Memory - Rondea

H510 Pro BTC+
(Image credit: ASRock)

ASRock (via momomo_us) has carved up a new motherboard for cryptocurrency miners. The H510 Pro BTC+, which arrives with the LGA1200 socket and H510 chipset, is ready to power your mining operations with the latest Comet Lake or Rocket Lake processors.

The H510 PRO BTC+ measures 50.1 x 22.4cm (20.1 x 8.8 inches) so the motherboard doesn’t adhere to an official form factor. It shouldn’t matter anyways, since the H510 PRO BTC+ is more than likely going on to a rack rather than inside a conventional computer case.

The motherboard’s greatest trait comes in the shape of six PCIe 3.0 x16 expansion slots. However, only the primary PCIe 3.0 expansion slot offers x16 speeds, while the remaining expansion slots are capped at x1. The motherboard allows you to connect up to six graphics cards to mine cryptocurrency. An additional USB mining port bumps the number up to seven.

The steel expansion slots on the H510 PRO BTC+ make sure that your multiple graphics card sit neat and tight on the motherboard. ASRock equipped the H510 PRO BTC+ with not one but three 24-pin power connectors and four Molex power connectors so the motherboard will get all the juice that it needs to feed each and every graphics card.

H510 Pro BTC+ (Image credit: ASRock)

If we leave the expansion slots aside, the H510 PRO BTC+ is really an austere motherboard. It features a very modest four-phase power delivery subsystem, but the motherboard does boast 50A power chokes. It only has one DDR4 memory slot, though. You’re limited to 32GB of total memory and memory speeds up to DDR4-3200 on Rocket Lake and DDR4-2933 for Comet Lake. However, there is support for ECC memory modules if that’s your thing.

You only have two options for storage. The SATA III port will accept any ordinary hard drive or SSD, while the M.2 slot houses SATA-based drives up to 110mm in length. There’s no audio chip onboard the H510 PRO BTC+ so you’ll have to rely on the HDMI 1.4 port.

The H510 PRO BTC+ provides a single Gigabit Ethernet port, which is based on the Intel I219V controller. The rear panel also holds a combo PS/2 port, one HDMI 1.4 port, two USB 2.0 ports and two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports. One USB 2.0 header is readily available to deliver two more USB 2.0 ports.

Newegg has the H510 PRO BTC+ up for pre-order at $279.99. The H510 PRO BTC+ officially launches on July 18, and purchase is limited to two motherboards per customer.

You have to hand it to EK. The watercooling specialist really knows how to think out of the box. The brand just announced its new EK Lignum lineup of products that are partially manufactured out of walnuts (Juglans Nigra).

The waterblock itself is based on the company’s EK-Quantum Vector RE RTX 3080/3090 design that’s tailored towards Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30-series (Ampere) graphics cards. The EK-Quantum Vector RTX 3080/3090 Lignum Edition is compatible with the majority of the GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090 models that feature a reference design, including Zotac’s Trinit GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090 SKUs. Do note, however, the waterblock isn’t compatible with the Founders Edition.

EK’s decision to use walnut in the waterblock’s construction was due to its properties to shrink and expand. The company handpicks and handcrafts each piece of wood. Its open-pore finish leaves the wood with a silky touch. Each waterblock features a distinctive wood pattern so no two Lignum waterblocks are the same.

The brand assures its customers that Lignum products are designed in such a way that the wood doesn’t come anywhere near the liquid. The wood is attached to an acetal tops that seals the waterblock so the wood only acts as eye candy.

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(Image credit: EK)

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The EK-Quantum Vector RTX 3080/3090 Lignum Edition features a thicker copper base in comparison to EK’s other waterblocks to provide headroom for tall capacitors on graphics cards with reference designs. The objective is to provide wide compatibility without compromising the flow of the coolant.

The waterblock comes equipped with an integrated solutioon that coolrs the GPU, memory chips and VRM (voltage regulation module) as the coolant flows right over each aforementioned component. The coolant also makes contact with the MOSFETs as well as the chokes so there is a minimum chance of hearing coil whine. The optimized flow paths aim to reduce hydrodynamic instabilities and dead spots.

