Intel Xeon Scalable "Sapphire Rapids" is an upcoming enterprise processor with a CPU core count of up to 60. This core-count is achieved using four dies inter-connected using EMIB. Locuza, who leads social media with logic die annotation, posted one for "Sapphire Rapids," based on a high-resolution die-shot revealed by Intel in its ISSCC 2022 presentation.

Each of the four dies in "Sapphire Rapids" is a fully-fledged multi-core processor in its own right, complete with CPU cores, integrated northbridge, memory and PCIe interfaces, and other platform I/O. What brings four of these together is the use of five EMIB bridges per die. This allows CPU cores of a die to transparantly access the I/O and memory controlled any of the other dies transparently. Logically, "Sapphire Rapids" isn't unlike AMD "Naples," which uses IFOP (Infinity Fabric over package) to inter-connect four 8-core "Zeppelin" dies, but the effort here appears to be to minimize the latency arising from an on-package interconnect, toward a high-bandwidth, low-latency one that uses silicon bridges with high-density microscopic wiring between them (akin to an interposer).

At Intel's 2022 investor meeting, the company has presented a technology roadmap update to give its clients an insight into what is to come. Today, team blue announced one of the first discrete data-centric graphics cards in the lineup, codenamed Arctic Sound-M GPU. Based on the DG2 Xe-HPG variation of Intel Xe GPUs, Arctic Sound-M is the company's first design to enter the data center space. The DG2 GPU features 512 Execution Units (EUs), which get passive cooling from the single-slot design of Arctic Sound's heatsink, envisioned for data center enclosures with external airflow.

One of the most significant selling points that Intel advertises is support for hardware-based AV1 encoding standard. This feature allows the card to achieve a 30% greater bandwidth, and it is the main differentiator between consumer-oriented Arc Alchemist GPUs and itself. The card is powered by PCIe power and an 8-pin EPS power connector. Arctic Sound-M is already sampling to select customers and it will become available in the middle of 2022.Below is Intel's teaser video.

WDC recently stated that certain materials were contaminated in late January at NAND Flash production lines in Yokkaichi and Kitakami, Japan which are joint ventures with Kioxia, according to TrendForce's investigations. Before this incident, TrendForce had forecast that the NAND Flash market will see a slight oversupply the entire year and average price from Q1 to Q2 will face downward pressure. However, the impact of WDC's material contamination issue is significant and Samsung's experience during the previous lockdown of Xi'an due to the pandemic has also retarded the magnitude of the NAND Flash price slump. Therefore, the Q1 price drop will diminish to 5~10%. In addition, according to TrendForce, the combined WDC/Kioxia NAND Flash market share in the 3Q21 was as high as 32.5%. The consequences of this latest incident may push the price of NAND Flash in Q2 to spike 5~10%.

The contaminated products in this incident are concentrated in 3D NAND (BICS) with an initial estimate of 6.5exabytes (approximately 6,500M GB) affected. According to TrendForce, damaged bits account for 13% of the group's output in 1Q22 and approximately 3% of the total output for the year. The normal production schedule for the entire line has yet to be confirmed. It is worth noting that the damages announced by WDC likely do not account for total losses stemming for this event and the number of damaged Kioxia parts has not been aggregated, so the total number of affected bits may increase further.

AMD announced the Radeon RX 6500 XT and RX 6400 at CES just a few days ago. These new entry-level cards debut the company's first 6 nm GPU, codenamed "Navi 24"—the smallest chip from the RDNA2 family. Navi 24 is barely the size of a motherboard chipset, roughly 100 mm² in die size. The chip only features a 64-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface, needing just two memory chips to achieve 4 GB of memory size. While AMD has been fairly quiet about it, people quickly found out that the Navi 24 GPU only uses a PCI-Express 4.0 x4 host interface. While the physical connector is x16, there is only enough signal traces for x4.Even the most updated 2.43.0 public version of GPU-Z misreports the bus interface as PCIe x16 4.0 though, which will certainly lead to confusion in the reviewer community who trust GPU-Z to report the correct specs and speeds for their articles. Maybe that's the reason why AMD has decided to not send us a sample this time—a first in 15 years.

