World renowned mainboard and graphic card manufacturer, Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. again presents its P55-GD85 mainboard, and is officially supporting the Intel latest 32nm process and LGA1156 packaged Core i3 / i5 / i7 series CPU. In addition, the mainboard is built-in with SATA 6Gb/s and SuperSpeed USB 3.0 protocols and each has 2X and 10X ultra-high data transmission bandwidths respectively than their predecessors. OC Genie, SuperPipe and DrMOS, the 3 excellent design inherited from Xtreme Speed P55 series mainboard, are incorporated providing P55-GD85 mainboard with best compatibility and can offer outstanding performance.

A-DATA has a few nice new storage devices out there. The CH94 drive enclosures have a capacity of up to 640 GB. They are currently shipping in black, white and light blue versions and come with a set of stick-on letters and numbers, so that you may customize the look of it. The USB cable wraps around the plastic enclosure, so you won't have to carry one around separately. Then there are the Superior and Nobility drives. The first is very compact, while the other is intended for the budget minded user. A-DATA is also showing a SATA II based SSD, which features USB 3.0 connectivity as well. A little surprise are the A-DATA power supplies we got to see at the show here. They are all featuring detachable cables and can be had in configurations between 525 W and 825 W.

Active Media Products, manufacturer of SSDs and innovative USB drives, today launched a pair of SuperSpeed USB 3.0 adapters designed to upgrade desktop and laptop computers to USB 3.0.

Atomix PX is a two port USB 3.0 adapter card with a PCI Express (PCIe) interface that works in virtually any desktop PC with an available PCIe slot. Atomix EC is a two port USB 3.0 adapter card with an Express Card interface that works in most laptops that have an Express Card slot. "These adapters were designed to facilitate the migration to USB 3.0 by offering a quick and easy upgrade path for most existing desktops and laptops", Active Media Products' VP of Sales, Jerry Thomson said in a statement.

Super Talent's highlight is a USB 3.0 flash drive. The unit manages over 300 MB/s read and 176 MB/s write performance. It comes in 32, 64 and 128 GB versions and utilizes multiple controllers (USB 3.0 -> SATA 6 Gb/s -> Flash) to achieve the performance. Super Talent is also displaying a PCI-E x8 based RAIDDrive SSD in their booth. It manages over 80,000 IOPS per second at 4k, comes with capacity of up to 2 TB, configured in RAID 0 or 5. Lastly there is also a Sandforce based SSD, called UltraDrive FX2. On the memory end, we are not seeing any new products. As a minor improvement, Super Talent has now clearly marked their memory with "Performance" and "Speed" labels.

According to ASUS the Rampage III Extreme is "Designed for those who know the Dark Art of Overclocking". It comes equipped with all features that overclockers dream of, and also has new stuff like ROG Connect for example.
The board supports CPUs for Intel Socket 1366, which means Core i7 including Gulftown (yes, I asked). As chipset Intel's X58 and ICH10R is used like on the Rampage II Extreme. ASUS has routed 32 PCI-Express 2.0 lanes to the PCI-E x16 slots, so you can either run x16+x16, x16+x8+x8 or x8+x8+x8+x8 - all without the added heat and latency of NVIDIA's nForce 200. As we hear this does make quite a difference in a 4x HD 5870 configuration for example. Major improvements have also been made to the power solution which is now 8-phase digital 250 - 1000 kHz. Of course support for USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s is included as well.While exact details are not known, the price of the board will be "highest priced ROG" - my guess is around $400, with availability starting around the Gulftown launch which should be some time in March.

Big, big picture, about 5 MB, can be found here.

One of ASUS' premier offers for this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) event is a new high-end socket LGA-1366 motherboard, the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Rampage III Extreme. The board succeeds the Rampage II Extreme which launched over an year ago along with Intel's then new Core i7 series processors. The new model based on the Intel X58 Express + ICH10R chipset, comes with four well spaced out PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots, a new set of overclocking enhancements such as the ROG connect which lets you control the motherboard's overclocking from any Bluetooth and Java enabled mobile phone, SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0 connectivity using ASUS' innovative PCI-Express 2.0 bridge implementation, and a more powerful CPU VRM to keep the board stable with bleeding-edge settings.

