Latest Tech News

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• High-performance mini PC with AMD Ryzen 9 and RTX graphics
• Supports up to 64TB storage with lightning-fast 10,000 MB/s speeds
• Features triple monitor support, Wi-Fi 7, and dual 10Gb Ethernet

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The Falco Prime A2 is a high-performance, budget-friendly mini PC currently seeking funding on Kickstarter.

Designed for content creators, media enthusiasts and gamers, this compact powerhouse is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX processor, optional NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 or 4070 mobile graphics, up to 64GB DDR5 RAM, and dual NVMe SSDs for the operating system.

The main selling point of the Falco Prime A2 is the 8x M.2 SSD bay that supports up to 64TB storage with read speeds up to 10,000 MB/s, allowing users to handle massive media libraries and high-speed data access. It also supports up to three monitors for a customizable multi-screen setup suited for different tasks, and network support comes in the form of Wi-Fi 7 and dual 10Gb Ethernet.

RAID

The mini PC offers two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports (one front, one back), two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports (one front, one back), and four USB 4 ports in the back for high-speed data transfer, along with a 3.5mm combo audio jack, and SD card and microSD slots for additional storage flexibility.

Users can configure RAID setups and choose between performance-boosting or redundancy options for the dual OS drives. The DDR5 RAM enhances data transfer rates and power efficiency, while a convection cooling system keeps the system running quietly and efficiently.

Early supporters on Kickstarter can secure the Super Early Bird price of $799 (a $500 discount from the $1,299 retail price), which includes the Ryzen 9 processor, RTX 4060M graphics, 32GB DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD with the 8-slot SSD bay. Additional SSDs can be added to expand storage capacity further.

At the time of writing, the project has received $133,928 in pledges from 125 backers, well over the $5,000 goal, with 19 days to go. As with any crowdfunding project, backers should be aware that delays or changes to the final product can occur, and there's always a risk that the project may face challenges in production or fulfillment, so be warned.

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• CERN uses over one exabyte of storage for research
• The research laboratory relies on PROMISE and Toshiba for its needs
• Toshiba will be supplying CERN with 20TB hard drives

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As you might expect, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory requires some pretty extensive data storage systems to support its research into fundamental questions about the universe.

With particle collision detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) generating approximately 1TB of data per minute, CERN’s storage infrastructure rather obviously needs to be both high-capacity and highly reliable.

Since 2008, CERN has relied on PROMISE Technology’s VTrak J5800 24-bay JBOD enclosures and Toshiba’s Enterprise Capacity HDDs for its storage needs. The storage systems have inevitably evolved over time, beginning with 4TB hard drives and currently featuring Toshiba’s 18TB MG09 Series HDDs.

Supporting CERN’s future storage needs

Together, these systems provide CERN’s central data center with over one exabyte of storage, distributed across more than 120,000 hard drives housed in over 4,000 enclosures. This setup allows data from CERN to be shared with more than 170 research institutes around the world for analysis.

To meet increasing storage requirements, PROMISE Technology recently introduced the 60-bay VTrak J5960 JBOD enclosure, featuring ‘Greenboost’ technology to reduce power consumption by up to 30%. These will be used with Toshiba’s 20TB MG10 Series HDDs, and potentially its 28TB drives in the future.

“In our quest to unravel the mysteries of the universe, we need partners who understand the importance of data storage, reliability, and efficiency with solutions tailored to our unique needs," said Eric Bonfillou, Deputy Group Leader of CERN’s IT Fabric group.

“We continue to develop higher capacities, up to 30TB and beyond, as HDDs are and will remain essential for storing the exabytes of data that CERN and the entire world produce in a cost-effective and energy-efficient manner," added Rainer W. Kaese, Senior Manager Business Development, Storage Products Division at Toshiba.

Toshiba has released a new video showcasing its partnership with PROMISE Technology to enhance data storage solutions for CERN. You can watch this below.

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• Fujitsu and AMD partner to develop energy-efficient HPC/AI platforms
• Partnership aims to broaden access to AI, support open-source
• Monaka chip features 288 cores, 2nm process, Armv9-A architecture

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Fujitsu and AMD have announced a new strategic partnership focused on developing HPC and AI platforms.

This collaboration will combine Fujitsu’s ARM-based processor technology with AMD’s GPU expertise, aiming to build energy-efficient and open-source solutions addressing the growing demand for diverse, cost-effective computing architectures.

The partnership, formalized in a memorandum of understanding, covers joint efforts in technology development, commercialization, and ecosystem expansion, with a goal of creating powerful computing platforms by 2027.

Instinct accelerators

Central to this partnership is Fujitsu’s next-generation Arm-based processor, the Monaka chip, set for release in 2027.

