Showing that patience can be a virtue, the impressive Samsung 256 GB SSD that was first unveiled back in May has finally entered mass-production, but now with even faster performance. Originally stated to have sequential read and write speeds of 200 MB/s and 160 MB/s, Samsung has since been able to boost the drive’s write speed up to 200 MB/s and read speed up to 220 MB/s.

This high-capacity SSD is claimed by Samsung to be capable of saving 25 high-definition movies (10 GB each) in just 21 minutes, which apparently takes a 7,200 RPM HDD about 70 minutes to accomplish. Another aspect of the SSD’s performance is deletion speed, with the new SSD being capable of permanently deleting 256 GB of data in about 2.5-minutes. If being able to quickly wipe a drive clean is of importance to you, you might also like to know that the SSD is available with full disk encryption.

As for power consumption, the new SSD is rated at 1.1-watts, slightly higher than the 0.9-watts the drive was originally stated to have. For comparison, a new ’green’ 500 GB 5,400 HDD from Toshiba this week had a rating of 0.6-watts, with its power consumption reaching 1.7-watts during seek mode and 1.4-watts during read/write mode.

The new Samsung SSD takes a 2.5-inch form-factor, has a thickness of 9.5 mm and weighs just 81-grams. Pricing is still unknown, but expect it to be steep. With Samsung expected to introduce a 512 GB SSD in 2009 though, we hope to see the price come down rather quickly.

 Almost one year to the day after Phenom debuted on the desktop and fell flat on its face, AMD is back with its 45nm Shanghai refresh. Calling this processor launch “important” would be a colossal understatement; AMD’s ability to continue as a going concern in the x86 market fundamentally depends on how well Shanghai performs. AMD has spent the last twelve months rather pointedly not talking about Shanghai; the only topic it discussed less was asset smart.

Today, Shanghai meets the market, and the eyes of the IT industry. The verdict? Cautious optimism. Shanghai is what Intel would call a “tock“; a product refresh that improves upon its predecessor rather than launching a new architecture. This is true from an architectural standpoint, but not an economic one. If Barcelona was a tick, it was the last gasp of a dying clock. Shanghai, in theory, is running on a new battery.

AMD hasn’t revealed all the details on what it revamped in Shanghai, but here’s what we know. Shanghai is 65nm Barcelona respun on 45nm technology. It carries 6MB of L3 (up from 2MB), and it will officially support DDR2-800 (Barcelona topped out at DDR2-667). AMD has added support for a power-saving technology it calls Smart Fetch (we’ll discuss that in a moment), and improved virtualization performance. The processor’s integrated memory controller also got a few upgrades, and can now split itself into two 64-bit channels, as opposed to always being stuck in 128-bit mode. Doing so allows the processor to perform simultaneous read/writes, though maximum bandwidth through either channel is obviously just half of the standard total. AMD also improved how frequently Shanghai can query CPUs in other sockets—if I’ve understood correctly, this is only useful to companies deploying two-socket solutions and up.

Fetch, Shanghai, fetch

Smart Fetch is AMD’s new power-saving technology that allows the chip to completely power down cores that aren’t in use. No word yet on whether or not this feature will make it into Deneb, the upcoming desktop flavor of Shanghai, but I’d bet it will, probably as part of a revamped “Super Cool’n'Quiet Deluxe Extreme WTF Edition, now with Silicon-on-Peanut-Butter technology.” AMD is touting Smart Fetch as an example of why an exclusionary cache design, in which L1/L2 aren’t duplicated in L3, is better than an inclusive cache hierarchy, in which L1/L2 data is duplicated in L3. Intel’s cache structure is inclusive, AMD’s is exclusive, and the two of them have been fighting over which is better since K7 debuted in 1999. We’ll let them argue over it, and look at smart Fetch instead.

Smart Fetch kicks in when a Shanghai core is ready for beddy-bye. Instead of dropping the CPU into a sleep state, Smart Fetch reads the sum totals of its L1 and L2 cache, then drops that data into L3, presumably flagging it in a way that tells the other cores not to write data into those blocks. The appropriate core is then powered off completely, which saves power. When the processor needs the core to power up again, Smart Fetch hurries off, grabs the requisite blocks of L3 cache, and rewrites them into L1/L2.

