By Evan Ackerman

Less than $100 probably means $99.99, but that doesn’t change the fact that the 2.5″ Onyx SSD from OCZ is actually in the realm of casually affordable, a first for SSDs. We’re used to seeing SSD drives that offer incredible performance, but at a price point that makes most of us just sigh sadly. The OCZ Onyx, while offering only modest speeds (125 MB/s read and 70 MB/s write) relative to other SSDs, is still fast enough that you’d notice a significant difference in load times if you stick your operating system on it. Unsurprisingly, the drive only has a capacity of 32 gigs, so your operating system may be the only thing you can stick on it, but that’s okay.

Even if the speed and size aren’t that impressive, don’t forget about the other benefits of SSDs: they’re light, shockproof, durable, and use up a heck of a lot less power than conventional drives since they don’t have anything inside them that needs to be kept spinning at several thousand RPM all the time.

$100 is not going to get you some kind of incredibly awesome SSD drive. But it will get you this SSD drive, which, for the cost, is way better than no SSD drive at all.

[ Press Release ] VIA [ HotHardware ]

On the processor front, you can choose between the i5 or i7 mobile chipsets, with the typical Turbo boost, hyper threading, buzzword laden capabilities. The mX-L rolls with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570, driving a 15.6″ screen with a resolution up to 1600×900. Wifi is built in of course. Storage comes from your choice of SSD drives in varying sizes that you can choose from when you place your order. MSRP starts at $999 and goes up based on your configuration choice, and you can order them now online.

Of course it’d be fast whether they designed for it or not, but if they made sure to have the right motherboard, fast RAM, special storage controllers and so on, it could blow away the competition. Laptop had drives are traditionally low-power 5400RPM HDDs, though SSDs are becoming more common, and this multiple SSD setup could be the next step in luxury mobile computing.

It’s unclear whether the “64GB/128GB x 4″ quoted is, for instance, four 32GB drives making up 128GB or four 128GB drives making up 512GB. I’d lean towards the former, since the latter would be incredibly expensive. Sure, SSDs are already expensive, but four high-capacity drives would put the raw storage cost at over $1500.

It supports up to 5 fans for air cooling and will fit the new generation of extra-long video cards like the ATI 5970. The motherboard tray holes are set up with rubber grommets to allow wire management without the risk of accidental shorts.

The Hades is currently available from NZXT’s website, for a MSRP of $89.99

From the press release:

El Monte, CA – December 21, 2009 – NZXT, a company built on realizing the dreams of gamers worldwide, is proud to unveil Hades, a chassis that provides an array of advanced features for the most demanding PC enthusiast. Airflow is optimized with 5 fans(dual 200mm intake, 200 mm front fan, dual top 140mm fans, side 200mm fan, and rear 120mm exhaust). NZXT includes all the fans with the exception of the top 140mm and also provides a dual fan 8W per channel controller giving enthusiasts freedom to manage intake and exhaust airflow. A three temperature display on the front panel allows the user to see the temperature inside the chassis even when the door is closed. Additionally, the meshed 5.25” bays, door, and bottom panel allows for air to naturally flow into the system with ease.

Hades also boasts premium expandability with up to nine 5.25” bay setup or five 5.25” and four 3.5.” It also features VGA clearance room for 300mm cards like the new ATI 5970. The punched side panel and motherboard tray with rubber grommets on the motherboard routing holes enables advanced wire management and quick CPU bracket removal. Additional advanced features include a solid state bracket allowing for two SSD drives, pre-drilled water cooling holes on the backplate, mounting holes for a dual radiator at the top, and a removable filter at the bottom PSU.

“Enthusiasts and gamers have a lot to be excited about with the advanced airflow and control options that Hades brings to the table” said Johnny Hou, Chief Designer at NZXT. “With an array of options for limitless upgradeability, Hades has the performance and longevity that gamers desire.”

Available in 120GB, 250GB, and 500GB and 1TB capacities, the Colossus marks the first time that SSD drives have reached the storage sizes that users have come to expect these days. The bad news is you can expect to spend a small fortune for these drives. The 1TB sells for $3397, the 500GB for $1530, the 250GB is $820, and the 120GB will set you back $438. Ouch!

The Thecus N0204 will use either HDD or SSD drives, with a maximum capacity of 1TB. Due to the fact that the NAS only has two bays, you are of course restricted to RAID 0, 1, or JBOD. The best part? The price. The Thecus N0204 retails for just $150; you’ll have to provide your own drives, though.

The Thecus also functions as a print server, which could be handy. It’s compatible with both Mac and PC networks and will work with Wi-Fi orGigabit LAN via the ethernet connection on the back of the unit.

[via Legit Reviews]

By Chris Scott Barr

USB 3.0 is going to likely start showing up in new computers sometime next year, which means that we’ll be seeing USB 3.0 peripherals sometime in the near future. Since the main advantage of this new specification is obviously speed, hard drives will be one of the biggest things to take advantage of it. Since SSD’s are the fastest when it comes to transfer speeds, it’s only natural that some of the first devices to be announced are external SSD drives.

Active Media Productions has announced their new USB 3.0 SSD drives which range in sizes from 16GB to 64GB. This would essentially be the same speeds you would achieve with eSATA, only without the need for an external power source. These new Aviator 312 drives will be rather small in size, measuring only 3” long and 0.2” thick. Expect to pay a premium for the new technology, as prices will range from $89 to $209.

