DRAM and NAND flash spot pricing lost its momentum this week (August 10-14), marking an end to recent price rises in the market, noted inSpectrum.inSpectrum reported that spot prices for both DDR2 and DDR3 dropped by a low-single digit this week. Quotations for 1Gb DDR3 softened, with some vendors dropping their quotation to below US$2. Despite the reduced quotations, inquiries were still limited. For DDR2, some brokers started selling their inventory when average selling prices (ASP) hit the US$1.40 level, implying industry players are conservative about a sustained upside, the firm said.In the NAND flash spot market, pricing for low-density chips continued outperforming overall pricing, backed by strong demand for low-density memory cards from white-box handset makers in China, inSpectrum explained. Whereas for the 32Gb multi-level cell (MLC) chips, a slight sequential drop was seen amid flat demand, the firm added. inSpectrum: Spot price for mainstream 1Gb DRAM chips, Aug 10-14 (US$) Date Branded DDR2 White brand DDR2 Branded DDR3 2009/8/6 1.39 1.33 2.05 2009/8/10 1.42 1.38 2.05 2009/8/11 1.42 1.39 2.04 2009/8/12 1.41 1.37 2.03 2009/8/13 1.4 1.37 1.97 2009/8/14 1.4 1.37 1.96 Source: inSpectrum, compiled by Digitimes, August 2009 inSpectrum: Spot price for mainstream MLC NAND flash, Aug 10-14 (US$) Date 16Gb 32Gb 2009/8/6 4.45 6.06 2009/8/10 4.47 6.06 2009/8/11 4.48 6.05 2009/8/12 4.49 6.05 2009/8/13 4.49 6.04 2009/8/14 4.49 6.04 Source: inSpectrum, compiled by Digitimes, August 2009

Adlink Technology has announced the NuPRO-730, its first PICMG 1.0-based full-size single board computer (SBC).The NuPRO-730 offers IPC distributors and system integrators a low-noise, low-heat-dissipation SBC solution, according to Adlink. The SBC is suitable for industrial factory automation, medical, intelligent transportation systems and military applications.The SBC adopts Intel's Core 2 Duo T7500 dual-core processor, GME965 Express chipset with integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, and DDR2 667MHz memory support up to 4 GB.Adlink NuPRO-730 SBCPhoto: Company

AMD has announced a quad-core processor for desktops, the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition.As an integral part of AMD's Dragon platform, the new processor features a stock frequency of 3.4GHz, DDR3 memory support and AMD OverDrive 3.0 technology to deliver an enthusiast-class performance that fits into value-based budgets, claimed AMD.The CPU is available for a suggested system builder price of US$245AMD Phenom II X4 series processorPhoto: Company

Intel and Micron Technology have jointly announced the development of a new 3-bit per cell multi-level cell (MLC) NAND technology for consumer storage devices such as flash cards and USB drives, with mass production slated for the fourth quarter of 2009.The new 3-bit per cell technology, developed by the two companies' joint venture IM Flash Technologies, produces 32-gigabit (Gb) chips using 34nm process technology. Micron is currently sampling the chips measuring only 126 square millimeters, the company said in a statement."We see 3bpc NAND technology as an important piece of our roadmap," said Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron's memory group. "Today's announcement further highlights that Micron and Intel have made great strides in 34-nanometer NAND, and we look forward to introducing our 2xnm technology later this year."Micron and Intel 34nm 3-bit per cell NAND technology Photo: BusinessWire

Supermicro Computer has announced availability of its dual-Intel Xeon 5500 series processor-based 7046GT-TRF workstation which supports four Nvidia Tesla C1060 GPUs as well as three additional PCI Express add-on cards for high-bandwidth I/O.The new system also features redundant Gold Level (93%+ efficiency) 1400W power supplies.The 7046GT-TRF is housed in Supermicro's new 4U rackmount convertible tower chassis, the SC747TQ-R1400.The chassis supports up to 11 full-height, full-length expansion cards, eight hot-swap 3.5-inch SAS/SATA drives, and special design features that are intended for graphics and computationally intensive applications, the company said.Supermicro 7046GT-TRF workstationPhoto: Company

Global Unichip has announced that its recent success on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)'s 40nm G process PCIe Gen2 IP has been validated in the data rate that ranges from 1Gbps to 6.25Gbps, while it consumes less than 100mW per lane. Furthermore, the company plans to unveil a series of Gbps interface IP solutions, including DDR2/3, SATA, USB3.0, XAUI, and 10G SERDES by the end of 2009.Global Unichip has firstly introduced its Gbps-level high-speed total solution that includes comprehensive IP portfolio, ASIC implementation, chip with package co-design, and production testing solution targeting high speed networking, video processing, and mobile handset segments.Global Unichip's high speed interface design flow ensures challenges including signal integrity, bus skew control, system jitter compensation, power delivery network, and overall power reduction are resolved at early stages in an ASIC design cycle, according to the company. The package substrate design follows immediately after chip's floorplan is finished. This allows the packaging model to be referenced by ASIC designers in order to verify the design specifications at the earliest possible stage, the company indicated.