The EK-Quantum Vector RTX 3080/3090 Lignum Edition commands a price tag of $359.99. EK expects to ship out orders in the middle of September 2021. If you’re looking for a complete wood theme, EK also sells matching EK-CPU Lignum waterblock and EK-HDC Lignum 12mm fittings for $189.99 and $17.99, respectively.

Introduction

Team Group is a well-known Taiwanese hardware manufacturer with a long history of catering to the needs of enthusiasts and gamers from all over the globe. Their lineup includes DRAM memory and solid-state drives, and they also offer various memory cards and USB thumb drives.

Today, we are reviewing the Team Group T-Force Treasure Touch portable SSD, which includes and adjustable RGB element that can be controller via a “touch” interface—as the product name suggests. A colored RGB lighting strip runs along one edge of the drive and lights up in various colors and combos, you can control. Under the hood, we found a fully-fledged SATA SSD, using a Silicon Motion SM2258H controller, paired with Samsung 64-layer TLC flash, and a DRAM cache chip from Hynix. In terms of connectivity, the T-Force Treasure Touch uses a USB-C interface, supporting the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface, aka USB 3.1 Gen 2 which supports speeds up to 10 Gbps.

We review the Team Group T-Force Treasure Touch in the 1 TB variant, which retails for $150, no other capacity is available, warranty is set to three years.

(Image credit: TeamGroup)

TeamGroup said on Friday that it would start sales of its DDR5-4800 memory modules in late June, early July in a bid to address demand from enthusiasts who plan to adopt Intel’s upcoming Alder Lake processors as soon as they become available later this year. The initial modules from Team Group will feature a JEDEC standard data transfer rate and timings.

TeamGroup’s Elite DDR5 series will be one of the industry’s first 16GB DDR5 dual-channel memory kit that can work in a DDR5-4800 CL40 40-40-77 mode at 1.1 Volts with Intel’s Alder Lake processors. The Elite DDR5 modules are equipped with a build-in power management IC (PMIC) and a voltage regulator module (VRM), just as JEDEC’s standard mandates.

TeamGroup said that its Elite DDR5-4800 16GB dual-channel kit (2×8GB modules) will be available from Amazon US, Newegg, Amazon Japan, and various major retailers in Europe in late June or early July. This kit is not going to be cheap though as it will carry an MSRP of $399.99. By contrast, a 16GB DDR4-4800 kit can now be obtained for $135 ~ $200 depending on the brand and supported features.

(Image credit: TeamGroup)

DDR5 memory could have an edge over DDR4 as far as performance is concerned. The new specification supports numerous capabilities to enable high data rates, long-term I/O scalability, and real-world efficiency, including on-die single error correction (SEC) ECC, DFE (decision feedback equalizer) to eliminate reflective noise at high frequencies, improved training modes, on-die termination, and two independent 32/40-bit I/O channels (non-ECC/ECC) per module. Micron estimated a couple of years ago that that DDR5 DRAM would be 28% ~ 36% more efficient than DDR4 at the same I/O speeds.

TeamGroup will also expand its DDR5 lineup with T-Force and Xtreme series memory kits that will feature hand-picked DDR5 DRAM chips, enhanced power supply, and cooling to offer performance beyond what JEDEC standards offer. Enthusiast-grade memory kits from TeamGroup will likely join our ranks of best memory modules and be available later this year (perhaps after Alder Lake hits the market), but their prices are unknown at this point.

Asus DG1-4G
(Image credit: ETA PRIME/YouTube)

A new review of Intel’s Iris Xe DG1 graphics card has popped up, putting Intel’s new discrete GPU through its paces and showing that it is surprisingly capable. While the Xe DG1 is far from being one of the best graphics cards on the market, the review shows that the entry-level graphics card holds some value in a time where the graphics card shortage is still going strong and pricing for Nvidia and AMD GPUs has skyrocketed.

