM and NAND flash giant SK Hynix updated its product catalog to feature its latest GDDR6 memory, besides HBM2. The company had April announced its first GDDR6 memory products. The first GDDR6 memory chips by SK Hynix come in 8 Gb (1 gigabyte) densities, and data-rates of 14 Gbps and 12 Gbps, with DRAM voltages of 1.35V. The company is giving away small quantities of these chips for product development, mass production will commence soon, and bulk availability is slated for Q4-2017. This would mean actual products implementing these chips could be available only by very-late Q4 2017, or Q1-2018.

A graphics card with 14 Gbps GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit memory bus (8 chips) features 448 GB/s of memory bandwidth. A card with 384-bit (12 chips), should have 672 GB/s at its disposal. Likewise, the 12 Gbps memory chips offer 384 GB/s in 256-bit (8-chip) setups, and 576 GB/s in 384-bit (12-chip) setups. Meanwhile, SK Hynix also updated its HBM2 catalog to feature a 32 Gb (4 gigabyte) HBM2 stack, with a clock speed of 1.60 Gbps. The 2.00 Gbps stack which featured in the Q4-2016 version of this catalog is no longer available. At 1.60 Gbps, a GPU with four stacks has 819.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. A chip with two stacks, such as the purported "Vega 10" prototype that has made several media appearances, hence has 409.6 GB/s.

Samsung could be on the verge of a historic dethroning of Intel as the dominant chipmaker in the IC world, if a recent report from IC Insights is to be believed. The report shows Samsung actually exceeding Intel's semiconductor sales in 2Q 2017, no doubt spurred on by mobile market growth and the proliferation of ARM based SOCs manufactured by Samsung.

Intel has held the dominant position for nearly a quarter century as its x86 architecture powered most PCs and notebooks/netbooks since 1993. The number of components they sell is not just limited to CPUs either: Intel is a provider of chips for everything from networking to thermal sensors, for Samsung to compete with such a giant in the semiconductor market at all (let alone exceed their sales) is quite a feat indeed.

Continuing the trend of previous reports, DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, reports the general price increase in the PC DRAM market is growing larger than anticipated as the already tight supply situation is compounded by quality problems with products made on the leading-edge processes. Based on a preliminary survey of completed contracts for the second quarter, DRAMeXchange estimates that the average contract price of 4GB DDR4 modules will go up by about 12.5% compared with the first quarter, from US$24 to around US$27.

"PC-OEMs that have been negotiating their second-quarter memory contracts initially expected the market supply to expand because Samsung and Micron have begun to produce on the 18 nm and the 17 nm processes, respectively," said Avril Wu, research director of DRAMeXchange. "However, both Samsung and Micron have encountered setbacks related to sampling and yield, so the supply situation remains tight going into the second quarter and PC DRAM prices will continue to rise through this three-month period."

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is delighted to announce a new extreme speed memory kit running at DDR4-4333MHz at 16GB (8GBx2) capacity. And continuing with the pursuit of extreme memory speeds on the latest hardware, G.SKILL has reached an extreme DDR4-4500MHz speed on the Intel Z270 platform, achieving a stunning bandwidth write speed of 65GB per second in dual channel mode.

The latest addition to the Trident Z series of extreme performance memory kit is the DDR4-4333MHz CL19-19-19-39 timing in 16GB (8GBx2) at 1.40V. This is the first DDR4-4333MHz memory kit on the market in the 8GBx2 configuration for a total of 16GB. The stress test screenshot below displays the DDR4-4333MHz memory kit validated on ASUS ROG Maximus IX Apex motherboard and Intel Core i5-7600K processor.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, and mobile accessories today launched the i-Memory AI920 Jet Black Flash drive for iOS devices. Featuring Lightning and USB 3.1 in one slim 6.9mm device, the AI920 delivers 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB capacity and up to 150MB/s read. The Jet Black color scheme has been added in order to better complement Apple devices with an exact color match with iPhone 7, giving consumer more choice. The AI920 is also Apple MFi certified, making it an official iOS accessory.

DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, today reported that the average contract price of 4GB PC DRAM modules increased over 20% between September and October of 2016 (jumping from US$14.5 to US$17.5) as DRAM suppliers completed their fourth-quarter contract negotiations with first-tier PC-OEMs.

These increases come as the result of production capacity gradually shifting from PC-centric DRAM towards mobile and server DRAM, which have seen tremendous growths in demand. In fact, PC DRAM memory accounts for less than 20% of overall DRAM production. The already low inventories of branded device makers go hand in hand with higher-than-expected demand for DRAM-carrying products. And this higher demand comes after the PC DRAM market being severely undersupplied in the second half of 2016. The result: an across-the-board price upturn for all types of DRAM.