Update Jan 20th: GPU-Z 2.44.0 has been released, which properly reports the PCIe bus configuration of RX 6500 XT.

PCI-SIG, the organization responsible for the widely adopted PCI Express (PCIe ) standard, today announced the official release of the PCIe 6.0 specification, reaching 64 GT/s. PCI Express technology has served as the de facto interconnect of choice for nearly two decades. The PCIe 6.0 specification doubles the bandwidth and power efficiency of the PCIe 5.0 specification (32 GT/s), while providing low latency and reduced bandwidth overhead.

"PCI-SIG is pleased to announce the release of the PCIe 6.0 specification less than three years after the PCIe 5.0 specification," said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG Chairperson and President. "PCIe 6.0 technology is the cost-effective and scalable interconnect solution that will continue to impact data-intensive markets like data center, artificial intelligence/machine learning, HPC, automotive, IoT, and military/aerospace, while also protecting industry investments by maintaining backwards compatibility with all previous generations of PCIe technology."

Driven by forces such as the pandemic, geopolitics, and the digital transformation of everyday life, there has been a shortage of global foundry production capacity for nearly two years and shortages have been especially severe for mature 1Xnm~180nm nodes, according to TrendForce's investigations. Although all foundries are furiously increasing capital expenditures to expand capacity, unrealized future expansion does not ease existing supply issues. In addition, the uneven distribution of supply chain resources that has exacerbated the shortage of parts and components has yet to be definitively alleviated. Circumstances as a whole will continue affecting shipments of related whole devices. Only the PC category is expected to emerge largely unscathed in 1Q22.

Moving into 1Q22, TrendForce states, due to the limited increase in production capacity, the market's supply situation is expected to be approximately the same as in 4Q21. However, some end products have entered their traditional off-season cycle and the slowdown in demand momentum is expected to alleviate the immediate pressure on OEMs and ODMs regarding supply chain stocking.

QNAP Systems, today launched the QM2-2P410G1T and QM2-2P410G2T PCIe Gen 4 Cards; and the QM2-2P10G1TB PCIe Gen 3 Card. All three PCIe cards allow adding M.2 NVMe SSD slots and 10GbE connectivity to a QNAP NAS or PC/server/workstation, with no driver installation required. NAS users can improve overall NAS performance by enabling SSD caching, and upgrade NAS storage capacity without occupying any 3.5-inch drive bays. PC/server/workstation users can increase their storage capacity while also boosting overall IOPS performance by offloading bandwidth-demanding tasks to SSDs to minimize application loading times.

The QM2-2P410GxT series and the QM2-2P10G1TB features single/dual 10GBASE-T Multi-Gigabit (10G/5G/2.5G/1G/100M) network ports to boost bandwidth-demanding tasks. With QNAP 10GbE switches, you can easily upgrade to a high-speed network environment. M.2 SSD thermal sensors allow real-time temperature monitoring, with a quiet cooling module (heatsink and smart fan) to keep the SSDs running within optimal temperatures. A tool-less design also enables quick M.2 SSD installation and replacement.

Phanteks debuts a host of new products for the upcoming year at CES 2022 - The brand new Evolv Shift XT Mini-ITX Chassis and Revolt SFX Power Supplies, Matte White Editions for the Evolv X & Eclipse P600S Chassis, white SK PWM D-RGB Fans, white AMP Power Supply and a complete range of Gen4 PCIe Riser Cables and Gen4 Vertical GPU Bracket.

