Corsair, a longstanding and esteemed manufacturer in the PC components industry, initially built its reputation on memory-related products. However, nearly two decades ago, Corsair began diversifying its product line. This expansion started cautiously, with a limited number of products, but quickly proved to be highly successful, propelling Corsair into the industry powerhouse it is today.
One of Corsair's most triumphant product categories is all-in-one (AIO) liquid coolers. This success is particularly notable given that their initial foray into liquid cooling in 2003 did not meet expectations. However, Corsair didn’t throw in the towel. Undeterred, they re-entered the market years later, leveraging the growing popularity of user-friendly, maintenance-free AIO designs. This gamble paid off handsomely, as AIO coolers are now one of Corsair’s flagship product lines, boasting a wide array of models.
In this review, we focus on the latest addition to Corsair's AIO cooler lineup: the iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX. This model is similar to the iCUE LINK H150i RGB, but introduces subtle yet significant improvements, including a performance upgrade with an enhanced pump. The TITAN 360 RX continues Corsair's tradition of innovation and quality, seamlessly integrating into the iCUE ecosystem for an optimized user experience. Its single-cable design ensures a clean and effortless installation, making it a standout in Corsair's evolving cooler lineup.
Cases/Cooling/PSUsOne of the core challenges that Rapidus will face when it kicks off volume production of chips on its 2nm-class process technology in 2027 is lining up customers. With Intel, Samsung, and TSMC all slated to offer their own 2nm-class nodes by that time, Rapidus will need some kind of advantage to attract customers away from its more established rivals. To that end, the company thinks they've found their edge: fully automated packaging that will allow for shorter chip lead times than manned packaging operations.
In an interview with Nikkei, Rapidus' president, Atsuyoshi Koike, outlined the company's vision to use advanced packaging as a competitive edge for the new fab. The Hokkaido facility, which is currently under construction and is expecting to begin equipment installation this December, is already slated to both produce chips and offer advanced packaging services within the same facility, an industry first. But ultimately, Rapidus biggest plan to differentiate itself is by automating the back-end fab processes (chip packaging) to provide significantly faster turnaround times.
Rapidus is targetting back-end production in particular as, compared to front-end (lithography) production, back-end production still heavily relies on human labor. No other advanced packaging fab has fully automated the process thus far, which provides for a degree of flexibility, but slows throughput. But with automation in place to handle this aspect of chip production, Rapidus would be able to increase chip packaging efficiency and speed, which is crucial as chip assembly tasks become more complex. Rapidus is also collaborating with multiple Japanese suppliers to source materials for back-end production.
"In the past, Japanese chipmakers tried to keep their technology development exclusively in-house, which pushed up development costs and made them less competitive," Koike told Nikkei. "[Rapidus plans to] open up technology that should be standardized, bringing down costs, while handling important technology in-house."
Financially, Rapidus faces a significant challenge, needing a total of ¥5 trillion ($35 billion) by the time mass production starts in 2027. The company estimates that ¥2 trillion will be required by 2025 for prototype production. While the Japanese government has provided ¥920 billion in aid, Rapidus still needs to secure substantial funding from private investors.
Due to its lack of track record and experience of chip production as. well as limited visibility for success, Rapidus is finding it difficult to attract private financing. The company is in discussions with the government to make it easier to raise capital, including potential loan guarantees, and is hopeful that new legislation will assist in this effort.
SemiconductorsSamsung had quietly launched its BM1743 enterprise QLC SSD last month with a hefty 61.44 TB SKU. At FMS 2024, the company had the even larger 122.88 TB version of that SSD on display, alongside a few recorded benchmarking sessions. Compared to the previous generation, the BM1743 comes with a 4.1x improvement in I/O performance, improvement in data retention, and a 45% improvement in power efficiency for sequential writes.
