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PNY GeForce GTX 780 Ti XLR8 Overclocked Edition Announced

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PNY has released information on their GeForce GTX 780 Ti Overclocked edition, which comes with a massive 3-slot / 3 fan cooler. The board has a GK110 GPU holding 2880 active shader cores and a Base/Boost GPU clocks of 980/1046 MHz. You’ll spot the standard 3 GB of GDDR5 VRAM clocked at 7008 MHz, 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors, and dual-DVI, HDMI 1.4b and DisplayPort 1.2 outputs.

The tech specs for the GTX 780 Ti are superb, as the product has the full 15 Streaming clusters, thus having 2880 Shader Processing Units enabled. That’s 240 TMUs and 48 ROPs on a 384-bit memory interface of fast GDDR5. NVIDIA in a nutshell having a 45 mm × 45 mm 2397-pin S-FCBGA GK110b GPU with 2880 shader/stream/CUDA processors.

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Boost your gaming experience with a stunningly beautiful, quiet design. With NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0 for maximum clock speeds, PhysX® and TXAA™ technologies for smooth, sharp graphics, and GeForce ShadowPlay™ to capture all your greatest gaming moments, you will experience the ultimate gameplay. Whether you’re playing on stunning 4K monitors at extreme settings, or multiple monitors at 25 x 16, the GTX 780 Ti provides the horsepower to drive all your next-gen gaming visual experiences.

The GeForce GTX 780 Ti Overclocked has a price tag of around $750 / €550 / £460. More details and feature overviews can be found on PNY’s official website here.

Thank you Club3D for providing us with this information.
Images courtesy of PNY

The post PNY GeForce GTX 780 Ti XLR8 Overclocked Edition Announced appeared first on eTeknix.


Potential Kingston & PNY Scandal: Switching SSD Components After Reviews!

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Over the last few months, evidence has been gathering that storage manufacturers Kingston and more recently PNY have been pulling a bait and switch tactic on their consumers. What this means is that after the initial hardware release and of course the reviews of their products have been written, the companies are then changing the hardware configuration. This has left many customers venting that they’ve been cheated into buying a product they may not have wanted had they known the hardware had been changed. This can be especially true for those who buy their hardware based on reviews, such as the reviews we do here at eTeknix. If we tell you a product gives X amount of performance based on its specifications, then those specifications are secretly changed, then our review is worthless and you as a consumer may end up with an inferior product.

According to a Tweaktown blog post, the new PNY Optima drive should feature the Silicon Motion controller, but the user who bought it later discovered that it features a different firmware and a different SandForce based controller. TweakTown investigated this issue and contact PNY who responded with; “yes we did ship some Optima SSD’s with SandForce controllers, but only if they meet the minimum advertised performance levels.”

Unfortunately minimum performance levels is about as vague as things get, especially when manufacturers usually use the term “up to” for their performance figures. Such as the PNY drives spec sheet which reads “up to 60,000 IOPS”, not to mention the level of change that their testing equipment and methods can mean when recording those figures.

The same can be said for the popular Kingston V300 drive, a product that has been on the market for around a year now, but appears to have been switched from synchronous to asynchronous NAND. The downside of this being that the latter can be slower than the other in certain situation, dependant on the configuration, than the parts that were initially installed in these drives. This is reflected in the charts below, which compares the standard hardware to the asynchronous NAND hardware.

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In short, this isn’t acceptable, selling one product under the pretence that it’s actually made of different components is bad for business and I suspect that now the alarm has been rung, more issues like this will soon be discovered, perhaps even from several other brands. If the issue isn’t resolved soon, then it could mean that many of the storage reviews that have already been published, could now be a complete waste of time, or at least require the modified products to be re-tested.

Thank you ExtremeTech, Tweaktown and NordicHardware for providing us with this information.

Images courtesy of Extremetech and NordicHardware.

The post Potential Kingston & PNY Scandal: Switching SSD Components After Reviews! appeared first on eTeknix.

Who Are The Biggest SSD Vendors Of 2013? The Figures Are Out!

