ASRock Rack has listed a new motherboard on its website supporting AMD’s latest Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3000WX series of processors. The ASRock Rack WRX80D8-2T is currently under ‘preliminary’ status and features eight memory slots, seven full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slots, as well as twelve SATA ports and support for two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 drives. It also includes dual 10 GbE and is supported by an ASPEED BMC controller with a dedicated management LAN port and D-sub video output.

In terms of design, the ASRock Rack WRX80D8-2T follows a basic green design with blue memory slots and black PCIe slots, and power connectors. Surrounding a transposed sTRX4 (WRX80) socket is eight memory slots with support up to 2TB of capacity, with ECC and non-ECC UDIMM, RDIMM, LRDIMM, and RDIMM3DS memory types supported. Providing power to the motherboard is a 24-pin 12 V ATX power input, while CPU power comes from a pair of 8-pin 12 V ATX CPU power inputs, all of which are located in the top right-hand corner.

Dominating the lower half of the board are seven full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slots, which are designed to maximize 112 of the supported 120 PCIe lanes from the Zen 2 based Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3000WX processors. Focusing on storage, the WRX80D8-2T has support for twelve SATA ports from the WRX80 chipset with two OCuLink ports, including four regular 7-pin SATA ports. Users can add U.2 storage with two OCuLink ports at PCIe 4.0 x4 or use these for an additional four SATA ports apiece. Other storage options include two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots with support for form factors up to 22110 M.2. Cooling options consist of seven 6-pin fan headers.

On the rear panel are two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports, with a dedicated Realtek RTL8211E Gigabit management LAN port and D-Sub video output powered by an ASPEED AST2500 BMC controller, which adds IPMI support. Users looking to add more USB ports can do so via front panel headers, including one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C header and one USB 3.2 G1 Type-A header for an additional two ports. Networking includes two RJ45 ports, which an Intel X550-AT2 10 GbE controller powers. Finishing off the rear panel is a Serial port, and a small UID identification LED button.

At the time of writing, we don’t have any information on either the pricing or availability of the ASRock Rack WRX80D8-2T.

Source: ASRock Rack

Gallery: ASRock Rack Lists WRX80D8-2T For Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3000WX Processors

Related Reading

• AMD Threadripper Pro Review: An Upgrade Over Regular Threadripper?
• AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro: Retail Offering Starts Today
• Lenovo ThinkStation P620 Review: A Vehicle for Threadripper Pro
• 64 Cores of Rendering Madness: The AMD Threadripper Pro 3995WX Review

Source: AnandTech – ASRock Rack Lists WRX80D8-2T Motherboard For Ryzen Threadripper Pro

Western Digital is unveiling its latest addition to the WD Blue family today – the SN570 NVMe SSD. A DRAM-less PCIe 3.0 x4 drive, it brings in performance improvements over the current lead product in the line – the SN550. In order to better appeal to the content creators market, WD is also bundling a free month of membership to Adobe Creative Cloud.

Similar to the SN550, the SN570 is also available in three capacities – 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB. All drives are single-sided, come with a 5-year warranty, and carry a 0.3 DWPD rating. The key performance improvement over the SN550 is the increase in sequential read speeds from 2400 MBps to 3500 MBps. Though Western Digital wouldn’t officially confirm, we believe this is likely due to the move from BiCS 4 96L 3D TLC to BiCS 5 112L 3D TLC. We did obtain confirmation that these drives are set to be equipped with 3D TLC over their complete lifetime, and will not move to QLC.

The WD Blue series started getting credible competition in the entry-level DRAM-less NVMe SSD space recently from Samsung’s 980 series. Using 128L V-NAND technology with higher flash speeds, Samsung was able to advertise better sequential performance numbers that the WD Blue. Our review did find the original SN550 holding up better for heavier workloads, but the advertised numbers are hard to dismiss for the average consumer. The new SN570 should solve that problem for WD. On the other hand, Samsung enables TCG Opal support in the 980, while WD opts not to enable it for the Blue series.

In terms of pricing, the SN570 matches the 980 (at least at the 250GB capacity point). Assuming that the SN570 can match the SN550’s performance for real-world workloads, the Adobe Creative Cloud value-add might just tilt the choice in its favor – at least for the content creators market. We are yet to receive the final datasheet, and the table above will be updated once we have additional details.