The 128 TB-class QLC SSD boasts of sequential read speeds of 7.5 GBps and write speeds of 3 GBps. Random reads come in at 1.6 M IOPS, while 16 KB random writes clock in at 45K IOPS. Based on the quoted random write access granularity, it appears that Samsung is using a 16 KB indirection unit (IU) to optimize flash management. This is similar to the strategy adopted by Solidigm with IUs larger than 4K in their high-capacity SSDs.
A recorded benchmark session on the company's PM9D3a 8-channel Gen 5 SSD was also on display.
The SSD family is being promoted as a mainstream option for datacenters, and boasts of sequential reads up to 12 GBps and writes up to 6.8 GBps. Random reads clock in at 2 M IOPS, and random writes at 400 K IOPS.
Available in multiple form-factors up to 32 TB (M.2 tops out at 2 TB), the drive's firmware includes optional support for flexible data placement (FDP) to help address the write amplification aspect.
The PM1753 is the current enterprise SSD flagship in Samsung's lineup. With support for 16 NAND channels and capacities up to 32 TB, this U.2 / E3.S SSD has advertised sequential read and write speeds of 14.8 GBps and 11 GBps respectively. Random reads and writes for 4 KB accesses are listed at 3.4 M and 600 K IOPS.
Samsung claims a 1.7x performance improvement and a 1.7x power efficiency improvement over the previous generation (PM1743), making this TLC SSD suitable for AI servers.
The 9th Gen. V-NAND wafer was also available for viewing, though photography was prohibited. Mass production of this flash memory began in April 2024.
StorageSamsung had quietly launched its BM1743 enterprise QLC SSD last month with a hefty 61.44 TB SKU. At FMS 2024, the company had the even larger 122.88 TB version of that SSD on display, alongside a few recorded benchmarking sessions. Compared to the previous generation, the BM1743 comes with a 4.1x improvement in I/O performance, improvement in data retention, and a 45% improvement in power efficiency for sequential writes.
The 128 TB-class QLC SSD boasts of sequential read speeds of 7.5 GBps and write speeds of 3 GBps. Random reads come in at 1.6 M IOPS, while 16 KB random writes clock in at 45K IOPS. Based on the quoted random write access granularity, it appears that Samsung is using a 16 KB indirection unit (IU) to optimize flash management. This is similar to the strategy adopted by Solidigm with IUs larger than 4K in their high-capacity SSDs.
A recorded benchmark session on the company's PM9D3a 8-channel Gen 5 SSD was also on display.
The SSD family is being promoted as a mainstream option for datacenters, and boasts of sequential reads up to 12 GBps and writes up to 6.8 GBps. Random reads clock in at 2 M IOPS, and random writes at 400 K IOPS.
Available in multiple form-factors up to 32 TB (M.2 tops out at 2 TB), the drive's firmware includes optional support for flexible data placement (FDP) to help address the write amplification aspect.
The PM1753 is the current enterprise SSD flagship in Samsung's lineup. With support for 16 NAND channels and capacities up to 32 TB, this U.2 / E3.S SSD has advertised sequential read and write speeds of 14.8 GBps and 11 GBps respectively. Random reads and writes for 4 KB accesses are listed at 3.4 M and 600 K IOPS.
Samsung claims a 1.7x performance improvement and a 1.7x power efficiency improvement over the previous generation (PM1743), making this TLC SSD suitable for AI servers.
The 9th Gen. V-NAND wafer was also available for viewing, though photography was prohibited. Mass production of this flash memory began in April 2024.
StorageOne of the core challenges that Rapidus will face when it kicks off volume production of chips on its 2nm-class process technology in 2027 is lining up customers. With Intel, Samsung, and TSMC all slated to offer their own 2nm-class nodes by that time, Rapidus will need some kind of advantage to attract customers away from its more established rivals. To that end, the company thinks they've found their edge: fully automated packaging that will allow for shorter chip lead times than manned packaging operations.
