Tangle Tech

Samsung unveiled a slew of memory products and technologies this week that caught TechRadar Pro’s eye, ranging from the new HBME3 Shinebolt memory technology to the possibility of a petabyte SSD (PBSSD). But it’s the throwaway reference to a BM9C1 SSD that’s among the most compelling. Described as a high-capacity quad-level cell (QLC) SSD, the BM9C1 unit may well be an expansion in Samsung’s QLC SSD series of QVO SSDs .  The latest edition is the 870 QVO SATA 2.5-inch SSD, which is known to be among the cheapest high-capacity SSDs . The largest capacity currently in production is 8TB and retails for $330 right now on Amazon .  The BM9C1 may be a device that extends the maximum storage capacity from 8TB to 16TB, for instance, or it can be a successor to this device in the form of the long-awaited 880 QVO, which hasn’t yet been announced formally.  Should we expect a Samsung 880 QVO SSD? QLC SSDs are optimized to have as high a capacity as possible and deliver a dollar...

A plethora of boutique vendors have over the past few months released powerful GPU servers based on AMD’s EPYC 9000 series - these are essentially beefed-up workstations . Velocity Micro is the latest one to join the fray with its ProMagix G480a GPU which can take up to eight dual-slot Nvidia GPU s to accelerate CUDA or Tensor-enabled workflows (no AMD Instinct MI300 yet). No gaming here (although you should be able to run Cyberpunk 2077 - and Crysis - without much issue should you want to), just sheer number crunching at a scale that only a couple of decades ago, would require a supercomputer . Housed in a massive 4U chassis, the dual-socket motherboard can take up to two EPYC 9654 CPU totaling 192 cores and paired with 1TB DDR5, much lower than what we’d expect. Purchasers can either rely on an integrated VGA card from Aspeed (remember these) or kit the server with up to eight 48GB PNY Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada generation workstation graphics cards. Powering all this are three (yes...

As part of the iOS 17.1 update, Apple is rolling out a fix for the iPhone’s Private Wi-Fi Address feature, finally allowing it to function as intended. Because as it turns out, it hasn’t been working properly ever since it was introduced three years ago. To give some background, Private Wi-Fi Address first appeared back in 2020 on iOS 14 . What it does is mask an iPhone’s Media Access Control (MAC) address with a different set of numbers whenever you connect to a Wi-Fi network. Your device’s real MAC address is kept hidden so any potential bad actors won’t be able to track you. At least, that’s how it was supposed to work. Cybersecurity expert duo Mysk recently published a YouTube video revealing it is possible for someone to find the actual MAC address if they know where to look. Mysk explains that whenever an iPhone or iPad connects to a Wi-Fi network, it proceeds to send out “multicast requests” to see if there are any AirPlay devices in the nearby area. If you have the techni...

Samsung’s latest memory technology has hit staggering speeds of 9.8Gb/s – or 1.2TB/s – meaning it’s more than 50% faster than its predecessor.  The HBM3E memory standard, nicknamed Shinebolt, is the latest in a series of high-performance memory units Samsung has developed for the age of cloud computing and increased demand for resources. Shinebolt is a successor to Icebolt, which comes in varieties up to 32GB, can reach speeds of up to 6.4Gb/s. These chips were designed specifically to be used with the best GPUs out there in AI processing and LLMs, with the firm ramping up production this year as the emerging industry gathers momentum. Powering the next generation of AI chips HBM3E will inevitably find its way into the components developed by the likes of Nvidia, with every suggestion it can find its way into the GH200 , nicknamed Grace Hopper, in light of a recent deal it struck. High-bandwidth memory (HBM) is much faster and more energy efficient than conventional RAM , an...

Intel is hoping to launch an ecosystem of 100 million PCs loaded with AI capabilities thanks to its new Intel Core Ultra CPUs coupled with a newly announced AI acceleration program. The chipmaking giant has partnered with hardware and software vendors including Adobe, Webex and Zoom to maximize the potential of the Intel Core Ultra chips, announced in September. These will be the first chip released in the consumer market with dedicated neural processing units (NPUs) built in. The AI acceleration program will see Intel connect hardware and software vendors with a package of Intel resources including AI toolchains, co-engineering, hardware design resources, technical expertise, and co-marketing opportunities. Intel is bringing AI to the consumer market “Intel recognizes that software leadership is key to the AI PC experience, and we’re uniquely positioned to lead the industry with an open ecosystem approach,” said Michelle Johnston Holthaus, executive VP and GM of the Client Compu...

Samsung may be the first company to reach a dizzying milestone of launching a 1PB SSD, which would set new standards for memory in the industry. Not only has the firm confirmed its plans to build a petabyte solid state drive (PBSSD), but Korea Economic Daily also reported the firm will be increasing memory density to “extreme levels” in the production process.  “The 11-nanometer DRAM currently under development will achieve the industry’s highest level of memory density,” said Lee Jung-bae. President of Samsung’s Device Solutions Division. “In the coming era of below-10nm DRAM and 1,000-layer V-NAND, innovation in new structures and materials is crucial.” PBSSDs are a matter of when, not if Such a move would dramatically increase the storage capacity and speed, meaning PBSSDs can be suited for today’s most highly-intensive workloads, normally centering around generative AI. The firm has long been trying to hit this milestone of an SSD that’s at least a million gigabytes in s...

There’s a new champion in the race to get the best score on the industry standard Cinebench R23 test, with the AMD EPYC 9654 processor hitting world record of 147,668.  This record was achieved by coupling together two AMD EPYC 9654 CPUs to achieve a 192-core configuration with 384 threads and overclocking the processors to 3.7GHz. The score is also roughly 15,000 points higher than the Intel Xeon W903495X 56-core workstation processor, the previous record-holder. This AMD processor is among the best CPUs out there, and the result was achieved with two running in parallel with simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) disabled, as well as custom liquid cooling so the cores never hit temperatures above 65-degrees C. They were also protected by cardboard, according to daveReconRF , who ran the test. This, the user said, will be replaced eventually by 3D-printed shrouds. Why AMD stealing back the crown matters Priced at $11,800, the AMD EPYC 9654 has a base clock speed of 2.4GHz with a...