Anandtech News

**FEED** · 08-06-19, 03:38 PM

Samsung on Tuesday introduced its sixth-generation V-NAND memory with over 100 active layers. To make V-NAND with over 100 layers viable from performance point of view, the company had to use new circuit design technology. The new memory features 10% lower latencies and consumes 15% lower amount of power when compared to previous-generation V-NAND.
Samsung’s 6^th Generation V-NAND features up to 136 layers as well as charge trap flash (CTF) cells. The new memory uses one stack and does not use technologies like string stacking to build over 100 layers. In order to ensure lack of errors and low latencies, Samsung had to use a new speed-optimized circuit design. The latter enabled the new 3D TLC 256 Gb chips to offer below 450 microseconds (μs) latency for write operations and below 45 μs for read operations, which is 10% faster when compared to 5^th Generation V-NAND, according to Samsung. Meanwhile, the latest V-NAND also features lower power consumption than its predecessors.
It is noteworthy that the new 256 Gb 136-layer V-NAND devices use 670 million holes, down from 930 million holes with the previous generation, which means that the new chips need less process steps and are easier to manufacture. What is important is that Samsung plans to use its 136-layer architecture with speed-optimized circuit design to build V-NAND devices with over 300 layers by mounting three of the current stacks on top of each other (thus tripling a chip’s capacity).
Initially, Samsung will offer 256 Gb 3D TLC 136-layer V-NAND devices that will first be used for Samsung’s 250 GB SSDs. Later this year Samsung intends to release 512 Gb 136-layer V-NAND devices that will be used for other drives as well as eUFS storage solutions.
Speaking of the 256 GB 6^th Gen V-NAND SSD, it is important to point out that it uses Samsung’s new controller marked as the S4LR030/S94G4MW2.

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Source: Samsung

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**FEED** · 08-06-19, 06:56 PM

AMD has announced that Rick Bergman had rejoined the company and will lead its Computing and Graphics business. Mr. Bergman’s focus will be high-performance PCs, gaming and semi-custom businesses. The return of the former executive emphasizes importance of gaming for AMD.
Rick Bergman has a long history with GPU companies. In the late nineties he used to work at S3 Graphics and then joined ATI Technologies in 2001, where he served at various positions until 2006, when ATI was bought by AMD. From 2006 to 2011, he led AMD’s products group where he was responsible both for CPUs and GPUs. In 2011, Mr. Bergman joined Synaptics, where he served as CEO until recently and significantly transformed the company.
Among the highlights of Rick Bergman’s career at AMD are the company’s highly-successful Radeon HD 4000 and HD 5000 families of products, the GCN architecture that was used by the company’s GPUs for years, as well as AMD’s ‘Fusion’ program that enabled the company to integrate its GPUs into its CPUs and eventually create high-performance SoCs for Microsoft’s and Sony’s game consoles.
Rick Bergman is the latest addition to AMD’s graphics and gaming team. Last month AMD hired Frank Azor, a former head of Dell’s Alienware division, to head its gaming-related efforts. Meanwhile, Mr. Bergman brings both general management and semiconductor experience.
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Source: AMD

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**FEED** · 08-06-19, 11:29 PM

This year’s Galaxy S10 has been in a bit of an odd situation: Although Samsung continued to dual-source its SoCs, using both its own Exynos 9820 SoC as well as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855, the phone found itself in the unusual situation of pitting 8nm silicon against 7nm silicon from TSMC. So although the new Exynos 9820 did fairly well in testing and improved a lot over the Exynos 9810, the chip seemingly still had disadvantages against the competition when it came to power efficiency, likely linked to its process technology disadvantages. On top of the power efficiency disadvantages, the chip also had a notable die area disadvantage versus the Snapdragon, coming in at 127mm² versus the smaller 73mm² competition.
Samsung’s 7nm EUV process node was noted as having started mass production back in October of last year, although we’re not sure exactly which chip this was referring to, and we had hopes that it would be the chip for the S10 but alas it was not to be.
This time around, Samsung is seemingly bridging the gap with the introduction of the new Exynos 9825 – a 7nm LPP refresh of the Exynos 9820.

