| Bragging Rights: RunCore's Kylin III PCIe SSD Rated at 3,000,000 IOPS Posted: 24 Sep 2012 01:04 PM PDT  It's not really fair to pit an enterprise grade PCIe solid state drive (SSD) against a typical consumer grade model sporting a SATA interface, like Samsung's 840 Series announced earlier today, but that doesn't mean we're any less impressed with the fact that RunCore's new Kylin III SSD manages 3 million random read IOPS and 1.4 million random write IOPS. It's safe to say it can run Crysis, and anything else you throw at it, though it's really meant to tackle workstation tasks that include database chores, web servers, analytic engines, and anything involved with high performance computing servers in general.
RunCore's Kylin III Series is available in 450GB, 785GB, and 1.6TB capacities, the latter of which serves up the scintillating IOPS mentioned above. All three capacities are comprised of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory. Transfer speeds are rated at 1.5GB/s read and 700MB/s write on the 450GB model; 1.5GB/s read and 1.1GB/s write on the 785GB model; and 3GB/s read and 2GB/s on the 1.6TB model. "In a field where IOPS performance is the main game, RunCore Kylin III PCIe is the best choice. With its excellent performance, RunCore Kylin III PCIe has more specific, and customized functions: Flash-RAID, power-loss data protection, in-flight data integrity check, and intelligent data refresh," RunCore explains. 
Why didn't we include these in this year's Dream Machine? For one, they weren't available. And secondly, we're afraid to inquire about the price, which RunCore didn't disclose. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Toshiba Claims 500GB Canvio Slim is World's Thinnest Portable Hard Drive Posted: 24 Sep 2012 11:42 AM PDT  Toshiba's new (and somewhat redundantly named) 'Canvio Slim Portable External Hard Drive' makes it easier than ever to cram 500GB of data into your pants or shirt pocket. That's because the new Canvio drive is supposedly the world's thinnest portable model. It's just 9 mm thick, which is ever-so-slightly chunkier than a Samsung Galaxy S III (8.6 mm), to give you a point of reference. The drive is also 107 mm long and 75 mm wide, which coverts to 0.35 inches by 4.21 inches by 2.95 inches, if you have an aversion to the metric system.
"As consumer electronics continue to get thinner, lighter and more portable, we recognized a huge demand to create a storage device that is in line with those trends," stated Maciek Brzeski, vice president of product marketing and development of branded storage products for Toshiba America Information Systems' digital products division. "With the Canvio Slim, consumers can now easily stash their storage device right along with their Ultrabook, knowing that their data is always safe, even when they're on the go." Toshiba's Canvio Slim device is equipped with a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface for fast data transfers. The drive inside spins at 5400 RPM and has an 8MB cache buffer, along with a 12 ms average seek time. In other words, it's not a screamer, though it should be plenty sufficenty for portable backup and transfer chores. 
The drive is avalble now in silver or black for $115 direct from Toshiba and comes pre-loaded with NT Backup Now EZ software. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Daily Deals 9/24/12: Toshiba 17" Laptop $400, 10% off Dell S-Series Monitors, and More Posted: 24 Sep 2012 10:17 AM PDT 
Top Deal: Most laptops on the market today have the same boring 1366x768 display and it's usually hard to find anything with a higher resolution without spending over a thousand dollars. The Top Deal today from Logicbuy is the 17.3" Toshiba Satellite L875D-S7230 laptop which has a 17.3" display with 1600x900 resoltuion. The laptop is on sale today for $399.99 with free shipping at OfficeMax (normally $589.99). The laptop also features an AMD A6 4400M processor clocked at 2.8GHz, a 640GB hard drive, and 4GB of DDR3 RAM. Computing Hadware and Peripherals: Dell S-Series S2740L 27" 1080p LED-backlit LCD Monitor with edge-to-edge glass for $359.99 with free shipping (normally $399.99 - use 10% Coupon: DTJHR33$9BQ744). Dell S-Series S2440L 24" 1080p LED-backlit LCD Monitor with edge-to-edge glass for $269.99 with free shipping (normally $300 - use 10% Coupon: DTJHR33$9BQ744). Crucial v4 128GB SSD (CT128V4SSD2) for $74.99 with free shipping at TigerDirect (normally $81). Cisco Valet Connector Wireless-N USB Adapter (AM10) for $8.99 with free shipping (normally $16.99 - use coupon code: MLCK924DNL1). |
| Globalfoundries Accelerates 14nm Roadmap, Tries Catching Up to Intel Posted: 24 Sep 2012 08:22 AM PDT  It's taken Intel just three years to shrink its system-on-chip (SoC) process node from 32nm to 14nm (with a pitstop at 22nm along the way), and by 2014, it will be shipping 14nm chips in volume. Can anyone compete? Globalfoundries intends to give it an honest effort by aggressively accelerating its roadmap with a 14nm process of its own. The company's competing 14nm-XM (eXtreme Mobility) process will leverage 3D FinFET transistor technology for higher performance and better power efficiency in mobile devices.