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Samsung continued its relentless expansion in the SSD market last year as it boosted its market share from 23.2% in 2012 to 28.5% in 2013. The figures produced by analytics firm Gartner reveal some potentially worrying trends for the SSD market. The SSD market is now tending towards an oligopoly as the five biggest vendors increased their market share from 55.4% in 2012 to 65.8% in 2013.

gartner_ssd_revenue_market_shareIntel saw a decline in its share falling from 14.7% to 13.1% market share. SanDisk showed huge growth, more than doubling their share from 5 to 11.7% in that 1 year period. Micron also made good progress with their Crucial brand, rising from 3.3 to 6.9% of the market, again that’s more than a doubling.

 

 

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With Micron, SanDisk and Samsung all doing so well, who lost out? Well aside from Intel, Toshiba has also taken a fairly sizeable hit. However, the real losers are the “others” category: that’s SSD manufacturers who mainly rely on (all or some) parts produced by other vendors. These brands include Kingston, OCZ (now defunct and owned by Toshiba), Corsair, G.Skill and PNY among many others. Of course OCZ are now part of Toshiba meaning that they make their own NAND and controllers but many other brands will be forced out of the market by the “big boys” like Samsung, Intel, SanDisk, Micron and Toshiba who can all make the majority of their own parts such as the controllers, NAND, DRAM cache and firmware required for an SSD product. The advantage of making it yourself mean you have a stable reliable supply and can produce it for the cheapest cost, not to mention certain vendors may simply stop supplying parts to rival companies when things really hot up. We’ve already heard rumours that Micron may stop selling its NAND to rival SSD vendors, or reduce supply at the very least.

Image #1 courtesy of Samsung, image #2 and #3 courtesy of Gartner

The post Who Are The Biggest SSD Vendors Of 2013? The Figures Are Out! appeared first on eTeknix.

PNY Has Launched a New Duo-Link USB Flash Drive

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PNY Technologies announced the launch of the Duo-Link OTG USB Flash Drive today, available in both 16GB and 32GB capacities. The micro-sized, cap-less swing design of the Duo-Link OTG USB Flash Drive holds both a micro-USB connector and a USB connector that allows users to easily transfer media and files to and from an Android device and PC.

The On-The-Go USB Flash Drive can connect to an Android mobile device and PC or laptop. The Micro-USB connector easily plugs into any Android device while the USB connector plugs directly into any available USB port. The built-in Micro-USB connector allows you to quickly transfer or store music, photos, movies, videos, files and more. Users can also play music or videos directly from the new PNY Duo-Link. The flash drive was designed to free up space on an Android phone and/or save files from a PC or laptop onto the phone. The cap-less, all-in-one design is small enough to connect to an Android device for portable on the go usage.

Specifications

  • Interface: USB 2.0
  • Storage Capacities: 16GB & 32GB
  • Weight: 0.02LB
  • Product Dimensions: 30mm x 10mm x 5mm

PNY offers a one-year warranty on all their USB Flash Drives and that includes the Duo-Link OTG. The drives are available now for purchase at select e-tailers, retailers, PNY.com, and through authorized PNY distribution partners. At the time of writing, the 16GB model is listed for $14,99 and the 32GB model for 24.99 on PNY’s own website.

Thank you PNY for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of PNY.

The post PNY Has Launched a New Duo-Link USB Flash Drive appeared first on eTeknix.

The PNY LEGO USB Flash Drive Is Here

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PNY has shared the information on the new LEGO USB Flash Drive. This is great news for me, or rather my three nephews. They have been pestering me since they heard about this the first time around Christmas, and I haven’t been able to get them for them yet. That has changed now and the LEGO brick USB stick is available in 16GB size for $12.99. That is actually not a bad price considering it is LEGO branded. Each LEGO USB Flash Drive also comes with an additional LEGO brick for “extra building fun”.

  • Includes one LEGO USB Flash Drive and one LEGO brick
  • The LEGO USB Flash Drive has a capless, sliding design
  • The included key-fob easily attaches to the key ring for on the go storing and fun
  • The LEGO USB Flash Drive and additional LEGO brick are compatible with all LEGO brick toys for endless fun

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Specifications wise the stick is USB 2.0 and there are no official speed descriptions. This most likely means that it will be around 7-10MB/s write and read speeds. It is compatible with most PC & MAC laptop and desktop computers with an available USB 2.0 port. The stick measures 1.20 x 0.50 x 0.22 inch and has an operating temperature of 0° to 60° C and a storage temperature tolerance of -25° to 85° C. It comes with a One-Year Warranty and free technical support.

