Apple's A9X Chip In The iPad Pro Is A Graphics Monster

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Apple AAPL +0.85% has furnished its giant iPad Pro with a processor ... (Some Geekbench CPU — central processing unit — scores put it into the ...

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Chinese Manufacturer Prepping A Skylake CPU Powered Tablet To Take On Surface Pro 4

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While the CPU will be no match for the Core-i5 or Core-i7 processor models, we are glad to know that the upcoming tablet will at least go head to head ...

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Gen 5 Briq mini-PC runs Black Lab Linux on Core i3 or i5

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Hands on the Asus T100HA, which upgrades a popular Windows 2-in-1

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... USB Type-C port, with a faster Cherry Trail Intel Atom processor under the hood. ... On the deprecated Windows Experience Index, the CPU scored 6.6 (up ... On NovaBench, the T100HA's CPU scores 258, the RAM gets 105, the ...

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Sony unlocks more CPU power for PS4 game developers

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There has been stress on the fact that an AMD processor of a very powerful grade might be in use and project Morpheus can be added to the PS5, ...

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Samsung's next-gen processor smashes AnTuTu benchmark record

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It's not surprising that Samsung's next-generation Exynos 8890 processor is delivering a strong performance in early benchmarks but the record score ...

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A9X powering the iPad Pro features two CPU cores, 12-cluster GPU with no L3 cache

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There’s no question the A9X inside the new iPad Pro is Apple’s most powerful chip to date. The fine details of the applications processor, however, have remained a mystery until now as the silicon experts at Chipworks recently shared their A9X findings with The Motley Fool. The results are quite...





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A9X powering the iPad Pro features two CPU cores, 12-cluster GPU with no L3 cache

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There's no question the A9X inside the new iPad Pro is Apple's most powerful chip to date. The fine details of the applications processor, however, ...

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Code for PlayStation 4's audio tool update hints that a 7th processor for the console is now ...

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The 7th processor does bring good news to gamers as the PlayStation 4 is a console that relies a lot on the CPU processing power. Basically, more ...

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Toshiba Chromebook 2 (Late 2015, Core i3)

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... with a (not very) backlit keyboard and a (very) improved Core i3 CPU. ... The CB35-C3300 has a Celeron 3215U processor and the same $329.99 ...

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Here's why the iPad Pro's processor is so fast

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It only has two CPU cores and doesn't even have Level 3 memory cache to keep the processor humming, but it has a monstrous amount of bandwidth ...

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New Chipworks data sheds light on Apple's iPad Pro processor design

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When Apple launched its new iPad Pro, it tossed the industry a bit of a curveball. The iPad Air 2 had used a triple-core CPU rather than Apple's ...

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Vivo X6 Plus photos spotted in TENAA website; Handset to come in two variants [VIDEO]

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... the Vivo X6 Plus is expected to be powered by a deca-core MediaTek Helio X20 64-bit processor and come with 4GB of RAM in addition to 32GB ... The Vivo Y37A is supposedly a higher-end model with a 1.4 GHz octa-core CPU.

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PlayStation 4 Processor Unlocked to Provide More Power to Devs

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Sony has unlocked more of PlayStation 4's CPU, providing additional power for game developers to work with. According to the latest changelog notes ...

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PS4 developers can now access more of the system's CPU power

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In terms of raw power, console hardware doesn't really change over time; the PS4 you buy today will essentially have the same pixel-pushing ...

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PlayStation 4's Seventh Core Now Unlocked For Developers

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The changelog in the latest patch for a game audio company reveals that the PlayStation 4's CPU can now use seven of its eight cores, potentially providing more power for future games.

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AMD promotes Orlandoan to highest tech rank

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For the first time, computer hardware company AMD has promoted an ... and in training new talent for the next generation of computer processors.

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Sony Unlocks PlayStation 4's Previously Reserved Seventh CPU Core For Devs

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At the start of the year, it was revealed that Microsoft was going to "unlock" the seventh core on the Xbox One's processor, enabling developers to eke ...

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PlayStation 4 Processor Unlocked to Provide More Power to Devs

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By Alex Osborn Sony has unlocked more of PlayStation 4's CPU, providing additional power for game developers to work with. According to the latest ...

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Sony unlocks the PS4's seventh CPU core, but will games benefit?

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The PS4 and Xbox One are commonly referred to as eight-core systems. While this technically describes the number of CPU cores in each console, ...

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Sony unlocks more CPU power for PS4 game developers

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PlayStation 4's hardware design heavily favours GPU power over CPU prowess, a situation that has limited performance in a number of titles - and an ...

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Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) Working Hard To Launch New Zen Processor In ...

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AMD can regain a position in the high performance x86 CPU market with ... might be ready to release APUs and servers that use Zen as their CPU.

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Teardown reveals iPad Pro A9X sports dual-core CPU, 12-cluster GPU, built by TSMC

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A dissection of Apple's new A9X processor powering the 12.9-inch iPad Pro has discovered a custom 12-cluster GPU, doubling the graphics power of ...

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iPad Pro A9X Die Shot Reveals 12-Cluster GPU, 2 CPU Cores, No L3 Cache [Image]

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A die shot of the new A9X processor by Chipworks in the iPad Pro reveals a 12-cluster GPU, 2 CPU cores, and no level-three cache memory, reports ...

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Best Buy Cyber Monday deals 2015: from convertibles to iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus sale enticing

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... processor and including 32GB of built-in storage. Another exciting offer comes on 11.6-inch Toshiba Satellite Radius with Intel Pentium CPU, 4GB of ...

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Correcting Apple's A9 SoC L3 Cache Size: A 4MB Victim Cache

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Along with today’s analysis of Chipworks’ A9X die shot, I’m also going to use this time to revisit Apple’s A9 SoC. Based on some new information from Chipworks and some additional internal test data, I am issuing a correction to our original analysis of Apple’s latest-generation phone SoC.

In our original analysis of the A9, I wrote that the L3 cache was 8MB. This was based upon our initial tests along with Chipworks’ own analysis of the physical layout of the A9, which pointed to an 8MB L3 cache. Specifically, at the time I wrote:

However it’s also worth mentioning that as Apple is using an inclusive style cache here – where all cache data is replicated at the lower levels to allow for quick eviction at the upper levels – then Apple would have needed to increase the L3 cache size by 2MB in the first place just to offset the larger L2 cache. So the “effective” increase in the L3 cache size won’t be quite as great. Otherwise I’m a bit surprised that Apple has been able to pack in what amounts to 6MB more of SRAM on to A9 versus A8 despite the lack of a full manufacturing node’s increase in transistor density.