Source: AnandTech – Western Digital Updates WD Blue Series with SN570 DRAM-less NVMe SSD

Rapid advancements in flash technology and continued improvements in high-speed interfaces have driven the growth of small, bus-powered portable SSDs. Kingston introduced the DataTraveler Max in August 2021 as a USB-C flash drive capable (UFD) of hitting 1GBps speeds. Its uniqueness lies in the form-factor. In fact, it is the first device in a thumb drive form-factor to hit such performance numbers. These numbers are achieved while keeping the UFD light enough to sport an integrated USB-C male connector. Read on for our analysis of the drive’s performance and a detailed look at the technology enabling this unique product.

Source: AnandTech – Kingston DataTraveler Max UFD Review: NVMe Performance in a USB Thumb Drive

Western Digital’s Red series of drives for network-attached storage systems has a significant share in various NAS market segments. The series started off with a focus on hard drives, and more recently WD Red SSDs were introduced in Q4 2019, a few years after the SanDisk acquisition. These SATA SSDs (in both 2.5″ and M.2 form-factors) were based on Marvell 88SS1074 controllers and targeted caching applications.

The increasing popularity of tiered storage, coupled with the deployment of NVMe (in the form of add-in cards, and now, natively in NAS boards) has prompted Western Digital to create a new member in the WD Red family. The new WD Red SN700 comes in 5 capacities ranging from 250GB to 4TB.

A PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe drive can provide a quantum leap in I/O performance, especially over pure HDD-based systems. NAS units are fast becoming hyperconverged application servers, and NVMe drives can improve user experience with both storage tasks as well as application tasks. In particular, tasks related to workloads like virtualization, multi-user collaborative editing and other similar applications. The benefits for traditional enterprise workloads such as intensive databases are also evident, even when the NVMe drive is used purely as a caching drive. Interestingly, the 1TB and lower capacity models have a 1 DWPD rating, while the 2TB and 4TB ones have a 0.7 DWPD endurance number.

It must be noted that Seagate has already released two generations of NVMe drives for the NAS market in their IronWolf series. WD is playing a bit of a catch-up in this particular market segment, but its SanDisk heritage and vertical integration can possibly give the WD Red SN700 an edge over the IronWolf series.

Source: AnandTech – Western Digital Introduces WD Red SN700: PCIe 3.0 M.2 NVMe SSDs for NAS Systems

Back in July, we reported that EVGA was teasing its first AMD-based motherboard since the AM2+ days. Fast forward to now, and that dream of an EVGA model for AMD’s Ryzen processors led by in-house engineer and extreme overclocker Vince ‘KINGPIN’ Lucido is now a reality. The EVGA X570 Dark benefits from a large premium 17-phase power delivery (14+2+1) designed for pushing Ryzen 5000 to its limits and support for up to DDR4-4800 out of the box across two memory slots to minimize latency.

The EVGA X570 Dark, as expected, is primarily suited to extreme overclockers, with a variety of performance-enhancing features across the large E-ATX sized PCB. One of the most notable design characteristics includes a transposed AM4 CPU socket for better support when mounting an LN2 (liquid nitrogen) pot, and an empty CPU socket area to minimize risks when insulating for sub-ambient cooling. All the major power connectors are also at right angles, to be less of an issue when extreme overclocking for records. 

EVGA uses a 16-phase power delivery organized into a 14+2 configuration, with fourteen premium 90 A power stages for the CPU section. It’s a slightly different design to accommodate the transposed socket as it stretches around the bottom of the AM4 socket. It is using active VRM cooling with two cooling fans and uses a 10-layer PCB design. The 17th power stage is for the memory. Providing power to the CPU is a pair of 8-pin 12 V ATX CPU power inputs. Some of the most notable features of the EVGA X570 Dark include voltage monitoring points at the top of the board, as well as a variety of switches to enable/disable features that might be critical to sub-zero overclocking stability.