The board features an enhanced CPU VRM which is now powered by two 8-pin ATX connectors apart from two 4-pin Molex connectors. Some of these could be redundant and needed only for electrical stability. The CPU and memory power circuitry makes use of super-ML capacitors for cleaner power delivery. Voltage readouts are located next to the DIMM slots for accessibility. The motherboard makes use of slimmer component heatsinks that look to be made of the ceramic composite which the TUF Sabertooth P55 motherboard uses.

At the ongoing CES event, ASUS displayed some of its upcoming motherboards which included the M4A89GTOD PRO, an ATX form-factor model based on the AMD 890G chipset. The AMD 890G seems to be a successor to the AMD 790GX, in being a performance integrated graphics part. It integrates a DirectX 10.1 compliant IGP while supporting discrete graphics with 2-way ATI CrossFireX.

The M4A89GTOD PRO comes with an expansive feature-set thanks to the AMD 890G. The more interesting component being the AMD SB800 southbridge chip, which is on its way to being one of the first PC motherboard chipsets to natively support SATA 6 Gb/s. The chip doles out six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, while doing away with its on-die IDE controller. An external JMicron-made storage controller compensates with an IDE connector, a SATA 3 Gb/s port (colored black) and perhaps an eSATA port (at 3 Gb/s speeds), too.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co., Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards and other computing hardware solutions is pleased to announce their latest generation H55/H57 series motherboards, based on the Intel H55 and Intel H57 chipset and leveraging the success of the GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 3 design featuring 2x copper PCB and delivering a host of cutting-edge features including innovative Smart6 PC management tools, Dynamic Energy Saver 2 power saving utilities, DualBIOS and support for Energy Using Products Directive (EuP), for a powerful, yet power efficient multimedia platform.

"GIGABYTE once again leads the motherboard industry and sets the standard for delivering high speed data transfer and richer video playback capabilities for HD multimedia home entertainment devices," commented Tim Handley, Deputy Director of Motherboard Marketing at GIGABYTE Technology Co. Ltd. "Featuring next generation storage capabilities including USB 3.0 and high performance digital DisplayPort connectivity, as well as GIGABYTE's own unique 3x USB Power Boost, the GIGABYTE GA-H57M-USB3 and GA-H55M-USB3 provide a compelling solution for users wanting the ultimate multimedia system."

Super Talent Technology, an inventor of USB 3.0 flash drives, today announced volume shipment of its newly announced USB 3.0 RAIDDrive. The new drive, available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities, is fully backward compatible with USB 2.0 standard and operates at 10x speeds when used in conjunction with a USB 3.0 port.

"This product underscores Super Talent's continued leadership in USB drives." said Super Talent COO, C.H. Lee. "We've developed the world's first and fastest USB 3.0 flash drive, by integrating two SSD into a RAID array for maximum throughput." It delivers phenomenal performance and it incorporates our own patented technology, filed world wide and protected under US Patent #7,457,897 etc.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high-reliability memory and flash-based storage as an alternative to hard disk drives, plans to unveil an array of next-generation solid state drives (SSDs) along with other premium hardware at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show to be held January 7-10, 2010, in Las Vegas, Nevada. With its finger on the pulse of emerging and booming markets, OCZ's impending line of SSDs is designed to optimize entire businesses as well as the computing experiences of everyday consumers.

"For this year's Consumer Electronics Show, OCZ continues to build on its lineup of SSD solutions designed for enterprise-class applications," commented Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology Group. "We are uniquely positioned as the leading developer of SSDs, which we believe will ultimately replace traditional hard drives. In addition to our robust lineup of 2.5-inch solid state drives, we will be launching new drives at CES with interfaces that include SAS and PCI-E. These interfaces make it easier than ever for enterprise clients to replace expensive-to-maintain, traditional storage media with a higher-performing and more reliable solution."

VIA Technologies, Inc., a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today launched the VIA VL700 USB 3.0-SATA Controller, a highly integrated single chip solution that allows users to connect SATA hard disk drive (HDD), solid state drive (SSD), and optical disc drive (ODD) devices to their PC via new USB 3.0 specification ports.