As we first reported in July 2024, Monaka will feature Armv9-A architecture, a 2nm process for high performance and power efficiency, and a 288-core structure (144 cores per socket). Notably, Monaka moves away from high-bandwidth memory in favor of PCIe 6.0 (CXL3.0), enhancing scalability and connectivity. This processor is expected to build upon Fujitsu’s work with the A64FX chip, used in the Fugaku supercomputer, and could support the upcoming FugakuNEXT project planned for 2030.

AMD will support Monaka with its Instinct accelerators, providing customers with flexible options for handling massive AI workloads while optimizing data center costs. The collaboration will also make use of AMD’s ROCm software stack and Fujitsu’s proprietary software, developing an open source ecosystem to accelerate the development of AI and HPC applications.

This joint venture will also involve global marketing efforts and customer engagement, as well as a shared customer center to support the development and implementation of AI technologies.

“By combining AMD’s innovative GPU technology with Fujitsu’s low-power/high-performance processor Fujitsu-Monaka, we seek to create an environment in which more companies will be able to utilize AI while reducing the power consumed by data centers," noted Vivek Mahajan, CTO of Fujitsu.

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• Samsung to release 400-layer NAND chip for AI data centers
• New BV NAND tech boosts density and minimizes heat buildup
• Plans for 1,000-layer NAND by 2030 to expand capacity

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Samsung is working to launch a record-breaking 400-layer vertical NAND flash chip by 2026, reports have claimed.

A report by the Korea Economic Daily says Samsung’s Device Solutions (DS) division aims to advance the NAND flash market with its cutting-edge V10 NAND, designed to meet surging demand in AI data centers.

The company’s memory roadmap, as outlined in the report, shows plans for an advanced 10th-generation NAND that will utilize bonding technology to separately build memory cells and the peripheral circuitry on different wafers, later fusing them into a single chip. Known as bonding vertical NANDFlash (BV NAND), this new approach minimizes heat buildup and maximizes both capacity and performance, creating what Samsung has described as a “dream NAND for AI.”

1,000 layers by 2030

The BV NAND design, boasting a 1.6x increase in bit density per unit area, supports ultra-high-capacity solid-state drives (SSDs) ideal for AI applications.

Samsung’s current 286-layer V9 NAND chips marked a significant milestone, but the 400-layer V10 is expected to redefine capacity limits, potentially breaking the 200TB storage threshold for ultra-large AI hyperscaler SSDs, while improving energy efficiency.

For future releases, world’s largest memory chipmaker plans to introduce 11th-generation V11 NAND in 2027 with a 50% faster data transfer speed, further optimizing performance for high-demand data storage needs.

Samsung’s ambitious NAND roadmap extends even further, with plans for chips exceeding 1,000 layers by 2030, KED reports. This advancement aims to keep Samsung at the forefront of the high-capacity NAND market, where demand is spurred by AI applications that require expansive storage solutions to process vast volumes of data.

In the DRAM sector, Samsung aims to release sixth-generation 1c DRAM and seventh-generation 1d DRAM by the end of 2024, targeting use in high-performance AI chips. According to the Korea Economic Daily report, the company also has plans for sub-10 nm 0a DRAM by 2027, using a vertical channel transistor structure for greater stability and efficiency.

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• Trillium offers 4x training boost, 3x inference improvement over TPU v5e
• Enhanced HBM and ICI bandwidth for LLM support
• Scales up to 256 chips per pod, ideal for extensive AI tasks

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Google Cloud has unleashed its latest TPU, Trillium, the sixth-generation model in its custom AI chip lineup, designed to power advanced AI workloads.

First announced back in May 2024, Trillium is engineered to handle large-scale training, tuning, and inferencing with improved performance and cost efficiency.

The release forms part of Google Cloud’s AI Hypercomputer infrastructure, which integrates TPUs, GPUs, and CPUs alongside open software to meet the increasing demands of generative AI.

A3 Ultra VMs arriving soon

Trillium promises significant improvements over its predecessor, TPU v5e, with over a 4x boost in training performance and up to a 3x increase in inference throughput. Trillium delivers twice the HBM capacity and doubled Interchip Interconnect (ICI) bandwidth, making it particularly suited to large language models like Gemma 2 and Llama, as well as compute-heavy inference applications, including diffusion models such as Stable Diffusion XL.

Google is keen to stress Trillium’s focus on energy efficiency as well, with a claimed 67% increase compared to previous generations.

Google says its new TPU has demonstrated substantially improved performance in benchmark testing, delivering a 4x increase in training speeds for models such as Gemma 2-27b and Llama2-70B. For inference tasks, Trillium achieved 3x greater throughput than TPU v5e, particularly excelling in models that demand extensive computational resources.