For end-users wanting to have a daily system, there are dual PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, eight SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays, as well as 2.5 GbE wired and Wi-Fi 6 wireless networking. Looking at PCIe support, EVGA includes two full-length PCIe 4.0 slots operating at x16 and x8/x8, with a half-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slot. Other features include a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec backed by EVGA’s NU audio solution, eight 4-pin cooling headers, a passively cooled chipset heatsink, and two USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C port on the rear panel.

The EVGA X570 Dark is currently available to purchase directly from the EVGA website for $690. This isn’t a cheap motherboard, but overclocking-focused motherboards such as this come at a hefty premium. Although it has plenty of features for a daily Ryzen 5000 based system, the hope is that it provides the substance for extreme overclockers looking to push Ryzen 5000 silicon to its limits.

Our review of the EVGA X570 Dark will be coming very soon – it arrived a couple of days ago and is currently on our testbed!

Gallery: EVGA Releases X570 Dark Motherboard, Overclocking Flagship For AMD Ryzen 5000

Related Reading

• EVGA Teases an AMD X570 Dark Edition: For Ryzen 5000 Enthusiasts
• Best AMD Motherboards: September 2021
• MSI Launches MEG X570S Ace Max Motherboard, Max Out Ryzen 5000
• Investigating Performance of Multi-Threading on Zen 3 and AMD Ryzen 5000

Source: AnandTech – EVGA Releases the X570 Dark: First Ryzen Motherboard from EVGA, Built for OC

This week, Samsung LSI announced a new camera sensor that seemingly is pushing the limits of resolution within a mobile phone. The new S5KHP1, or simply HP1 sensor, pushes the resolution above 200 megapixels, almost doubling that of what’s currently being deployed in contemporary hardware in today’s phones.

Source: AnandTech – Samsung’s new 200MP HP1 Sensor: Sensible, or Marketing?

Plugable is introducing its Thunderbolt 4 product lineup today, with the TBT4-HUB3C Thunderbolt 4 Hub leading the pack. Joining it are two Thunderbolt 4 cables – the 2m. long TBT4-40G2M, and the 1m. long TBT4-40G1M.

Intel had provided detailed updates on Thunderbolt 4 in mid-2020 before releasing it in Tiger Lake-based products. As peak bandwidth (40Gbps) didn’t get an upgrade over Thunderbolt 3, many consumers just considered it a branding update. In fact, under the hood, the specifications were being fine-tuned to bring in some features from the USB world. It is these new features that Plugable is focusing on:

• Hub functionality in addition to the daisy-chaining scheme prevalent in previous Thunderbolt versions
• Active cables up to 2m in length and supporting up to 40Gbps speeds – maximum possible based on the host / device interfaces (Thunderbolt 3 active cables with non-Thunderbolt 3 Type-C devices are often limited to USB 2.0 speeds)

The TBT4-40G2M (active) and TBT4-40G1M (passive) are Intel-certified Thunderbolt 4 cables, priced at $59 ($49 after coupon application) and $34 ($29 after coupon application) respectively. The pricing premium is due to increased certification costs (the factory is required to get random manufacturing lots repeatedly tested for Thunderbolt 4 cables, compared to only the initial manufacturing run previously).

These cables complement the Thunderbolt 4 flagship from Plugable – the Goshen Ridge-based TBT4-HUB3C. The JHL8440 Goshen Ridge controller used in the hub is a quad-port solution – one upstream, and three downstream ports.

The TBT4-HUB3C comes with a 0.8m passive Thunderbolt 4 cable, a 110W power brick, and a bundled USB-C to HDMI adapter supporting resolutions up to 4Kp60 with HDR. The main hub itself is quite tiny compared to the power brick, measuring just 118 mm x 18 mm x 73 mm. Despite the small size, the unit has a solid look and feel with its brushed finish. The hub tips the scales at 201g, light enough to be considered pocketable.

Plugable also bundles a USBC-HDMI adapter (USB-C male to HDMI 2.0 female converter supporting DisplayPort Alternate Mode from the USB-C side) with the package. The intent is to route the incoming display signals from the host to one of the downstream Thunderbolt 4 ports, and then on to a HDMI monitor. This also brings out the benefits of the hub scheme – With daisy chaining no longer in the picture for most deployments (each spoke in the hub can still be a daisy chain in Thunderbolt 4), users do not need to worry about the placement of different Thunderbolt peripherals / displays in the chain. Additionally, it allows the peripherals to be disconnected independent of each other – something not possible in the chain topology without interrupting the links to peripherals intended to be kept active.