My Layout Analysis For A9 (Die Shot Courtesy Chipworks)

As it turns out, 8MB of cache was too good to be true. After a few enlightening discussions with some other individuals, some further testing, and further discussions with Chipworks, both our performance analysis and their die analysis far more strongly point to a 4MB cache. In particular, Chipworks puts the physical size of the TSMC A9 variant’s L3 cache at ~4.5mm², versus ~4.9mm² for A8’s L3 cache. Ultimately TSMC’s 16nm FinFET process is built on top of their 20nm process – the metal pitch size as used by Apple is the same with both processes – and this is the limiting factor for the L3 cache SRAM density.

Apple SoC Comparison
	A9X	A9	A8	A7
CPU	2x Twister	2x Twister	2x Typhoon	2x Cyclone
CPU Clockspeed	2.26GHz	1.85GHz	1.4GHz	1.3GHz
GPU	PVR 12 Cluster Series7	PVR GT7600	PVR GX6450	PVR G6430
RAM	4GB LPDDR4	2GB LPDDR4	1GB LPDDR3	1GB LPDDR3
Memory Bus Width	128-bit	64-bit	64-bit	64-bit
Memory Bandwidth	51.2GB/sec	25.6GB/sec	12.8GB/sec	12.8GB/sec
L2 Cache	3MB	3MB	1MB	1MB
L3 Cache	None	4MB (Victim)	4MB (Inclusive)	4MB (Inclusive)
Manufacturing Process	TSMC 16nm FinFET	TSMC 16nm & Samsung 14nm	TSMC 20nm	Samsung 28nm

But what is perhaps more interesting is what Apple is doing with their 4MB of L3 cache. An inclusive cache needs to be larger than the previous (inner) cache level, as it contains a copy of everything from the previous cache level. On A8 this was a 4:1 ratio, whereas with A9 this is a 4:3 ratio. One could technically still have an inclusive L3 cache with this setup, but the majority of its space would be occupied by the copy of the A9’s now 3MB L2 cache.

So what has Apple done instead? Inlight of Chipworks’ reassessment of the A9’s L3 cache size it’s clear that Apple has re-architected their L3 cache design instead.

What I believe we’re looking at here is that Apple has gone from an inclusive cache on A7 and A8 to a victim cache on A9. A victim cache, in a nutshell, is a type of exclusive catch that is filled (and only filled) by cache lines evicted from the previous cache level. In A9’s case, this means that items evicted from the L2 caches are sent to the L3. This keeps recently used data and instructions that don’t fit in the L2 cache still on-chip, improving performance and saving power versus having to go to main memory, as recently used data is still likely to be needed again.

The shift from an inclusive cache to a victim cache allows the 4MB cache on A9 to still be useful, despite the fact that it’s now only slightly larger than the CPU’s L2 cache. Of course there are tradeoffs here – if you actually need something in the L3, it’s more work to manage moving data between L2 and L3 – but at the same time this allows Apple to retain many of the benefits of a cache without dedicating more space to an overall larger L3 cache.

Meanwhile from the software side we can validate that it’s a victim cache by going back to our A9 latency graph. With the exclusive nature of the victim cache, the effective range of the L3 cache on A9 is the first 4MB after the end of the L2 cache; in other words, the L3 cache covers the 3MB to 7MB range in this test. Looking at our results, there’s a significant jump up in latency from 7MB to 8MB. Previously I had believed this to be due to the fact that our testing can’t control everything in the cache – the rest of the OS still needs to run – but in retrospect this fits the data much better, especially when coupled with Chipworks’ further analysis.

Ultimately the fact that Apple made such a significant cache change with A9 is more than I was expecting, but at the same time it’s worth keeping in mind that the L3 cache was only introduced back alongside Cyclone (A7) to begin with. So like several other aspects of Apple’s SoC design, A9 is very much an Intel-style “tock” on the microarchitecture side, with Apple having made significant changes to much more than just the CPU. Though coupled with what we now know about A9X, it does make me wonder whether Apple will keep around the L3 victim cache for A10 and beyond, or if it too will go the way of A9X’s L3 cache and be removed entirely in future generations.

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More on Apple’s A9X SoC: 147mm2@TSMC, 12 GPU Cores, No L3 Cache

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Over the Thanksgiving break the intrepid crew over at Chipworks sent over their initial teardown information for Apple’s A9X SoC. The heart of the recently launched iPad Pro, the A9X is the latest iteration in Apple’s line of tablet-focused SoCs. We took an initial look at A9X last month, but at the time we only had limited information based on what our software tools could tell us. The other half of the picture (and in a literal sense, the entire picture) is looking at the physical layout of the chip, and now thanks to Chipworks we have that in hand and can confirm and reject some of our earlier theories.

A9X is the first dedicated ARM tablet SoC to be released on a leading-edge FinFET process, and it’s being paired with Apple’s first large-format tablet, which in some ways changes the rules of the game. Apple has to contend with the realities of manufacturing a larger SoC on a leading-edge process, and on the other hand a larger tablet that’s approaching the size of an Ultrabook opens up new doors as far as space and thermals are concerned. As a result while we could make some initial educated guesses, we’ve known that there would be a curveball in A9X’s design, and that’s something we couldn’t confirm until the release of Chipworks’ die shot. So without further ado:

A9X Die Shot w/AT Annotations (Die Shot Courtesy Chipworks)

Apple SoC Comparison
	A9X	A9	A8X	A6X
CPU	2x Twister	2x Twister	3x Typhoon	2x Swift
CPU Clockspeed	2.26GHz	1.85GHz	1.5GHz	1.3GHz
GPU	PVR 12 Cluster Series7	PVR GT7600	Apple/PVR GXA6850	PVR SGX554 MP4
RAM	4GB LPDDR4	2GB LPDDR4	2GB LPDDR3	1GB LPDDR2
Memory Bus Width	128-bit	64-bit	128-bit	128-bit
Memory Bandwidth	51.2GB/sec	25.6GB/sec	25.6GB/sec	17.1GB/sec
L2 Cache	3MB	3MB	2MB	1MB
L3 Cache	None	4MB	4MB	N/A
Manufacturing Process	TSMC 16nm FinFET	TSMC 16nm & Samsung 14nm	TSMC 20nm	Samsung 32nm

 

Die Size: 147mm², Manufactured By TSMC

First off, Chipworks’ analysis shows that the A9X is roughly 147mm² in die size, and that it’s manufactured by TSMC on their 16nm FinFET process. We should note that Chipworks has only looked at the one sample, but unlike the iPhone 6s there’s no reason to expect that Apple is dual-sourcing a much lower volume tablet SoC.