According to Globalfoundries, shifting to 14nm-XM will deliver anywhere from 40-60 percent better battery life compared to today's devices built using 2D planar transistors at the 20nm node. "We have more than a decade of FinFET R&D to build on as we prepare to bring this technology to production," said Gregg Bartlett, Chief Technology Officer at Globalfoundries. "We are confident this foundation will enable us to lead the foundry volume ramp of FinFETs, just as we did with High-K Metal Gate (HKMG)." FinFET expands on the traditional 2D transistor design by flipping the conductive channel on its side, thus creating a three-dimensional "fin" structure surrounded by a gate that controls the flow of current, Globalfoundries explains. The resulting 3D transistor operates at a lower voltage with very little current leak. It's somewhat similar to Intel's Tri-Gate transistor architecture found in its Ivy Bridge processors. 
Not all 3D transistors are the same, however, and Globalfoundries says its 14nm-XM architecture represents the optimal balance between performance and power consumption, while managing to minimize die dize and cost at the same time. If you have about 14 minutes to spare, check out what else Mike Noonen, executive vice president of marketing sales at Globalfoundries, has to say about finFET technology. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Samsung Unveils Power Efficient 840 Pro Series SSDs with Tri Core MDX Controller and 100,000 IOPS Posted: 24 Sep 2012 07:44 AM PDT  Starting off the week in style, Samsung today announced its fastest solid state drives (SSDs) yet, the 840 and 840 Pro Series. These new drives feature an updated MDX controller comprised of three ARM Cortex-R4 cores running at 300MHz. The beefier controller allows the new drives to run faster and handle new features, like full-drive AES-256 encryption, and paves the way for blistering fast IOPS rated at up to 100,000 (random reads) on the Pro models.
The non-Pro 840 models will come in 120GB, 250GB, and 500GB capacities. They're 2.5-inch drives that measure 7mm thick. Samsung rates sequential read and write performance at up to 540MB/s and 330MB/s, respectively, which is slightly slower than the 830 Series, which are rated at up to 520MB/s (read) and 400MB/s (write). However, IOPS performance has been much improved. Random read/write IOPS on the 840 Series are rated at up to 98,000/70,000, versus 80,000/36,000 on the 830 Series. Samsung's Pro Series up the ante by taking random read/write IOPS to 100,000/90,000. It also boasts the fastest sequential read and write transfers, which top out at 540MB/s and 520MB/s. Reviews have started popping up on the web, and the consensus is that the 840 Pro are the fastest consumer level SSDs around. Amazingly, the 840 Pro Series is rated at just 0.068 watts of active power use and 0.042 watts at idle, which is significantly lower than the 830 Series it replaces (0.24 watts active and 0.14 watts idle). The question on everyone's mind is, how much will they cost? Well, the regular 840 Series will carry an MSRP of $110 (120GB), $200 (250GB), and $550 (500GB) in bare drive form -- add $20 to each for an upgrade kit consisting of a 3.5-inch mounting backet and cables. The 840 Pro will go for $100 (64GB), $150 (128GB), $270 (256GB), and $700 (512GB), with no upgrade bundle available. Samsung said its new drives will be available in mid-October. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