In an interview with Nikkei, Rapidus' president, Atsuyoshi Koike, outlined the company's vision to use advanced packaging as a competitive edge for the new fab. The Hokkaido facility, which is currently under construction and is expecting to begin equipment installation this December, is already slated to both produce chips and offer advanced packaging services within the same facility, an industry first. But ultimately, Rapidus biggest plan to differentiate itself is by automating the back-end fab processes (chip packaging) to provide significantly faster turnaround times.
Rapidus is targetting back-end production in particular as, compared to front-end (lithography) production, back-end production still heavily relies on human labor. No other advanced packaging fab has fully automated the process thus far, which provides for a degree of flexibility, but slows throughput. But with automation in place to handle this aspect of chip production, Rapidus would be able to increase chip packaging efficiency and speed, which is crucial as chip assembly tasks become more complex. Rapidus is also collaborating with multiple Japanese suppliers to source materials for back-end production.
"In the past, Japanese chipmakers tried to keep their technology development exclusively in-house, which pushed up development costs and made them less competitive," Koike told Nikkei. "[Rapidus plans to] open up technology that should be standardized, bringing down costs, while handling important technology in-house."
Financially, Rapidus faces a significant challenge, needing a total of ¥5 trillion ($35 billion) by the time mass production starts in 2027. The company estimates that ¥2 trillion will be required by 2025 for prototype production. While the Japanese government has provided ¥920 billion in aid, Rapidus still needs to secure substantial funding from private investors.
Due to its lack of track record and experience of chip production as. well as limited visibility for success, Rapidus is finding it difficult to attract private financing. The company is in discussions with the government to make it easier to raise capital, including potential loan guarantees, and is hopeful that new legislation will assist in this effort.
SemiconductorsSamsung had quietly launched its BM1743 enterprise QLC SSD last month with a hefty 61.44 TB SKU. At FMS 2024, the company had the even larger 122.88 TB version of that SSD on display, alongside a few recorded benchmarking sessions. Compared to the previous generation, the BM1743 comes with a 4.1x improvement in I/O performance, improvement in data retention, and a 45% improvement in power efficiency for sequential writes.
The 128 TB-class QLC SSD boasts of sequential read speeds of 7.5 GBps and write speeds of 3 GBps. Random reads come in at 1.6 M IOPS, while 16 KB random writes clock in at 45K IOPS. Based on the quoted random write access granularity, it appears that Samsung is using a 16 KB indirection unit (IU) to optimize flash management. This is similar to the strategy adopted by Solidigm with IUs larger than 4K in their high-capacity SSDs.
A recorded benchmark session on the company's PM9D3a 8-channel Gen 5 SSD was also on display.
The SSD family is being promoted as a mainstream option for datacenters, and boasts of sequential reads up to 12 GBps and writes up to 6.8 GBps. Random reads clock in at 2 M IOPS, and random writes at 400 K IOPS.
Available in multiple form-factors up to 32 TB (M.2 tops out at 2 TB), the drive's firmware includes optional support for flexible data placement (FDP) to help address the write amplification aspect.
The PM1753 is the current enterprise SSD flagship in Samsung's lineup. With support for 16 NAND channels and capacities up to 32 TB, this U.2 / E3.S SSD has advertised sequential read and write speeds of 14.8 GBps and 11 GBps respectively. Random reads and writes for 4 KB accesses are listed at 3.4 M and 600 K IOPS.
Samsung claims a 1.7x performance improvement and a 1.7x power efficiency improvement over the previous generation (PM1743), making this TLC SSD suitable for AI servers.
The 9th Gen. V-NAND wafer was also available for viewing, though photography was prohibited. Mass production of this flash memory began in April 2024.
StorageSamsung had quietly launched its BM1743 enterprise QLC SSD last month with a hefty 61.44 TB SKU. At FMS 2024, the company had the even larger 122.88 TB version of that SSD on display, alongside a few recorded benchmarking sessions. Compared to the previous generation, the BM1743 comes with a 4.1x improvement in I/O performance, improvement in data retention, and a 45% improvement in power efficiency for sequential writes.