At 147mm² the A9X is the second-largest of Apple’s X-series tablet SoCs. Only the A5X, the first such SoC, was larger. Fittingly, it was also built relative to Apple’s equally large A5 phone SoC. With only 3 previous tablet SoCs to use as a point of comparison I’m not sure there’s really a sweet spot we can say that Apple likes to stick to, but after two generations of SoCs in the 120mm² to 130mm² range, A9X is noticeably larger.

Some of that comes from the fact that A9 itself is a bit larger than normal – the TSMC version is 104.5mm² – but Apple has also clearly added a fair bit to the SoC. The wildcard here is what yields look like for Apple, as that would tell us a lot about whether 147mm² is simply a large part or if Apple has taken a greater amount of risk than usual here. As 16nm FinFET is TSMC’s first-generation FinFET process, and save possibly some FPGAs this is the largest 16nm chip we know to be in mass production there, it’s reasonable to assume that yields aren’t quite as good as with past Apple tablet SoCs. But whether they’re significantly worse – and if this had any impact on Apple’s decision to only ship A9X with the more expensive iPad Pro – is a matter that we’ll have to leave to speculation at this time.

Finally, it's also worth noting just how large A9X is compared to other high performance processors. Intel's latest-generation Skylake processors measure in at ~99mm2 for the 2 core GT2 configuration (Skylake-Y 2+2), and even the 4 core desktop GT2 configuration (Intel Skylake-K 4+2) is only 122mm2. So A9X is larger than either of these CPU cores, though admittedly as a whole SoC A9X contains a number of functional units either not present on Skylake or on Skylake's Platform Controller Hub (PCH). Still, this is the first time that we've seen an Apple launch a tablet SoC larger than an Intel 4 core desktop CPU.

GPU: PVR 12 cluster Series7

One thing we do know is that Apple has invested a lot of their die space into ramping up the graphics subsystem and the memory subsystem that feeds it. Based on our original benchmark results of the A9X and the premium on FinFET production at the moment, I expected that the curveball with A9X would be that Apple went with a more unusual 10 core PowerVR Series7 configuration, up from 6 cores in A9. Instead, based on Chipworks’ die shot, I have once again underestimated Apple’s willingness to quickly ramp up the number of GPU cores they use. Chipworks’ shot makes it clear that there are 12 GPU cores, twice the number found in the A9.

In Imagination’s PowerVR Series7 roadmap, the company doesn’t have an official name for a 12 core configuration, as this falls between the 8 core GT7800 and 16 core GT7900. So for the moment I’m simply calling it a “PowerVR 12 cluster Series7 design,” and with any luck Imagination will use a more fine-grained naming scheme for future generations of PowerVR graphics.

In any case, the use of a 12 core design is a bit surprising since it means that Apple was willing to take the die space hit to implement additional GPU cores, despite the impact this would have on chip yields and costs. If anything, with the larger thermal capacity and battery of the iPad Pro, I had expected Apple to use higher GPU clockspeeds (and eat the power cost) in order to save on chip costs. Instead what we’re seeing is a GPU that essentially offers twice the GPU power of A9’s GPU. We don’t know the clockspeed of the GPU – this being somewhat problematic to determine within the iOS sandbox – but based on our earlier performance results it’s likely that A9X’s GPU is only clocked slightly higher than A9’s. I say slightly higher because no GPU gets 100% performance scaling with additional cores, and with our GFXBench Manhattan scores being almost perfectly double that of A9’s, it stands to reason that Apple had to add a bit more to the GPU clockspeed to get there.

Meanwhile looking at the die shot a bit deeper, it’s interesting how spread out the GPU is. Apple needed to place 6 clusters and their associated shared logic on A9X, and they did so in a decidedly non-symmetrical manner. On that note, it’s worth pointing out that while Apple doesn’t talk about their chip design and licensing process, it’s highly likely that Apple has been doing their own layout/synthesis work for their PowerVR GPUs since at least the A4 and its PowerVR SGX 535, as opposed to using the hard macros from Imagination. This is why Apple is able to come up with GPU configurations that are supported by the PowerVR Rogue architecture, but aren’t official configurations offered by Imagination. A8X remains an especially memorable case since we didn’t initially know Series6XT could scale to 8 GPU cores until Apple went and did it, but otherwise what we see with any of these recent Apple SoCs is what should be a distinctly Apple GPU layout.

Moving on, the memory controller of the A9X is a 128-bit LPDDR4 configuration. With twice as many GPU cores, Apple needs twice as much memory bandwidth to maintain the same bandwidth-to-core ratio, so like the past X-series tablet SoCs, A9X implements a 128-bit bus. For Apple this means they now have a sizable 51.2GB/sec of memory bandwidth to play with. For a SoC this is a huge amount of bandwidth, but at the same time it’s quickly going to be consumed by those 12 GPU cores.

L3 Cache: None

Finally let’s talk about the most surprising aspect of the A9X, its L3 cache layout. When we published our initial A9X results we held off talking about the L3 cache as our tools pointed out some extremely unusual results that we wanted to wait on the Chipworks die shot to confirm. What we were seeing was that there wasn’t a section of roughly 50ns memory latency around the 4MB mark, which in A9 is the transfer size at which we hit its 4MB L3 victim cache.

What Chipworks’ die shot now lets us confirm is that this wasn’t a fluke in our tools or the consequence of a change in how Apple’s L3 cache mechanism worked, but rather that there isn’t any L3 cache at all. After introducing the L3 cache with the A7 in 2013, Apple has eliminated it from the A9X entirely. The only cache to be found on A9X are the L1 and L2 caches for the CPU and GPU respectively, along with some even smaller amounts for cache for various other functional blocks.

The big question right now is why Apple would do this. Our traditional wisdom here is that the L3 cache was put in place to service both the CPU and GPU, but especially the GPU. Graphics rendering is a memory bandwidth-intensive operation, and as Apple has consistently been well ahead of many of the other ARM SoC designers in GPU performance, they have been running headlong into the performance limitations imposed by narrow mobile memory interfaces. An L3 cache, in turn, would alleviate some of that memory pressure and keep both CPU and GPU performance up.

One explanation may be that Apple deemed the L3 cache no longer necessary with the A9X’s 128-bit LPDDR4 memory bus; that 51.2GB/sec of bandwidth meant that they no longer needed the cache to avoid GPU stalls. However while the use of LPDDR4 may be a factor, Apple’s ratio of bandwidth-to-GPU cores of roughly 4.26GB/sec-to-1 core is identical to A9’s, which does have an L3 cache. With A9X being a larger A9 in so many ways, this alone isn’t the whole story.

What’s especially curious is that the L3 cache on the A9 wasn’t costing Apple much in the way of space. Chipworks puts the size of A9’s 4MB L3 cache block at a puny ~4.5 mm2, which is just 3% the size of A9X. So although there is a cost to adding L3 cache, unless there are issues we can’t see even with a die shot (e.g. routing), Apple didn’t save much by getting rid of the L3 cache.