Samsung Exynos SoCs Specifications
SoC	Exynos 9820	Exynos 9825
CPU	2x M4 @ 2.73 GHz 2x 512KB pL2 2x Cortex A75 @ 2.31 GHz 2x 256KB pL2 4x Cortex A55 @ 1.95 GHz No pL2's Sharedcomplex sL3 @ 4MB	2x M4 @ 2.73 GHz ? 2x Cortex A75 @ 2.4 GHz ? 4x Cortex A55 @ 1.95 GHz ?
GPU	Mali G76MP12 @ 702 MHz	Mali G76MP12 @ ? MHz
Memory Controller	4x 16-bit CH LPDDR4X @ 2093MHz	4x 16-bit CH LPDDR4X @ 2093MHz
ISP	Rear: 22MP Front: 22MP Dual: 16MP+16MP	Rear: 22MP Front: 22MP Dual: 16MP+16MP
Media	8K30 & 4K150 encode & decode H.265/HEVC, H.264, VP9	8K30 & 4K150 encode & decode H.265/HEVC, H.264, VP9
Integrated Modem	Shannon 5000 Integrated LTE (Category 20/13) DL = 2000 Mbps 8x20MHz CA, 256-QAM UL = 316 Mbps 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM	Shannon 5000 Integrated LTE (Category 20/13) DL = 2000 Mbps 8x20MHz CA, 256-QAM UL = 316 Mbps 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM
Mfc. Process	Samsung 8nm LPP	Samsung 7nm LPP (EUV)

The new chip very much looks like a die-shrink/mid-cycle refresh with largely the same IP generation as the 9820, still featuring Samsung’s M4 Cheetah cores as well as a Mali-G76 GPU. Samsung also doesn’t seem to have changed the clock frequencies of the chip very much: The M4 cores are still running at a peak frequency of 2.73GHz and the A55 cores also run at 1.95GHz. We do see a bump in the frequencies of the middle cores that goes up from 2.31GHz to 2.4GHz.
On the GPU side, Samsung has also stuck with the same GPU configuration as with 9820, using a MP12 configuration of the G76. According to the company the 9825's GPU is clocked hgiher - so it will outperform its predecessor - however the company has yet to disclose specific clockspeeds.
As for the integrated modem, Samsung has retained their Shannon 5000, a Category 20/13 modem. This modem has a peak download rate of 2 Gbps (with 8x carrier aggregration), while uploads top out at 316 Mbps. We had been wondering if Samsung would be able to squeeze in a 5G modem for this SoC, but it looks like it's just a bit too early for that. Instead, 5G can be accomplished by pairing the SoC with Samsung's 5G Exynos Modem 5100.
The new chip is likely to be featured in the new Galaxy Note10 – Samsung will continue to use Snapdragon chips for some markets, and this could be an explanation for the new chip not having that big improvements on the part of the CPU complex as it’s aiming for performance parity with the Snapdragon. We also have to note that Samsung would have to invest the process improvements into improving power efficiency rather than raising performance.
The chip reminds us of the Exynos 5430 from a few years ago which was also a process-shrink to the chip that ended up in the Galaxy S5, representing Samsung’s first 20nm silicon. That chip never ended up in the popular flagship products, but seemingly did serve a purpose as a pipe-cleaner and learning platform for the new process node. The new Exynos 9825 could end up in a similar situation, although being used in the Note10, it won’t nearly have an as long lifespan as we don’t expect it to power the Galaxy S11 next year.