With data transfer rates of up to 5Gbps, USB 3.0 (also known as SuperSpeed USB) offers ten times the throughput available to USB 2.0 based devices, meaning large amounts of information stored on a SATA device can be effortlessly transferred to a PC in a fraction of the time it would usually take.

WD, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its fastest My Book external hard drive ever -- the new My Book 3.0 desktop external drives are among the first devices certified with the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface. With an interface that's up to 10 times faster than the previous-generation USB 2.0 interface, the high-performance My Book 3.0 drive significantly reduces the time it takes to open and save large files. Offered standalone, or in a kit that includes a USB 3.0 PCIe (gen2) adapter card, the 1 TB My Book 3.0 drive is available now at select retailers and shopwd.com. The 2 TB model is expected later this week.

The SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface on My Book 3.0 drives provides transfer rates of up to 5 gigabits-per-second, allowing users to open and save files up to 4.7 times faster than USB 2.0. The new My Book 3.0 drive is compliant with the USB-IF SuperSpeed USB 3.0 standard to provide compatibility with other USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 products. SuperSpeed USB 3.0 is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1.

ASUS today announces the launch of a new motherboard series based on the Intel H57 and H55 chipsets. The ASUS P7H57D/P7H55 Series supports the new Intel Core i7, Core i5, Core i3, and Pentium processors with feature laden ATX and micro-ATX models to provide the best value and performance on the new LGA1156 platform. Featuring exclusive GPU Boost technology, the series delivers a rich visual experience and smooth video performance with Intel's latest HD capable integrated graphics capable processors. Built with Xtreme Design features, the P7H57D/P7H55 Series delivers optimized performance while being very energy-efficient. The ATX based P7H57D-V EVO also supports next-generation USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s technology for faster data throughput and better storage performance.

VIA Technologies, Inc., a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today unveiled the VIA VL810 SuperSpeed Hub Controller, the industry's first integrated single chip solution that supports the higher transfer rates of the new USB 3.0 specification.

USB 3.0 (also known as SuperSpeed USB) allows for a maximum data transfer rate of up to 5Gbps, or ten times the throughput available to USB 2.0 based devices. Other enhancements provide for improved interaction between device and host controller, including important advancements in power management.

Only just a week ago, Power Quotient International Co., Ltd. (PQI) announced two 2.5inch USB3.0 external hard drives, H566 and S533. Today, PQI releases their first USB flash drive device in the form of Cool Drive U366. PQI's U366 is encased in an all aluminum shell with a clear plastic lid that can perfectly fit on the end tip so users need not worry about loosing the lid.

The new USB3.0 features 5Gbps/sec maximum bandwidth, which is 10 times the maximum bandwidth of USB2.0 as it eliminates the issue of external connection bandwidth being smaller than the output bandwidth of the storage device. This allows portable, ultra fast and high capacity storage device to flood the market as USB3.0 is deemed to take over USB2.0 as the standard for future external connections!

A-DATA Technology, the world leader in DRAM modules and flash memory products, launched the industry first ever combo flash drive N002 that features the dual interface of USB 3.0 and SATA II, designed to maximize data transfer speed to the ultimate. Adopting the industry-leading 8-channel architecture, N002 is able to boost transfer speed tenfold compared to ordinary flash drives with USB 2.0 interface by delivering up to ultra-fast 200 MB/s and 170 MB/s in sequential read/write performance respectively.

Ready to hit the market by January, 2010, N002 makes USB 3.0 a reality. It supports all latest platforms that come with USB 3.0 ports, while also being backward compatible with USB 2.0 ports at a lower speed performance. Available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB, N002 is ideal for users who are thirsty for super-sized storage capacities with unrivaled speed via the innovative USB 3.0 and SATA II dual interface. A combination of speed, storage and portability altogether into one device, N002 is by all means the most effective solution to access and transfer large amount of data, including high-resolution images, multimedia files and whole lot more, at an instant and on the go.