For now the drive only appears to be available in blue, but I’m sure that will change. Specially considering the first image above.

Thank you PNY for providing us with this information.

Images courtesy of PNY.

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PNY Launches HP v231w “Goat” Flash Drive

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Goat Drive

PNY Technologies has officially announced the limited edition HP v231w USB flash drive to coincide with the Chinese New Year. What 2015, the Year of the Goat, will do for Goat Simulator, I do not know. But what I do know is that PNY has released this specially designed flash drive crafted with gold housing and finished with electronic plated durable metallic casing makes HP v231w a unique and high-quality flash drive.

The USB 2.0 drive doesn’t just carry your files, it also kinda protects them with the durable casing that is both water and dust-proof. There should be a right fit for everyone with capacities ranging from 16 to 64GB.

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The 4.5 gram light HP v231w measures 4.5 x 12.2 x 34.6 mm and will be released as a limited edition that is HP compatible and branded. Support is listed for Windows 2000/ XP / Vista, 7, 8, Mac OS: 10.3 and above, but I can not see why anything with USB port shouldn’t be able to use it. It comes backed by a two-year warranty within the date of purchase.

Thanks to PNY via TechPowerUp for providing us with this information

Images courtesy of PNY

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Latest PNY Storage Drives @ CES2015

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There’s little in the way of innovation in the 2.5″ SSD market right now, but many manufacturers are pushing hard for lower prices, better efficiency and many more minor improvements in 2015, making this the perfect year to update your storage. PNY have brought along their latest storage drives, that offer all of the latest features, as well as some great new designs that will no doubt look great in any desktop system.

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PNY Announced New Solid State Drive Line-Up

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PNY Technologies announced a new line-up of high-performance Solid State Drives for enterprise, client, and consumer storage solutions. The EP7000 Series is designed for enterprises, the CL4000 Series is designed for client OEM business environments, while the CS2000 series is geared towards enthusiasts and the CS1000 is the budget series.

“PNY’s new range of Solid State Drives is a result of the company’s renewed focus on delivering innovative, high-quality SSD products to address the growing needs of the storage market,” said Vinny Girardi, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Storage Solutions & New Products group at PNY. “This new series of solid state drives are highly reliable, as they have gone through rigorous validation and testing, ensuring they meet the stringent requirements specific to the enterprise and client markets. This new line-up of SSDs will truly make life simple for our customer base!”

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The CS1000 series is the next generation of Optima SSDs and will be available as both 2.5-inch and m.2 form factors with capacities ranging from 120 to 480GB. The CS2000 series is the next installment in the XLR8 series and comes as 2.5-inch form factor with capacities up to 960GB. The CL4000 OEM series is the next generation of Prevail SSDs that feature DEVSleep and other power saving features at a balanced performance ratio, and capacities from 80 to 980GB in the 2.5-inch size. Lastly, the EP7000 enterprise series comes as 2.5-inch with 120GB to 480GB and features such as hardware power fail support, RAID configurations, AES-256 bit, hardware encryption and compression.

PNY offers a three-year warranty on the CS2000 and CS1000 while the EP7000 and CL4000 Series enjoy a five-year warranty and will be available for purchase by Q2 2015.

Thanks to PNY for providing us with this information

The post PNY Announced New Solid State Drive Line-Up appeared first on eTeknix.


PNY Announces New SPYRUS Co-Branded Encrypting and Bootable Windows To Go Drives

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PNY announced its entry into the high assurance encrypting USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 data storage and bootable drives market with new PNY cobranded Secured By SPYRUS drives. The PocketVault P-3X and PocketVault P-384 encrypting USB drives are resistant to the BadUSB attacks that otherwise is an unpatched problem.