Based on a cut-down Iris Xe Max silicon, the DG1 arrives with just 80 execution units (EUs) or 640 shading units, depending on which metric you prefer. Intel’s discrete graphics card sports a 1.2 GHz base clock and a boost clock that climbs to 1.5 GHz. The DG1 also wields 4GB of LPDDR4X-4266 memory across a 128-bit interface. It conforms to a 30W TDP, so the graphics card doesn’t require active cooling or PCIe power connectors. The DG1 provides one DisplayPort output, one HDMI port, and one DVI-D port for connecting your displays.

A previous generic benchmark revealed that the DG1 was slower than Radeon RX 550, a four-year-old graphics card. However, a single benchmark wasn’t sufficient to really determine a winner, and as we all know, there’s nothing like real-world gaming results. YouTuber ETA PRIME recently acquired a $749.99 CyberPowerPC gaming system that leverages the DG1, more specifically, the Asus DG1-4G. He has put the graphics card through its paces so we can see what kind of performance it brings to the table. We’ve got the quick breakdown of results in the table below, and the full video at the end of the article.

Intel Iris Xe DG1 Benchmarks

Game	Resolution	Graphics Preset	Frame Rate (FPS)
Forza Horizon 4	1080p	Low	60 – 70
Injustice 2	1080p	Low	59 – 60
Overwatch	1080p	Medium	65 – 99
Fortnite	1080p	Performance Mode	106 – 262
Genshin Impact	1080p	Medium	57 – 60
Rocket League	1080p	High	82 -120
Grand Theft Auto V	1080p	Normal	79 – 92
Cyberpunk 2077	720p	Low	25 – 33
Red Dead Redemption 2	900p	Low	32 – 47

The CyberPowerPC system features a Core i5-11400F processor, which explains the DG1’s presence. The curious part here is that Intel had previously stated that the DG1 is only compatible with its 9th-Gen Coffee Lake and 10th-Gen Comet Lake processors. The Core i5-11400F is an 11th-Gen Rocket Lake chip. It would appear that the chipmaker secretly added Rocket Lake support on the DG1.

Do bear in mind that the YouTuber swapped out the 8GB single stick of DDR4-3000 memory for a dual-channel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3600 memory kit. The upgrade likely improves the gaming PC’s performance over the stock configuration.

The results showed that the DG1 could deliver more than 60 FPS at 1080p (1920 x 1080) with a low graphics preset. Only a few titles, like Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2, gave the DG1 a hard time. However, the graphics card still pushed more than 30 FPS most of the time.

As we knew from Intel’s DG1 announcement, the entry-level market was DG1’s objective all along. The graphics card’s 1080p performance is more than reasonable if you can live without all the fancy eye candy in your life. If not, you should probably pass on the DG1. It would be interesting to see whether the DG1 can hold its own against one of AMD’s latest Ryzen APUs. Unfortunately, that’s a fight for another day.

MSI Z590 Pro 12VO
(Image credit: MSI)

In the latest installment of the MSI Insider show, MSI has revealed the brand’s Z590 Pro 12VO motherboard that employs Intel’s 10-pin ATX12VO power connector. Besides the motherboard’s feature set, the vendor also shared the benefits of the ATX12VO power connector.

Despite Intel promoting the ATX12VO power connector as far back as last year, the standard hasn’t really caught on. A handful of motherboards on the market utilize the ATX12VO specification, but it’s far from mainstream. As its name implies, the ATX12VO only uses the 12V rail. Therefore, motherboards will have to come with buck converters to translate voltages down to 5V and 3.3V for hardware that still relies on one of the aforementioned voltages.

In addition to improving power efficiency, the ATX12VO power connector is also smaller since it only comes with 10 pins. This is beneficial in compact systems since the footprint is smaller. However, the ATX12VO power connector has yet to prove its worth on ATX motherboards.

Take MSI’s Z590 Pro 12VO, for example. While the motherboard doesn’t have that chunky 24-pin power connector, it has gained a 6-pin PCIe power connector and up to three additional 4-pin power connectors. Evidently, the ATX12VO standard does little for cable clutter in a full-sized desktop system, but again, its advantages reside in power saving.