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**FEED** · 08-07-19, 10:24 AM

In a surprising move, one of Sharp’s top executives revealed that the company will supply its IGZO displays to Nintendo. Usage of IGZO screens promises to reduce power consumption of Nintendo’s game consoles, though it is unclear which model will get a new type of LCD first.
Katsuaki Nomura, an executive vice president of Sharp, told the Wall Street Journal that the company would supply its IGZO displays to Nintendo. The exec did not disclose specifications of the panel or which of Nintendo’s consoles will get IGZO displays first.
The game console maker is about to release a handheld-only version of its Switch game console as well as a new version of the fully-fledged Switch. Both new devices could benefit of Sharp’s IGZO displays because of their lower power consumption and potentially higher image quality, but it remains to be seen whether Nintendo decides to shift both of its upcoming game consoles to a new type of LCDs.
The upcoming versions of Nintendo’s Switch promise considerably longer battery life when compared to existing Switch consoles while using similar batteries. One of the key reasons why the new units feature lower power consumption is believed to be a new SoC from NVIDIA.
Sharp and Nintendo have a long history of working together as the former designed auto stereoscopic display for the latter's 3DS console.
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Source: Wall Street Journal

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**FEED** · 08-07-19, 02:21 PM

Western Digital has introduced its new accelerator drives designed for very read-intensive workloads. The key feature of the Ultrastar DC SN340 Very Read Intensive (VRI) SSDs is their low read latency which is important for write-once read many applications, such as video-on-demand services, distributed databases, and emerging AI/ML workloads.
Nowadays video streaming providers use 1 TB SATA SSDs that offer a ratio of IOPS to bandwidth that satisfies their needs in terms of numbers of parallel users/streams (RIOPS). In a bid to optimize power, costs, and the number of racks in their datacenters while still meeting their requirements, VOD services need higher-capacity drives with higher performance and specific functionality. Western Digital believes that VRI SSDs is a type of devices that will satisfy requirements of the aforementioned (and many other read-intensive) workloads.
Carrying 3.84 or 7.68 TB of usable capacity, Western Digital’s Ultrastar DC SN340 U.2 drives optimized for write-once read many workloads are based on the company’s proprietary controller as well as 96-layer BiCS4 3D TLC NAND. With up to 3.3 GB/s sequential read speed, up to 1.5 GB/s write speed, up to 420K random read IOPS, and a 6.5 W maximum power consumption, the Ultrastar DC SN320 are substantially faster and more power efficient than SATA SSDs used by various VOD companies today.
One key thing to note about the Ultrastar DC SN340 is that it requires all requests to be 32 KB aligned to guarantee consistent performance and appropriate endurance, so these drives are not for everyone. This is a result of the drive's Flash Translation Layer (FTL) managing data with a coarser granularity, which significantly reduces the size of the indirection tables and allows the drive to operate with less DRAM than the usual 1GB per 1TB ratio.

In addition to video streaming services, VRI SSDs can be used for other write-once read many applications. Distributed No-SQL Databases (Apache Cassandra, MongoDB, etc.) that sequentially write in append mode and avoid overwrites can benefit from such drives and their low read latency. Furthermore, various AI and ML applications that use training while performing loads of reads also take advantage of VRI drives.

Western Digital's Ultrastar DC SN340 SSDs
		2.5-Inch U2
Capacities		3,840 GB 7,680 GB
Interface		PCIe 3.0 x4 (NVMe)
Controller		Proprietary
NAND		96-layer BICS4 3D TLC NAND
Sequential Read		up to 3300 MB/s
Sequential Write		up to 1500 MB/s
Random Read (4 KB) IOPS		up to 420K IOPS
Random Write (4 KB) IOPS		up to 7K IOPS
Mixed Random Read/Write (max IOPS 70%R/30%W, 4KB)		up to 139K IOPS
Power	Active	6.5 W
MTBF		2 million hours
Warranty		Five years
Note:		Performance numbers are based on 7.68 TB U.2 SSD

Western Digital does not disclose when it plans to start volume production of its Ultrastar DC SN340 VRI SSDs, but it is logical to assume that when its customers learn how to better use such drives, these products will be made available.
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Source: Western Digital

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**FEED** · 08-07-19, 02:21 PM

