The era of 8K content is still a couple of years away, but screens featuring the resolution are already here and their availability is going to expand in 2018. Sharp started to sell its Sharp Aquos LC-70X500 8K UHDTV in Japan late in 2017, and said th…
MSI has announced updates to its mobile workstation lineup infusing them with Coffee Lake CPUs and Quadro based graphics cards as well as introducing a new pint-sized (Liter size, 2.5L to be exact) desktop named the Vortex W25. The Vortex W25 is based off the Vortex PC G25 desktop using the same chassis but with different lighting schemes externally and different hardware internally to set it apart from its gaming DNA.
The Vortex W25 will use one of the latest Intel 8th Generation Core processors in the i7-8700. This 6C/12T processor will run up to 4.6 GHz maximum turbo frequency on a base of 3.2 GHz. Xeon CPUs are not offered and with that ECC memory support is non-existent. The unit is kept cool by MSI’s Cooler Boost Titan thermal solution with copper heatpipes and multiple fans to remove the heat from the system. The Z370 based motherboard inside has four SO-DIMM slots supporting up to 64GB DDR4-2400 memory as well as two M.2 slots supporting both NVMe or SATA based devices. There is a 2.5-inch hard drive bay for additional mass storage.
The W25 has three video card options, all NVIDIA Quadro based cards. There are three options, P3200, P4200, and the P5200. The P3200 uses 6 GB GDDR5 across a 128-bit bus while the P4200 ups that to 8GB and 256-bit bus. The P5200, like the others, is based on the Pascal architecture and is the successor to the Quadro P5000 – it is a higher clocked variant. The P5200 will have 16 GB GDDR5 clocked at 3.6 GHz also using a 256-bit bus.
The Vortex W25 has much of the I/O one may expect from a semi-portable and compact workstation. Ports include four USB 3.0 Type-A, two Type-C ports (one with Thunderbolt 3 support), Gigabit Ethernet, and dual HDMI 2.0 jacks. For wireless connectivity, all variants use the Intel-based 9260 802.11ac 2×2 card with speeds up to 1.73 Gbps as well as Bluetooth 5.0 support.
MSI says the Vortex W25 is available now from Amazon with prices starting at $2049. That said, we were unable to find a listing on Amazon at the time of this writing so we are not sure what hardware configuration that pricing will fetch.
| MSI Vortex W25 Workstation | ||
| W25 (8SL-060, 8SK-059, 8SK-061) | ||
| Type | Desktop Workstation | |
| Processors | i7-8700 (2.8 GHz base, 4 GHz Turbo) | |
| Maximum Memory | 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 2400 | |
| Network Connectivity | Intel 9260 802.11ac 2×2 up to 1.73 Gbps w/Bluetooth 5.0 Qualcom QCA8171 Gigabit Ethernet |
|
| Internal Storage | SSD | 2 x NVMe PCIe / SATA |
| HDD | 1 x 2.5″ HDD | |
| Graphics | NVIDIA Quadro P3200 6GB GDDR5 NVIDIA Quadro P4200 8GB GDDR5 NVIDIA Quadro P5200 16GB GDDR5 |
|
| Expansion Slots | N/A | |
| Ports and Connectors | 1 x USB Type-C – (Thunderbolt 3/USB3.1/DP) 4 x USB 3.0 1 x USB 3.0 Type-C 2 x HDMI (2.0) 1 x Headphone/Mic/SPDIF out 1 x RJ-45 |
|
| Power | 330W Adapter (Quadro P5200/4200) 230W Adapter (Quadro P3200) |
|
| Dimensions (W x D x H) |
10.98″ x 1.69″ x 13.03″ | |
| Weight | 5.5 lbs | |
| Price (Starting) | $2049 | |
MSI has also shoe-horned in Intel eight-generation processors into its existing WE, WS, and WT-series of workstation laptops. The laptops will use Intel’s HM370 and CM246 chipsets with the HM370 pairing with Coffee Lake-mobile processors and the CM246 will match up with Xeon mobile processors. To that end, we reached out to MSI to see which specific 8th Gen Core and Xeon processors are available, but they did not mention any specifics. Along with the latest Intel processors, MSI is also including NVIDIA Pascal based Quadro professional cards for the portable workstations.