Our own Andrei Frumusanu suspects that it may be a power matter, and that Apple was using the L3 cache to save on power-expensive memory operations on the A9. With A9X however, it’s a tablet SoC that doesn’t face the same power restrictions, and as a result doesn’t need a power-saving cache. This would be coupled with the fact that with double the GPU cores, there would be a lot more pressure on just a 4MB cache versus the pressure created by A9, which in turn may drive the need for a larger cache and ultimately an even larger die size.

As it stands there’s no one obvious reason, and it’s likely that all 3 factors – die size, LPDDR4, and power needs – all played a part here, with only those within the halls of One Infinite Loop knowing for sure. However I will add that since Apple has removed the L3 cache, the GPU L2 cache must be sizable. Imagination’s tile based deferred rendering technology needs an on-chip cache to hold tiles in to work on, and while they don’t need an entire frame’s worth of cache (which on iPad Pro would be over 21MB), they do need enough cache to hold a single tile. It’s much harder to estimate GPU L2 cache size from a die shot (especially with Apple’s asymmetrical design), but I wouldn’t be surprised of A9X’s GPU L2 cache is greater than A9’s or A8X’s.

In any case, the fact that A9X lacks an L3 cache doesn’t change the chart-topping performance we’ve been seeing from iPad Pro, but it means that Apple has once more found a way to throw us a new curveball. And closing on that note, we’ll be back a bit later this month with our full review of the iPad Pro and a deeper look at A9X’s performance, so be sure to stay tuned for that.

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From Space Invaders To Curing Cancer: The Rise of GPUs

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This is because regular central processing units, or CPUs, weren't ... would be impossibly slow if your computer processor relied solely on CPUs.

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Sony Unlocks 7th PS4 CPU For Devs

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Yep, Sony The silently rolled out a new SDK for developers, effectively unlocking the 7th processor core. Mind you, this does not mean current PS4 ...

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Best Convertible Laptops: Holiday 2015

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For our final segment on notebooks, we will take a look at convertibles. We’ve already covered standard notebooks, as well as gaming laptops. This final installment will focus on convertibles. This category sprouted out of nowhere with the release of Windows 8, but it has made some huge strides over the years with better and better devices being released. With Windows 10’s ability to switch the interface depending on which mode you are in, convertibles are now a fully fleshed out member of the notebook family.

I break convertibles down into two different segments. The first are those that are a tablet first, and those are defined by having the CPU and other parts in the display section. Keyboards are an add-on on these devices, and they generally are a better tablet experience, with somewhat compromised keyboards and with the heavy tablet section sitting out over the hinge, they do not have as good of a balance when compared to a traditional notebook. The other segment is ones where the keyboard can flip around underneath the display. As a tablet, they are not as good, since the heavy keyboard section stays attached, but as a regular notebook they have the advantage with balance and generally a better typing experience.

We’ve seen some great additions to the lineup for this year, and with Intel’s updated Skylake platform being used by many. Lower cost devices may turn to Intel’s Cherry Trail or Braswell platforms, which are lower performance Atom cores but with a much lower TDP and greater efficiency.

Tablet devices with attachable keyboards

Budget Convertible: ASUS T100HA

ASUS basically invented this class, with the launch of the original T100 back in 2013. For 2015, ASUS is back with a refresh on their 10.1-inch convertible. It is the T100HA, and it’s now powered by Intel’s Cherry Trail with the x5-Z8500 SoC. This is a quad-core 14 nm processor with a 1.44 Ghz base frequency and 2.24 GHz turbo, and since it is Cherry Trail the power requirements are very low, with it having a TDP of just 2 Watts. ASUS offers two models of this, with a 2 GB memory and 32 GB eMMC offering, as well as a 4 GB memory and 64 GB eMMC model. The latter is a great price, at just $279 USD. With 64 GB and Windows 10, space should be fine for basic tasks. ASUS even includes a USB-C connector on the T100HA. The display is decidedly low resolution, at 1280x800, but that is a 16:10 display for those doing the math. The keyboard and trackpad are small, but for the price, it’s hard to beat the T100HA

Buy ASUS T100HA 4GB/64GB on Amazon.com

Mid-Range: Microsoft Surface 3

The Microsoft Surface 3 is the first of the non-pro models from Microsoft to sport an x86 processor, which opens up the entire Windows software ecosystem to Microsoft’s lower cost tablet. The 10.8-inch display is a wonderful 3:2 aspect ratio, with a resolution of 1920x1280. This makes it a much better tablet than the former 16:9 models, especially in portrait mode. The Surface 3 is also powered by Cherry Trail, but in this case the top end x7-Z8700 model. The base clock is 1.6 GHz and boost jumps to 2.4 GHz. The 2-Watt processor does a decent job running Windows 10, but it still can’t hold a candle to Intel’s Core series. Microsoft has bumped the base storage to 64 GB of eMMC, with 2 GB of memory, or you can jump to 4 GB with 128 GB of eMMC. There is micro SD as well if you need to add a bit more storage, and with the latest Windows 10 updates it’s very easy to use the SD for data or even apps. The Surface 3 has a very premium build quality, with a great magnesium finish, and the included kickstand of Surface has three different stops on the new model. It also adds support for Surface pen, and of course the type cover option to transform it into a laptop. It’s not an inexpensive purchase, but the display and build quality are a step ahead of most of the competition.

Buy Microsoft Surface 3 4GB/128GB on Amazon.com

High-End: Microsoft Surface Pro 4

The latest iteration of the Surface Pro makes some big strides, and distances itself from the competition even further. There have actually been quite a few Surface Pro clones released this year, but it’s going to be a tall task to overcome the incumbent. Pretty much all of the issues with the last generation Surface Pro 3, which was already a great device, have been sorted out with the new model. The processor is now the latest generation Skylake, with options up to the Core i7-6650U with Iris Pro graphics, and if you want fanless, the base model is a Core m3-6Y30. System memory starts at 4 GB, but you can get up to 16 GB on the higher end versions. Storage is now PCIe NVMe with 128 GB as the base offering, and up to a whopping 1 TB is going to be available soon. One issue with the Surface Pro 3 was that it had a tendency to throttle under heavy load, but the new cooling system in the Surface Pro 4 fixes that too. The display in the latest model is a fantastic 267 pixels per inch, with a 3:2 aspect ratio. Even more, the new type cover improves the typing experience immensely, and the larger, smoother, trackpad is now on par with good notebooks. The Surface Pro 4 starts at $899, with prices going way up from there depending on options. It’s not inexpensive, but the Surface Pro 4 delivers.

