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Tuesday, November 22nd, 2016
- NVIDIA Announces GeForce GTX 1050 Ti & GTX 1050: Entry-Level Cards Launching October 25th
- MSI Shows New Radeon RX 480 Gaming Cards, with an 8-pin
- NVIDIA Releases GeForce GTX 1060 3GB: GTX 1060, Yet Not
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| 10:30a | The Intel SSD 600p (512GB) Review Intel's SSD 600p was the first PCIe SSD using TLC NAND to hit the consumer market. It is Intel's first consumer SSD with 3D NAND and it is by far the most affordable NVMe SSD: current pricing is on par with mid-range SATA SSDs. While most other consumer PCIe SSDs have been enthusiast-oriented products aiming to deliver the highest performance possible, the Intel 600p merely attempts to break the speed limits of SATA without breaking the bank. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12:40p | Plextor Launches EX1 USB-C External SSD: Up to 550 MBps, 512 GB and LDPC
Plextor this week formally launched its first external SSD which it demonstrated back in early June at Computex. The Plextor EX1 combines low weight, high capacity, a high quoted performance with a USB 3.1 Type-C interface. Moreover, the manufacturer promises increased endurance as well as reliability due to an advanced SSD controller and even offers the drive with a five-year warranty. As reported initially, the Plextor EX1 SSDs will be available in 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB configurations. The drives will use USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C interface with up to 10 Gb/s transfer rate and thus will be compatible with both currently available (via USB-C to USB-A adapter) and upcoming PCs. Since the EX1 is a fully-fledged SSD, not a flash drive, the compatibility with future systems was a requirement in the product design. Moreover, to emphasize that this is not a USB stick, the EX1 has a USB-C receptacle rather than a connector, which means that owners will have to use a cable to plug the drive into their systems (not very comfortable, but ensures that nothing accidentally breaks down as a result of careless usages). Plextor does not reveal a lot of details about the product, but claims that it uses a Marvell controller that supports LDPC error correction technology as well as PlexNitro feature (both technologies are used by Plextor in their TLC NAND-based drives), a VIA Labs VL716 USB 3.1-to-SATA bridge as well as Toshiba’s TLC NAND made using a 15 nm process. Since Plextor already has a working SSD platform featuring the Marvell 88SS1074B1 controller and Toshiba’s 15 nm TLC NAND (used in its M7V drives), it is highly likely that this platform served as the base for the EX1 as well. On the other hand, the EX1 has a longer warranty, but the same 1.5 million hours MTBF rating and similar general performance specs. Speaking of performance, Plextor claims that the EX1 is capable of up to 550 MB/s read speed as well as up to 500 MB/s write speed (obviously, when pseudo-SLC caching is used), which is in line with performance of the M7V SSDs and is faster than declared transfer rate of the Samsung Portable T3 SSD (yet, this one has considerably higher capacity). Nonetheless, keep in mind that the real-world performance of SSDs is typically lower than that specified.
When it comes to features, the Plextor EX1 looks just like a typical SSD drive for desktop computers: it supports TRIM, NCQ, SMART features and relies on the ATA/ATAPI-8 protocol. The drive is compatible with Microsoft Windows, Google Android, Apple macOS and Linux, but with certain limitations imposed by different file systems. For example, Android only supports exFAT and FAT32, but not NTFS, whereas FAT32 does not support files larger than 4 GB. Meanwhile, exFAT is not supported by Linux.
The Plextor EX1 drives come in gold and silver colored enclosures made of anodized aluminum, their weight is around 30 grams. The drives are not too small: their length is a little over 10 centimeters (~4 inches) and their thickness is approximately 8.7 mm (0.34 inches). Plextor plans to start selling the Plextor EX1 SSDs this month. Exact price points are unknown, but Plextor will also offer Fnet encryption software with the drives. Related Reading: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1:30p | Game Bundles: Get Civilization VI, Doom, Watch_Dogs 2 for Free with AMD, NVIDIA and Samsung Hardware
From time to time companies bundle the latest games with their hardware in a bid to attract attention of gamers and to make their products more competitive. Such promotions are mutually beneficial: for gamers, it is a good way to upgrade and save some money on titles, while for companies it is an efficient way to increase sales. Recently AMD and Samsung have launched campaigns that add a free digital copy of various digital games with their products, including Civilization VI, Doom and Watch_Dogs 2. Update 11/22: NVIDIA has launched its own promotion, which will add Watch_Dogs 2 to select GeForce GTX 1070/1080 graphics cards and notebooks featuring these GPUs. AMD: Get Civilization VI and Doom for FreeRunning from October 27 to January 27 (or when AMD runs out of Doom codes), the chipmaker working with the usual etailers (Amazon, Newegg, etc) to include a voucher for Doom as a motherboard bundle. This bundle covers most AM3+ motherboards, but it also covers top-to-bottom AMD systems that use an AM3+ motherboard, AMD FX CPU, and an AMD Radeon graphics card. AMD has not published the exact list of AM3+ motherboards that come with a free digital copy of Doom, but more information can be obtained from AMD’s Rewards web-site. Meanwhile it is noteworthy that this week AMD also initiated its new Civilization VI promotion for Radeon graphics cards. To get a free copy of the latest in the just-one-more-turn-before-bed gaming series, you will need to buy an AMD Radeon RX 480 (or a PC with such a board inside) from an eligible retailer. Right now, the campaign is already live in some countries, and will eventually spread to other regions as well.
