ASMedia

Western Digital had announced new products in the WD_BLACK lineup back in May 2022 to augment their offerings in the gaming market. The WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD was part of the set, and became widely available last quarter. Western Digital has positioned the portable drive (PSSD) as a mid-range alternative to the premium WD_BLACK P50 Game Drive SSD. Sporting a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) interface, the drive launched at a much lower price point compared to the P50 despite the addition of RGB lighting to the case. What corners has Western Digital cut in this mid-range offering, and what do gamers have to lose in going with the P40 over competing PSSDs? This review provides some answers.

Akasa AK-ENU3M2-07 USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 SSD Enclosure Review: 20Gbps with Excellent Thermals

Storage bridges have become an ubiquitous part of today's computing ecosystems. The bridges may be external or internal, with the former ones enabling a range of direct-attached storage (DAS...

15 by Ganesh T S on 8/1/2022

OWC Envoy Pro Elektron Rugged IP67 Portable SSD Review

The market for portable SSDs has expanded significantly over the past few years. With USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) becoming the de-facto standard for USB ports even in...

2 by Ganesh T S on 10/29/2021

Akasa M.2 SSD Enclosures Reviewed: Giving Spare Drives a New Lease of Life

The internal storage device market segment has seen rapid evolution over the last decade after the introduction of flash-based disk drives. Beginning with 2.5-inch SSDs in early 2010s, the...

15 by Ganesh T S on 9/22/2021

Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSD Review: RGB-Infused USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Storage

The gaming market has experienced significant growth over the last decade. In addition to boosting PC sales, the peripherals market associated with the segment has also expanded. Installed sizes...

17 by Ganesh T S on 8/27/2021

CES 2021: OWC Introduces 3.5" U.2 SSD Carrier

OWC is introducing the U2 Shuttle, a novel carrier module that packs four M.2 NVMe SSDs into a 3.5" U.2 form factor. The U2 Shuttle includes a PCIe switch...

5 by Billy Tallis on 1/14/2021

USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 State of the Ecosystem Review: Where Does 20Gbps USB Stand in 2020?

USB has emerged as the mainstream interface of choice for data transfer from computing platforms to external storage devices. Thunderbolt has traditionally been thought of as a high-end alternative...

81 by Ganesh T S on 10/5/2020

SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD v2 and WD My Passport SSD (2020) Review

External bus-powered storage devices have grown both in storage capacity as well as speeds over the last decade. Thanks to rapid advancements in flash technology (including the advent of...

7 by Ganesh T S on 9/30/2020

ADATA External and HP Portable SSDs Review: Featuring the ADATA SE800 and HP P700

Portable flash-based storage solutions are one of the growing segments in the direct-attached storage market. The emergence of 3D NAND with TLC and QLC has brought down the cost...

13 by Ganesh T S on 9/24/2020

USB 3.2 Gen 2 Portable SSDs Roundup - Featuring the Samsung T7 Touch and the SanDisk Extreme Pro

External bus-powered storage devices have grown in storage capacity as well as speeds over the last decade. Palm-sized flash-based storage devices with a Thunderbolt 3 interface are capable of...

38 by Ganesh T S on 1/23/2020

GIGABYTE Unveils USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20 Gbps PCIe Expansion Card

GIGABYTE has introduced the industry’s first PCIe expansion card for USB 3.2 Gen2x2 ports. Offering the latest generation in USB connectivity, with a total throughput of 20Gbps, the board...

12 by Anton Shilov on 11/29/2019

Crucial Introduces X8 Portable SSD

Micron's consumer brand Crucial is entering the portable SSD market with the new Crucial X8 Portable SSD. The X8 has a USB-C 10Gb/s (USB 3.1 Gen 2) connection and...

7 by Billy Tallis on 10/24/2019

ASMedia Demonstrates ASM3242 USB 3.2 2x2 Controller: Available in August

ASMedia has finished development of its USB 3.2 2x2 controller and will make it available to makers of motherboards in the coming months. The company is demonstrating cards featuring...

12 by Anton Shilov on 5/29/2019

USB 3.2 at 20 Gb/s Coming to High-End Desktops This Year

The USB 3.0 Promoters Group announced its USB 3.2 specification update that increases theoretical performance of a USB 3.2 interface over a Type-C cable to 20 Gbps back in...

62 by Anton Shilov on 2/26/2019

ASMedia Preps ASM2824 PCIe 3.0 Switch

Back in 2016 Avago/Broadcom greatly increased the prices of its PLX-branded PCIe switches, which caused many motherboard manufacturers to cease using them. Avago’s motivation was rather obvious — PCIe...

20 by Anton Shilov on 6/27/2018

ASMedia Demos USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 PHY, USB 3.2 Controller Due in 2019

USB IF published the final USB 3.2 specification in September last year and so developers of controllers and physical interfaces (PHY) started to design their solutions supporting the new...

12 by Anton Shilov on 6/7/2018

Ian Cutress Talks AMDFlaws and Security on TechTeamGB Weekly News

After our analysis about the vulnerability disclosures this week on AnandTech, and continuing discussions on Twitter, TechTeamGB, a Great Britain based Youtube technology channel, invited Senior Editor Ian Cutress...

16 by Ian Cutress on 3/16/2018

Our Interesting Call with CTS-Labs

In light of the recent announcement of potential vulnerabilities in Ryzen processors, two stories have emerged. Firstly, that AMD processors could have secondary vulnerabilities in the secure processor and...

122 by Ian Cutress on 3/15/2018

Sharkoon Launches Quickstore One USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C Storage Device DIY Kit

Sharkoon this week introduced a new DIY kit that lets users build their own external storage device featuring a USB 3.1 Gen 2 interface with a USB Type-C connector...

16 by Anton Shilov on 1/20/2018

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