Performance Testing

The number of use-case scenarios for Thunderbolt 4 hubs such as the Plugable TBT4-HUB3C are too many to count. Our performance evaluation is restricted to the configurations specified below. The upstream port of the TBT4-HUB3C is connected to the Thunderbolt 4 port of the ASRock Industrial NUC BOX-1165G7 – a risky choice, given that the port is only certified for USB 3.2 Gen 2 / DisplayPort Alternate Mode. The downstream ports were connected as per the list below.

• Port #1 – DIY Thunderbolt 3 SSD using the TEKQ Rapide and the WD_BLACK SN750.
• Port #2 – PowerColor Gaming Station eGFX Solution with the PowerColor Radeon RX Vega 56 Nano.
• Port # – USBC-HDMI connector on to a LG34WK95U configured to display a 3840×2160 desktop at 60 Hz (8-bit RGB)

The Thunderbolt Control Center can be use to approve connected devices. All primary connections to the Thunderbolt port (other than the displays and associated routing gear) are visible in it.

Various workload combinations were processed to determine the real-world effects of bandwidth sharing between the peripherals connected to the hub. The DIY Thunderbolt 3 SSD was subject to a fio workload, while the eGPU in the Gaming Station was subject to an OpenCL bandwidth test (transferring data from the host to the device VRAM, and back).

It must be noted that the Thunderbolt data rates are bidirectional – logically speaking, we have a 40 Gbps link from the host to the device, and another 40 Gbps link from the device to the host. As part of our experiments, we attempted to activate traffic in pairs – one set with the display routing turned off, and another set with the USBC-HDMI part active.

It can be observed that activating the display output link reduces performance for the host-to-device traffic from 20.57 Gbps to 13.78 Gbps, while total used bandwidth on the host to device side moves up from 20.57 Gbps to 28.5 Gbps. On the return side, the maximum bandwidth seen turned out to be 22.11 Gbps.

Investigation of 5K display outputs from the hub’s downstream port, and its bandwidth implications will be covered in future reviews.

Concluding Remarks

The Plugable TBT4-HUB3C brings out the capabilities / advantages of Thunderbolt 4 over previous Thunderbolt versions in an effective and user-friendly manner. The hub functionality brings Thunderbolt and traditional consumer understanding of USB functionality to the same table, and this can only be good for the market as USB4 begins to gain traction.

The TBT4-HUB3C is able to support 40 Gbps in total over the three downstream ports without favoring one port over the other. While we evaluated a number of interesting use-cases involving displays, Thunderbolt SSDs, and eGPUs, the possibilities enabled by the hub are much more varied. With backwards compatibility – we even tested functionality of the device as a USB 2.0 hub when connected to a USB 2.0 port – in the picture, it can be safely said that the hub’s functionality is limited only by the features of the upstream host port.

At $174 (after applying a $15 off coupon on the $189 MSRP), the hub presents a great value proposition in this space. Plugable is a bit late to the Thunderbolt 4 market, as other Goshen Ridge solutions have been available in the market for a while now (though supply chain issues have meant that actual availability has been limited). All the Thunderbolt 4 hubs / docks use the quad-port JHL8440 to full effect, enabling one upstream Thunderbolt 4 port, and three downstream Thunderbolt 4 ports. For $230, the CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub tags on additional USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. Razer has two docks – a 10-port version with a SD card slot, audio jack, an Ethernet port, and three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports for $320, and a RGB version of the same for $330. The Kensington SD5700T priced at $330 is similar to the Razer dock, but with an additional USB-A charging-only port.

The closest competitor to the Plugable TBT4-HUB3C is actually the OWC Thunderbolt Hub that has a similar form-factor and ports layout. It does have a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port in addition for its $179 price point. Despite undercutting the OWC unit by $5, Plugable has managed to include a $20 value addition in the USBC-HDMI adapter. Overall, Plugable has an effective entry-level Thunderbolt 4 product bound to expand market adoption and understanding of the latest Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 ecosystem. We look forward to the company expanding its offerings and create a TBT4 lineup similar to what they currently carry for Thunderbolt 3.