Samsung: Watch_Dogs 2 for FreeIn the recent years Samsung has made inroads into gaming PCs with its high-performance SSDs based on its 3D V-NAND memory. At times, Samsung bundled popular titles with its drives, and its new Watch_Dogs 2 campaign expands to curved displays as well.
On the SSD side of matters, Samsung latest bundle covers most of their V-NAND SSDs, including the recently launched 960 PRO & EVO, and their 850 SATA counterparts. Also covered in this bundle is the company’s Portable SSD, the T3. Meanwhile on the monitor side of matters, the bundle covers Samsung’s CFG70 or CF791 curved monitors. The bundle will be available in North America at select retailers only until December 31, 2016, or while coupons last.
It is noteworthy that Samsung is promoting its curved displays with and without quantum dot technology among gamers using a free game bundle campaign. While curved monitors are available from all major display suppliers, they are not very popular. Meanwhile, Samsung seems to see potential of such monitors for this market segment, which is why it will add a free copy of Watch_Dogs 2 to its CFG70 and CF791 displays until the end of this year. NVIDIA: Hackers WantedNVIDIA on Tuesday (11/22) launched its new free game campaign, which will last for a month. This time the GPU designer will bundle Watch_Dogs 2 with select GeForce GTX 1070/1080 video cards and laptops carrying mobile versions of the graphics processors.
The game uses a number of NVIDIA’s technologies supported by its GameWorks package, including HBAO+ global lighting, TXAA antialiasing as well as HFTS and PCSS techniques for improved shadows.
The campaign will last till December 19 and if you have no plans to upgrade your display or SSD, but intend to get a new GPU, this will be your chance to get a free copy of Watch_Dogs 2 as well. Related Reading: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4:00p | MSI Adds Low-Profile GeForce GTX 1050 Ti to Lineup
MSI has quietly added a new low-profile graphics card into their lineup. The adapter is based on NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPU featuring the latest Pascal architecture and carries 4 GB of GDDR5 memory. The card will replace those powered by NVIDIA’s first-generation Maxwell graphics processors in MSI's lineup and will be among the most affordable gaming-grade graphics boards on the market. The card does not require auxiliary power and is compatible with a wide range of PCs. The drive is still dual slot width, however. The MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GT LP is based on the GP107 GPU (768 stream processors, 48 texture units, 32 raster operations pipelines, 128-bit memory bus) clocked at 1.29/1.39 GHz (base/boost) and carries 4 GB of GDDR5 memory at 7 Gbps. The board has DL-DVI, HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 outputs with HDCP 2.2 support, which is required for Ultra HD Blu-ray playback. Tthe card comes with a dual-slot cooling system featuring two fans. The low-profile GeForce GTX 1050 Ti consumes up to 75 W of power, and as a result it does not require any auxiliary power connectors - something important when upgrading low-end PCs from large OEM brands that sometimes do not have any spare connectors left. The lack of power connectors will allow the video card to replace the GeForce GTX 750-series and the GeForce GTX 950 75W series adapters with similar power consumption.
Nowadays it is not easy to find a low-profile graphics card with reasonable performance and a good feature-set. NVIDIA’s GP107 GPU is based on the company’s latest Pascal architecture and thus supports DirectX 12 and Vulkan APIs as well as has an advanced media playback engine that supports hardware-accelerated decoding and encoding of H.265 (HEVC) video. Therefore, MSI’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GT LP graphics card is an interesting product compatible with slim and outdated desktops and HTPCs. As an added bonus, MSI claims that it uses MIL-STD-810G certified components to ensure a long lifespan for the board. MSI did not announce the price of the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GT LP, but it is unlikely that it is going to cost significantly higher than $139 recommended by NVIDIA. Related Reading:
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