Brand new and unique Evolv Shift XT Mini-ITX Chassis and super compact Revolt SFX Power Supplies
Evolv Shift XT - Compact, Powerful, Futureproof
The Evolv Shift XT brings a unique small form factor that can extend in size to tailor to your cooling performance needs. The Evolv Shift XT has no compromise on performance with support for powerful hardware, whether in Compact, Aircooled, or Liquid Cooled Mode.

congatec - a leading vendor of embedded and edge computing technology - introduces the 12th Generation Intel Core mobile and desktop processors (formerly code named Alder Lake) on 10 new COM-HPC and COM Express Computer-on-Modules. Featuring the latest high performance cores from Intel, the new modules in COM-HPC Size A and C as well as COM Express Type 6 form factors offer major performance gains and improvements for the world of embedded and edge computing systems. Most impressive is the fact that engineers can now leverage Intel's innovative performance hybrid architecture. Offering of up to 14 cores/20 threads on BGA and 16 cores/24 threads on desktop variants (LGA mounted), 12th Gen Intel Core processors provide a quantum leap [1] in multitasking and scalability levels. Next-gen IoT and edge applications benefit from up to 6 or 8 (BGA/LGA) optimized Performance-cores (P-cores) plus up to 8 low power Efficient-cores (E-cores) and DDR5 memory support to accelerate multithreaded applications and execute background tasks more efficiently.

Axiomtek - a world-renowned leader relentlessly devoted in the research, development, and manufacturing of innovative and reliable industrial computer products of high efficiency - is pleased to announce its partnership with leading AI chipmaker Hailo to launch the RSC100, a state-of-the-art ARM-based edge AI computer (also named Plato). The ARM-based RSC100 (Plato) supports the Hailo-8 edge AI processor, the latter of which features up to 26 TOPS for running deep learning applications at full scale efficiently, intelligently, and sustainably. The partnership with Hailo offers customers a new level of AI solutions across a wide range of market segments such as smart city, smart retail, industry 4.0, and smart transportation.

"Hailo has gained a lot of experience in developing high-performance AI processors suitable for edge devices. The powerful yet affordable RSC100 (Plato) is our first fanless edge AI computing system that adopts the Hailo-8. The RSC100 (Plato) provides system developers with highly efficient implementation of innovative AI solutions at reduced time-to-market and engineering costs. With the advanced AI performance, the RSC100 (Plato) is well suited for use in smart city applications, including smart surveillance, smart factory, smart agriculture, and smart transportation," said Ken Pan, the product manager at Axiomtek.

For a significant period, Intel's Next Unit of Computing (NUC) series has featured soldered processors on the PC's motherboard. However, according to the latest leaks from Twitter hardware leaker @9550pro, we have a potential Alder Lake-based NUC featuring desktop processor versions and a dedicated LGA1700 socket. As the leaked image shows, it looks like Intel's NUC 12 Extreme edition will feature an LGA1700 socket that features support for desktop-class of Alder Lake processors. If this leak is correct, we could see a compelling NUC solution filled with Intel-only processors, meaning an Alder Lake CPU and Arc Alchemist discrete graphics card.

There is room for PCIe expansion, which means that theoretically, you could connect any GPU to the mainboard. However, it is natural to assume that Intel could force their own GPU SKUs to launch this mini PC. We have to wait and see what Intel presents at tomorrow's CES 2022 event for more information.

Demand for NAND Flash products will undergo a noticeable and cyclical downward correction in 1Q22 as major smartphone brands wind down their procurement activities for the peak season and ODMs prepare for the New Year holidays, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. As such, the NAND Flash market will remain in an oversupply situation, with prices continuing to undergo downward corrections accordingly. However, PC OEMs have been reinstating certain orders for client SSDs since early November in response to improvements in the supply of upstream semiconductor materials. By fulfilling these orders, suppliers are able to keep their inventory level relatively low, meaning they are not under as much pressure as previously expected to reduce inventory by lowering prices. Taking these factors into account, TrendForce expects NAND Flash ASP to undergo a 10-15% QoQ decline in 1Q22, during which NAND Flash prices will experience the most noticeable declines compared to the other quarters in 2022.

Regarding the price trend of NAND Flash products across the whole 2021, TrendForce further indicates that suppliers have actively transitioned their output to higher-layer technologies, resulting in a bit supply growth that noticeably outpaces demand, though the tight supply of components such as controller ICs and PMICs has constrained the production of NAND Flash end-products. Hence, the decline in contract prices of NAND Flash products has not been as severe as previously expected. Moving ahead to 2022, however, the supply of relevant components is expected to gradually improve, so the market for various NAND Flash products will also likely shift towards a noticeable oversupply. As a result, prices of NAND Flash products will steadily decline before the arrival of the peak season in 3Q22.