Buy Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Core i5/8GB/256GB on Amazon.com

Notebook first: 360 degree hinge

14-inch with optional NVIDIA Graphics: Lenovo Yoga 700

Lenovo’s Yoga was the original 360-degree hinge laptop, and it adds a lot of functionality over a traditional notebook by being able to couple touch with the hinge. You gain access to not only the tablet mode, but also tend and stand modes. For late 2015, Lenovo has refreshed the lineup and the Yoga 700 makes our list. It’s a 14-inch notebook, but it packs Skylake processors and even an optional NVIDIA GT 940M GPU inside. The display is a reasonable 1920x1080, which of course includes multi-touch. The Yoga 700 loses out on the weight and thickness battle with Lenovo’s higher end models, but it makes up for that in price. The 3.5 lb notebook starts at just $770 with a Core i5-6200U, and for $900 you can get the Core i7-6500U with double the storage (256 GB vs 128 GB on the base) as well as the GT 940M GPU.

Buy the Lenovo Yoga 700 on Lenovo.com

Beautiful aluminum design: HP Spectre x360

HP released their own version of a convertible notebook this year with the release of the HP Spectre x360. They have recently refreshed it to include Skylake processors too. The HP offers great battery life, as well as a beautiful aluminum finish. The trackpad is enormous, with a much wider model than most devices offer. Although we have not had a chance to review the Spectre, I’ve been using one since April and the build quality is top notch. The HP has a great keyboard too, although I’m not a fan of silver keys with white backlighting since they get washed out in any sort of lighting. The base model offers a 1920x1080 display, and you can also get a 2560x1440 model as well. I would likely stick with the 1080p model for battery life reasons, and the base display is quite good. HP doesn’t break the bank either with their nicely crafted convertible. The HP Spectre x360 starts at just $799 with a Core i5-6200U, 8 GB of memory, and 128 GB of storage.

Buy the HP Spectre x360 on HP.com

High resolution and amazing hinge: Lenovo Yoga 900

Lenovo has once again revamped their Yoga lineup, and the top end of the consumer lineup is now the Yoga 900. This is a successor to the Yoga 3 Pro, and Lenovo looks to fix some of the ailments of that model. The Yoga 3 Pro went for thin and light over pretty much anything, and it did it by using Core M. For the Yoga 900, Lenovo has made it slightly thicker, but by doing so they have been able to move back to the 15-Watt Core processors. They have also increased battery capacity, which is now an impressive 66 Wh. The display is the same 3200x1800 IPS panel, for good and bad. I really hope that Lenovo moves away from this Samsung RGBW Pentile display for future models, since there are plenty of better choices out there now. But still, the overall laptop keeps its thin and light design, along with the beautiful watchband hinge. The 1.3 kg (2.8 lb) convertible is just 14.9 mm (0.59”) thick. You also get USB-C with video out, and the base specifications have gotten a bump. Storage now starts at 256 GB, and can move to 512 GB, and RAM starts at 8 GB and they also offer a 16 GB model. The new Yoga 900 starts at $1200, and goes up to $1400 with 16 GB of memory and 512 GB of storage.

Buy the Lenovo Yoga 900 on Lenovo.com

This wraps up our look at laptops for 2015. It has been a great year for notebooks, with some amazing new models in all categories.

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Sony Unlocks PS4's Seventh CPU Core, Data Suggests

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Sony is giving developers further access to the PlayStation 4's CPU resources ... allows the platform's games to draw from further processor resources.

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Is OpenACC The Best Thing To Happen To OpenMP?

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In this sense, the Knights Landing chip is just a CPU with 72 cores and a ... PathScale has beta support for the combination of ARM processors and ...

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HP Envy Beats laptop Processor or cpu: AMD A10 5750M APU with integra

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TENAA clears the Vivo Y51 and the Vivo Y51L

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Cyber Monday: The Best Cyber Monday deals 2015

Best Buy announces deals for Cyber Monday

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Both variants are powered by an Intel Atom processor and run on Windows 10. ... And if you're willing to pay more than that, Dell has another 2-in-1 laptop with 15.6-inch, 4K display, Intel Core i7 CPU, 8GB RAM, and 1TB hard drive ...

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Samsung Electronics Accelerates Development of Chips Integrating Logic, Memory

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The company is planning to foster chips, which integrate central processing unit (CPU), memory and communication modem, as its next ... has been pushing ahead from 2013 to develop its own application processor (AP) in earnest.

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Best Buy Cyber Monday 2015 deals on laptops, tablets, desktops

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There's also a Surface Pro 3 with Intel Core i3 processor and 128GB of ... There's also an 11.6-inch Toshiba Satellite Radius with Intel Pentium CPU, ...

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7th CPU Core PS4 Possibly Unlocked By Recent SDK Update

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The alleged SDK update allows developer to use an extra core on the PS4's CPU, and was found in the change log for the most recent audio API ...

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Intel I7 930 quad core cpu processor SLBKP

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Selling a lightly used I7 930 2.8 Ghz SLBKP Quad-Core Processor CPU. - 2.80 GHz, 4.80 GT's/ 8M cache - Socket FCLGA 1366 - Model SLBKP Pulled ...

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The first $5 computer sold out within a day

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What Is The A9X? Apple's New CPU King Analyzed

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New Raspberry Pi Zero sells out in just 24 hours

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We definitely liked the look of the new super-cheap Raspberry Pi Zero when it launched earlier this week - and it seems we're not the only ones. All 20,000 of the initial batch of devices have been sold in the first day.

Supplies are also running low of the official MagPi magazine that includes a Pi Zero on the front cover of the most recent issue. Don't panic though, as the Raspberry Pi Foundation has said new units will be on the way soon.

"You'd think we'd be used to it by now, but we're always amazed by the level of interest in new Raspberry Pi products," Raspberry Pi Foundation founder Eben Upton told Wired. "Right now it appears that we've sold every individual Zero we made and most of the 10,000 MagPi issues with cover-mounted units."

Supply and demand

The Pi Zero sells for £4 in the UK and $5 in the States (that's roughly AU$7). That gets you a compact bare-bones computer system with a Broadcom BCM2835 1GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, a microSD slot, a mini-HDMI port and two micro-USB sockets.

"We will continue to make Zeros for as long as you guys want them," wrote Liz Upton on the Raspberry Pi blog. "It looks like demand will continue to outstrip supply for a while if yesterday's rush is anything to go by, but we're doing our very best to keep channels open."

"We advise you not to buy from scalpers on eBay, because... karma," she added. Apparently the publishers of MagPi are looking into a second print run, so another way to get hold of the device would be to subscribe to the magazine for a few months.

• How to set up your Raspberry Pi in Windows

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Old Video About an Older Gaming System...