The WE-series laptops with 17.3-inch screens (WE73) are available with Quadro based video cards, up to the P3200 with 6GB GDDR5, while the 15.6-inch (WE63) versions will max out with a P2000 and 4GB GDDR5. I/O on all WExx workstation laptops are the same with a USB3.1 Type-A and Type-C ports, two USB 3.0 ports, Mini-DisplayPort and HDMI (2.0) headers, individual headphone and microphone jacks, and an SD card reader. MSI has also added a fingerprint reader that is Windows Hello certified for increased security.
Both the WE73 and WE63 have two monitor options, a 4K UHD option, or an FHD option. The WE73’s 4K UHD IPS-level option supports 100% AdobeRGB while the WE63’s UHD panel, also IPS-level supports 72% of NTSC color gamut.
The WE63/73 will be available this summer – pricing was not listed.
| MSI WE63 and WE73 Mobile Workstations | |||
| WE63 | WE73 | ||
| Type | Mobile Workstation | ||
| Processors | Intel 8th Generation Core i7 / Xeon Processors | ||
| Maximum Memory | 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 SO-DIMMs | ||
| Network Connectivity | Intel 802.11ac 2×2 up to 1.73 Gbps w/Bluetooth 5.0 | ||
| Internal Storage | SSD | 1 x NVMe PCIe / SATA | 1 x NVMe PCIe / SATA 1 x NVMe PCIe only (WE73 8SK) |
| HDD | 1 x 2.5″ HDD | ||
| Graphics | NVIDIA Quadro P1000 4GB GDDR5 NVIDIA Quadro P2000 4GB GDDR5 |
NVIDIA Quadro P2000 4GB GDDR5 NVIDIA Quadro P3200 6GB GDDR5 |
|
| Expansion Slots | N/A | ||
| Display | 15.6″ – UHD, IPS-level, NTSC 72% 15.6″ – FHD, Wide-view, NTSC 94% |
17.3″ – UHD, IPS-level, AdobeRGB 100% 17.3″ – FHD, Wide-view, NTSC 94% |
|
| Ports and Connectors | 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A 2 x USB 3.0 Type-A 1 x Mini-DisplayPort (1.2) 1 x HDMI (2.0) 1 x Headphone 1 x Microphone 1 x SD card reader |
||
| Input Device | Single white LED keyboard Fingerprint with Windows Hello Certified |
||
| Camera | HD webcam with array mic | ||
| Power | 6-Cell, 135W Adapter (WE63 8SI) 6-Cell, 150W Adapter (WE63 8SJ) |
6-Cell, 150W Adapter (WE73 8SJ) 6-Cell, 180W Adapter (WE73 8SK) |
|
| Dimensions (H x W x D) |
1.08″ x 15.08″ x 10.24″ | 1.12″ x 16.5″ x 11.22″ | |
| Weight | 5.05 lbs | 6.04 lbs | |
| Price (Starting) | N/A | ||
The WS63 is a bit smaller than the WExx series of laptops and is said to be a good balance between portability and performance. Its design looks more like a business/professional laptop as opposed to a gaming device without the flare. Inside the WS63 will also be an unnamed Intel 8th Gen Core processor or Xeon based processors. The WS63 is able to support up to 32 GB DDR4 RAM (two SO-DIMM slots) as well as a 2.5-inch HDD bay and a single M.2 slot supporting both NVMe PCIe and SATA based modules.
There are two panels available – a 15.6-inch 4K UHD (3840×2160) IPS-level with 72% NTSC color gamut support or an FHD (1920×1080) wide-view panel with 94% NTSC coverage. Driving the panels are NVIDIA Quadro cards in the P2000 4 GB GDDR5, P3200 6 GB GDDR5, or the P4200 8 BG GDDR5. The CM246 chipset only supports the P3200/4200 while the HM370 for Coffee Lake CPUs will support all three options.