Cougar today introduced the Polar line of high-wattage PSUs. These are characterized by their matte-white casing with a brushed aluminium tone that makes up the fan intake. The lineup are available in two models—1050 W and 1200 W, both with the same set of fully modular cables. Connectors include a 24-pin ATX, two 8-pin EPS, eight 6+2 pin PCIe power, nine SATA power, and three 4-pin Molex.

Under the hood, the Cougar Polar features a single +12 V rail design with 80 Plus Platinum efficiency, a 100% Japanese capacitor design, DC-to-DC switching, active PFC, and most common electrical protections. A 135 mm hydro-dynamic bearing fan keeps the unit cool with 0 dBA (fanless) operation up to 40% load (that's 480 W for the 1200 W model, and 420 W for the 1050 W model. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Akasa has been into client networking products lately, with its recent low-profile 2.5 GbE adapter. The company's latest product in the category is the AK-PCCE25-02. This card provides 2.5 Gbps wired Ethernet connectivity, along with 25.5 Watts of Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), which should power equipment such as repeaters or cameras. It features all power switching components on board, and relies on a SATA power input for this purpose, and doesn't load the PCIe slot for PoE. Without the SATA power input, the PoE function is disabled, and it works like any other 2.5 GbE adapter. The card remains half-height, and a low-profile bracket is included. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Sapphire, along with various other AIB partners from AMD, has been making graphics cards exclusively for cryptocurrency mining. With the arrival of AMD's RDNA2 generation, this has continued as well. However, the company has been doing it more quietly to avoid backslash from its customers already furious about the poor availability of graphics cards in general. Fortunately, El Chapuzas Informatico managed to get ahold of two datasheets from Sapphire that highlight features and use cases of its GPRO X080 and GPRO X060 mining graphics cards, primarily targeting Ethereum coin mining.

According to the source, the company has readied two models based on RDNA2 chipsets. That is GPRO X080 SKU based on Navi 22 with 2304 Streaming Processors, running at 2132 MHz frequency. Paired with Navi 22 GPU, 10 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 16 Gbps speed on a 160-bit bus. This model has no display outputs, and the only connector is a PCIe 4.0 x16 slot that connects the GPU to the motherboard. Running at the default 165 Watt TGP, the card produces a 38.0 MH/s hash rate, while the optimized form of 41.6 MH/s reduces TGP to just 93 Watts.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, and mobile accessories today announces the new upgraded ADATA IM2P33E8 PLP PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 solid state drive (SSD) with Power Loss Protection (PLP) technology. Since its launch in 2019, the IM2P33E8 has been recognized by industry insiders and customers involved in 5G, IoT, cloud, AI and other industrial applications for its excellent performance, high capacities, and comprehensive data security mechanism.

In order to meet the requirements of industrial applications in the era of 5G, IoT, Cloud, AI, and big data analytics, ADATA is offering an SSD that is able to operate for longer after power outages and reduce the misidentification of bad blocks. This was achieved by the inclusion of tantalum polymer capacitors to the IM2P33E8 PLP. Tantalum polymer capacitors have the ability to reduce the detriment caused by power outages, most notably data loss.

During the Supercomputing (SC) 21 event, Intel has disclosed additional information regarding the company's upcoming Xeon server processor lineup, codenamed Sapphire Rapids. One of the central areas of improvement for the new processor generation is the core architecture based on Golden Cove, the same core found in Alder Lake processors for consumers. However, the only difference between the Golden Cove variant found in Alder Lake and Sapphire Rapids is the amount of L2 (level two) cache. With Alder Lake, Intel equipped each core with 1.25 MB of its L2 cache. However, with Sapphire Rapids, each core receives a 2 MB bank.

