Reviews

ADATA Elite SE880 1TB External SSD Review

Up for review today is another external storage device, the ADATA Elite SE880. This tiny little device comes in two sizes, 500GB and 1TB, of which we’ll be looking at the larger 1TB model for this review. ADATA lists speeds up to 2000 MB/s (seq. reads) and 2000 MB/s (seq. writes), so it’s no slouch at moving data on paper. It sits inside a rugged metal chassis and connects to your device through a USB 3.2 Gen2x2 (20 Gbps) Type-C connector. Priced at $79.99 (500GB) and $129.99 (1TB), there’s a lot of performance for the money for external storage.

AMD
Motherboards

AMD Zen4 X670 Motherboard Compilation: Socket AM5 is Coming!

Recently, several manufacturers announced upcoming X670 chipset motherboards for AMD’s next-generation Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 series processors. Instead of writing multiple articles for each different brand, we have opted to instead consolidate them all into this compilation press release. Below are the press releases for MSI, ASUS, and ASRock.

Silicon Power
News

Silicon Power Launches UD90 PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs

Silicon Power has just announced the launch of its latest M.2 SSD line, the UD90. Utilizing PCIe Gen 4×4 technology the UD90 has a rated sequential read and write speeds of up to 4800 MB/s and 4200 MB/s. The press release mentions storage capacities of up to 1 TB, so we would expect offerings of 512 GB and possibly 256 GB as well. Pricing is said to be budget-friendly, but not listed. Hopefully, Silicon Power prices the UD90 as competitively as the XS70 that we reviewed in April. If you would like to read the complete press release from Silicon Power, just keep reading.

Feature XPG
News

ADATA XPG Announce ALPHA Wired and Wireless Gaming Mice

Today, ADATA’s XPG division announced the new XPG ALPHA wired and wireless gaming mice. XPG went as far as to survey users’ fingers and hands to develop this simple yet ergonomic design. At the core of the XPG ALPHA are OMRON switches and a Pixart PAW-3335 sensor. Subtle RGB lighting is included and fully customizable via XPG’s PRIME software. The wireless model utilizes 2.4G wireless and Bluetooth technologies for connectivity, features a battery life of up to 60 hours, and is priced at $69.99. The wired version is slightly cheaper at $43.99. XPG claims both models will be available soon, but does not list a timeline. For additional details, see XPG’s press release below.

Feature ASUS
News

ASUS announces RTX 3080 Noctua Edition Graphics Card

Today, ASUS announced the GeForce RTX 3080 Noctua Edition GPU. This is in response to the excellent feedback ASUS and Noctua received with the GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition released in October of 2021. The partnership between ASUS and Noctua is truly a win-win situation with the graphics cards running cooler and quieter. In addition, those of you that are in love with the Noctua brown and tan get to take that aesthetic one step further now with the GPU cooler. While pricing was not mentioned in the press release, availability is expected in early June. For complete details about the new ASUS RTX 3080 Noctua Edition, continue reading ASUS’ press release below.

Phanteks
News

Phanteks Introduces All-White AMP 1000W Power Supply

Early this morning, Phanteks announced an all-white 1000 Watt version to its AMP power supply line-up. As with all of the AMP series power supplies, the all-white 1000W features an 80 PLUS Gold efficiency rating and utilizes a “Hybrid Silent Fan Control” to reduce noise while controlling the required cooling. Additionally, the AMP series is compatible with Phanteks other PSU series, the Revolt Pro. This allows for either an increased power output or power redundancy. Phanteks has set the White AMP 1000W power supply price at $159.99 and should be available this month. Below is Phanteks’ press release.

Alphacool Featured
Cooling

Alphacool Releases Two M.2 SSD HDX Apex Water Blocks

Alphacool announced the launch of two M.2 SSD water blocks, the HDX Apex aRGB Acryl and HDX Apex Acetal. As you would expect, the HDX Apex aRGB Acryl features a clear acrylic top with addressable RGB lighting, while the acetal version is black POM. Both blocks are nickel-plated copper with G1/4″ ports and transfer heat from the SSD controller through a 3 W/mK thermal pad. The price is  $31 for either option. Below is Alphacool’s press release and links if you wish to purchase.

Gigabyte
Motherboards

Gigabyte Announces Z690I AORUS ULTRA PLUS ITX Gaming Motherboard

Gigabyte recently announced the Z690I AORUS ULTRA PLUS gaming ITX motherboard. This latest edition adds to an already capable line-up of AORUS ULTRA ITX motherboards. The Gigabyte Z690I AORUS ULTRA PLUS features Double Connect Technology (DCT) which allows simultaneous 2.4Ghz &5/6GHz Wi-Fi band connections. Two versions of each model are available for either DDR4 or DDR5. Other motherboards in the AORUS ULTRA line-up include Z690I AORUS ULTRA and Z690I AORUS ULTRA LITE. The Gigabyte Z690I AORUS ULTRA PLUS is reported to be currently available, but we were unable to determine a price at this time. For additional information please read the official press release below.

MSI RX 6750 XT Gaming X Trio
Reviews

MSI RX 6750 XT Gaming X Trio 12G Video Card Review

Today, we get a chance to share a new budget video card from AMD, the RX 6750 XT. Based on the Navi 22 XT die, the new RX 6750 XT is nearly identical to the RX 6700 XT, aside from being equipped with 18 Gb/s GDDR6. The RX 6750 XT slips into the product stack between the RX 6700 XT and RX 6800 and judging by where it sits, it should be more than adequate for WQHD (2560 x 1440) gaming.

Silicon Power
Memory

Silicon Power Launches DDR5-SODIMM Laptop Ram

Silicon Power just announced the release of its new SODIMM DDR5 memory for laptops. The new ram kits feature a frequency of 4800MHz with a CAS Latency of 40. Single and dual-channel kits are available for up to 64 GB (32GBx2).  Please note that while this press release reads like these are intended as a DDR4 upgrade, you can not use DDR5 ram in a DDR4 laptop unless it is designed for both DDR4 and DDR5, which is highly unlikely. Below is Silicon Power’s press release.