Hynix Semiconductor has introduced its 4-gigabits (4Gb) mobile DDR SDRAM supported on Intel's Moorestown platform for mobile Internet devices (MIDs), with mass production slated for the third quarter of 2009.The new Hynix 4Gb mobile DRAM boasts maximum operating speed of 400 megabits per second (Mbps), processing up to 1.6-gigabytes (1.6GB) of data per second with a 32-bit I/O. It complies with the JEDEC standards, and is meant for next-generation mobile applications such as MIDs, netbooks and smartphones requiring sufficient density and speed memory, and featuring low power consumption, according to the company.Hynix' 4Gb mobile DRAM devices are offered in small-form-factor packages such as multi-chip package (MCP) and package-on-package (POP), said the company.Hynix 4Gb mobile DRAM for MIDsPhoto: Company

Maxtronic's ExaSAN solution is built upon an architecture to provide maximum flexibility and speed. It features higher performance through utilizing the PCI Express (PCIe) x4/ x8 bus and lowers cost over traditional fiber SANs targeting the video market, the company claimed. The ExaSAN family includes RAID storage devices, ExaSAN host /device SAN switches, PCIe HBAs, cabling and accessories. Without components from third-party providers, Maxtronic is able to design, verify and produce every component in the ExaSAN.Maxtronic ExaSAN solutions use a native PCI Express protocol to avoid protocol codec/decode translations and reduce any unnecessary overhead, the company claimed. In addition, the data and commands are exchanged in a more efficiency way by directing memory access or DMA between the system memory and buffer memory on the controller, according to the company.ExaSAN technology supports multiple host connections, multiple storage connections and high scalability. It's fully compatible with Mac Pro, Mac OS X Server, Windows and PC servers. The Maxtronic ExaSAN not only works seamlessly with Apple Xsan 2 but also improves performance and reliability of the application, Maxtronic claimed. The high-performance ExaSAN can support multiple uncompressed high-definition video streams with no frame drops, and provide large and scalable capacity demands for high definition video in the media broadcasting or movie industries with multi-user support.

Elpida Memory on August 6 announced that it has reached an agreement with Qimonda, which is now in insolvency proceedings, to acquire the Germany-based chipmaker's technology licenses and a portion of the design assets related to graphics DDR (GDDR) chips.Elpida also disclosed it is scheduled to volume ship 1Gb GDDR3 and 1Gb GDDR5 in the first half of 2010. The new graphics DRAM chips will be outsourced to Winbond Electronics, said the Japan-based memory maker, adding that the mass production of 2Gb GDDR5 is expected to take place at its Hiroshima Plant starting in the second half of the year.Elpida's GDDR technology development will be mainly operated at its recently-built Munich Design Center, where nearly 50 engineers and other former Qimonda employees involved in the development work will take up new posts.Elpida said it is looking to quickly ramp up a full-fledged GDDR business, while acknowledging the increased demand for applications such as game consoles."Graphics systems now need graphics buffer memory with a data transfer rate of more than 5Gb/sec given the rapidly growing popularity of high-definition format graphics data, 3D graphics and various display formats," said Elpida CTO Takao Adachi. "In response to this need we will shortly begin commercial production of GDDR5, for which an even faster data transfer rate of 8Gb/sec may be feasible in the near future.

Micro-Star International (MSI) has recently launched AMD 785G chipset-based motherboards. The MSI 785G series motherboards feature MSI's Active Phase Switching (APS) technology to allow automatic power-usage adjustment based on system loading, the company highlighted.The motherboards are also equipped with Easy OC Switch, which allows users to achieve higher performance from processor with a click of the button, MSI said.The MSI 785G motherboards are integrated with AMD's ATI Radeon HD 4200 GPU, and provide an HDMI port for audio and video output. MSI 785G-E65 motherboard: Specifications Item Detail Socket AM3 CPU support Up to AMD Phenom II series processors HyperTransport bus Up to 5.2GT/s Chipset AMD 785G+SB710 Memory DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600 Memory channel Dual DIMM slots 4 Max memory 16GB IGP ATI Radeon HD 4200 Sources: Company, compiled by Digitimes, August 2009MSI 785G-E65 motherboardPhoto: Company