One of the most exciting things about the processors, confirmed by Intel today, is the inclusion of High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM). These processors operate with eight memory channels carrying DDR5 memory and offer PCIe Gen5 IO expansion. Intel has confirmed that Sapphire Rapids Xeons will feature up to 64 GB of HBM2E memory, including a few operating modes. The first is a simple HBM caching mode, where the HBM memory acts as a buffer for the installed DDR5. This method is transparent to software and allows easy usage. The second method is Flat Mode, which means that both DDR5 and HBM are used as contiguous address spaces. And finally, there exists an HBM-only mode that utilizes the HBM2E modules as the only system memory, and applications fit inside it. This has numerous benefits, primarily drawn from HBM's performance and reduced latency.

The launch of Intel's Alder Lake processsors has opened an exciting chapter for team blue and motherboard makers who are finally transitioning to new technologies like DDR5 and PCIe Gen5 standards. Today, GIGABYTE AORUS has prepared a complete lineup of motherboards designed to satisfy all kinds of workloads powered by Alder Lake processors as these AORUS Z690 motherboards are about to hit the market. These new boards include an upgraded feature set like 16+ phases power delivery on all boards, upgraded heatsinks to keep VRM temperatures under control, and built-in DDR5 overclocking features.

The event will be live-streamed on YouTube, so tune in to the First Look Event as the AORUS team gives an in-depth overview and cover the performance increase you can experience with Intel 12th gen CPU and DDR5 memory on the AORUS Z690 platform. They will be going over the new platform's entire lineup and feature set, so make sure you get to the event on time. It will start at 18:00 UTC zone, and you can tune in to watch here: AORUS Z690 First Look Event.

XPG, a fast-growing provider of systems, components, and peripherals for Gamers, Esports Pros, and Tech Enthusiasts, today announces XPG, a fast-growing provider of systems, components, and Peripherals for Gamers, Esports Pros, and Tech Enthusiasts, today announces a new series of solid state drives (SSD), the XPG ATOM series, geared toward creators of different needs and budgets. They include the XPG ATOM 30, 40, and 50.

The ATOM 30 and 40 utilize PCIe Gen3x4 and NVMe 1.3 to deliver sequential read and write speeds of up to 2,500/2,000 and 3,500/3,000 MB per second, respectively, to give creators the performance they need to create without limitations. Their M.2 2280 specifications support the latest Intel and AMD platforms for creating on the latest PCs, including desktop and laptops. For users seeking a further boost, the ATOM 50 takes advantage of PCIe Gen4 x4 and NVMe 1.4 to offer read and write speeds of up to 5, 000/4,500 MB per second.

ADATA Technology, a manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, mobile accessories, gaming products, electric power trains, and industrial solutions today announces a new series of solid state drives (SSD), the ADATA LEGEND series, geared toward creators of different needs and budgets. They include the ADATA LEGEND 740, 750, and 840.

The LEGEND 740 and 750 utilize PCIe Gen3 x4 and NVMe 1.3 to deliver sequential read and write speeds of up to 2,500/2,000 and 3,500/3,000 MB per second, respectively, to give creators the performance they need to create without limitations. Their M.2 2280 specifications support the latest Intel and AMD platforms for creating on the latest PCs, including desktop and laptops. For users seeking a further boost, the LEGEND 840 takes advantage of PCIe Gen4 x4 and NVMe 1.4 to offer read and write speeds of up to 5,000/4,500 MB per second.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic led to severe delays in manufacturing and logistics. In particular, governments worldwide began implementing border restrictions in 2Q20 to combat the ongoing health crisis, leading to a sudden decline in order volumes for channel-market SSDs, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. Annual shipment of SSDs to the channel (retail) market reached 111.5 million units in 2020, a 15% YoY decrease. In terms of market share by shipment, Kingston, ADATA, and Kimtigo once again occupied the top three spots, respectively.

Looking at the channel market for SSDs as a whole, NAND Flash suppliers (among which Samsung possessed the largest market share) accounted for around 35% of the total shipments in 2020, while SSD module makers accounted for the other 65%. The top 10 module makers accounted for 71% of channel-market SSD shipments from all SSD module makers. Taken together, these figures show that the market remained relatively oligopolistic in 2020. However, it should be noted that TrendForce's ranking of SSD module makers for 2020 takes account of only products bound for the channel market and under brands owned by the module makers themselves; NAND Flash suppliers were therefore excluded from the top 10 ranking.

