PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
PCR rounds up some of the latest product announcements during the week ending July 30th 2016.
AMD Radeon RX 470 and 460
After teasing two new graphics cards at this year’s E3, AMD has unveiled its new entries into the Radeon 400 range: the 470 and the 460.
While the hugely successful 480 brought VR gaming to a more affordable price-point, the 470 is focused on 1080p gaming while the 460 is designed with eSports in mind.
Prices are yet to be revealed but the cards should be considerably cheaper than the 480 which starts life at £180.
The RX 470 is expected to be released on August 4th with the 460 following suit on August 8th.
HP Z240 tower workstation
HP has announced a refresh to its Z240 tower workstation that will give it a double-digit boost to its processing power, memory and the addition of a software receiver to seamlessly link up Apple, Linux and Windows environments.
The third-generation of HP’s desktop tower workstation now packs up 4.2 GHz of processing power into a compact system that looks to provide world-class performance and reliability at the price point of a traditional desktop PC.
The HP Z240 is available from £690 (excluding VAT).
Samsung 64-layer 3D NAND SSD
Samsung has announced that it is working on its own 64-layer 3D NAND solid state drive (SSD) and that it will be in mass production before the already announced 64-layer 3D NAND SSD from Western Digital (WD)/Toshiba.
A Samsung representative on an earnings call said: "Our goal is to mass-produce SSDs that use our 4G V-NAND within the year."
WD/Toshiba’s initial 256Gbit chip should be in mass production before the middle of 2017, up to 6 months later than Samsung.
Asus Z170 motherboard
Asus is refreshing its Z170 pro-gaming motherboard with an update of Aura LEDs, Safeslot and the option to create custom 3D printed design attachments.
The motherboard has what Asus claims to be the "world’s first 3D-printing-friendly" design.
The Z170 Pro Gaming Aura is now available to pre-order with an SRP of £145.99.
AMD Radeon Pro WX Series
AMD is introducing 3 new cards under their new Radeon Pro WX family: the WX 7100, WX 5100, and WX 4100.
The cards are a part of AMD’s new Polaris family of GPUs. With the WX Series, AMD is looking to bring the architecture’s power efficiency and display controller improvements to their workstation users.
The WX Series is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2016 and pricing is yet to be announced.
Crucial MX300
Crucial has announced additional capacities of the MX300 solid state drive, which is now available in 275GB, 525GB, 750GB and 1TB capacities with MSRPs of £64.99, £119.99, £175.99 and £240.99, with an M.2 2280 form factor coming in late August.
With read speeds up to 530 MB/s and write speeds up to 510 MB/s on all file types, the Crucial MX300 enables users to boot up almost instantly, load programs with ease, and accelerate demanding applications.
The drive is engineered with Micron3D NAND technology, resulting in an endurance rating of up to 220TB total bytes written by leveraging larger NAND cells to deliver top-notch performance and prolong endurance.
HP Elite x3
Following the announcement of the HP Elite x3 at Mobile World Congress, HP is delivering on its promise to create a new category of computing. The Elite x3, a single device that combines the power of the PC with the versatility of a tablet and the premium features you find on a smart phone, will begin rolling out across the globe at the end of the month.
The Elite x3 is expected to launch later this summer with a starting price of £569 excl. VAT. Bundles including HP Elite x3 Desk Dock and HP Elite x3 Lap Dock are expected to start at £999 excl. VAT.