Shanghai’s performance, power consumption

Anandtech looks to have an exclusive review of Shanghai database benchmarks for now, though TR has already noted that its own review is on the way. Anandtech tested a brace of Opteron 2384s (Shanghai, 2.7GHz) vs. both the older, Barcelona-based Opteron 2356s (2.3GHz) and a set of Intel Harpertown Xeons (3GHz). Compared to Barcelona, Shanghai consumes ~6 percent less power at idle and 12 percent less power at load. Keep in mind, that’s comparing a 2.7GHz Shanghai (17 percent higher clockspeed) to a 2.3GHz 65nm chip. As for Harpertown, Shanghai beats it hands-down in terms of performance-per-watt, though Anandtech notes this is partially due to the use of FB-DIMMs.

Performance-wise, Shanghai hit its mark, according to AnandTech: “We were quite surprised that Shanghai was able to meet and, in some cases, pass Harpertown at various workload levels in some of the benchmarks. Obviously, when it comes to power, AMD is still leading this space by a significant margin.”

All of the new Opterons are 75W parts. Prices range from $377 for a 2.3GHz Opteron 2376 (2GHz IMC) to $989 for the top-end Opteron 2384 (2.7GHz cores, 2.2GHz IMC). The eight-way versions of the chip, as always, are significantly more expensive, and range from $1,165 for the 2.4GHz/2.0GHz Opteron 8378 to $2,149 for the 2.7GHz/2.2GHz Opteron 8384. AMD will launch Deneb, the upcoming desktop part, early in the first quarter of 2009

What do you get when you combine improved performance, improved clockspeeds, and better power consumption? In this case, you get back in the game. Congratulations, AMD—it’s about time you stopped carving a groove in the bench. 

Source: Ars Technica

Seagate has a solution: its third-generation Momentus FDE (full disk encryption) internal drives and Maxtor BlackArmor portables use 128-bit AES encryption to automatically secure the contents of the entire drive. Until now, Seagate had offered self-encryption only with its lower-capacity, lower rotational-speed drives (a 160GB drive that spins its platters at 5,400 RPM goes for around $150 at retail). The company is now shipping 320GB, 7,200 RPM drives to its OEM customers, and expects to have 500GB models in early 2009.

“Our solution is very difficult to crack,” said Joni Clark, product marketing manager for Seagate’s personal compute business unit, “because there’s an ASIC on the controller board and the key is in the media itself.” BIOS-managed Momentus FDE drives (the type a consumer would use) are FIPS 197 validated (meaning they’re approved by the U.S. Government’s National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Computer Security Division for unclassified applications).

Enterprise-managed Momentus FDE drives (the type government agencies and Fortune 1000 businesses would deploy) features FIPS 197 validation too, but they’ve also been tested and accepted for use in U.S. national security systems by the super-secretive National Security Agency.

“Having your laptop with you wherever you go is as common as having your wallet with you,” said Clark. “But nobody wants to start over with an all-new laptop. Using our drives, you can retrofit the computer you already own.”

Source: Tom`s Hardware

The new OCZ Solid Series of SSDs are available in capacities of 30 GB, 60 GB and 120 GB, with read and write speeds hitting up to 155 MB/s and 90 MB/s, respectively. Designed and optimized for modern notebooks, the Solid Series of SSDs are available in a 2.5-inch form factor and are not recommended for use in laptops purchased prior to 2007. It is a curious recommendation for OCZ to make, but it may be partially due to the SATA II interface that these new SSDs use, which older notebooks may not have.

The new Solid Series drives also have a mini-USB port on them, which apparently can be used “to update the Solid Series’ firmware should new versions become available, to further enhance compatibility or performance with future platforms.”

Seek times on the new drives are less than 0.35 ms, with operating temperatures ranging from -10 C to +70 C and power consumption ranging from 4.5 V to 5.5 V. The Solid Series supports RAID, has a mean time before failure of 1.5 million hours, are shock resistant and are backed by a two year warranty. OCZ claims these new drives use 50-percent less power than the best performing 2.5-inch HDDs on the market and offer seek times that are 10-times as fast. While likely not among the fastest SSDs currently available, the Solid Series’ rated speeds indicate that performance levels should still be quite good.

Part numbers for the new drives are OCZSSD2-1SLD30G, OCZSSD2-1SLD60G and OCZSSD2-1SLD120G, for the 30 GB, 60 GB and 120 GB models, respectively. According to early pricing found at online retailers, the 30 GB model is selling for $89, the 60 GB model is selling for $159 and the 120 GB model is selling for $299. Although the offered capacities are rather small, the Solid Series would seem to offer great value. For notebook users tempted by the benefits of a solid state drive, upgrading to a new 60 GB OCZ Solid Series SSD from an old 80 GB 5400 RPM hard drive could be well worth it.