The 128 TB-class QLC SSD boasts of sequential read speeds of 7.5 GBps and write speeds of 3 GBps. Random reads come in at 1.6 M IOPS, while 16 KB random writes clock in at 45K IOPS. Based on the quoted random write access granularity, it appears that Samsung is using a 16 KB indirection unit (IU) to optimize flash management. This is similar to the strategy adopted by Solidigm with IUs larger than 4K in their high-capacity SSDs.
A recorded benchmark session on the company's PM9D3a 8-channel Gen 5 SSD was also on display.
The SSD family is being promoted as a mainstream option for datacenters, and boasts of sequential reads up to 12 GBps and writes up to 6.8 GBps. Random reads clock in at 2 M IOPS, and random writes at 400 K IOPS.
Available in multiple form-factors up to 32 TB (M.2 tops out at 2 TB), the drive's firmware includes optional support for flexible data placement (FDP) to help address the write amplification aspect.
The PM1753 is the current enterprise SSD flagship in Samsung's lineup. With support for 16 NAND channels and capacities up to 32 TB, this U.2 / E3.S SSD has advertised sequential read and write speeds of 14.8 GBps and 11 GBps respectively. Random reads and writes for 4 KB accesses are listed at 3.4 M and 600 K IOPS.
Samsung claims a 1.7x performance improvement and a 1.7x power efficiency improvement over the previous generation (PM1743), making this TLC SSD suitable for AI servers.
The 9th Gen. V-NAND wafer was also available for viewing, though photography was prohibited. Mass production of this flash memory began in April 2024.
StorageAt FMS 2024, the technological requirements from the storage and memory subsystem took center stage. Both SSD and controller vendors had various demonstrations touting their suitability for different stages of the AI data pipeline - ingestion, preparation, training, checkpointing, and inference. Vendors like Solidigm have different types of SSDs optimized for different stages of the pipeline. At the same time, controller vendors have taken advantage of one of the features introduced recently in the NVM Express standard - Flexible Data Placement (FDP).
FDP involves the host providing information / hints about the areas where the controller could place the incoming write data in order to reduce the write amplification. These hints are generated based on specific block sizes advertised by the device. The feature is completely backwards-compatible, with non-FDP hosts working just as before with FDP-enabled SSDs, and vice-versa.
Silicon Motion's MonTitan Gen 5 Enterprise SSD Platform was announced back in 2022. Since then, Silicon Motion has been touting the flexibility of the platform, allowing its customers to incorporate their own features as part of the customization process. This approach is common in the enterprise space, as we have seen with Marvell's Bravera SC5 SSD controller in the DapuStor SSDs and Microchip's Flashtec controllers in the Longsys FORESEE enterprise SSDs.
At FMS 2024, the company was demonstrating the advantages of flexible data placement by allowing a single QLC SSD based on their MonTitan platform to take part in different stages of the AI data pipeline while maintaining the required quality of service (minimum bandwidth) for each process. The company even has a trademarked name (PerformaShape) for the firmware feature in the controller that allows the isolation of different concurrent SSD accesses (from different stages in the AI data pipeline) to guarantee this QoS. Silicon Motion claims that this scheme will enable its customers to get the maximum write performance possible from QLC SSDs without negatively impacting the performance of other types of accesses.
Silicon Motion and Phison have market leadership in the client SSD controller market with similar approaches. However, their enterprise SSD controller marketing couldn't be more different. While Phison has gone in for a turnkey solution with their Gen 5 SSD platform (to the extent of not adopting the white label route for this generation, and instead opting to get the SSDs qualified with different cloud service providers themselves), Silicon Motion is opting for a different approach. The flexibility and customization possibilities can make platforms like the MonTitan appeal to flash array vendors.
StorageOne of the core challenges that Rapidus will face when it kicks off volume production of chips on its 2nm-class process technology in 2027 is lining up customers. With Intel, Samsung, and TSMC all slated to offer their own 2nm-class nodes by that time, Rapidus will need some kind of advantage to attract customers away from its more established rivals. To that end, the company thinks they've found their edge: fully automated packaging that will allow for shorter chip lead times than manned packaging operations.