I/O on the WS63 also has a nod towards all the modern amenities and includes a USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 port, three USB 3.1 ports and a single USB 2.0 port. For video outputs, there are a Mini-DisplayPort (1.2) and HDMI (2.0) jacks along with an RJ-45 port and an SD card reader. Wireless functionality is handled by an IIntel-based design supporting speeds up to 1.73 Gbps and Bluetooth 5.0. The WS63 also integrates a Windows Hello certified fingerprint lock for biometric security as well as Intel’s vPro technology for enterprise-level security management.
The WS63 will be available this summer – pricing was not listed.
| MSI WS63 Mobile Workstation | |||
| WS63 | |||
| Type | Mobile Workstation | ||
| Processors | Intel 8th Generation Core i7 / Xeon Processors | ||
| Maximum Memory | 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 SO-DIMMs | ||
| Network Connectivity | Intel 802.11ac 2×2 up to 1.73 Gbps w/Bluetooth 5.0 Gigabit Ethernet |
||
| Internal Storage | SSD | 1 x NVMe PCIe / SATA | |
| HDD | 1 x 2.5″ HDD | ||
| Graphics | NVIDIA Quadro P2000 4GB GDDR5 NVIDIA Quadro P3000 6GB GDDR5 NVIDIA Quadro P4200 8GB GDDR5 |
||
| Expansion Slots | N/A | ||
| Display | 15.6″ – UHD, IPS-level, NTSC 72% 15.6″ – FHD, Wide-view, NTSC 94% |
||
| Ports and Connectors | 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C Thunderbolt 3 3 x USB 3.1 Type-A 1 x USB 2.0 1 x Mini-DisplayPort (1.2) 1 x HDMI (2.0) 1 x Headphone 1 x Microphone 1 x RJ-45 1 x SD card reader |
||
| Input Device | Single white LED keyboard Fingerprint with Windows Hello Certified |
||
| Camera | HD webcam with array mic | ||
| Power | N/A (65Whr + 180W Adapter in the previous generation) | ||
| Dimensions (W x D x H) |
14.96″ x 9.80″ x 0.69″ | ||
| Weight | N/A | ||
| Price (Starting) | N/A | ||
The WT75 is MSI’s flagship workstation laptop, taking the chassis from the GT73 series gaming laptops losing the gaming aesthetics and going with black chassis color and dropping in a mix of Xeon/Quadro hardware for a powerhouse workstation laptop. The internals a is based on the C246 chipset and supports both Coffee Lake-S i7’s and Xeon (w/ vPro support). The larger laptop has four SO-DIMM slots and can support DDR4 up to 64 GB (ECC support on Xeon processors only). The WT75 is able to support three M.2 based devices (2 x NVMe PCIe/SATA, 1 x NVMe/PCIe only) along with two 2.5-inch bays for SATA HDDs.
The WT75 has two 17.3-inch panel options – a 4K UHD (3840×2160) IPS-level with 100% AdobeRGB coverage, or a FHD (1920×1080) option with wide-view supporting 94% of NTSC color gamut. Putting an image on these panels are NVIDIA Quadro cards, the P3200, P4200, or the P5200 16 GB GDDR5 found in the Vortex W25.
As far as I/O on the WT75, we will find a couple more options than what we have seen on the smaller devices. Here we have a single USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 port and five USB 3.0 Type-A ports for USB. Like its workstation brothers, there is a Mini-DisplayPort (1.4) as well as an HDMI (2.0) port for video. Additionally, there are separate microphone and headphone jacks, along with an S/PDIF output. There is an RJ-45 port for wired networking while wireless is again handled by one of the latest Intel devices with speeds up to 1.73 Gbps and Bluetooth 5.0 support. Additionally, we can find a smart card reader and SD card reader rounding out the I/O. The WT75 also integrates a Windows Hello certified fingerprint lock for biometric security as well as Intel’s vPro technology for enterprise-level security management.
