While we mentioned this in our Galaxy Alpha launch article, Samsung is finally announcing the launch of their new Exynos 5430 SoC.
The main critical upgrade that the new chips revolve around is the manufacturing process, as Samsung delivers its…
Today in Cologne, Germany at Gamescom 2014, Razer revealed their latest updates for their line of peripherals. Launching with a new feature dubbed Chroma, Razer announced three updated devices for the 2015/2016 timeframe: the BlackWidow Ultimate keyboard, DeathAdder gaming mouse, and Kraken 7.1 headset. Presumably these devices will be similar to the existing line of Razer peripherals, with the key difference being Chroma, which provides customizable multi-colored backlighting.
The BlackWidow Ultimate keyboard is perhaps the most eye-catching of the three, and it appears similar to Corsair’s RGB-backlit K70 and K95 keyboards with per-key lighting. The difference is in the details of course, and Razer uses their own custom Green/Orange switches, so the feel will be slightly different from the Corsair models. The DeathAdder and Kraken aren’t quite as advanced, in that there are fewer backlights available – the scroll wheel and Razer logo on the DeathAdder are linked to the same color, while the ear cups on the Kraken are likewise linked. One interesting feature however is that all three devices can be synchronized via Razer’s cloud-based Synapse software.
Like other RGB backlit devices, Chroma in theory allows up to 16.8 million colors, though as we’ve noted before overlap among the colors means the “useful” palette is going to be more like 20-40 colors. Besides selecting individual colors, Razer offers several effects for colors as well. Spectrum cycling is for those that want to show the full rainbow of colors, while breathing causes the backlight to pulse one or two colors on and off every seven seconds. The BlackWidow keyboard offers several additional options, including the ability to customize each individual key and save/load templates optimized for various games. Reactive mode causes the individual keys to light up when pressed and then fade out with three time delays for fading to black (slow, medium, and fast), and finally there’s a wave effect that cycles the colors on the keyboard in a wave.
Razer has a web demonstration showing what the various effects look like, or you can watch the promo video on YouTube. Razer will also be providing an open Chroma SDK to allow game developers and users full access to the devices, providing the potential for an even deeper level of customization (e.g. reactive mode with multiple colors should be possible). Pricing for the devices has not been announced, but both the Chroma-enabled devices will be available starting in September 2014. The Chroma SDK meanwhile is slated for release in “late 2014”.
Today in Cologne, Germany at Gamescom 2014, Razer revealed their latest updates for their line of peripherals. Launching with a new feature dubbed Chroma, Razer announced three updated devices for the 2015/2016 timeframe: the BlackWidow Ultimate keyboard, DeathAdder gaming mouse, and Kraken 7.1 headset. Presumably these devices will be similar to the existing line of Razer peripherals, with the key difference being Chroma, which provides customizable multi-colored backlighting.
The BlackWidow Ultimate keyboard is perhaps the most eye-catching of the three, and it appears similar to Corsair’s RGB-backlit K70 and K95 keyboards with per-key lighting. The difference is in the details of course, and Razer uses their own custom Green/Orange switches, so the feel will be slightly different from the Corsair models. The DeathAdder and Kraken aren’t quite as advanced, in that there are fewer backlights available – the scroll wheel and Razer logo on the DeathAdder are linked to the same color, while the ear cups on the Kraken are likewise linked. One interesting feature however is that all three devices can be synchronized via Razer’s cloud-based Synapse software.
Like other RGB backlit devices, Chroma in theory allows up to 16.8 million colors, though as we’ve noted before overlap among the colors means the “useful” palette is going to be more like 20-40 colors. Besides selecting individual colors, Razer offers several effects for colors as well. Spectrum cycling is for those that want to show the full rainbow of colors, while breathing causes the backlight to pulse one or two colors on and off every seven seconds. The BlackWidow keyboard offers several additional options, including the ability to customize each individual key and save/load templates optimized for various games. Reactive mode causes the individual keys to light up when pressed and then fade out with three time delays for fading to black (slow, medium, and fast), and finally there’s a wave effect that cycles the colors on the keyboard in a wave.
Razer has a web demonstration showing what the various effects look like, or you can watch the promo video on YouTube. Razer will also be providing an open Chroma SDK to allow game developers and users full access to the devices, providing the potential for an even deeper level of customization (e.g. reactive mode with multiple colors should be possible). Pricing for the devices has not been announced, but both the Chroma-enabled devices will be available starting in September 2014. The Chroma SDK meanwhile is slated for release in “late 2014”.
