Data interface Thunderbolt from Intel company entered the market in February 2011 in the Apple MacBook Pro laptop. By combining in the one interface PCI Express and DisplayPort, it now offers data rates up to 10 Gbit / s. On the more common personal computers the interface began to be applied recently, as part of the laptop and PC top price category.



Intel plans to introduce a new controller interface Redwood Ridge Thunderbolt for use in personal computers in the second quarter of next year. It is likely that the new controllers will form the platform of the Shark Bay for next generation processors under the name of Haswell.


Controllers Redwood Ridge will support completely the same data rate 10 Gb / s, interface DisplayPort v1.1 and function DisplayPort v1.2 Redriver. At present, even the cheapest chips Thunderbolt, 2-channel Cactus Ridge, cost motherboard manufacturers at about $ 20, and many consumers expect that emergence of new generations of controllers will reduce …

Intel Corporation has a rather wide range of motherboards for processors Core i5/i7-3000 (Ivy Bridge), but, nevertheless, continues to produce products based on chipsets 7-Series. According to reports, the release of two motherboards Intel LGA1155 — DZ77GAL-70K is planned soon with code-named Gasper Light and DZ75ML-45K (Middle Lake). The first model uses a set of system logic Z77, second — Z75. Both models will receive a certificate of Windows 8 WHQL, support of Fast Boot technology and Lucid Virtu MVP.



Model Intel DZ77GAL-70K is based on the same PCB, as the previous DZ77GA-70K (Gasper) and DZ77RE-75K (Roads End). In contrast to the board DZ77GA-70K, new doesn’t have a rich set of delivery: WiDi-compatible adapter with an antenna, Bluetooth, remote panel with two USB 3.0 ports and a mouse pad Intel Extreme Series. Due to this, it will be cheaper than DZ77GA-70K.


In turn, Intel DZ75ML-45K (Middle Lake) is a compromise models between the DZ77SL-50K and DH77KC. This …

GeIL, which is known for its high-end memory modules, drives, and other PC components, is going to release a new SSD series, codenamed Zenith S3. The series will embrace three models of 60GB, 120GB and 240GB capacity. All of them will be developed in 2.5-inch form-factor and will employ SATA III 6Gb/sec interface. The differentiation between the models is seen not only in their capacities but also in their speed performance, the index of which will be uncovered below.



Zenith S3 line is based on MLC NAND flash-chips designed under 25 nm technological process. As for the speed characteristics, all models in the series prove to demonstrate the maximal performance on random Write operations (4KB) – up to 70000 IOPS. When touching upon sequential speeds, each model shows different indeces:

— GZ25S2L-60G: maximal sequential Read speed – 500MB/sec, maximal sequential Write speed – 480MB/sec (recommended price — $70);

— GZ25S3L-120G: maximal sequential Read speed – …