AMD and OCZ team up to release Radeon R7 series of SSDs which start at $100

By Konrad Krawczyk August 19, 2014

amd and ocz team up to release radeon r7 series of ssds starting at 100 out now ssd — Image used with permission by copyright holder

AMD, which is known for making GPUs and processors, just announced its Radeon R7 SSDs, which are available as of today. AMD partnered up with OCZ, which made its name making SSDs and RAM, on the Radeon R7 drives. OCZ was purchased by Toshiba, which makes its own SSDs and other devices, earlier this year.

Related: SSDs vs. mechanical hard drives vs. hybrid drives, what’s the best fit for you?

The Radeon R7 SSDs are styled in the way that stock-model AMD graphics cards are, wearing an amalgamation of black, and just a little bit of red. If you’ve ever seen a stock version of an AMD graphics card, just take that visual theme, and plop it onto an SSD. That’s what the Radeon R7 SSDs look like. The Radeon name is typically used to describe the company’s gaming and graphics-oriented hardware, so this is a bit of a departure for AMD from a naming standpoint.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming

Powered by Toshiba’s A19 MLC NAND flash process and a Barefoot 3 M00 controller, AMD’s Radeon R7 SSDs will read and write data at speeds which vary from one model to the next. The R7 drives comes in three capacities: 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB. The 120GB unit reads and writes data at speeds of 550MBps, and 470MBps, respectively. The 240GB and 480GB R7 drives read at the same speed as the 120GB flavor, but they both sport a speedier write speed of 530MBps.

Related: How to install an SSD in your laptop

The AMD Radeon R7 SSDs start at $99.99 for the 120GB unit. That’s a bit more expensive than SanDisk’s new Ultra II drives, which will be out next month. The 120GB model of that line costs $79.99; a difference of $20.

Topics

AMD

Konrad Krawczyk

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…

Computing

How to check how much RAM you have on Windows and Mac

RAM installed in slots.

You can only know if you have enough RAM, if you know how to check how much you have. Fortunately, doing so is super quick and easy and then you can decide whether you want to upgrade your memory -- here's how to choose new memory sticks -- or whether you have enough for what you need to do.

You certainly don't need to buy more or new RAM just for the sake of it, and if you have enough for what you need, more memory won't make much difference anyway.

Computing

The real reason so many laptops have moved to soldered RAM

The Intel 12th-gen Mainboard upgrade for the Framework Laptop.

The completely redesigned Dell XPS 14 and 16 came out this year as two of the most divisive laptops in recent memory. No, it wasn't just the capacitive touch buttons or invisible trackpad that caused an uproar -- it also moved to soldered RAM. This was a big change from the past, where the XPS 15 and 17 were both celebrated for their upgradability.

Of course, Dell isn't the first to make the transition. In fact, they're one of the last, which is what makes the decision so much tougher to swallow. Where soldered RAM was previously limited to just MacBooks and ultrabooks, it's now affecting most high-performance laptops for gaming as well. Even the fantastic ROG Zephyrus G14 moved to soldered memory this year.

Computing

How to check the storage space on your Mac

The About This Mac window showing storage usage, alongside a window offering suggestions on how to save storage spce in MacOS Monterey.

Upgrading storage on your Mac isn't always easy, or even possible, so knowing how much storage space you have, and how to free up more, is a great idea. Often when you buy a Mac, that's the storage you're stuck with -- although external drives and cloud storage are always an option.

Luckily, checking your available storage -- and then freeing up space for the things you want to keep -- is very easy to do. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of checking your Mac’s storage space, then show you a few quick ways of clearing out the junk you no longer need.