“PNY is proud to partner with SPYRUS to manufacture and distribute the SPYRUS USB product lines specifically engineered to meet the security needs of the Enterprise and Government marketplace,” said Bob Stone, SVP of Operations for PNY. “Our extensive USA manufacturing and support facilities for flashbased products in Parsippany, New Jersey, can meet the global demand forecasted for high security USB 2.0 and 3.0 devices.”

PocketVault P-3X combines USB 3.0 performance and SSD NAND for ultra-fast performance. Designed to meet FIPS 140-2 Level 2 and Level 3 specifications, the P-3X features a ruggedized extruded aluminum case and a unique embedded hardware security module to support digital signature applications. PocketVault P-384 is a USB 2.0 drive that stores your data in an encrypted partition on its internal microSD card. Both drives use the latest XTS-AES 256-bit full disk encryption instead of the older AES-CBC encryption.

PNY is also entering the Hardware-encrypted Secure Portable Workplace and Bitlocker encrypted Portable Workplace family from SPYRUS. These are Microsoft-certified Windows-To-Go drives that securely boot your custom Windows 8 or 8.1 securely even when booted from untrusted computers.

Thanks to PNY for providing us with this information

The post PNY Announces New SPYRUS Co-Branded Encrypting and Bootable Windows To Go Drives appeared first on eTeknix.

PNY Releases 128GB Hook Attaché USB 2.0 Flash Drive

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PNY Hook Attaché 128gb

PNY’s newest USB flash drive puts a whole of storage in you pockets. The Hook Attaché is a high-quality flash drive with up to 128GB capacity to store all the data you need on the go. The Hook Attaché has a silver finish with a sleek streamlined appearance.

The exterior covering is water proof, dust proof and shock proof, enough to endure daily use and keep your files protected. The carabiner hook design enables the drive to be securely attached to keys, backpacks, handbags, or any other accessory you might have. The cap-less design also makes sure that you don’t have a cap to lose or forget.

The PNY Hook Attaché also comes in other storage capacities of 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB, and it works with any Windows 2000 and Mac OS 10.3 or newer. It is also backed by a 5-year warranty.

Thanks to TechPowerUp for providing us with this information

The post PNY Releases 128GB Hook Attaché USB 2.0 Flash Drive appeared first on eTeknix.

PNY Releases 2-in-1 Duo-Link OU4 Flash drive with OTG and USB 3.0

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Getting files from your smartphone or tablet and over on a flash drive can be a real hassle and for most parts it requires the use of a system in the middle where you can connect both devices. That is unless you have an OTG enabled device, then it gets a lot easier as you can just plug an OTG compatible flash drive directly into your device and use it as if it was the internal memory or a card.

PNY has announced such a new flash drive and it comes with both a microUSB connector for your smart device and a USB 3.0 connector for your PC. The new PNY Duo-Link OU4 OTG USB 3.0 can achieve speeds up to 120MB/s while reading and still manage 20MB/s at writing, allowing you to transfer those files in a speedy fashion.

The drive only weighs about 2.8 grams and measures 29.05 x 15.1 x 10.25 mm and it will be available in capacities ranging from 8GB to 64GB. It is compatible with Android 4.0 and newer devices with an OTG enabled chipset and port, and it should work equally well on all normal USB devices such as Windows, Linux, or MacOS systems.

The fourth generation Duo-Link OU drive is backed by a two-year warranty from the date of purchase and we can expect a similar price to the current third generation. No word on when it will be available, but it should be shortly.

The post PNY Releases 2-in-1 Duo-Link OU4 Flash drive with OTG and USB 3.0 appeared first on eTeknix.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 Listed and Pictured

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PNY Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 GPU

With Nvidia’s GTX 950 expected later this month, it’s not surprising to see that some listings and pictures of the card have started to emerge. Today we bring you the first listing for a GTX950, the ASUS STRIX GTX 950 DC2OC. As expected from the model name, the card should be quite similar to the GTX 960 Strix with an oversize DirectCUII cooler on a small PCB. There are multiple listings out now at about €240+, but we can expect the launch price to be closer to €150 to replace the 750Ti as the currently listed prices surpass those of the 960.