In an interview with Nikkei, Rapidus' president, Atsuyoshi Koike, outlined the company's vision to use advanced packaging as a competitive edge for the new fab. The Hokkaido facility, which is currently under construction and is expecting to begin equipment installation this December, is already slated to both produce chips and offer advanced packaging services within the same facility, an industry first. But ultimately, Rapidus biggest plan to differentiate itself is by automating the back-end fab processes (chip packaging) to provide significantly faster turnaround times.
Rapidus is targetting back-end production in particular as, compared to front-end (lithography) production, back-end production still heavily relies on human labor. No other advanced packaging fab has fully automated the process thus far, which provides for a degree of flexibility, but slows throughput. But with automation in place to handle this aspect of chip production, Rapidus would be able to increase chip packaging efficiency and speed, which is crucial as chip assembly tasks become more complex. Rapidus is also collaborating with multiple Japanese suppliers to source materials for back-end production.
"In the past, Japanese chipmakers tried to keep their technology development exclusively in-house, which pushed up development costs and made them less competitive," Koike told Nikkei. "[Rapidus plans to] open up technology that should be standardized, bringing down costs, while handling important technology in-house."
Financially, Rapidus faces a significant challenge, needing a total of ¥5 trillion ($35 billion) by the time mass production starts in 2027. The company estimates that ¥2 trillion will be required by 2025 for prototype production. While the Japanese government has provided ¥920 billion in aid, Rapidus still needs to secure substantial funding from private investors.
Due to its lack of track record and experience of chip production as. well as limited visibility for success, Rapidus is finding it difficult to attract private financing. The company is in discussions with the government to make it easier to raise capital, including potential loan guarantees, and is hopeful that new legislation will assist in this effort.
SemiconductorsOne of the core challenges that Rapidus will face when it kicks off volume production of chips on its 2nm-class process technology in 2027 is lining up customers. With Intel, Samsung, and TSMC all slated to offer their own 2nm-class nodes by that time, Rapidus will need some kind of advantage to attract customers away from its more established rivals. To that end, the company thinks they've found their edge: fully automated packaging that will allow for shorter chip lead times than manned packaging operations.
In an interview with Nikkei, Rapidus' president, Atsuyoshi Koike, outlined the company's vision to use advanced packaging as a competitive edge for the new fab. The Hokkaido facility, which is currently under construction and is expecting to begin equipment installation this December, is already slated to both produce chips and offer advanced packaging services within the same facility, an industry first. But ultimately, Rapidus biggest plan to differentiate itself is by automating the back-end fab processes (chip packaging) to provide significantly faster turnaround times.
Rapidus is targetting back-end production in particular as, compared to front-end (lithography) production, back-end production still heavily relies on human labor. No other advanced packaging fab has fully automated the process thus far, which provides for a degree of flexibility, but slows throughput. But with automation in place to handle this aspect of chip production, Rapidus would be able to increase chip packaging efficiency and speed, which is crucial as chip assembly tasks become more complex. Rapidus is also collaborating with multiple Japanese suppliers to source materials for back-end production.
"In the past, Japanese chipmakers tried to keep their technology development exclusively in-house, which pushed up development costs and made them less competitive," Koike told Nikkei. "[Rapidus plans to] open up technology that should be standardized, bringing down costs, while handling important technology in-house."
Financially, Rapidus faces a significant challenge, needing a total of ¥5 trillion ($35 billion) by the time mass production starts in 2027. The company estimates that ¥2 trillion will be required by 2025 for prototype production. While the Japanese government has provided ¥920 billion in aid, Rapidus still needs to secure substantial funding from private investors.
Due to its lack of track record and experience of chip production as. well as limited visibility for success, Rapidus is finding it difficult to attract private financing. The company is in discussions with the government to make it easier to raise capital, including potential loan guarantees, and is hopeful that new legislation will assist in this effort.