A new adapter listed on online store usb.brando.com, the UNITEK USB 3.0 to SATA Adapter (Y-1034) promises to be an interesting accessory. The adapter connects to SATA HDDs/SSDs over a SATA 3 Gb/s interface, and to the host PC over USB 3.0 SuperSpeed. The new interface eliminates interface bottlenecks to provide speeds on-par with eSATA. The kit consists of the main unit which plugs into the the drive's SATA data+power connectors, and gives out a USB 3.0 cable. It takes in DC power input from its own power adapter. A quick HDTach run shows a conventional HDD to offer speeds on par with being connected to eSATA (effectively the system's own SATA interface). It is priced at US $49.

DisplayLink, the company behind USB-based display controllers has disclosed plans to release a display chip during the upcoming CES event next month, that runs on USB 3.0 SuperSpeed interface. The new chip will make use of the increased bandwidth (up to 4.8 Gbps vs. 480 Mbps of USB 2.0), to transmit higher-resolution videos. The current USB 2.0 based DisplayLink chips are able to transmit display of 3D games at 60 fps and HD video at 26~27 fps. The new USB 3.0 based chip will be able to do the same faster, without any flickering, said Dennis Crespo, executive vice-president of marketing and business development at DisplayLink. The DisplayLink technology involves using the system's graphics hardware to drive multiple display-heads, by transmitting display across USB.

WD, the world's leader in external storage solutions, and NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), a leading provider of semiconductor solutions, today announced that the companies have collaborated to promote the new SuperSpeed Universal Serial Bus (USB) 3.0 standard, a next-generation interface to be used in a wide range of electronic devices including PCs, PC peripherals, and digital appliances.

USB 3.0 is capable of supporting data transfer rates of up to 5 gigabits per second (Gbps), which is 10 times faster than the previous high-speed USB 2.0 transfer speeds. With its higher speeds and enhanced power efficiency, external hard disk drives are the first SuperSpeed USB 3.0 devices to appear on the market.

Following a recent expose of three of Gigabyte's upcoming motherboards based on the Intel H55 Express chipset supporting socket LGA-1156 processors, one of its first models based on the Intel H57 Express chipset surfaced, with the GA-H57M-USB3. This micro-ATX motherboard builds on the slightly expanded feature-set of the H57 PCH, which includes Intel Rapid Storage, Remote PC Assist, and a higher number of USB 2.0 ports and PCI-Express x1 lanes. It uses complete Ultra Durable 3 construction, which includes full solid-state capacitor design, 2 oz copper PCB, low RDS (on) MOSFET, and ferrite-core chokes. The processor is powered by an 8-phase VRM, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel memory.

Expansion slots include PCI-Express 2.0 x16, PCI-E x16 (x4), and two PCI slots. Five out of six SATA 3 Gbps ports from the PCH are assigned as internal ports, while an additional Gigabyte GSATA2 controller provides two SATA 3 Gbps ports and an IDE connector. An additional NEC controller provides two USB 3.0 ports. The rear-panel consists of 8-channel audio with optical SPDIF (supporting Dolby Home Theater), gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 ports (color-coded blue), four USB 2.0, FireWire, eSATA, keyboard/mouse combo port, and display connectivity which includes DVI, D-Sub, DisplayPort, and HDMI. The GA-H57M-USB3 is another of those boards slated for Q1 2010, when Intel releases new processors with embedded graphics along with the H55/H57 chipsets.

Here it is - the industry's first motherboard ready for market, based on the AMD 890FX chipset. This socket AM3 motherboard features a platform overhaul with its new chipset, support for USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps, and as many as six PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots. The electrical configuration of these slots isn't known as yet, but seeing that there are only two apparent groups of external PCI-Express lane switching, four of these could be electrical x8. The carries the markings of "quad-CrossFireX graphics support", which leads us to believe that at least four out of six of these are wired to the new northbridge.

The CPU is powered by a 5+1 phase VRM, with a large heatsink cooling both the VRM areas and the northbridge.Besides the six PCI-Express x16 slots, there is a lone PCI slot. This is also perhaps the first motherboard with native SATA 6 Gbps support, with as many as six SATA 6 Gbps ports. An additional controller seems to be in place for a couple of extra SATA 3 Gbps ports, and an IDE controller (indicating that the chipset has given up native IDE support). An additional NEC controller provides two USB 3.0 ports color-coded blue, on the rear panel. Its neighbours include powered eSATA, 8-channel audio with optical and co-axial SPDIF, a number of other USB 2.0 ports, FireWire one Gigabit Ethernet, and Bluetooth. There is no word on the pricing or availability, though hopefully more could be learned about 890FX-based motherboards at the upcoming CES event.