More interesting is the first glimpse of the GTX 950 from PNY. From the packaging, we get the usual 3 years PNY warranty along with “High-Resolution Graphics Cards” which probably means it can support 4K output. The cooler is relatively simple and we can see that the PCB is larger than that of the 750Ti and closer to the 960 though we don’t know if it’s a custom PCB. The low power nature of the 950 does betray itself as we can see that the cooler is a simple radial aluminum heatsink, likely without any heatpipes. Given that the 960 has a much beefier heatsink, the extra PCB is probably there to support more power delivery components and support the larger heatsink.

The GTX 950 is based on the GM206 with 768 Maxwell shaders on a 128bit bus with 64 TMUs and likely 32 ROPs. With performance likely to fall around the R7 370, we can expect pricing to be about the same as well. Nvidia has already cut the price on the 750Ti so the 950 should be arriving imminently.

Thank you Videocardz for providing us with this information

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PNY GTX 950 2GB Graphics Card Update Review

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Introduction


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Following on from our GTX 950 round-up article, PNY has sent a model which looks extremely promising. We have already seen that the GTX 950 range performs extremely well and the price is extremely attractive for a cheap gaming build.

The PNY GTX 950 is the cheapest GTX 950 that PNY offers and features a single fan design. This is a step away from the usual dual fan designs that PNY produce and personally I really like the subtle design on this.

This card is essentially an unmodified NVIDIA version with an improved cooling design as it features the same base and boost clock speeds as the reference model or 1024MHz base and 1188MHz boost.These speeds don’t sound that impressive, but the overclocking capability of Maxwell and the GTX 950 range, in particular, will see this overclock well into the 1400MHz range.

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Packaging and accessories

The outer box is simple and follows the design that everyone can relate too from graphics cards manufacturers by donning a ‘mascot’.

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It’s refreshing not to be bombarded with information when you flip the box over. Instead, a few key features are outlined and a quick link to visit if you need more information.

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Accessories are simple, with a quick installation guide, driver disc and DVI to VGA adapter.

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PNY Unveils Anarchy X DDR4 Memory

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Intel’s Skylake architecture and Z170 chipset have made DDR4 an affordable proposition and no longer exclusive to the enthusiast platform. As a result, high bandwidth, DDR4 pricing dropped quite significantly in recent months and legitimately rivaled the pricing of DDR3. The advantages of DDR4 includes higher frequencies and reduced voltage. Today, PNY announced the Anarchy X DDR4 modules which comes in a variety of capacities and speeds.

The DIMMs vary between 2400MHz to 2800MHz with a CAS latency of CL16 at 1.2V and utilize high-quality ICs. On another note, the XLR8 heat spreaders look fantastic and should accompany a red and black gaming theme extraordinarily well. In terms of pricing, the 16GB (4×4) configuration has a recommend retail price of £139 including VAT. This emphasizes how affordable high-capacity memory is becoming and it will be interesting to see the prices of DDR3 as more customers migrate to Skylake.

Unfortunately, Intel’s latest offering is currently quite poor value-for-money due to supply issues but CPUs should drop in price once sales reduce and stock increases. Additionally, AMD’s Zen architecture could apply pressure on Intel to offer more attractive pricing for consumers.

What speed of memory are you currently using?

The post PNY Unveils Anarchy X DDR4 Memory appeared first on eTeknix.

PNY AnarchyX 2800MHz DDR4 16GB (4x4GB) Quad Channel Memory Kit Review

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Introduction


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Prior to the release of Intel’s Z170 platform, DDR4 memory prices remained extremely high compared to DDR3 equivalents and required the use of other expensive components designed primarily for professionals. Thankfully, DDR4 prices have plummeted and usually cost the same as DDR3 capacities or slightly less in some cases. So why consider DDR4? Firstly, the latest standard in computer memory operates using lower voltages and capable of reaching frequencies in excess of 3200MHz. Granted, this doesn’t make a difference in most gaming tasks, but it’s useful for rendering, video editing and other workloads. Additionally, the price variation between 2400MHz and 3000MHz is still relatively small and well worth your consideration.