The WT75 will be available this summer – pricing was not listed.
| MSI WT75 Mobile Workstation | ||
| WE63 | ||
| Type | Mobile Workstation | |
| Processors | Intel 8th Generation Core i7 / Xeon Processors | |
| Maximum Memory | 64GB (4x16GB) DDR4 SO-DIMMs ECC Support on Xeon Processors) |
|
| Network Connectivity | Intel 802.11ac 2×2 up to 1.73 Gbps w/Bluetooth 5.0 Gigabit Ethernet |
|
| Internal Storage | SSD | 2 x NVMe PCIe / SATA 1 x NVMe PCIe (only) |
| HDD | 2 x 2.5″ HDD | |
| Graphics | NVIDIA Quadro P3200 6GB GDDR5 NVIDIA Quadro P4200 8GB GDDR5 NVIDIA Quadro P5200 16GB GDDR5 |
|
| Expansion Slots | N/A | |
| Display | 17.3″ – UHD, IPS-level, AdobeRGB 100% 17.3″ – FHD, Wide-view, NTSC 94% |
|
| Ports and Connectors | 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C Thunderbolt 3 5 x USB 3.0 1 x Mini-DisplayPort (1.4) 1 x HDMI (2.0) 1 x Headphone 1 x Microphone 1 x S/PDIF 1 x RJ-45 1 x Smart card reader 1 x SD card reader |
|
| Input Device | Single white LED keyboard Fingerprint with Windows Hello Certified |
|
| Camera | FHD with array mic | |
| Power | N/A | |
| Dimensions (H x W x D) |
1.93″ x 16.85″ x 11.3″ | |
| Weight | 9.12 lbs | |
| Price (Starting) | N/A | |
With 2017 finished, and Ryzen being very successful for AMD, the inevitable question was due: what happens next? Early in 2018, the plans were laid bare: a second generation Ryzen processor was set to come in mid-year, followed by a second generation …
This week, ASUS introduced new “AREZ” branding for their AMD Radeon video cards. This announcement comes in conjunction with an AMD ‘freedom of choice’ initiative for consumers and gamers. Unmentioned, but inextricably intertwined, is NVIDIA’s highly controversial and recently-announced GeForce Partner Program (GPP), of which there’s little first-hand information, but is widely perceived as being a consumer-unfriendly project.
NVIDIA describes GPP as a consumer transparency program with partners and OEMs that include incentives such as early access to new technologies, engineering support, and joint marketing (though the distinction between market development funds and co-operative funds was not made), types of programs that are common in the industry. However, unique to GPP and key to today’s announcements is that Partners are required to place NVIDIA cards under their own brand, as opposed to the status-quo of both AMD and NVIDIA products showing up under the same brand (e.g. ASUS’s Republic of Gamers).
In practice this has meant that Partners have booted AMD off of their existing brands. And with few verifiable facts about how these decisions were made, they’ve been subject to heavy speculation, ranging from Partners keeping their existing brands for their highest volume products – NVIDIA typically outsells AMD at around 3:1 in the GPU market – to NVIDIA secretly requiring that Partners only use their existing brands for this endeavor. (ed: officially, NVIDIA says that they don’t care as long as it’s a GeForce-only brand, but the general secrecy around GPP means that they have a public credibiltiy problem right now).
As for ASUS, the new “AREZ” brand supersedes the previous vendor-agnostic branding of “Republic of Gamers” and “ROG STRIX,” existing sub-brands that includes both systems and computer components such as discrete graphics cards. In practice, “ROG Strix” tier Radeon products have now been shuffled into it’s own branding without any further official details, while AMD motherboards have been untouched. Though it’s interesting to note that even with this latest development, AREZ isn’t strictly a new brand for ASUS. Ultra high-end dual-GPU Radeon solutions have classically fallen under the “Ares” label in the past. So the name isn’t completely detached from video card history; rather it’s had a Z bolted on to the end.