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NEW Intel i7 Processor - Latest Generation Skylake 6700K Unlocked CPU

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Brand new and sealed Intel Core i7-4790K Processor CPU Socket 1150

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Brand new and sealed. I WILL NOT ACCEPT TRADES OR LOWER OFFERS.

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Raspberry Pi Offers $5 and $35 Personal Computers

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OCUK Black Friday Deals of the Day #3

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Let's have a look at some of the Best Black Friday Deals at OCUK, Cheap SSDs, CPUs, monitors and even Cases.

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Meet ARM1, grandfather of today's mobe, tablet CPUs – watch it crunch code live in a browser

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Games Slow? Easily Figure Out If Your PC Needs A CPU, GPU Or RAM Upgrade

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Dense Eurotech Hive System Broadens Compute

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The ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ Review: When You Need Triple M.2 x4 in RAID

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Big Performance from Low-Power Hardware

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The company is putting the finishing touches on the Denverton processor, ... which cuts power consumption 10-fold compared to a standard CPU.

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NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet with Tegra X1 chip leaked at GFXBench

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AMD Zen FX CPUs, APUs Release Details Surface, Top-Notch Performance In The Cards

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The new Zen FX CPU could be used in everything from gaming notebooks to ... the company is working hard to bring the new Zen processor on shelves in 2016. ... The chipset of Zen FX CPU will come with a special on socket AM4, ...

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Report: LG Electronics working on its second mobile processor

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Xiaomi's Mi Pad 2 tablet runs Windows 10

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Xiomi has ditched the Nvidia Tegra K1 processor of the original Mi Pad in favour of a 64-bit Intel Atom X5-Z8500 CPU, and has paired that with 2GB of ...

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Intel 2016 Tablet Chipset Road-Map Allegedly Surfaces

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Updated: Buying guide: Best gaming mouse: top 9 gaming mice reviewed

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Best gaming mouse rundown

PC gamers have never had it so good. The e-sports scene is enjoying unprecedented popularity, with plenty of (not entirely frivolous) talk about how gaming should be added to the Olympics roster.

Whether you fancy becoming the next League of Legends or Call of Duty superstar, or something more sedate, like leading a vicarious virtual life in an MMO or RPG, one thing is for sure: you will be at an instant disadvantage if you skimp on your choice of mouse.

And there's no excuse for that if you've lashed out eye-watering sums on an overclocked, water-cooled rig festooned with neon lights, or a top-of-the-range gaming laptop.

How to choose the best gaming mouse

Your choice of mouse depends very much on your gaming preferences: if you're into first-person shooters, say, finding the right balance of sensitivity and responsiveness is vital, so you'll need to pay attention to DPI ratings and decide between optical or laser sensors (fear not – leave the technical stuff to us). Whereas if you're into real-time strategy, MMOs or MOBAs, it's vital to pick a mouse that lets you map macros triggering the actions you use most to specially configured buttons.

So, we've picked the 9 best gaming mice: whatever your gaming preferences or needs, one of these will complete your ultimate PC or Mac gaming setup.

1. Roccat Nyth

The most customizable mouse, bar none

DPI: 1200 | Features: Custom button layout, Mid-finger fin switch, AlienFX Illumination, 3D printing support, 2x hotswappable sidegrips

See more Roccat Nyth deals

Highly customisable

Contoured body

Can't change length

Roccat's Nyth is one of the more innovative mice in recent times. Clicking a button pops out its 12 side buttons, which you can then re-configure in any order you like - giving you a potential 36 side button combinations. Mapping is done using Roccat's Swarm driver, which lets you create custom button configurations and map buttons to programs. That makes it suitable for not just MMOs, but a whole range of genres - from FPS to MOBA titles. If you've got a 3D printer, you can even 3D print your own buttons for it.

Read the full review: Roccat Nyth

2. Razer DeathAdder Chroma

Sports a classic design and has an insane DPI

DPI: 10,000 | Interface: USB Wired | Buttons: 5 | Ergonomic: Yes | Features: Textured rubber side grips, Chroma lighting, 1000Hz Ultrapolling, On-the-fly sensitivity adjustment, Always-on mode

See more Razer DeathAdder Chroma deals

High DPI

Grips well

Pedestrian design

No macro buttons

Many pro gamers swear by Razer's PC peripherals, and the Death Adder Chroma mouse is one of the most popular gaming mice around. There's nothing too flash about it (except for the ability to make various bits of it glow in different colours), but it feels right in the hand, is light, the rubber side-grips come in handy at frenzied moments, its optical sensor is tried-and-tested and it goes up to an insane 10,000DPI (probably too sensitive for mere mortals, but it's there if you need it). MMO fans may be slightly disappointed by a less-than-generous allocation of macro buttons, though. But in the world of gaming mice, it's considered something of a design classic.

Read the full review: Razer DeathAdder Chroma

3. Roccat Kone XTD

A true button-basher

DPI: 8200 | Interface: Wired | Buttons: 8 | Feature: Ergonmic design, 1000Hz polling rate, 1ms response time, 12000fps, 10.8megapixel, 30G acceleration, 16-bit data channel, 1-5mm Lift off distance, 72MHz Turbo Core V2 32-bit Arm based MCU, 576kB onboard memory, Zero angle snapping/prediction

Plenty of buttons

Fast response time

Software bit gimmicky

With a clever easy-shift system that effectively doubles the number of its buttons, Roccat's Kone XTD scores particularly highly with those who crave macros at their fingertips. But it's a great all-rounder which is built to last, with easily adjustable sensitivity and a rugged wheel. With a 32-bit processor and ability to analyse your mouse-pad and automatically set lift-distance, it might just be the most high-tech mouse on the market. Plus it looks and feels spot-on. Some of the software may be a tad gimmicky, but it provides all the customisability any serious MMO, MOBA or RTS gamer could desire, and can hold its own on the first-person shooter scene.

4. Turtle Beach Grip 500

Laser-guided

DPI: 8200 | Interface: Wired | Buttons: 7 (plus scroll wheel) | Feature: Avago 9800 laser sensor, Omron switches, Customizable software to program buttons, Independently adjust X and Y DPI, Create up to 50 macros with up to 100 commands each, 16.8 million colour effects, Non-slip, soft-touch coating

Lift-distance control

Independent X and Y axis DPI

Lacks right-edge buttons

Turtle Beach is best known for its gaming headsets, but the Grip 500 suggests it's ready to muscle its way into the gaming mouse market. It's competitively priced, but a decent all-rounder, with 8,200DPI sensitivity for the first-person shooter brigade, and the ability to load several different macro setups into its own memory, which you can switch between on the fly with the help of colour-coded LEDs. With a maximum of 45 macros possible, it's ideal for those who favour MMOs and MOBAs. And aesthetically, it's a bit more discreet than some of its rivals.

