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

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.

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