Today, CDRLabs brings you a review of Kingston's latest portable SSD, the XS2000. Designed with content creators, prosumers and corporate professionals in mind, this pocket-sized, portable drive is powered by Silicon Motion's new SM2320 controller and is available with up to 2TB of 3D TLC NAND flash for storage of high-res images, 8K videos, and large documents. The XS2000 is also equipped with a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 interface that can transfer data at speeds up to 2,000 MB/s. 

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced it has begun volume shipments of the world's first 176-layer QLC NAND SSD. Built with the most advanced NAND architecture, Micron’s 176-layer QLC NAND delivers the industry’s leading storage density and optimized performance for a broad range of data-rich applications. Designed for use cases spanning client and data center environments, Micron’s transformative new NAND technology is now available with the introduction of the Micron 2400 SSD, the world’s first 176-layer PCIe Gen4 QLC SSD for client applications. The new 176-layer QLC NAND will also be incorporated into select Micron Crucial consumer SSDs, and available as a component for system designers.

Micron’s groundbreaking 176-layer QLC NAND provides a layer count and density unprecedented in QLC NAND flash and follows Micron’s delivery of the industry’s first 176-layer TLC NAND. Additionally, Micron’s 176-layer QLC NAND enables 33% higher I/O speed1 and 24% lower read latency2 than Micron’s prior generation solution. Its replacement-gate architecture is the only mass production QLC flash storage that combines charge trap with a CMOS-under-array design. These improvements are driving adoption of QLC SSDs in the client PC market, which is expected to triple QLC adoption by 2023, exceeding 35%, and reaching nearly 80% bit share in 2025.

"Micron’s 2400 SSD builds upon our 176-layer NAND industry leadership to drive the transition to QLC-based storage for the client market,” said Jeremy Werner, corporate vice president and general manager of Micron’s Storage Business Unit. “Furthering our market leadership, we expect the new 2400 PCIe Gen4 SSD will significantly accelerate the adoption of QLC in client devices as it enables broader design options and more affordable capacity."

Leading global memory brand TEAMGROUP today announced the worldwide release of the T-FORCE DELTA TUF Gaming Alliance RGB DDR5 DESKTOP MEMORY and T-FORCE CARDEA Z440 TUF Gaming Alliance PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD at the end of this month. The first batch will be available on the North American Amazon store. Created in collaboration with ASUS TUF Gaming Alliance, the two products combine military gaming style and top-notch performance. The addition of the co-branded series to the hardcore gaming alliance means higher quality products and more pleasing, cohesive setups for the gaming enthusiast market.

The T-FORCE DELTA TUF Gaming Alliance RGB DDR5 DESKTOP MEMORY is the first ASUS TUF Gaming Alliance certified and rigorously tested DDR5 RGB gaming overclocking memory. The design merges stealth fighter-inspired aesthetics with TUF Gaming Alliance's unique gaming elements to create a distinctive look that features an ultra-wide 120° angle heat spreader and striking RGB lighting. It supports ASUS Aura Sync lighting control software, allowing gamers to adjust its RGB effects however they like to create custom and eye-catching gaming rigs. The product's first release will have speeds of 5,200MHz and come in a 2X16GB dual-channel kit.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, today launched the QM2-2P410G1T and QM2-2P410G2T PCIe Gen 4 Cards; and the QM2-2P10G1TB PCIe Gen 3 Card. All three PCIe cards allow adding M.2 NVMe SSD slots and 10GbE connectivity to a QNAP NAS or PC/server/workstation, with no driver installation required. NAS users can improve overall NAS performance by enabling SSD caching, and upgrade NAS storage capacity without occupying any 3.5-inch drive bays. PC/server/workstation users can increase their storage capacity while also boosting overall IOPS performance by offloading bandwidth-demanding tasks to SSDs to minimize application loading times.

“The QM2-2P410GxT series and the QM2-2P10G1TB cards are new members of QNAP’s popular QM2 expansion card product line, which provides a competitive, budget-friendly storage expansion solution for both QNAP NAS users and PC/workstation users,” said Stanley Huang, Product Manager of QNAP, adding “The new QM2-2P410GXT series features Broadcom PCIe Gen 4 switch with PCIe 4.0 support and is ideal for handling resource-demanding applications, such as online 4K/8K video-editing and gaming. The QM2-2P10G1TB serves as a power-efficient and comprehensive solution to boost home/office productivity.”

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions today announced AORUS RGB DDR5 6000MHz 32GB Memory Kit, which uplift frequency to 6000MHz with RGB lighting for performance boost and striking accents. Enhanced by DDR5 XMP Booster and XMP 3.0 User Profile of GIGABYTE Z690 motherboards, and copper-aluminum heat spreaders with nano-carbon coating thermal design, the new memory kit promises the next-level performance with stability while dissipating heat efficiently under high-speed operation.

AORUS RGB DDR5 6000MHz 32GB Memory Kit features high clock speed and low power consumption by two 16GB DDR5 XMP 6000 MHz dual-channel designs with 40-40-40-76 timings, which fit the support of DDR5 memory on Intel® Z690 platform. Along with GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS motherboards, AORUS RGB DDR5 6000MHz 32GB memory kit can enable “DDR5 XMP Booster” function which detect the brand of memory IC in the BIOS setting to allow users to choose promptly from multiple built-in memory overclocking profiles, boosting the native DDR5 or XMP DDR5 memory speed. Furthermore, “XMP 3.0 User Profile” enables users to create and store XMP profiles of their own to unleash the extreme performance of memories.

This week at CES 2022, KIOXIA America, Inc. will demonstrate its innovative flash memory technology and spotlight several different applications for attendees, including its new BG5 Series of solid state drives (SSDs).

Designed to bring a suitable balance of performance, cost and power to everyday gamers and PC users, the KIOXIA BG5 Series is built with a PCIe interface (16GT/s x4 lanes) and accelerated by the company’s fifth-generation BiCS FLASH™ 3D flash memory technology. These attributes make BG5 drives suitable for thin, light and performance-oriented systems such as ultra-thin PCs, IoT embedded devices and server boot in data centers.

KIOXIA will also showcase its latest flash memory solutions, including advances to BiCS FLASH, the company’s cutting-edge 3D flash memory technology, and the most recent generation of its automotive UFS devices.

SK hynix, the world’s second largest memory maker, announced today plans for the release of its newest PCIe NVMe Gen 4.0 SSD, the SK hynix Platinum P41. The Platinum SSD series is the flagship lineup of SK hynix and geared to gamers and content creators looking to boost their PC’s performance.

The new SK hynix Platinum P41 will be SK hynix first Gen 4.0 SSD with a 176-NAND layer and will be available for purchase in the first quarter of 2022 in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB sizes.

A competitive SSD among the PCle Gen 4.0 SSDs, the Platinum P41 will offer sequential read speeds up to 7,000 MB/s, sequential write speeds up to 6,500 MB/s, as well as an industry-leading endurance rating of up to 1,200 TBW.