In response to the demand for visual content, the pursuit of higher-resolution imaging and large amounts of stored data, Apacer, a leading global supplier of industrial storage and memory, has launched a professional-grade, high-endurance and military-grade CFexpress Type B card tailored for photographers and designers. Its excellent reliability and fast read/write speeds have made it a favorite among cinematographers. Apacer has been deeply involved in the industrial memory field for more than 20 years, and put its extensive experience in the audio-visual memory card market to work in developing this cutting-edge CFexpress card.

Apacer's CFexpress Type B cards are lightweight and extremely durable. They adopt only high-endurance NAND Flash ICs and also make use of high-speed PCIe Gen 3x2 interfaces, which have the advantages of ultra-high performance and extremely low latency. The continuous read/write speeds can reach up to 1,700 MB/s and 1,200 MB/s respectively, meeting the needs of next-generation high-speed cameras. They support 4K and 8K video capture as well as firmware adjustment for mainstream camera equipment, delivering a higher level of image detail and post-production tolerance. Through the CFexpress card, photographers and editors can enjoy the high performance brought by high-speed reading and writing everywhere, and also take advantage of high-resolution files and high-stability recording quality, capturing important moments at any time and putting no limits on audio and video creativity.

Contract prices of NAND Flash products are expected to undergo a marginal drop of 0-5% QoQ in 4Q21 as demand slows, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. Hence, the current cyclical upturn in NAND Flash prices will have lasted for only two consecutive quarters. Looking ahead, NAND Flash suppliers' capacity expansion plans will be affected by the outlook on future trends and the supply of other non-memory components. At the same time, attention will have to be paid to the demand projection. At the moment, NAND Flash suppliers appear likely to downsize their capacity expansion activities for 2022, resulting in a 31.8% YoY increase in NAND Flash bit supply next year. Annual bit demand, on the other hand, is projected to increase by 30.8% YoY. With demand being outpaced by supply and competition intensifying among suppliers for higher-layer products, the NAND Flash market will likely experience a cyclical downturn in prices in 2022.

The upcoming graphics cards based on PCIe Gen5 standard will utilize the latest PCIe connector with double bandwidth of the previous Gen4 that we use today and bring a new power connector that the next generation of GPUs brings. According to the information exclusive to Igor's Lab, the new connector will be called the 12VHPWR and will carry as many as 16 pins with it. The reason it is called 12VHPWR is that it features 12 pins for power, while the remaining four are signal transmission connectors to coordinate the delivery. This power connector is supposed to carry as much as 600 Watts of power with its 16 pins.

The new 12VHPWR connector should work exclusively with PCIe Gen5 graphics cards and not be backward compatible with anything else. It is said to replace three standard 8-pin power connectors found on some high-end graphics cards and will likely result in power supply manufacturers adopting the new standard. The official PCI-SIG specification defines each pin capable of sustaining up to 9.2 Amps, translating to a total of 55.2 Amps at 12 Volts. Theoretically, this translates to 662 Watts; however, Igor's Lab notes that the connector is limited to 600 Watts. Additionally, the 12VHPWR connector power pins have a 3.00 mm pitch, while the contacts in a legacy 2×3 (6-pin) and 2×4 (8-pin) connector lie on a larger 4.20 mm pitch.

With 2.5 Gbps Ethernet gaining popularity, we're seeing more and more companies launching 2.5 Gbps products and Akasa is the latest to join the fray. Although there's nothing really unique about this 2.5 Gbps card, it is the lowest profile card we've seen so far, which might make it suitable for certain builds where a regular card wouldn't fit.

The awkwardly named AK-PCCE25-01 features a Realtek Ethernet controller, although we can't quite make out which one, but it's one of the RTL8125 variants. The card comes with a full-height and half-height bracket and drivers for Windows 7 through 10, as well as Linux are provided. Retail pricing seems to be around US$31.95/£27.98/€29.90, which is in line with the competition, or somewhat cheaper.