For the mainstream market, most consumers buy memory kits on the basis of aesthetics. One particular example which looks absolutely fantastic is the PNY AnarchyX series and comes in a variety of speeds from 2400MHz up to 2800MHz. Today, we’ve decided to take a look at their highest frequency model and compare it to other premium kits. From a technical standpoint, the sample we received operates at 1.2V, and CAS16 which makes it an excellent choice. Given the memory’s impressive visual design, and specification, I expect it to perform rather well during our rigorous benchmarking procedure.

Specifications

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Packaging and Accessories

Unlike many RAM kits, the PNY AnarchyX doesn’t come in a relatively plain blister pack. The box contains an attractive render of the memory modules and outlines the key specifications. On another note, each module is sealed in an anti-static bag to eliminate any chance of electrical surges from occurring. This is a great addition which adds a premium feel.

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The rear section is fairly plain and provides a more detailed look at the kit’s specifications. There’s also a number of images to inform the user of PNY’s entire product range.

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A Closer Look

PNY have done a splendid job designing the heat spreaders which look unique without being too ostentatious. More specifically, the subtle PNY logo contrasts superbly with the domineering AnarchyX branding and makes for a wonderful finish. On another note, the vibrant edges and understated crossed pattern enhances the overall aesthetic design. I’m also really fond of the central red accent which adds a hint of colour to the modules. Once combined with the black PCB, this results in one of the best DDR4 visual designs I’ve seen to date!

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The post PNY AnarchyX 2800MHz DDR4 16GB (4x4GB) Quad Channel Memory Kit Review appeared first on eTeknix.


PNY Reveals HP v250w USB Flash Drive

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PNY Reveals HP v250w USB Flash Drive

PNY has just launched its brand new HP v250w USB Flash Drive, which impresses with durability, reliability and impressive storage capacities. What makes this flash drive stand out among its peers is the fact that it comes with a unique, patented hook and lock design that improves its overall security. As far as looks are concerned, we’re talking about a smooth metal frame with a high-quality silver finish, which measures no more than 5.0mm x 153.8mm x 46.6mm (HWL). Storage capabilities range from 4GB to 128GB, which means that storing large HD videos or high-resolution images shouldn’t be a problem.

The carabiner hook design allows the user to attach this flash drive to keys, handbags or backpacks, and this adds a few points in the practicality department. When it comes to compatibility, the device is based on an easy plug and play system, which means that it works just fine with operating systems such as Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 or Mac OS 10.3. The HP v250w is backed by a two-year warranty from PNY, which is always nice.

Are you satisfied with the USB flash drive that you’re using right now, and if not, would you consider switching over to this PNY product?

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PNY CS2211 XLR8 240GB Solid State Drive Review

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Introduction


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Today’s review is a special one for me as it is the first time I get to review a PNY SSD. I got the XLR8 CS2211 2.5-inch gaming branded SSD on the test bench today and it will be interesting to see how well it does. The PNY CS2211 SSD is available in three capacities from 240GB over 480GB to 960GB from which I’ll be testing the 240GB model today.

PNY is no stranger in the SSD market and they created some great drives in the past for all sectors of the market, but they’re probably most known for their graphics cards. But we aren’t here to talk about graphics cards, it is about storage today. PNY has taken what they have learned from their previous drives and created the XLR8 branded CS2211 drive, and it shows in the performance ratings.

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The drive is rated for a sequential performance of up to 565 MB/s reading and 540MB/s writing, which is about as good as it gets on the SATA3 interface. The random input-output performance is equally impressive with 95K IOPS ratings for both reading and writing. Those are at least the ratings for the larger models and the small 240GB version can’t keep fully up with that. It still comes with impressive ratings despite being a little slower ,with an 87K IOPS rating and a drop in sequential writes to 470MB/s.

It is no surprise that the drive has such good ratings as it is built with only the best components. It utilizes 15nm Toshiba MLC NAND and a Phison PS3110-S10 controller aided by 256MB DDR3 cache package

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PNY gave the CS2211 the XLR8 styling as a gaming product, but the design has been toned down a bit in comparison to the previous XLR8 drive design. It is a beautiful design that makes the drive stand out and also makes in an optimal candidate for systems that proudly shows what components they are made off.