Scaling is another strength of Trillium, according to Google. The TPU can link up to 256 chips in a single, high-bandwidth pod, expandable to thousands of chips within Google’s Jupiter data center network, providing near-linear scaling for extensive AI training tasks. With Multislice software, Trillium maintains consistent performance across hundreds of pods.

Tied in with the arrival of Trillium, Google also announced the A3 Ultra VMs featuring Nvidia H200 Tensor Core GPUs. Scheduled for preview this month they will offer Google Cloud customers a high-performance GPU option within the tech giant’s AI infrastructure.

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• Minisforum MGA1 boosts graphics with AMD Radeon 7600M XT
• Supports three displays, 8K at 60Hz via HDMI and DisplayPort
• Features OCuLink, USB 3.2, USB-C ports; requires OCuLink connectivity

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Minisforum, best known for its range of mini PCs like the AtomMan Series and EliteMini, has launched the MGA1, an external GPU docking station. Powered by the AMD Radeon 7600M XT GPU and backed with 8GB of GDDR6 RAM, the MGA1 gives users a straightforward way to boost a connected device's graphics capabilities.

Built with advanced RDNA 3.0 architecture and a 6nm production process, and functioning as both an eGPU and a docking station, the MGA1 is ideal for use with compatible laptops and mini PCs. The substantial upgrade in graphics performance it provides makes it ideal for graphics-intensive tasks like video editing, 3D rendering and even gaming.

The MGA1 supports up to three displays through its HDMI 2.1 and dual DisplayPort 2.0 connections, each capable of 8K at 60Hz for ultra-high-resolution and smooth refresh rates. It also features three USB 3.2 ports with 10Gbps transfer speeds, an OCuLink 4i port, and a USB-C 3.1 port with 65W Power Delivery, making it suitable for charging devices like - you guessed it - Minisforum’s own mini PCs.

OCuLink port required

As Tom’s Hardware notes, “By adding an eGPU like the MGA1 to your system, you’d get the best of both worlds - a mini-PC that won’t take up much space on your desk and easy to carry anywhere, and a gaming PC that will give you the performance you need to play AAA titles.”

The docking station includes high-speed data transfer through its OCuLink 4i port with PCIe 4.0 x4 compatibility, ensuring reliable performance for demanding tasks.

But - and it will be a deal breaker for many - USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 connectivity are missing, so you'll need to make sure you have an OCuLink port on your laptop or mini PC before buying the MGA1.

Priced at a rather steep $559, the MGA1 provides a balanced mix of power and connectivity in a compact form, though there are more versatile eGPUs available that may be better suited for use with a broader range of devices, such as GPD's newly upgraded G1.

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Latest Tech News

The Samsung Galaxy Ring took the wearables world by storm, with the product shoving this smartwatch alternative into the spotlight – and helping to generate more interest in competitors in the best smart ring category from the likes of Oura and RingConn. Now it looks like Samsung is gearing up to launch an upgrade to this product line shortly, with a tipster’s comments making it sound like we could see the Galaxy Ring 2 fairly soon.

Korean leaker Lanzuk – who has a track record of spoiling Samsung’s release plans – says Samsung is “planning to launch its Galaxy Ring 2 model a bit earlier than originally scheduled” (translated from Korean). Specifics are light on the ground, but that could mean we’ll get a Galaxy Ring 2 in 2025, and maybe even in the first half of the year at that.

In fairness, the Galaxy Ring was first shown off in January 2024, so an early Galaxy Ring 2 announcement was also already kind of on the cards. However, we didn’t get our hands on the Galaxy Ring until July, so in 2025, we could get the Galaxy Ring 2 in, say, February instead of needing to wait half a year.

Alternatively, Samsung may want to stick with a more condensed reveal and release schedule some time in the middle of the year (say May or June), especially as a refresh after barely six months could upset purchasers of the original Galaxy Ring. Yearly refreshes are expected. However, a biyearly refresh is less likely to happen.

'More feature' on the way too

Will Samsung take cues from Oura? (Image credit: Oura)

Beyond teasing the release date, Lanzuk added that the device will supposedly be thinner, have a longer battery life, and contain “more features.” Again, details are light, but this could include sleep apnea detection, expanded gesture controls, or improved fitness tools.

Perhaps it’ll also include that adaptive sizing feature teased by a recently awarded Samsung patent, though we’ll have to wait and see what’s announced.

On this note, as with all leaks we should take Lanzuk’s blog post and our speculation with a pinch of salt. Until Samsung makes an announcement we don’t know what we’ll get from the Galaxy Ring 2 – nor when it will launch, assuming it does ever launch.

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