Source: Tom`s Hardware

The new HyperX kits will range from 1375MHz to 2000MHz while the ValueRam kits will range from 1066MHz to 1333MHz. Both 3GB and 6GB ValueRAM kits will be available immediately. The 2GB (2×1GB) DDR3 1333MHz kit is current available on Newegg.com for US$70.99.

Kingston is claiming the first to market running at 1.65 volts. DDR3 running at 1.65 volts on Core i7 systems should be well within nominal limits and is to be considered safe – however, many reviewers around the net believe that high voltage enthusiast kits will damage your i7 CPU within just a few weeks of use, or even days. This was covered in a previous article here on Tom’s Hardware.

Clipped from the Kinston Press Release:

“Fountain Valley, CA — October 29, 2008 — Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it is first to ship 2GHz memory in triple-channel configuration designed specifically for the new Intel-based X58 motherboards. Kingston’s HyperX® DDR3 2GHz memory, available now, come in kits of three 1GB modules that are Intel® XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) ready meeting the Core i7 1.65 volt platform recommendation.

Kingston is excited to bring the fastest DDR3 triple channel memory products to market as we are the first to deliver 2000MHz gaming kits of three with Intel’s reduced voltage,” said Mark Tekunoff, senior technology manager, Kingston®. “All of our triple-channel kits can be overclocked manually or by using XMP-ready profiles. The 2GHz modules have been tested to support up to that speed on ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboards while the Intel DX58SO motherboards have been tested up to 1600MHz.

In addition to the top-of-the-line 2000MHz, Kingston’s family of triple-channel kits include 1866- and 1800MHz, and low-latency 1600- and 1375MHz speeds. Kingston ValueRAM® kits of three are also available in 1333MHz and 1066MHz, in 1- and 2GB capacities.”

Kingston HyperX is backed by a lifetime warranty and free 24/7 technical support. For more detailed information please visit the Kingston Web site.

Source: Tom´s Hardware

As the release date for the Intel Core i7 platform approaches, memory manufactures have begun launching their memory products designed specifically for the new platform. G.Skill is no exception and on Tuesday the company launched its full line of DDR3 performance triple-channel memory kits designed for the Intel Core i7 processor and the Intel X58 Express chipset. The new memory is available in both 3 GB and 6 GB capacities, with speeds of 1333 MHz and 1600 MHz.

Of the four newly launched memory kits, the first two are named F3-12800CL9T-3GBNQ and F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ and come in capacities of 3 x 1 GB and 3 x 2 GB, respectively. These memory kits have a speed of DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800), a CAS Latency of 9-9-9-24 and a Test Voltage somewhere between 1.5 V and 1.6 V. The memory is unbuffered Non-ECC, the PCB is 6 layers and cooling is provided by G.Skill NQ Series heat-spreaders.

Next, we have a pair of G.Skill memory kits that are named F3-10666CL9T-3GBNQ and F3-10666CL9T-6GBNQ, with capacities of 3 x 1 GB and 3 x 2 GB, respectively. These memory kits have a speed of DDR3 1333 MHz (PC3 10666), a CAS Latency of 9-9-9-24 and a Test Voltage somewhere between 1.5 V and 1.6 V. The memory is unbuffered Non-ECC, the PCB is 6 layers and cooling is provided by G.Skill NQ Series heatspreaders.

G.Skill states these products have lifetime warranties and ever ready technical back-up. It is important to remember that it is not recommended to set the DDR3 memory voltage higher than 1.65 V when used in a Intel Core i7 system, as it could damage the CPU. No word on pricing yet, but G.Skill states these memory kits are ideal for enthusiasts, overclockers and early-adopters, which probably means they will be carrying a premium price-tag.

Source: Tom´s Hardware

AMD has fired the latest salvo in the video card wars with the introduction of its Radeon 4830 graphics card. AMD claims that the HD 4830, which retails for under $150, outperforms the NVIDIA 9800GT (no surprise there).

The HD 4830 supports DirectX 10.1 and shader model 4.1, and sports a total of 956 million transistors. The card’s memory interface is 256-bit, rather than the 128-bit interfaces on the HD4650 series and below, which should keep the two lines segregated.  AMD packed the GPU with 640 stream processing units and support for ATI’s Unified Video Decoder 2 for H.264/AVC, VC-1 and MPEG-2 videos.

Like all recent ATI video cards, the 4830 can offload all processing needed to render HD video from the CPU to the GPU. Supported outputs include HDMI, DisplayPort, and DVI-D, but the ports that are offered on retail cards will depend on the vendor.

An AMD Xilleon HDTV encoder is built-in supporting both SD and HD resolutions along with underscan and overscan compensation. CrossFireX is supported to allow for increased performance via two or more GPUs.