CORSAIR, a world leader in enthusiast memory, high-performance gaming hardware and PC components, today announced the immediate availability of CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB DDR4 memory. VENGEANCE RGB brings vibrant RGB lighting to the DIMM slot, with high luminosity RGB LEDs integrated into every module, all controlled by CORSAIR LINK. CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB's wire-free integration enables software RGB lighting control without additional wires (patent pending) for a sharp, clean look and providing an instant visual upgrade to any system build.

Equipped with a precision-engineered light bar and an all-new perforated CORSAIR logo, each LED generates vibrant and rich RGB lighting. With four customizable lighting modes; static, rainbow, breathing and color shift, it's simple to color match your system's build or put on a dazzling light show, and with specifically designed lighting circuitry, there's zero impact on DDR4 performance. With CORSAIR LINK, users can set up a temperature alert that automatically changes each memory module's LED color based on system temperatures, as well as monitor and control a wide variety of CORSAIR components, from case fans, lighting, DRAM and compatible CORSAIR power supplies to Hydro Series liquid CPU coolers, providing a complete PC monitoring experience.

NAND has come here to stay, and it's market penetration still has a lot of leeway. Samsung, bar none the biggest and best player in the NAND field, is in a uniquely privileged position to develop new technologies and capitalize on them. Remember that Samsung has so many distinct product lines on which to monetize its advancements that any new investment is hardly a make it or break it affair.

Z-NAND is Samsung's answer to other developing technologies such as 3D XPoint, of which Intel has just announced the first commercial product. Z-NAND looks to stand at the intersection between NAND and DRAM, and is more of an evolution of the NAND design than it is a totally new technology (thus distancing itself from the likes of 3D XPoint.)

Today, Intel unveiled the Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X Series and Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X Series with Intel Memory Drive Technology, enabling new possibilities to transform storage and memory architectures for the data center. Deployed as blazing fast storage or caching tier, Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X breaks the confines of traditional storage to significantly increase scale per server and accelerate applications. When deployed as extended memory, this drive expands the system memory pool, creating bigger, more cost-effective memory to gain higher quality insights.

An industry-leading combination of high throughput, low latency, high quality of service and high endurance enable the creation of solutions that remove data bottlenecks, unleash CPU utilization and deliver unprecedented insights. Intel Optane SSDs offer unrivaled performance at low queue depth, where the vast majority of applications generate storage workloads, which means CPUs are more active and more fully utilized. Intel Optane SSDs for the data center let users do more work with the same servers, improving TCO or expanding capabilities. And because the drive is extremely responsive under any load, it is highly predictable and delivers ultra-fast service, consistently.

AMD's Radeon branded memory business appears to be at a standstill, with no new product launches since 2015, and Radeon memory products out of stock (or nearly out of stock) at key retailers across North America.

When AMD was asked if it was planning to exit the memory business altogether, a company spokesperson replied that the memory is still being sold but is "mostly distributed in Eastern Europe, only small quantities are diverted to North America."

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, a global leader in designing and marketing NAND flash controllers and solid-state storage devices, today announced that it has extended its popular family of SATA 6 Gb/s FerriSSD Industrial BGA SSDs to support the latest 3D NAND with end-to-end data path protection, NANDXtend ECC, and IntelligentScan feature - delivering unsurpassed data reliability for embedded storage applications. The new FerriSSD products offer flexible data capacity options up to 256GB and feature proprietary data protection technologies that eliminate drive downtime and extend the service life of these SSDs. FerriSSD products offer customized solutions for various end-market demands and are optimized to meet the specific needs of the customer.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of highperformance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, and mobile accessories is proud to share that all DDR4 offerings from its XPG high performance hardware brand have been officially certified by AMD as compatible with the AM4 socket and accompanying processors, namely the recently-launched Ryzen range. XPG memory was validated while installed on MSI motherboards, signaling major cooperation between ADATA and MSI.

With formal AMD approval, customers know they are purchasing a fully compatible product when selecting XPG DDR4 to be used on AMD AM4-based motherboards. As XPG DDR4 has been added to the AMD QVL (qualified vendor list), customers can rely on seamless compatibility without having to worry about POST or other conflict issues.

GeIL launched its flagship EVO-X line of high-performance DDR4 memory modules featuring RGB LED lighting, which it unveiled at the 2017 International CES, earlier this year. The modules feature a diffused RGB LED lighting element that takes input from most RGB LED standards over 4-pin headers, such as ASUS Aura Sync, ASRock Aura RGB, MSI Mystic Light Sync, and GIGABYTE RGB Fusion. The modules feature two inputs, one on either side. One plugs into a 4-pin RGB LED header, and the other draws additional power from a 9V/12V power source, such as a fan header.

Internally, the LED lighting element is placed on a separate PCB from the actual DRAM module, so there's no scope for electrical interference that can destabilize the memory. The modules come in 4 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB densities, and in a wide range of speeds and timing combinations, including DDR4-2133, DDR4-2400, DDR4-3000, DDR4-3466, DDR4-4000, and DDR4-4133. The modules further come in single-module and dual-channel kits; and with two heatspreader color options - glossy white and matte black. The company didn't reveal pricing.