MSI Z590 Pro 12VO Power Consumption

The Z590 Pro WiFi is the mainstream counterpart of the Z590 Pro 12VO, so naturally, the MSI representatives used the former for comparison. They took out the wireless module from the Z590 Pro WiFi so that both motherboards had a level playing field. The hosts employed the same Core i9-11900K (Rocket Lake) processor, memory and SSD for both tests. There were a lot of fluctuations in the measurements and the tests were short, so take the results with a grain of salt. For easy comprehension, we’ve rounded off the values in the tables below.

	Z590 Pro WiFi	Z590 Pro 12VO	Power Reduction
System Idle Consumption	42W	38W	10%
Average CPU Package Power	17W	14W	18%
System Idle Consumption (C10)	N/A	24W	N/A
Average CPU Package Power (C10)	N/A	8W	N/A

The Z590 Pro 12VO drew 10% less system idle power consumption than the Z590 Pro WiFi. There was also an 18% reduction in average processor package power.

The MSI representative went inside the Z590 Pro 12VO’s BIOS and changed the “Package C State Limit” option from Auto to C10. If you’re not familiar with C-states, they are low-power modes that a processor can come into when it’s idling. C10 is the deepest state, wherein the chip effectively turns off.

With C10 enabled, the Z590 Pro 12VO dropped its system idle power consumption from 38W to 24W, a 37% decrease. The average processor package power, on the other hand, decreased from 14W to 8W, representing a 43% power saving.

OEMs are held to stricter environmental standards, which is why you’ll likely find the ATX12VO power connection inside a pre-built system. DIY users, on the other hand, don’t have to abide by environmental regulations.

The ATX12VO standard only thrives in idle or low-load scenarios, which begs the question of how many of us leave our systems idling for prolonged periods of time. Only time will tell if the ATX12VO ever becomes a widely accepted standard. With the rumor that Intel is allegedly giving the specification a hard push with its next-generation Alder Lake-S processors, the 10-pin power connector may be more common on upcoming LGA1700 motherboards.

(Image credit: Maingear)

AMD’s Radeon RX 6900 XT Liquid Cooled launched earlier this week, and in theory it should place near the top of our GPU benchmarks and earn a spot on our list of the best graphics cards. It has a one significant advantage when compared both to the company’s air-cooled reference design as well as custom graphics boards from board makers: faster memory. Unfortunately, DIY enthusiasts will not be able to get this card as it is a limited edition product that will only be supplied to select system integrators.

Unlike all AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards that are on the market (including those based on the so-called Navi 21 XTXH silicon with no clock-speed limits), AMD’s Radeon RX 6900 XT Liquid Cooled uses 18Gbps GDDR6 memory, up from the 16Gbps GDDR6 used on regular boards. With a memory bandwidth of 576 GB/s (up from 512 GB/s on standard cards), AMD’s Radeon RX 6900 XT Liquid Cooled will offer higher performance in high resolutions and in rich scenes.

Besides the 12.5% increase in memory clocks, the RX 6900 XT LC also appears to have higher GPU clocks and a 10% increase in TDP. That should help performance as well, though we suspect the memory speed will be the bigger factor, particularly at 4K.

Sadly, AMD’s Radeon RX 6900 XT Liquid Cooled isn’t just limited to specific pre-built systems, but it’s also a limited edition product. We expect only a handful of such boards will be made. We received the following statement from AMD about the product:

“AMD will be making a limited number of Radeon RX 6900 XT liquid cooled reference design graphics cards available to select system integrators. System integrators are a critical part of the gaming ecosystem and offering this this model through their channels helps ensure that as many of these products as possible get into gamers hands.”

(Image credit: Maingear)

AMD has not disclosed how many Radeon RX 6900 XT Liquid Cooled units will be made, but we are probably talking about thousands of units at best, which is hardly anything on a global scale.

Of course, there are numerous factory-overclocked Radeon RX 6900 XT offerings from companies like ASRock, PowerColor, and Sapphire. Yet, AMD’s own Radeon RX 6900 XT Liquid Cooled has a unique advantage that will not be available to many users. Since it’s only availble to system integrators, AMD also has not disclosed pricing, though we’d expect it to come at a decent jump from the already high $999 MSRP for the standard air cooled model.