[ Active Media ] VIA [ EverythingUSB ]

This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net

No one can accuse NZXT of slacking off when it comes to releasing new PC cases. We’ve got three of their latest offerings in our office, and we’ll be bringing you full reviews on each over the next week or so. First up is their M56 Classic Series ATX Mid Tower chassis.

NZXT has always found a good balance between price and performance. The M56 falls into what I’d consider the mid-range of cases in terms of pricing. But the real question is whether or not the hardware is worth the price. Read on for my full review.

Features

The M56 has room for up to 5 fans, and includes a pair of 9-fin rifle bearing fans to keep things cool. If liquid-cooling is your thing, then you’ll be happy to find pre-drilled holes and support for a dual radiator at the top of the case. You’ll also find punched holes for cable management and quick access to the back of the motherboard (where the CPU would normally be). One of my favorite features is the included brackets for dual SSD drives. With prices coming down on SSD’s, this is soon going to be a necessity on all future cases.

First Look

This case is all about angles. The front has a nice zig-zag shape, which is just rounded enough to give it an interesting look. It’s almost refreshing to see a case that’s not either perfectly square or rounded outwards like most others. The M56 is black, inside and out, with blue LED accents in just the right places. The power button has a soft blue ring around it (not a bright blinding light as I’ve seen on other cases) and you’ll find an LED bar just above the optical drive bays. It’s almost completely hidden from view, since the top sticks out a bit. However, it gives off a soft glow so that you can see your USB, eSATA and audio ports on the front when you’re gaming in the dark.

Like many other cases out there, you’ll find a window on the side. Unlike most cases, the window is a smoked color, leaving the inside of your case a bit of a mystery. The side-mounted fan also has a soft blue LED glow, letting onlookers get just a peek at the enclosed hardware. Personally, I think that it could do with one more set of LEDs for the perfect lighting, but that’s just me. Inside you’ll also notice that the power supply is mounted on the bottom, rather than the top. Many cases are going to this style, due to the better airflow

Installation

One of the most important things to consider in a case is how easy the installation process is. After all, a case can outlive the the components by a long time. Well the M56 makes things about as painless as it gets. First, there are no sharp edges in the case (I’ve yet to find one from these guys that I’ve worried about cutting myself on) which is a big deal. The pre-cut holes in the back of the case (where you’ll mount the motherboard) are perfect for running cables and keeping them out of the way.

I’d like to take a second to point out the giant hole over which your CPU will eventually sit. This is such an awesome feature. Why? If you’ve ever decided to add a liquid cooling solution to your system, you know that you have to take the entire motherboard off, just so you can change out the heatsink mounting brackets. This eliminates the need to remove the board, thus making installation a breeze.

I’d also like to note that instead of trying to implement some sort of screwless solution for the hard drives and optical drives, NZXT just supplied a crapload of thumbscrews. 16 to be exact. I’m not a big fan of most screwless solutions, so I welcome the bag of thumbscrews. You’ll also find room for larger graphics cards, up to 10.5-inches long. The last thing I’ll mention here is the mounting brackets for SSD drives. It’s really not anything too special, just a pair of rails that slide into a 5.25-inch bay. It’s simple and effective.

Verdict

The M59 Classic Series Mid Tower chassis is yet another solid offering from NZXT. These guys are constantly updating their line of cases, but rarely are they simple cosmetic changes. The pre-cut hole beneath the CPU and inclusion of a SSD bracket prove that these guys know what consumers want and need. At $59, this case has a lot to offer without breaking the bank.

[ NZXT ] VIA [ GamerFront ]

The SSD revolution is moving along as we speak, a sort of slow revolution that will take many years to replace our trusty mechanical hard drives. Cost is one issue, but that’s changing, and the other is the idea of SSD wear and tear. You may have heard that consumer SSD drives have memory cells (which hold the 1s and 0s in SSDs) that wear out after 10,000 discharges. This leads to a sort of data fragmentation which can be damaging to both capacity and speed. In practice, that can be many years, but how the cells wear down, when, and how to minimize it is a serious area of research. Configuring the drive controller differently can lead to huge increases in performance, major lengthening of mean time before failure, and all that. Anand covers a lot of these issues in detail in this monster of a post.

I’m still working through it, but it’s an easy recommendation for those of you at all interested in the nuts and bolts of the devices we use every day. He’s collected some ideas, and proposes some, for lengthening SSD life expectancy as well as speeding up read/write operations. It’s interesting to see this kind of theorizing in the public arena; you’d expect to hear it in the break room at Intel while engineers woolgather and brainstorm, but to have it all laid out for you to read like this is a treat. Well, for some.

By David Ponce

Coming in 8GB and 16GB capacities, these tiny SSD drives plug directly into the SATA ports of your motherboard. They feature decent 75MB/s (read) and 30MB/s (write) speeds and only measure 25 x 39 x 6.5 mm. Elecom is trying to market these drives as a quicker startup drive in a regular systems or even a primary drive in a Mini-ITX setup.

Unless we’re missing something, this seems stupid. For one, the square format will block adjacent SATA ports, severely limiting your system’s capacity. Secondly, much larger capacity SSD drives are available for decent prices, so the speed argument is moot. Sure, they’re not as small, but so what? Can anyone tell us, aside from the gee-whiz factor, why these are a good idea?

In any case, they’ll be available for pre-order from GeekStuff4U in a few days at an undetermined price.

[ Press Release (Translated)] VIA [ Gizmologia ]