Core clock for the 4830 is 575MHz, memory clock is 1800MHz, and the card has 32 texture units and 16 ROPs, and the card is available now at the $130 launch price. Early cards will be using the same board design as the HD 4850, however, later cards will use a new and more compact board from the 4830 reference design.

Tech Report, err, reports that the 4830’s performance is quite close to the 9800 GTs. Performance is so close, in fact, that the only reason to choose one over the other is price. Overclock the 4830, and its performance can hit the 4850s level, making it a good card for the money, so long as you don’t expect to run Crysis maxed out.

Intel is planning to launch five 35W desktop Core 2 Duo processors on December 28 this year: the T9800, Q9000, P9600, T9550 and T8700, with prices set at US$530, US$348, US$348, US$316 and US$241 in thousand-unit tray quantities, respectively, according to sources at motherboard makers. In related news, the company’s P55 PCH (Ibexpeak – the IC that in general replaces the traditional role of southbridge in future Intel architectures) which will pair up with upcoming Lynnfield and Havendale processors is scheduled to be available to motherboard makers in third-quarter 2009.

Source: DIGITIMES

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today unveiled the industry’s first triple channel memory kit designed specifically for the impending Intel® Core™ i7 processor / Intel® X58 Express Chipset. Optimized for the Core i7’s triple channel mode, these new 3GB and 6GB kits ensure optimal performance via an ideal combination of low voltage requirements, speed, and latency.

Developed for enthusiasts and early-adopters, the low voltage OCZ Triple Channel solutions are the choice counterparts for leading-edge performance that won’t inhibit the functionality of Core i7 CPUs. In addition, modules are tested in matched triplets ensuring superior compatibility.

“OCZ engineered these 3GB and 6GB kits specifically for Intel’s imminent platform,” commented Dr. Michael Schuette, VP of Technology Development at OCZ Technology. “By using special-screened, low voltage-capable ICs, these modules are the perfect complement for the Intel® X58 Chipset to deliver the maximum performance by enabling low latency settings and higher system frequency.”

OCZ will release the triple channel kits under the award-winning Platinum and Gold series designed specifically for enthusiasts and gamers:

OCZ PC3-10666 Gold 3GB (3X1GB)1333MHz CL 9-9-9-20 1.65V
OCZ PC3-10666 Gold 6GB (3X2GB)1333MHz CL 9-9-9-20 1.65V
OCZ PC3-12800 Gold 3GB (3×1GB) CL8-8-8-24 1.65V
OCZ PC3-12800 Gold 6GB (3×2GB) CL8-8-8-24 1.65V
OCZ PC3-10666 Platinum 3GB (3×1GB) CL7-7-7-20 1.65V
OCZ PC3-10666 Platinum 6GB (3×2GB) CL7-7-7-20 1.65V

OCZ’s Triple Channel kits are 100% hand-tested for quality assurance and compatibility and feature propriety XTC (Xtreme Thermal Convection) heatspreaders for the most effective heat dissipation. Furthermore, each OCZ memory module is backed by the industry leading OCZ Lifetime Warranty and technical support for unparalleled peace of mind.

Source: OCZ Technology

Russian Hackers reportedly broke through WPA and WPA2 encryption using a brute force attack coupled with Nvidia’s GPUs. With no mention of which specific card was used in the discovery, the card supposedly increased password recovery up to 10,000 percent faster. Reports at this time are quite vague on the details, but if the claims hold any water at all, security experts could have a serious issue on their hands.

Commenting on the issue, David Hobson, managing director of Global Secure Systems (GSS) claimed that companies can no longer view standards-based WiFi transmissions as sufficiently secure against eavesdropping to be used with impunity. He also added that the use of VPNs is arguably now mandatory for companies wanting to comply with the Data Protection Act.

The problem here is that most VPNs also use AES encryption which is the same encryption that is employed by WPA2. WPA employs RC4. If this new type of approach at breaching WPA/WPA2 protection actually works with ease, then the majority of VPNs are at risk as well.

Brute force decryption of WPA and WPA2 systems using parallel processing has been on the theoretical possibilities horizon for quite some time now – and presumably employed by relevant government agencies in extreme situations. If tech savvy hackers at home get the chance to tap the power of GPUs for this purpose, a whole can of worms is about to open.

Some companies employ different strategies however. Some industry experts believe that the security focus should not be on the link itself, but rather the points at each end. If you secure your systems and the data sent over the link, then it doesn’t matter what people see in between.

Source: Tom´s Hardware