For ASUS’ Republic of Gamers, the brand was originally created as a halo brand oriented for enthusiast-class products, offering higher quality (and more profitable) components and specialty community support. Long time readers may recall that an ASUS Republic of Gamers motherboard received a very rare AnandTech Editors’ Choice Gold Award back in 2012, where we had said, “Users who participate in the Republic of Gamers are well catered for, and get the best ASUS has to offer in terms of help, information, previews, experience.” If these changes are representative of the brand as a whole, than this experience will be only offered for GeForce owners. And likewise, consumers will only be exposed to GeForce products through ROG.
The affected products appear to have only undergone rebranding, rather than any specification changes. The cutover is not complete, as equivalent listings still appear to exist under the ROG category, and a look through the AREZ video card specifications show some products still list ROG branded accessories, such as the “ROG velcro strap.”
Meanwhile, AMD connected the “AREZ” brand to new upcoming brands, announcing that “over the coming weeks, you can expect to see our add-in board partners launch new brands that carry an AMD Radeon product.” In their blogpost titled “Radeon RX Graphics: A Gamer’s Choice”, the company expounded on the idea of consumer “freedom of choice,” explicitly connecting certain values with these new brands. Of these, AMD brought up FreeSync as opposed to “penalizing gamers with proprietary technology ‘taxes’ and limiting their choices in displays,” as well as “no anti-gamer / anti-competitive strings attached” in their relationships with board partners.
All-in-all, AMD is drawing a line here, focusing on consumer awareness and industry ‘values’ rather than dragging in AIB partners into a straight-up internal AMD/NVIDIA fight. Leveraging and expanding their traditional open ecosystem strategy, AMD is emphasizing its efforts with JEDEC HBM standards, work with the Vulkan API, and initiatives with GPUOpen. These ‘values’, so to speak, are already technologies that AMD pushes, and so the company is doubling-down in how they communicate these aspects to enthusiasts when they look at these new AIB brands.
In other words, the wording is clearly aimed at, but refrains from specifically mentioning, the recent controversies with NVIDIA GPP. Likewise, AMD’s description of “AREZ” does not specify whether their announcement is a reactive reframing of board partner rebranding, or a proactive creation of a particular initiative. Across the add-in board partner environment, it’s been reported that other partners have been dropping brands from Radeon products here and there, though none as prominant or wholesale as AREZ.
Given the nature of NVIDIA GPP, conclusive details will likely be impossible to retrieve. But we can say that the new AMD Radeon sub-brands in the coming weeks will greatly elucidate the exact relationship with NVIDIA GPP.
On Wednesday, Western Digital introduced its highest capacity hard drive based on conventional magnetic recording to date. The HGST Ultrastar DC HC530 can store 14 TB of data and uses perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) with two-dimensional magnetic recording (TDMR) read heads to ensure consistent read performance. Because of extremely high areal density, the new HDDs offer up to 267 MB/s sustained transfer rate, slightly higher when compared to previous-gen drives. The new hard disks will be available in high volumes later this year.
The HGST Ultrastar DC HC530 hard drive is based on Western Digital’s latest helium-filled HelioSeal platform (5th generation) featuring eight 1.75 TB PMR platters and TDMR heads with two readers to ensure predictable read performance by mitigating effects of inter-track interference. The new platform not only packs eight 3.5-inch platters and features new heads, but also uses revamped (3rd generation) dual stage microactuators to improve head positioning and rotations vibration robustness, thus, advancing reliability of the datacenter-grade HDD in general. Other ingredients of the new HelioSeal platform include a top and bottom attached motor (with a 7200 RPM spindle speed), top and bottom attached disk clamps, RVFF sensors, humidity sensors, and so on. The new datacenter-grade Ultrastar DC HC530 HDDs are rated for a 550 TB/annual workload, a 2.5 million hours MTBF, and are covered by a five-year limited warranty.