Not that MSRP has any meaning, with our GPU pricing index showing a typical going rate on eBay of nearly $1,900. Still, GPU prices are trending downward now. Hopefully in the coming months, we’ll see graphics cards selling for more reasonable prices.

(Image credit: Gigabyte)

Gigabyte has introduced a lineup of motherboards based on AMD’s X570S chipset that use passive cooling systems on their chipset and are therefore quieter than their predecessors. The platforms are aimed at high-end systems and therefore feature advanced voltage regulating modules, plenty of PCIe slots and advanced network connectivity.

Gigabyte’s AMD X570S lineup includes multiple high-end Aorus-branded motherboards equipped with an AM4 socket and a high-performance VRM with 14 or 16 phases with 70A or 90A power stages. The platforms have four DDR4 memory slots, two or three PCIe 4.0 x16 slots for graphics cards or high-end SSDs, two or more M.2-2280 slots for drives featuring a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface, and multiple SATA ports.

As far as connectivity is concerned, all Gigabyte’s Aorus AMD X570S motherboards feature a 2.5 GbE port, USB Type-C front ports, some are also equipped with a Wi-Fi 6 network adapter, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C port.

All of the company’s AMD X570S-based motherboards feature sophisticated overclocking and performance tuning capabilities to ensure maximum performance for AMD’s latest Ryzen 5000-series CPUs, including Gigabyte’s Active OC Tuner active overclocking technology. Furthermore, they are equipped with coolers for their VRMs and chipsets.

Gigabyte’s Aorus AMD X570S family includes several motherboards: including the flagship X570S Aorus Master, the Aorus Pro AX, and the X570S Aero G. Pricing of the motherboards will depend on exact specifications of the platforms. Eventually Gigabyte will likely launch more consumer-oriented motherboards powered by AMD’s X570S chipset.

(Image credit: Innodisk)

DDR5 has only been with us for a relatively short time, and over the course of its lifetime, it will see a wide variety of applications and uses. Innodisk is jumping on the DDR5 boat quickly with its new industrial-grade DDR5 modules designed for “5G, deep learning, AI, edge computing, smart medical, super-computing, and mission-critical applications.”

(Image credit: Innodisk)

The Taiwanese company’s press release extolls the benefits of DDR5, including its theoretical maximum transfer speed of 6400MT/s, power-saving voltage drop to 1.1V, and increased die capacity of 64Gb, bringing the maximum potential capacity for a single DDR5 DIMM to 128GB. However, the specs for the new modules aren’t listed.

It’s not until near the end that things become interesting with Innodisk’s corporate VP and GM of its global embedded and server DRAM business unit, Samson Chang, talking about the “original ICs, anti-sulfuration, heat spreader, and conformal coating technologies with industrial-grade reliability” of the Innodisk DIMMs, which it foresees being used by hyperscalers and industry for “5G, deep learning, AI, edge computing, smart medical, super-computing, and mission-critical applications.”

So there you go. Innodisk will release DDR5 DIMMs with heat spreaders and special coatings, the latter of which are typically used for purposes such as water- and dust-proofing in the harsh environments found in industrial applications. We also expect other special accommodations will be made to adjust the DIMMs for long-term reliability in rough conditions, like options for expanded thermal operating specifications. The DDR5 modules available on its site lack the heat spreaders, are non-ECC, and come in 16GB and 32GB capacities at up to 4800MT/s.

Our Verdict

The Dark Z FPS DDR4-4000 C16 is a great alternative for Zen 3 CPU owners who want a kit that’s faster than the sweet spot but don’t want to break the piggy bank.

For

+ Quick out of the box
+ RGB-less design
+ Room for overclocking

Against

– Costs more than similarly-specced rivals
– No RGB (a letdown for some)

The Dark Z FPS DDR4-4000 memory kit comes to market to capitalize on the latest developments in the chip world. Like we see in other areas, continuous improvement is important in the processor world: If there weren’t any generational uplift, we’d have no reason to purchase the next best thing. It’s the job of memory makers to capitalize on those advancements and stay in step with the latest developments.