The release of the Vector marked as a change in OCZ’s strategy. With a new CEO, OCZ’s goal was to change the company’s brand image from being a low-cost value brand to a higher-end, high performance and quality SSD manufacturer. For the first time, OCZ decided not to release a value version (Agility-level drive) of its Barefoot 3 platform and only focused on the higher-end market with the Vector and Vertex 4xx lineups. Almost two years later since the introduction of the Vector, OCZ is now finally comfortable with bringing the Barefoot 3 platform to the mainstream market and the ARC 100 acts as the comeback vehicle.
| OCZ ARC 100 Specifications | |||||
| Capacity | 120GB | 240GB | 480GB | ||
| Controller | OCZ Barefoot 3 | ||||
| NAND | Toshiba A19nm MLC | ||||
| Sequential Read | 475MB/s | 480MB/s | 490MB/s | ||
| Sequential Write | 395MB/s | 430MB/s | 450MB/s | ||
| 4KB Random Read | 75K IOPS | 75K IOPS | 75K IOPS | ||
| 4KB Random Write | 80K IOPS | 80K IOPS | 80K IOPS | ||
| Steady-State 4KB Random Write | 12K IOPS | 18K IOPS | 20K IOPS | ||
| Idle Power | 0.6W | 0.6W | 0.6W | ||
| Max Power | 3.45W | 3.45W | 3.45W | ||
| Encryption | AES-256 | ||||
| Endurance | 20GB/day for 3 years | ||||
| Warranty | Three years | ||||
| MSRP | $75 | $120 | $240 | ||
Similar to Vector 150 and Vertex 460, one of the main focuses in the ARC 100 is performance consistency and OCZ remains to be one of the only manufacturers that reports steady-state performance for client drives. The biggest difference to Vector 150 and Vertex 460 is in the NAND department as the ARC 100 utilizes Toshiba’s second generation 19nm NAND, i.e. A19nm as Toshiba calls it. Despite the smaller process node NAND OCZ is rating the ARC 100 at the same 20GB of writes per day for three years as the Vertex 460, although the ARC 100 is slightly slower in performance and also drops bundled cloning software and 3.5″ adapter.
Given the smaller cell size of the A19nm NAND, OCZ is able to price the ARC 100 more aggressively. At higher capacities OCZ is able to hit the $0.50/GB mark and the ARC 100 is actually very price competitive with Crucial’s MX100, which has been our favorite mainstream SSDs for the past couple of months. I am getting back from the US tomorrow and my review samples are already waiting for me at home, so you should expect to see the full review next week!
The release of the Vector marked as a change in OCZ’s strategy. With a new CEO, OCZ’s goal was to change the company’s brand image from being a low-cost value brand to a higher-end, high performance and quality SSD manufacturer. For the first time, OCZ decided not to release a value version (Agility-level drive) of its Barefoot 3 platform and only focused on the higher-end market with the Vector and Vertex 4xx lineups. Almost two years later since the introduction of the Vector, OCZ is now finally comfortable with bringing the Barefoot 3 platform to the mainstream market and the ARC 100 acts as the comeback vehicle.
| OCZ ARC 100 Specifications | |||||
| Capacity | 120GB | 240GB | 480GB | ||
| Controller | OCZ Barefoot 3 | ||||
| NAND | Toshiba A19nm MLC | ||||
| Sequential Read | 475MB/s | 480MB/s | 490MB/s | ||
| Sequential Write | 395MB/s | 430MB/s | 450MB/s | ||
| 4KB Random Read | 75K IOPS | 75K IOPS | 75K IOPS | ||
| 4KB Random Write | 80K IOPS | 80K IOPS | 80K IOPS | ||
| Steady-State 4KB Random Write | 12K IOPS | 18K IOPS | 20K IOPS | ||
| Idle Power | 0.6W | 0.6W | 0.6W | ||
| Max Power | 3.45W | 3.45W | 3.45W | ||
| Encryption | AES-256 | ||||
| Endurance | 20GB/day for 3 years | ||||
| Warranty | Three years | ||||
| MSRP | $75 | $120 | $240 | ||
Similar to Vector 150 and Vertex 460, one of the main focuses in the ARC 100 is performance consistency and OCZ remains to be one of the only manufacturers that reports steady-state performance for client drives. The biggest difference to Vector 150 and Vertex 460 is in the NAND department as the ARC 100 utilizes Toshiba’s second generation 19nm NAND, i.e. A19nm as Toshiba calls it. Despite the smaller process node NAND OCZ is rating the ARC 100 at the same 20GB of writes per day for three years as the Vertex 460, although the ARC 100 is slightly slower in performance and also drops bundled cloning software and 3.5″ adapter.
Given the smaller cell size of the A19nm NAND, OCZ is able to price the ARC 100 more aggressively. At higher capacities OCZ is able to hit the $0.50/GB mark and the ARC 100 is actually very price competitive with Crucial’s MX100, which has been our favorite mainstream SSDs for the past couple of months. I am getting back from the US tomorrow and my review samples are already waiting for me at home, so you should expect to see the full review next week!
