Right after the announcement of HighPoint about the release of its new RAID-controllers series, the company highlighted some specifications of the upcoming model, codenamed RocketRaid 4520. This controller is based on Marvell Sheeva 88RC9580 processor with ARM core which operates at 900 MHz frequency. The model is notable for the availability of 512 Mb of DDR3 memory type. According to the words of the manufacturer, this RAID-controller is primarily targeted at server systems of average and high level.



RocketRaid 4520 is equipped with eight ports for the connection of drives with SATA and SAS interfaces, along with mini-SAS (6 Gb/sec bandwidth). It employs PCI Express 2.0 x8 interface and supports RAID0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, JBOD configurations. The availability of a dedicated port companders empowers the enlargement of hard drives number up to 128 items.


In addition, RocketRaid 4520 is able to support advanced RAID options, such as P+Q+Copy, Dual XOR RAID 6, Q+Q+Q Raid 6. …

BitFenix has expanded its Phenom series of PC cases with a new small-sized model – the Phenom Mini-ITX. It features 250x330x374 mm dimensions and comes in two color variations: back and white. The chassis is made of steel with plastic inclusions and has got SofTouch coating. Irrespective of the envelope, the greenhorn offers quite appropriate internal spacing for the creation of a modern PC system.



BitFenix Phenom Mini-ITX comes with a single 5.25-inch drive bay and is able to accommodate up to six 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch drives. It also has a removable FlexCage drive bay. Besides, the framework includes a dedicated adapter for 5.25-inch devices; if it is removed, the chassis is ready to house up to six 3.5-inch items and up to eleven 2.5-inch items.


Internal space is optimal for rather lengthy graphics cards, up to 330 mm, on condition of a removed FlexCage. The maximal height of CPU coolers should not exceed 175 mm. Special attention has been paid to the cooling system. …

The product line of MSI’s mini-ITX motherboards now welcomes a new-comer: the MSI A88XI AC. It takes AMD A88X chipset for Socket FM2+ platform as the basis; this implies the support for AMD Athlon and AMD A series CPUs (of all generations). The PCB offers two DIMM slots for the integration of DDR3-2133 MHz RAM (up to 32 GB). Upon the whole, this model is able to offer much more than other small-sized boards.



The MSI A88XI AC accommodates 4x SATA III 6 Gb/sec ports for the connection of drives and 1x PCI-e 3.0 x16 socket for the implementation of an add-on card. Network options are secured as by gigabit Ethernet controller, so by Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11 ac modules. External I/O panel houses three audio ports, one S/PDIF out, one RJ-45, two USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports, one PS/2 Combo port, and three video ports (HDMI, DVI-D and D-Sub).


Moreover, the support for 8-channel sound production (due to Realtek ALC887) and HDMI video port entails the playback of 4K Ultra HD …