There are a lot of products that get a ‘gaming’ label in order to appeal to that market segment, but the CS2211 does deserve this label. It is a perfect gaming drive thanks to its high IOPS performance on top of the high sequential performance. You’ll copy fast, load fast, and should experience even less loading times in-game.

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Feature wise we find the basic Trim and SMART capabilities, but the CS2211 also comes with background garbage collection, end-to-end data protection, and error correction code for up to 120 bits per 2K sector. Overall, we see a drive that presents itself very well and PNY agrees with a 2 million hours mean time before failure rating and a full 4-year warranty.

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The 7mm slim drive is perfect for usage in both desktop and notebook systems where it also will fit well in 9.5mm drive bays thanks to the included adapter bracket. The SSD doesn’t feature the DevSleep function that I really like to see in drives, but that isn’t a deal breaker and most gamers don’t want power saving features, they want pure and raw performance which the CS2211 delivers.

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Aside from the beautiful brand sticker on the top, the drive is built with a standard 2-piece snap-together enclosure that holds the PCB and doesn’t require any screws that could loosen themselves over time in high-vibration environments.

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The PCB itself is a two-thirds length one with a total of eight NAND chips distributed over the front and back. The Phison PS3110 S10C controller sits firmly in the middle of the PCB. Next to it we also see the Nanya DDR3 cache chip that helps the drive to achieve the great speeds that it can.

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Specifications

  • Capacity: 240GB
  • Part Number: SSD7CS2211-240-RB
  • Form Factor: 2.5 inch
  • Height: 7mm
  • Interface: SATA-III 6Gb/s; backward compatible with SATA-II 3Gb/s
  • Max Sequential Read Speed: 560 MB/s
  • Max Sequential Write Speed: 470 MB/s
  • Max Random Read Speed: 87,000 IOPS
  • Max Random Write Speed: 95,000 IOPS
  • NAND Type: MLC
  • Ideal For: Gaming, Hard disk drive replacement, photo and video storage, and boot drives

Packaging and Accessories

The PNY XLR8 CS2211 solid state drive came packed in a simple black box with the PNY logo on the side.

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Inside the box is the SSD itself as well as a 9.5mm adapter for usage in notebooks and laptops designed for the 9.5mm thick drives. By adding the adapter to the drive, you make sure that it’s firmly seated in the system and doesn’t rattle around.

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Normally you’d get the drive in a more colourful wrapping and with an included registration key for the Acronis True Image cloning software. Review samples like this one sometimes come with a few things missing because the company is in a hurry to get the drives to us so we can test them for you – and they know that we don’t need the extras.

The post PNY CS2211 XLR8 240GB Solid State Drive Review appeared first on eTeknix.

PNY Launches GTX 950 And 960 XLR8 OC GPUs

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Despite the incredibly close arrival of NVIDIA’s latest architecture, there’s still lots of value in the current line-up. This is especially the case on more affordable options like the GTX 950. Today, PNY has announced two new custom models with impressive factory overclocks based on the GTX 950 and GTX 960. The new XLR8 OC graphics cards utilise a dual fan system which provides efficient cooling and a low noise output. Furthermore, PNY opted for an 8 layer PCB to enhance reliability and ensure the product has a long lifespan under extreme stress. The GTX 960 XLR8 OC GAMING is available either in a 2GB or 4GB configuration. The card contains a base clock of 1203MHz, boost of 1266MHz and effective memory speed running at 7200MHz. Connectivity-wise, the GTX 960 XLR8 OC GAMING includes two dual-link DVI ports, HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2. The 2GB edition is predicted to launch for £174.90 while the 4GB model will retail for £184.90.

Next up is the GTX 950 2GB XLR8 OC GAMING sporting a base clock of 1152MHz, boost of 1342MHz and memory clock of 7200MHz. This is a significant improvement on the reference design and able to leverage extra performance out of the box. The card incorporates two dual-link DVI ports, HDMI 2.0, and DisplayPort 1.2.  In terms of pricing, the overclocked GTX 950 model has a recommend retail price of £139.90.

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Both cards opt for a really stunning aesthetic design and offer great value! If you’d like to see a review of either, please let us know in the comments section.