5. Mad Catz R.A.T.M

Small rodent

DPI: 6400 | Interface: Wireless | Buttons: 12 (10 programmable) | Feature: GameSmart Multi-platform, USB Nano Dongle, Bluetooth, 1 year from 2 AAA batteries, Adjust grip in 0-15mm in 5mm increments, dang

Built-in Bluetooth

Adjustable grip

Fits better in smaller hands

Finding the right mouse is a perennial problem for gamers who prefer laptops to PCs, but Mad Catz's R.A.T.M has been specifically designed to solve that conundrum. As is typical for laptop-specific mice, it's tiny (which could prove problematic for the giant-handed), but at least it's size-adjustable, and packs surprisingly decent specifications for such a tiny package, with 6,400DPI sensitivity and a clever four-way button that can run five macros. And it's wireless – with a built-in Bluetooth dongle so it works even if your laptop doesn't have native Bluetooth. Worth considering for those who place portability at a premium, but like to play MMOs and MOBAs.

6. SteelSeries Sensei

A shot in the (32-bit) ARM

DPI: 6400 | Interface: Wireless | Buttons: 12 (10 programmable) | Features: Customisable lift distance, Button functionality and CPI, Ilumination, Macros, SteelSeries Engine, 32-bit ARM CPU, 1 - 5,700 CPI, 10.8-MP HD image correlation at up to 12,000 FPS, Tracking movements of up to 150 inches per second

Handy 8 macro buttons

Customisable "lift distance"

Bland design

SteelSeries peripherals have a huge following among the professional gaming community, and many pros swear by the Sensei. With 11,400DPI sensitivity and a handy eight macro buttons, it comfortably straddles the first-person shooter/MMO/MOBA divide. Meanwhile, underneath its deceptively conventional looks, it's precision-engineered for all the precision and sensitivity you could desire. And it even lets you customise its "lift distance" – so whatever surface you use it on, you can get it performing perfectly. We can't vouch for your general level of talent, but the SteelSeries Sensei will at least put you on a par with the pros in terms of equipment.

7. Logitech G602

Battery warrior

DPI: 2500 | Interface: Wireless | Buttons: 2 | Features: 250 - 2,500 DPI, 20G max acceleration, Max speed 6.6ft/second, 250-hour battery life, 9.8ft wireless range, In-game sensitivity switching, Performance mode, Logitech Gaming Software

Long battery life

Low DPI

SteelSeries peripherals have a huge following among the professional gaming community, and many pros swear by the Sensei. With 11,400DPI sensitivity and a handy eight macro buttons, it comfortably straddles the first-person shooter/MMO/MOBA divide. Meanwhile, underneath its deceptively conventional looks, it's precision-engineered for all the precision and sensitivity you could desire. And it even lets you customise its "lift distance" – so whatever surface you use it on, you can get it performing perfectly. We can't vouch for your general level of talent, but the SteelSeries Sensei will at least put you on a par with the pros in terms of equipment.

8. SteelSeries Sensei [RAW]

White hot metal

DPI: 62155 | Interface: Wired | Buttons: 8 | Features: Advanced macros, Scalable pointer speed from 90 to 5670 in increments of 90, 10.8-Megapixel HD image correlation at up to 12,000 FPS, Tracking movements of up to 150 inches per second, White illumination, UPE material

Long battery life

Scalable pointer speed

Low DPI

The Sensei [RAW] is a cut-down, and considerably cheaper, version of the classic Sensei, which keeps all the Sensei's most important attributes, but does away with some more exotic features – notably the 32-bit ARM processor and the LCD display. In terms of all its mechanical bits, though, it's the same as the Sensei. So you get that tournament-honed feel and precision (and it's available in a nice rubberised finish, too). Worth considering if you're pretty sure that you don't possess the raw talent to make it to the very top of the online gaming world, and happen to be a tad impecunious – yet still want a mouse that handles impeccably.

9. Logitech G502 Proteus Core

Tunable gaming mouse

DPI: 200 - 12,000 | Interface: Wired | Buttons: 11 | Features: Control weight and balance, Comes with five 3.6g weights, 11 programmable buttons, In-game DPI shifting, Dual mode mouse wheel, 32-bit microcontroller, 3 on-board profiles, 1 millisecond report rate, Mechanical microswitches, Rubber grips

In-game DPI shifting

Adjustable weight and grip

No right-hand buttons

If you like a bit of weight in the hand, as it were, Logitech's bombastically named G502 Proteus Core is undoubtedly the mouse for you. That's because its weight is customisable: it comes with five weights that you can add and reposition (making it nose-heavy, say) to your heart's content. Beyond that, its specification is sufficiently tasty for it to have made inroads into the pro-gaming community, with 12,000DPI sensitivity (adjustable on the fly) and 11 programmable macro buttons. And even its wheel can be adjusted between clicking and scrolling. A top-notch all-rounder.

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Will The BlackBerry Vienna Have Samsung Processor?

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Xiaomi Smartphone with Deca-Core MediaTek Helio X20 CPU Coming in Q1 2016

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... claims Xiaomi is already working to bring on the market the first smartphone equipped with a powerful deca-core MediaTek Helio X20 processor.

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Raspberry Pi Zero now official as $5 computer with 1GHz processor

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Moreover, it is available in the smallest ever form factor at 65mm x 30mm x 5mm. The Raspberry Pi Foundation said that the Zero, which will be made ...

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Huawei Mate 8 Goes Official with Massive 6-Inch Display, Android 6.0 Marshmallow

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... equipped with Huawei's powerful Kirin 950 chipset that packs a 2.3GHz quad-core Cortex-A72 CPU and another 1.8GHz quad-core A-53 processor, ...

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NEW INTEL i7 - 5960X EXTREME CPU LGA 2011 V3 3.00GHZ PROCESSOR

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This is a new BOXED Intel i7 5960X LGA2011 V3 CPU straight from Intel. Not a tray unit, it is a retail unit. Retails at around $1000 on Amazon.com and ...

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How Intel Corp. Might Be Coping With High-End Skylake Processor Shortages

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More than three months ago, PC processor giant Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) ... that it simply can't meet at the moment with its 14-nanometer 6700K processor. ... it's quite a bit slower in tasks that can't utilize more than four CPU cores (the ...

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Best NASes: Holiday 2015

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We have already published holiday guides for mobile devices, laptops, CPUs, PSUs and SSDs. Today, we will take a look at the various options ...

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Samsung Galaxy A9 specs, pictures LEAKED!

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As per details available on GeekBench, Galaxy A9 will rock a Snapdragon 620 (MSM8976) processor with four Cortex A-53 CPU cores and four ...