The Ultrastar DC HC530 will be available only in 14 TB capacity with 4Kn and 512e sectors. The hard drive will feature a 7200 RPM spindle speed, a 512 MB buffer, and a SATA or SAS interface. The manufacturer will offer Ultrastar DC HC530 HDDs with hardware self-encryption capability, instant secure erase feature, TCG encryption, and TCG FIPS encryption to various parties. When it comes to performance, HGST declares up to 267 MB/s sustained transfer rate, a 4.16 ms average latency, a 7.5 ms seek time.
| HGST Ultrastar DC HC530 General Specifications | ||||||
| SATA | SAS | |||||
| Capacity | 14 TB | |||||
| RPM | 7200 RPM | |||||
| Interface | SATA 6 Gbps | SAS 12 Gbps | ||||
| DRAM Cache | 512 MB | |||||
| Format: Sector Sizes | 4Kn: 4096 512e: 512 |
4Kn: 4096, 4112, 4160, 4224 512e: 512, 520, 528 |
||||
| Helium-Filling | Yes | |||||
| Areal Density | 904 Gbit/inch2 | |||||
| Sustained Transfer Rate | 267 MB/s | |||||
| Average Latency | 4.16 ms | |||||
| Seek Time (read/write) | 7.5 ms | |||||
| Acoustics | 2.0/3.6 Bels | |||||
| Power Rating | Idle | 5.6 W | 6.3 W | |||
| Operating | 7.6 W | 10.2 W | ||||
| Power consumption efficiency at Idle | 0.4 W/TB | 0.45 W/TB | ||||
| MTBF | 2.5 million hours | |||||
| Warranty | 5 Years | |||||
| P/Ns, Features | 4Kn | Instant Secure Erase | WUH721414ALN6L0 | WUH721414AL4200 | ||
| Secure Erase | WUH721414ALN6L4 | WUH721414AL4204 | ||||
| TCG Encryption | – | WUH721414AL4201 | ||||
| TCG w/FIPS Encryption | – | WUH721414AL4205 | ||||
| 512e | Instant Secure Erase | WUH721414ALE6L0 | WUH721414AL5200 | |||
| Secure Erase | WUH721414ALE6L4 | WUH721414AL5204 | ||||
| TCG Encryption | – | WUH721414AL5201 | ||||
| TCG w/FIPS Encryption | – | WUH721414AL5205 | ||||
HGST’s Ultrastar DC HC530 14 TB HDD will not be the only datacenter-grade 14 TB CMR hard drive on the market: it will be challenged by Seagate’s Exos 14 featuring eight platters (PMR+TDMR) as well as Toshiba’s Toshiba’s MG07ACA featuring nine platters (PMR only). All of these drives are drop-in compatible with existing backplanes and provide a 40% more storage than their 10 TB predecessors, enabling datacenter operators to store 3360 TB of data per rack (compared to 2440 TB with 10 TB HDDs). This naturally increases storage capacity per square meter and per watt, which is what companies who run large datacenters want.
Meanwhile, there is one thing to keep in mind about contemporary high-capacity hard drives. While datacenter-grade HDDs have been steadily increasing their capacity over the recent years (capacity of PMR HDDs has nearly doubled in just three years), their IOPS performance stayed flat at around 80 IOPS random reads, which means that their IOPS-per-TB performance declined from 10 IOPS per TB on an 8 TB nearline HDD to 5.7 IOPS per TB on a 14 TB nearline HDD. IOPS-per-TB is a critical performance metrics for cloud datacenters that deserves a separate coverage (so stay tuned), but in a nutshell, if IOPS-per-TB drops below a certain level, datacenter operators cannot guarantee time to data for their customers on a particular drive. Various datacenters have different performance requirements, but 5.7 IOPS per TB is considered to be the lowest viable performance for a nearline HDD (at least based on one of Seagate’s presentation that uses data from operators of massive scale-out datacenters). There are applications that need a higher random performance and they will not be able to use these 14 TB drives. There are, of course, other applications that will use the new 14 TB HDDs perfectly (after all, many of HGST’s customers can use SMR-based Ultrastar Hs14 HDDs), but a lower IOPS-per-TB performance means a somewhat smaller addressable market.
Western Digital has already begun to ship samples of the HGST Ultrastar DC HC530 14 TB HDDs to select hyperscale cloud clients for qualification. Volume shipments of the drives will commence in the second half of the year.
