For those new to buying or building PCs, one of the most common questions is “How much RAM do I need?“. While the best answer to this question really depends on what you plan on doing with your PC, there are some general guidelines you can follow in order to get a good estimate on how much RAM is optimal.

Before we decide how much RAM is needed for your new PC, it’s important to first understand how RAM is actually used in it. RAM, which is often also referred to as system memory, is an acronym for Random Access Memory. While it would take quite a long time to fully explain all the cases of how RAM is used in [...]

If you’ve been surprised by the massive surge in RAM pricing lately, you’re not alone. China is now closely monitoring DRAM prices, hinting that it’s possibly looking to conduct an investigation for price fixing. Xu Xinyu, an official of China’s National Development and Reform Commission’s Pricing Supervision Department, stated:

 “We have noticed the price surge and will pay more attention to future problems that may be caused by ‘price fixing’ in the sector”

The officials didn’t specifically mention which major manufacturers will be scrutinized, but the according to Wang Yanhui, Secretary General of the Mobile China Alliance, NDRC [...]

Samsung has begun mass producing their 2nd Generation 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4 DRAM. According to the announcement, the new Samsung 2nd Generation 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4 features speeds up to 3,600 Mbps per pin, which provides around 10% improved performance and 15% improved power efficiency compared to 1st Generation 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4.

In order to achieve the improved performance and power efficiency, Samsung developed a new high-sensitivity cell data sensing system which allows a more accurate determination of data stored within a data cell along with a unique “air spacer” design which helps dramatically decrease parasitic capacitance.

“By developing [...]

DRAM and NAND prices have soared over the past year due to shortages and it looks like VRAM prices are following a similar trajectory as well. According to a recent article by Digitimes, VRAM price quotes have soared by 30.8% in August, leaping from $6.50 per package in July to $8.50 per package.

The price increase is due to RAM leading RAM manufacturers shifting production focus to memory for servers and smartphones. Samsung, which accounts for 55% of the worldwide VRAM supply, has more than doubled its server DRAM production from 12% to 27%. SK Hynix and Micron which account for the rest of the world’s VRAM production has significantly increased production of [...]

To meet the capacity and performance demands of the rapidly developing IoT industry, Toshiba is introducing the BG3 SDD, a tiny, single-package SSD for thinner, more reliable mobile and embedded devices.

As the successor to the BG2, the BG3 uses Toshiba’s 64-layer TLC NAND for higher storage density per drive. It also features a DRAM-less design for better power consumption, lower cost, and a smaller footprint.

Utilizing two PCIe 3.0 lanes and Toshiba’s in-house controller, the BG3 can achieve sequential read/write speeds of up to 1,520MB/840MB/s respectively. The BG3 also has an SLC caching feature which can boost performance when the drive [...]

Samsung Electronics is poised to surpass Intel (aka Chipzilla) as the world’s largest chip manufacturer.

Analyst firm IC Insights predicted recently that if the current price of DRAM and NAND hold for Q2, Samsung could generate enough revenue to take the number one spot. The firm predicts that Samsung will achieve $14.9 billion in revenue, while Intel is predicted to reach $14.4 billion.

The increase in the price of NAND and DRAM is fueled by significantly increased demand amid a major industry-wide supply shortage. The depleted inventory and industry-wide transition to 3D NAND is significantly increasing the price of storage and isn’t supposed to [...]

According to a recent article from Digitimes, two of the world’s largest memory manufacturers may be having a hard time perfecting their sub-20nm DRAM processes. Micron is experiencing low yield rates transitioning into its 1xnm DRAM node, while Samsung had to recently recall a large batch of DRAM modules built on its 18nm process.

Last month, Micron announced that it was planning to spend $1 billion to upgrade its TaiChung fab to 1x nm, aiming to make its chips ready for the market by the end of the year. Due to the lower yields, its products may be delayed.

Samsung on the other hand had to recall more than 100,000 DRAM modules after PC OEMS reported [...]

Welcome to Custom PC Review’s Best Gaming PC Builds! If you’re looking to build a new computer to play all the latest games, but you’re unsure of what parts to buy to create the optimal build at a certain price-point, we’re here to help.

Below you’ll find four builds sorted by budget of what we think will help create the best and most powerful gaming PCs for the price. Each piece of hardware in each build is hand-picked by our staff through consideration of a multitude of criteria such as price, performance, reliability, and cost. Furthermore, hardware recommend for our builds all have either been reviewed by us or is well known and highly [...]

Dell XPS 15 | Image Source: Dell

Digitimes reports that the prices of retail laptops are expected to increase by 5% to 15% in 2Q2017 to offset the rising cost of components.

Components like DRAM, SSDs, and displays are experiencing a shortage due to a shift in manufacturing. Many component manufacturers are prioritizing production for the lucrative smartphone market which has unfortunately left a shortage of PC components.

The shortage has already began affecting both the DRAM and NAND markets last year. Mainstream SSDs are expected to increase by 10% due to the NAND shortage and PC vendors have already begun [...]

Several months ago, a leaked spec sheet detailed an upcoming Intel 3D XPoint SSD, the Optane SSD DC P4800X, which was officially launched today finally proving that despite numerous delays, 3D XPoint isn’t the vaporware many of us expected it to be.

Initially launching in a 375GB Add-in-Card (AIC), the Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X is designed for high write enterprise workloads. As such, performance is heavily oriented towards random read/write workloads and quality of service. In the above specs, we can see that Intel doesn’t even bother listing the sequential performance numbers. As a drive designed to be used for high write applications, the Intel [...]