Zen 3, for example, brought a lot of interesting features to the table. One of its improvements is the ability to run faster memory without suffering performance penalties. It’s general knowledge that AMD’s Ryzen processors run the best with their Infinity Fabric Clock (FCLK) and memory clock (MEMCLK) in sync. As a result, DDR4-3800 was the practical ceiling for the majority of Zen 2 owners.

However, microarchitectural improvements have bumped the limit up to DDR4-4000 on Zen 3, allowing memory makers to put out kits that unlock another level of performance for Ryzen users. That’s where the Dark Z FPS kit steps in.

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TeamGroup T-Force Dark Z FPS DDR4-4000 C16 (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

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TeamGroup T-Force Dark Z FPS DDR4-4000 C16 (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

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TeamGroup T-Force Dark Z FPS DDR4-4000 C16 (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The Dark Z FPS features the familiar wing-inspired design that TeamGroup is fond of. The aluminum heat spreader arrives in black with white lines that highlight the design. In fact, the Dark Z FPS is only available in the aforementioned color. The overall design is pretty clean, and TeamGroup’s logos are kept to a minimum.

The heat spreader’s extended wings give you the sensation that the memory is overly tall, but it’s not. Coming in at 43.5mm (1.71 inches), the Dark Z FPS is conveniently sized. The memory is devoid of RGB lighting, which is a rare sight nowadays. That might be a pro or con, depending on your taste.

TeamGroup T-Force Dark Z FPS DDR4-4000 C16 (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The Dark Z FPS is a 16GB memory kit, so you’ll get two 8GB memory modules. Of course, these conform to a single-rank design. TeamGroup equipped the memory with an eight-layer PCB and the highest quality Samsung K4A8G085WB-BCPB (B-die) integrated circuits (ICs).

TeamGroup only offers the Dark Z FPS in the DDR4-4000 flavor. You’ll find the memory running at DDR4-2400 with 16-16-16-39 timings at stock operation. The primary timings for DDR4-4000 are 16-18-18-38. To run at DDR4-4000, the Dark Z FPS requires 1.45V. For more on timings and frequency considerations, see our PC Memory 101 feature, as well as our How to Shop for RAM story.

Comparison Hardware

Memory Kit	Part Number	Capacity	Data Rate	Primary Timings	Voltage	Warranty
Thermaltake ToughRAM XG RGB	R016D408GX2-4600C19A	2 x 8GB	DDR4-4600 (XMP)	19-26-26-45 (2T)	1.50	Lifetime
Thermaltake ToughRAM RGB	R009D408GX2-4600C19A	2 x 8GB	DDR4-4600 (XMP)	19-26-26-45 (2T)	1.50	Lifetime
Predator Apollo RGB	BL.9BWWR.255	2 x 8GB	DDR4-4500 (XMP)	19-19-19-39 (2T)	1.45	Lifetime
GeIL Orion RGB AMD Edition	GAOSR416GB4400C18ADC	2 x 8GB	DDR4-4400 (XMP)	18-24-24-44 (2T)	1.45	Lifetime
Patriot Viper 4 Blackout	PVB416G440C8K	2 x 8GB	DDR4-4400 (XMP)	18-26-26-46 (2T)	1.45	Lifetime
TeamGroup T-Force Dark Z FPS	TDZFD416G4000HC16CDC01	2 x 8GB	DDR4-4000 (XMP)	16-18-18-38 (2T)	1.45	Lifetime
Klevv Cras XR	KD48GU880-40B190Z	2 x 8GB	DDR4-4000 (XMP)	19-25-25-45 (2T)	1.40	Lifetime
Thermaltake ToughRAM XG RGB	R016D408GX2-4000C19A	2 x 8GB	DDR4-4000 (XMP)	19-26-26-45 (2T)	1.45	Lifetime
TeamGroup T-Force Xtreem ARGB	TF10D416G3600HC14CDC01	2 x 8GB	DDR4-3600 (XMP)	14-15-15-35 (2T)	1.45	Lifetime

Our Intel test system is based on an Intel Core i9-10900K and Asus ROG Maximus XII Apex running the 0901 firmware. Our AMD testbed, on the other hand, leverages the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X with the Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero that’s on the 3501 firmware. We use the MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Gaming Trio for the gaming portion of our RAM benchmarks.