Western Digital has announced its new family of enterprise SSDs aimed at mixed-use-case workloads. The new drives use in-house developed components and come in EDSFF E1.L, U.2, and M.2-22110 form-factors offering capacities of up to 30.72 TB.
Based on controllers developed by Western Digital internally as well as 96-layer BICS4 3D TLC NAND, the Ultrastar DC SN640 SSDs are aimed at performance-demanding business-critical mixed-workload applications, including SQL Server, MySQL, VMware vSAN, Microsoft Azure Stack HCI solutions, virtual desktops, and other. When it comes to feature set, the drives support power loss protection, AES-256 data encryption, Instant Secure Erase, signed firmware downloads, and other technologies.
Depending on target applications, Western Digital will offer its Ultrastar DC SN640 in three form-factors. For those who need maximum performance and capacity, the manufacturer will offer SSDs in EDSFF E1.L form-factor that will offer capacities of up to 30.72 TB as well as up to 720K random read IOPS. For blade servers running virtual desktops and similar software the maker will offer U.2 SSDs featuring up to 7.68 TB capacities. For space-constrained and OCP environments, the Ultrastar DC SN640 drives will be available in M.2-22110 form-factor as well as capacities of up to 3.84 TB. Considering the workloads, the new SSDs offer tunable endurance of 0.8 or 2 DWPD over five years.
As far as performance is concerned, the Ultrastar DC SN640 6.4 TB U.2 SSD is rated for up to 3.2 GB/s sequential read speeds, up to 2.14 GB/s sequential write speeds, up to 480K random read IOPS, and up to 120K random write IOPS.

Western Digital's Ultrastar DC SN640 SSDs
		2.5-Inch U2		M.2-22110		EDSFF E1.L
Capacities	0.8 DWPD	800 GB 1,600 GB 3,200 GB 6,400 GB		960 GB 1,600 GB 3,840 GB		7.68 TB 15.36 TB 30.72 TB
2 DWPD	960 GB 1,920 GB 3,840 GB 7,680 GB		-		-
Interface		PCIe 3.0 x4 (NVMe)
Controller		Proprietary
NAND		96-layer BICS4 3D TLC NAND
Sequential Read		up to 3200 MB/s
Sequential Write		up to 2140 MB/s
Random Read (4 KB) IOPS		up to 480K IOPS
Random Write (4 KB) IOPS		up to 120K IOPS
Mixed Random Read/Write (max IOPS 70%R/30%W, 4KB)		up to 240K IOPS
Power	Active	12 W		8.25 W		20 W
Encryption		AES-256
Power Loss Protection		Yes
MTBF		2 million hours
Warranty		Five years
Note:		Performance numbers are based on 6.4 TB U.2 SSD

Samples of Western Digital’s Ultrastar DC SN640 SSDs are now available to the company’s customers and will ship commercially later.
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Source: Western Digital

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**FEED** · 08-07-19, 05:55 PM

The second – and arguably largest – shoe in the Zen 2 launch is dropping today: AMD’s EPYC 7002-series “Rome” processor. Based on all the things that made 3^rd gen Ryzen great just a month ago, now AMD is doing it bigger and better. With up to 64 cores, AMD will be striking right at the heart of Intel’s server CPU business; and they just might be able to do it.

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**FEED** · 08-07-19, 05:55 PM

It’s that time of the year again. We’ve made it past the first half of 2019 and all vendors have released their initial flagship devices for the year. Samsung was amongst the first to usher in the new generation with the Galaxy S10, S10+ and S10e, and as has been traditional for many years, it’s now time for a refresh of Samsung’s second flagship lineup - the Galaxy Note. Today Samsung is unveiling two new devices: the new Galaxy Note10 and Note10+, marking a significant departure from its usual Note device formula.

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**FEED** · 08-07-19, 07:52 PM

If you examine the CPU industry and ask where the big money is, you have to look at the server and datacenter market. Ever since the Opteron days, AMD's marketshare has been rounded to zero percent, and with its first generation of EPYC processors using its new Zen microarchitecture, that number skipped up a small handful of points, but everyone has been waiting with bated breath for the second swing at the ball. AMD's Rome platform solves the concerns that first gen Naples had, plus this CPU family is designed to do many things: a new CPU microarchitecture on 7nm, offer up to 64 cores, offer 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0, offer 8 memory channels, and offer a unified memory architecture based on chiplets. Today marks the launch of Rome, and we have some of our own data to share on its performance.