The post PNY Launches GTX 950 And 960 XLR8 OC GPUs appeared first on eTeknix.

PNY XLR8 CS2211 240GB SSD in 2-Disk RAID Review

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Introduction


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I often read the comment ‘that would be awesome with two SSDs in a RAID setup’ or ‘I would love two of these new SSDs for a RAID setup’ in our comment sections, both on the page itself and on our social media pages. So I grab the chance to do some RAID setup tests whenever I have the possibility. Today I’m taking two of PNY’s XLR8 CS2211 SSDs with 240GB for a test run under RAID conditions.

With two disks at my disposal, my options are limited to just RAID 1, RAID 0, Recovery and the normal single disk modes. Each mode has its ups and downs and there really isn’t one that is better than the others, it comes down to your personal needs. Whether you need capacity, redundancy, speed or a just the baseline, that is your choice.

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The PNY XLR8 series is aimed at gamers and gamers want the best. We’ve already seen in the single drive review how well the drive does with sequential and especially random operations. Today we’re going to find out how well Phison’s S10C SSD controller does in a RAID setup.

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Specifications

  • Capacity: 240GB
  • Part Number: SSD7CS2211-240-RB
  • Form Factor: 2.5 inch
  • Height: 7mm
  • Interface: SATA-III 6Gb/s; backward compatible with SATA-II 3Gb/s
  • Max Sequential Read Speed: 560 MB/s
  • Max Sequential Write Speed: 470 MB/s
  • Max Random Read Speed: 87,000 IOPS
  • Max Random Write Speed: 95,000 IOPS
  • NAND Type: MLC
  • Ideal For: Gaming, Hard disk drive replacement, photo and video storage, and boot drives

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The post PNY XLR8 CS2211 240GB SSD in 2-Disk RAID Review appeared first on eTeknix.

PNY GeForce GTX 950 XLR8 OC Gaming Graphics Card Review

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Introduction


PNY GeForce GTX 950 XLR8 OC Gaming Graphics Card Review

The overwhelming majority of media headlines have fixated on NVIDIA’s latest flagship graphics card, the GTX 1080. While this incredible creation is an innovative piece of hardware based on a new 16nm FinFet manufacturing process, it’s still extremely expensive especially if you reside in the United Kingdom. As a result, existing Maxwell solutions are tailored towards the mass market and remain an attractive proposition provided you’re willing to accept the older architecture. Thankfully, affordable options like the GTX 950 offer good performance numbers and act as a gateway to PC gaming if you’re unsure about making the switch from traditional consoles. Typically, custom variants from various AIB vendors appear relatively soon after the core’s initial launch. This makes the PNY’s GTX 950 XLR8 OC an oddity because it arrives at a time when partners are focusing on Pascal.

Nevertheless, it’s always welcome to analyse a custom graphics card which features a hefty factory overclock. More specifically, the PNY GTX 950 XLR8 OC features a core clock of 1152MHz and 1342MHz boost. This is a significant increase from the default 1026MHz and 1190MHz specification. On another note, this particular version has an effective memory speed of 7200MHz and consumes 90 watts. As you might expect, the product supports a number of NVIDIA inventions such as GPU Boost 2.0, Dynamic Super Resolution and much more. Priced at a mere £134.99, how much performance is actually possible on such a tight budget?

Specification:

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Packing and Accessories

The graphics card comes in an attractive box sporting an eye-catching decal. Furthermore, the XLR8 branding is rather imposing and emphasises the unit’s overclocking credentials.

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On the opposite side, there are details of the GPU’s comprehensive 3-year warranty, PNY’s company background and social media presence. This section is rather understated and contrasts with the front cover extremely well. Ideally, I’d prefer to see stronger adhesive because the tape holding the middle portion uncouples too easily. Saying that, this is a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.

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In terms of accessories, the product comes with a driver’s disk, installation guide and VGA to DVI adapter. This is useful for those who are currently using an older monitor and want to enjoy improved frame-rates via a modern graphics card.

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The post PNY GeForce GTX 950 XLR8 OC Gaming Graphics Card Review appeared first on eTeknix.

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