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Huawei Mate 8 with Kirin 950 processor, Android Marshmallow launched

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Under the hood is Huawei's latest Kirin 950 SoC which includes an octa-core CPU made up of four A72 2.3GHz cores and four A53 1.8GHz cores.

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Best NASes: Holiday 2015

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We have already published holiday guides for mobile devices, laptops, CPUs, PSUs and SSDs. Today, we will take a look at the various options available in the commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) network-attached storage (NAS) market space.

The COTS NAS market can't be simply delineated based on price and performance. As a rule of thumb, one can say that the price of a NAS increases with the number of bays in it. However, even within the same number of bays, we get NAS units spanning a wide price range. Any consumer in the market for a NAS needs to consider the following aspects before deciding upon the budget:

• Amount of storage needed (number of bays)
• Intended use-case
  • Business-oriented or home / multimedia-focused
  • Expected number of simultaneous clients
  • Downtime tolerance
  • Required processing power (both file-serving and apps)
• Value of invested time (in the case where there is a toss-up between the COTS and DIY routes)
• Mobile and native NAS applications ecosystem

We have evaluated a large number of NAS units (with different bay-counts) over the last several years. The lineups mentioned below (in alphabetical order) are the ones that we are comfortable recommending for purchase after putting a few of their members through long-term testing. Compared to last year, we have removed the LenovoEMC i- and p- series, as they no longer seem to be available for purchase and no new products have been announced in the last two years (even though their support forums are still active with official replies).

1. Asustor Storage Units
2. Netgear ReadyNAS Series
3. QNAP Turbo NAS Units
4. Seagate NAS and NAS Pro Units
5. Synology DiskStation and RackStation Series
6. Western Digital Consumer Series

In this guide, we present suitable options for 2-,4- and 8-bay NAS units targeting the home consumer / SOHO market. One important aspect here is that we are not going to talk about the high-end SMB market or the multitude of offerings that come with Windows Storage Server or some similar flavor. Only products based on custom OSes are being considered in this guide.

Option 1 (2-bay): Western Digital My Cloud Mirror Gen 2 [ 2x2TB: $310 , Review ]

Most units sold in the 2-bay market are purchased by the average consumer who wants to back up photos and videos taken with mobile devices. A performance powerhouse is rarely needed in this market segment. While the user experience with the mobile app(s) is vital, the presence of apps on the NAS itself is just an icing on the cake.

Western Digital revamped their 2-bay product line with the My Cloud Mirror Gen 2 earlier this year for the home consumers (with the My Cloud EX2 still available for the SOHO / low-end SMB market). There are no diskless models and the units come with WD Red drives. Integrated Docker capabilities in the My Cloud OS point to the possibility of multiple easily-integrated third-party apps in the future. Western Digital is obviously a big vendor with end-user support appropriate even for non-tech savvy folks. Coupled with the plug-and-play experience, this makes it an ideal gift for the holiday season to anyone who is looking to get started with network attached storage and needs basic data protection.

Option 2 (4-bay): QNAP TS-453 Pro [ Diskless / 2GB RAM: $566 ]

We saw almost all the vendors listed above (except for Seagate) release new 4-bay NAS units this year. Asustor's Braswell-based AS6204T [ $668 ,  Review ] is solid and stable, while the QNAP TS-451+ [ Diskless / 2GB RAM: $529 , Review ] also performs admirably despite being based on the previous generation Bay Trail platform. However, the best bang for the buck continues to the QNAP TS-453 Pro. The price is just a little bit higher than that of TS-451+, but the unit comes with extra LAN ports ideal for dedicating to virtual machines running on the NAS.

I wouldn't suggest running intensive VMs on the Intel Celeron J1900-based TS-453 Pro, but the platform is powerful enough to run Ubuntu VMs and the like for, say, acting as a home automation controller. Given the age of the platform, it is likely that the TS-453 Pro will continue to see downward price pressure. However, the unit is quite powerful for advanced users and the software platform is very rich in features (both mobile apps and the NAS apps ecosystem).

Option 3 (8-bay): QNAP TVS-871-i7-16G [ Diskless / 16GB RAM: $2199 ]

Our 8-bay recommendation also goes to a QNAP NAS. The TVS-871-i7-16G is a no-holds barred NAS sporting a Core i7-4790S Haswell processor. With 16 GB of RAM and a minimum of 4x 1GbE ports (additional 2x 10G also possible with the spare PCIe expansion slot), this NAS is ideal for running multiple intensive VMs. The 4C/8T Core i7 CPU ensures that there is enough processing power for the VMs and plenty to spare for the NAS functionality as well as apps running on the NAS itself.

The TVS-x71 units are meant for the high-end SMB market, but, in our evaluation of a TVS-871T-i7-16G unit over the last several months (review is coming out soon), we can say that it is positively drool-worthy for the high-end power users with cash to burn. The Pentium-based model comes in at $1350, while the Core i3-based one is at $1377.

For a more moderately priced 8-bay system on the COTS side, one could opt for models such as the Synology DS1815+ [ $961 , Review ] or the QNAP TS-853 Pro [ $993 , Review ]. Obviously, going the DIY route with, say, an ASRock Rack C2750D4I board and a U-NAS NSC-800 chassis [ Review ] might make for an interesting build, but the price difference is not that big (approx. $845 vs. approx. $1000) when build time and software management aspects are considered.

Honorable Mentions:

Option 4 (2-bay): Synology BeyondCloud Mirror BC214se [ 2x2TB: $333 ]

Option 5 (4-bay): Netgear ReadyNAS RN214 [ Diskless: $500 ]

Synology is surprisingly absent in our list of recommendations this year. It is understandable, as their primary focus has been on the high-end SMB / SME market over the past year. They did release the DS416 based on the Annapurna Labs AL212 platform last month, but the main push on the software side of things has been for business-oriented features. With DSM 6.0 slated for next year, and Braswell-based NAS units slated to appear soon, things will change. That said, earlier this year at CES, Synology also unveiled the BeyondCloud series targeting novice users. Consumers looking for an alternative to the Western Digital My Cloud Mirror Gen 2 can also go for the Synology BeyondCloud Mirror BC214se at a similar price point. Just like the My Cloud Mirror Gen 2, the RAID volume is pre-configured (the BC series uses Seagate NAS HDDs). Obviously, the software ecosystem (DSM + apps) is quite rich compared to the My Cloud Mirror Gen 2, justifying the slight premium.

On the 4-bay side, Netgear's ReadyNAS RN214 with an updated quad-core Annapurna Labs SoC and btrfs support is an interesting option. Coupled with the newly introduced Netgear Nighthawk X8 R8500 tri-band 4x4 802.11ac router and the promise of plug-and-play link aggregation support, it presents a compelling solution for consumers in the market for a router as well as a NAS.

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