SemiconductorsSamsung had quietly launched its BM1743 enterprise QLC SSD last month with a hefty 61.44 TB SKU. At FMS 2024, the company had the even larger 122.88 TB version of that SSD on display, alongside a few recorded benchmarking sessions. Compared to the previous generation, the BM1743 comes with a 4.1x improvement in I/O performance, improvement in data retention, and a 45% improvement in power efficiency for sequential writes.
The 128 TB-class QLC SSD boasts of sequential read speeds of 7.5 GBps and write speeds of 3 GBps. Random reads come in at 1.6 M IOPS, while 16 KB random writes clock in at 45K IOPS. Based on the quoted random write access granularity, it appears that Samsung is using a 16 KB indirection unit (IU) to optimize flash management. This is similar to the strategy adopted by Solidigm with IUs larger than 4K in their high-capacity SSDs.
A recorded benchmark session on the company's PM9D3a 8-channel Gen 5 SSD was also on display.
The SSD family is being promoted as a mainstream option for datacenters, and boasts of sequential reads up to 12 GBps and writes up to 6.8 GBps. Random reads clock in at 2 M IOPS, and random writes at 400 K IOPS.
Available in multiple form-factors up to 32 TB (M.2 tops out at 2 TB), the drive's firmware includes optional support for flexible data placement (FDP) to help address the write amplification aspect.
The PM1753 is the current enterprise SSD flagship in Samsung's lineup. With support for 16 NAND channels and capacities up to 32 TB, this U.2 / E3.S SSD has advertised sequential read and write speeds of 14.8 GBps and 11 GBps respectively. Random reads and writes for 4 KB accesses are listed at 3.4 M and 600 K IOPS.
Samsung claims a 1.7x performance improvement and a 1.7x power efficiency improvement over the previous generation (PM1743), making this TLC SSD suitable for AI servers.
The 9th Gen. V-NAND wafer was also available for viewing, though photography was prohibited. Mass production of this flash memory began in April 2024.
StorageSamsung had quietly launched its BM1743 enterprise QLC SSD last month with a hefty 61.44 TB SKU. At FMS 2024, the company had the even larger 122.88 TB version of that SSD on display, alongside a few recorded benchmarking sessions. Compared to the previous generation, the BM1743 comes with a 4.1x improvement in I/O performance, improvement in data retention, and a 45% improvement in power efficiency for sequential writes.
The 128 TB-class QLC SSD boasts of sequential read speeds of 7.5 GBps and write speeds of 3 GBps. Random reads come in at 1.6 M IOPS, while 16 KB random writes clock in at 45K IOPS. Based on the quoted random write access granularity, it appears that Samsung is using a 16 KB indirection unit (IU) to optimize flash management. This is similar to the strategy adopted by Solidigm with IUs larger than 4K in their high-capacity SSDs.
A recorded benchmark session on the company's PM9D3a 8-channel Gen 5 SSD was also on display.
The SSD family is being promoted as a mainstream option for datacenters, and boasts of sequential reads up to 12 GBps and writes up to 6.8 GBps. Random reads clock in at 2 M IOPS, and random writes at 400 K IOPS.
Available in multiple form-factors up to 32 TB (M.2 tops out at 2 TB), the drive's firmware includes optional support for flexible data placement (FDP) to help address the write amplification aspect.
The PM1753 is the current enterprise SSD flagship in Samsung's lineup. With support for 16 NAND channels and capacities up to 32 TB, this U.2 / E3.S SSD has advertised sequential read and write speeds of 14.8 GBps and 11 GBps respectively. Random reads and writes for 4 KB accesses are listed at 3.4 M and 600 K IOPS.
Samsung claims a 1.7x performance improvement and a 1.7x power efficiency improvement over the previous generation (PM1743), making this TLC SSD suitable for AI servers.
The 9th Gen. V-NAND wafer was also available for viewing, though photography was prohibited. Mass production of this flash memory began in April 2024.
Storage
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