Vantec Thermal Technologies, a worldwide leader specializing in computer accessories announces four new products utilizing the new SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface including two hard drive enclosures-one for each form factor, a PCI-Express card and an ExpressCard/34 adapter.

SuperSpeed USB 3.0 is the next generation bus interface offering transfer speeds of up to 5Gbps (625Mbps) and it is fully backwards-compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1. The new 2.5" and 3.5" enclosures will be based off of Vantec's popular NexStar 3 Hard Drive Enclosures and will be initially available in Onyx Black and boast a mirror finish.

Having recently announced one of the industry's first USB 3.0 external HDDs, Buffalo is diversifying its lineup of products that support the new interface. The BR-X1216U3 is an external Blu-ray disc writer drive that supports USB 3.0. The drive has the capability to burn Blu-ray discs at 12x speeds. At those speeds, the drive transfers data at 54 MB/s. Probably factoring protocol overhead, USB 2.0 bottlenecks proper data transfers, and hence USB 3.0 is called on to eliminate all bottlenecks, while also broaden compatibility with existing PCs.

The main unit measures 164 (W) x 50 (H) x 281 (D) mm, and weights 1.8 kg. Both single-layer and double-layer Blu-ray discs can be written at 12x, BD-RE single-layer and double-layer discs at 2x, 16x for single-layer DVD+R/-R, 8x for double-layer DVD+R/-R and DVD+RW, 6x for DVD-RW, 5x for DVD-RAM, 40x for CD-R, and 24x for CD-RW. Bundled software includes CyberLink PowerDirector 8 HE, PowerProducer 5, PowerDVD 9 BD edition, Power2Go 6, PowerBackup 2 and InstantBurn 5. It reaches stores in Japan next month, at a price of US $450.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and flash-based storage and Symwave, a leading silicon supplier of system solutions for SuperSpeed USB devices, today announced a partnership to deliver next generation USB 3.0 solutions at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 7-10, 2010. The first outcome of this partnership is the industry's highest performance external Solid State Drive (SSD) storage product, ideal for consumers demanding uncompromised leading-edge technology. By working with Symwave, OCZ was able to leverage its flash technology expertise and develop even faster cutting-edge solutions making use of the new USB 3.0 standard.

"Thanks to Symwave's industry leading USB 3.0 storage controller, our external SSD device delivers 10x the transfer rate of USB 2.0 at 5Gb/s, as well as several 'green' improvements including superior power management and lower CPU utilization," said Eugene Chang, Vice President of Product Management at the OCZ Technology Group. "We are determined to be at the forefront of the market by offering products with unparalleled performance, reliability, and design to unleash the potential of flash-based storage."

Gigabyte is readying the industry's first socket AM3 motherboard that offers the new connectivity features combo that is turning out to be quite a selling point in itself: USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps. Enter GA-790FXTA-UD5P, a high-end socket AM3 motherboard based on the AMD 790FX + SB750 chipset, that isn't just a revised GA-MA790FXT-UD5P. Apart from the star attractions of USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps, the board features a redesigned expansion slot layout, among other new features. The socket AM3 motherboard supports AMD Phenom II AM3 and Athlon II series processors with support for dual-channel DDR3 memory.

To begin with, the CPU is powered by a 8+2 phase VRM supporting 140W processors, with a 2 phase VRM powering the four DDR3 DIMM slots. The board supports DDR3-1866 by overclocking, while DDR3-1333 and DDR3-1066 are naturally supported. A Precision OV controller provides fine (small step) voltage control for the CPU, memory and chipset voltages. Instead of two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots on the MA-790FXT-UD5P, this board features three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (electrical x16, x16, NC, or x16, x8, x8, depending on how they're populated). Each x16 slot as one slot spacing which is occupied by a PCI slot. A lone PCI-E x1 slot heads the pack.