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**FEED** · 08-08-19, 10:37 AM

Being one of Intel’s key partners, Dell is usually among the first PC makers to start selling computers based on the latest processors from the developer. On Thursday the company began to sell its XPS 13 2-in-1 model 7390 convertible laptop that is powered by Intel’s 10^th Generation Core processors codenamed Ice Lake.
Re-engineered both inside and outside, the latest XPS 13 7390-series 2-in-1 convertibles come in a CNC-machined silver or black aluminum body that features either a fiber composite arctic white woven glass fiber palm rest. The notebooks are equipped with a custom 13.4-inch display panel with InfinityEdge bezels that is 7% larger than on the previous-generation model. The LCD panels feature a 1920×1200 or 3840×2400 resolution, 500 nits brightness, a 1500:1 or 1800:1 contrast ratio, a 16:10 aspect ratio, wide viewing angles as well as Dolby Vision on the FHD+ or 90% DCI-P3 on the UHD+ SKU.

At the heart of the new Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 7390-series convertible notebook are Intel’s 10^th Gen Core i3/i5/i7 processors installed onto a more compact motherboard that allowed Dell to make the laptop 7% thinner while making the keyboard and the screen larger. The CPUs are cooled down using a brand-new cooling system that is comprised of two fans, an ultra-thin vapor chamber, and GORE thermal insulation to guarantee consistent performance even under high loads.

The Ice Lake processors inside the XPS 13 2-in-1 7390-series hybrid notebooks are paired with up to 32 GB of soldered-down LPDDR4X-3733 memory as well as a PCIe SSD of up to 1 TB capacity. As for connectivity, the XPS 13 2-in-1 7390-series features a Killer AX1650 Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth controller, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a microSD card reader, a 3.5-mm jack for headsets, and other options. When it comes to multimedia capabilities, the new convertible has speakers, a microphone array, and a webcam (which is now located on top of the LCD).

Being very portable, the new laptop features a 7 – 13 mm z-height and weight starting at 1.32 kilograms (2.9 pounds). Meanwhile, the 2019 Dell XPS 13 7390-series 2-in-1 hybrid notebook comes with a 51 Wh battery that promises to last for up to 16 hours (real-world battery life will depend on the usage model, of course).

Dell’s XPS 7390-series 2-in-1 convertible notebooks are available starting at $999.99 for an entry-level SKU and going up for higher-end models.

Specifications of the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 7390
		General Specifications
LCD	Diagonal	13.4-inch
Resolution	1920×1200	3840×2400
Brightness	500 cd/m²
Contrast Ratio	1800:1	1500:1
Color Gamut	?	100% sRGB 90% DCI-P3
Features	Dolby Vision HDR	HDR400
Touch Support	Yes
Protective Glass	Corning Gorilla Glass 5
CPU		Intel’s 10th Gen Core i3 Intel’s 10th Gen Core i5 Intel’s 10th Gen Core i7
Graphics		Intel's UHD Graphics or Iris Plus GPU
RAM		4 GB LPDDR4 SDRAM at 3733 MT/s 8 GB LPDDR4x SDRAM at 3733 MT/s 16 GB LPDDR4x SDRAM at 3733 MT/s 32 GB LPDDR4x SDRAM at 3733 MT/s
Storage		256 GB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD (onboard) 512 GB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD (onboard) 1 TB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD (onboard)
Wireless		Killer AX1650 Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.0 (based on Intel's silicon)
USB	3.1	2 × TB 3/USB Gen 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C
3.0	-
Thunderbolt		2 × TB 3 (for data, charging, DP displays)
Cameras	Front	720p HD webcam
Other I/O		Microphone, 2 stereo speakers, audio jack
Battery		51 Wh
Dimensions	Width	29.7 cm \| 11.69 inches
	Depth	20.7 cm \| 8.15 inches
	Thickness	7 - 13 mm \| 0.28 - 0.51 inches
Weight		1.32 kilograms \| 2.9 pounds
Launch Price		Starting at $999