Source: AnandTech – Plugable TBT4-HUB3C Thunderbolt 4 Hub Capsule Review

Prior to the Huawei/Honor split, I had my hands on almost every model or flagship that Honor made. The co-design with Huawei, along with a good high-middle market for those flagships, made them competitive products. However, Honor was sold to essentially run standalone, which meant it was no longer under the US entity list bans, and could leverage Google services again. The Honor 50 is one of these devices, offering a full Google experience, and opting to pair a 700-series Snapdragon SoC with a 108 MP camera and a 6.57-inch OLED display. We had some hands-on with the Honor 50 ahead of the launch next month in October.

Source: AnandTech – Hands On With the Honor 50: One Vlog to Rule Them All

After a new firmware update, we’ve updated our original review of the Xiaomi 11T, showcasing better battery life results, and a more positive conclusion to the device.

Source: AnandTech – Editor’s Note: Updated Results and Conclusion for Xiaomi 11T Review

Seagate’s IronWolf series of drives for network-attached storage systems has gained significant traction in its market segments. One of the primary reasons has been the breadth of offerings – high-capacity HDDs targeting different applications, as well as SATA and NVMe SSDs. In fact, Seagate was one of the first vendors to introduce SSDs targeting the prosumer / SMB / SME NAS markets with the IronWolf SSD 110 series at the 2019 CES. This 2.5″ SATA SSD family was complemented by the announcement of the IronWolf 510 NVMe SSD family in Q1 2020. The SSD family, based on the Phison E12DC Enterprise SSD Controller, sported a 1DWPD rating that was not available in other SSDs targeting the prosumer / SMB NAS market.

Seagate is continuing their leadership march today with the launch of the IronWolf 525 NVMe SSDs. Based on the Phison E16 (PS5016-E16-32) PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD controller, the product appears to dial back to consumer roots with a 0.7 DWPD rating. Currently, there are no commercial off-the-shelf NAS offerings from the major vendors (Synology, QNAP, Asustor, etc.) with native PCIe 4.0 capability. The IronWolf 525 is backwards compatible with PCIe 3.0 and can slot into the same places where the IronWolf 510 is currently being used. Key confirmed specifications are captured in the table below.

Key value additions include the IronWolf Health Management (IHM) and Rescue Data Recovery Services (DRS). The former is an embedded software application that continuously monitors drive health parameters and notifies users appropriately to reduce probability of data loss on supported NAS platforms. The 3-year complimentary DRS provides data recovery services for accidental data corruption or drive damage.

Seagate intends the IronWolf 525 NVMe SSDs to be used in commercial and entry-level enterprise NAS units, high-performance workstations, and in U.2 NVMe SSD drive bays with U.2 to M.2 adapters. These SSDs appear to have the same hardware (including the Kioxia BiCS 4 96L 3D TLC flash) as the FireCuda 520 series, albeit with modified firmware to enable the NAS-specific features such as IHM. Consequently, pricing is expected to carry a slight premium over the FireCuda 520 currently retailing for $370 (2TB), $190 (1TB), and

Source: AnandTech – Seagate Introduces IronWolf 525 PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSDs for NAS Systems

To date, most of the new AI hardware entering the market has been a ‘purchase necessary’ involvement. For any business looking to go down the route of using specialized AI hardware, they need to get hold of a test system, see how easy it is to migrate their workflow, then compute the cost/work/future of going down that route, if feasible. Most AI startups are flush with VC funding that they’re willing to put the leg work in for it, hoping to snag a big customer at some point to make that business profitable. One simple answer would be to offer the hardware in the cloud, but it takes a lot for a Cloud Service Provider (CSP) to bite and offer that hardware as an option to their customers. Today’s announcement between Cerebras and Cirrascale is that as a CSP, Cirrascale will begin to offer wafer-scale instances based on Cerebras’ WSE2.

Source: AnandTech – Cerebras In The Cloud: Get Your Wafer Scale in an Instance