Silicon Power Goes Gaming: Unleashing XPower Turbine RGB Memory & SSDs
by Anton Shilov on June 24, 2019 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- SSDs
- Memory
- Trade Shows
- Phison
- Silicon Power
- Computex 2019
Silicon Power is best known for its reasonably-priced storage devices as well as various accessories for PCs and smartphones. But in an attempt to grow further, the company recently decided to enter the market for gaming PC components. Last year the company unveiled its first enthusiast-class memory modules, and this year it is unleashing its RGB-adorned XPower Turbine RGB family of DIMMs and SSDs for gamers.
Silicon Power’s XPower Turbine RGB DIMMs come in 16 GB and 32 GB dual-channel kits. Specification wise, these modules use 10-layer PCBs and offer the same speed bins, latency, and voltage settings as the original XPower DIMMs launched last October: DDR4-2666 CL16, DDR4-3200 CL16, DDR4-3600 CL19, and DDR4-4133 CL19 at up to 1.4 V. As the brand name suggests, the key difference between the new modules and their predecessors are addressable RGB LEDs, which can be controlled using software from the major motherboard makers (ASUS, ASRock, GIGABYTE, MSI).
The XPower Turbine RGB DIMMs look rather impressive in person, but I wish Silicon Power offered higher speed bins with its RGB-enabled memory just to provide further differentiation with the regular XPower-branded memory as these are premium products after all.
Another product in the XPower Turbine family is the XPower Turbine P34A80 RGB SSD. These drive family is based on Phison’s PS5012-E12 controller and offers sequential read speeds up to 3.2 GB/s as well as write speeds up to 3 GB/s. The product is based on one of Phison’s turnkey designs, but featuring Silicon Power’s PCB with RGB LEDs. At this point the drives are still in development, so its final look will most probably differ from what the supplier demonstrated at Computex.
Silicon Power's DIMMs and SSDs for Gamers and Enthusiasts | |||||
Capacity | Performance | Features | |||
XPower AirCool Memory | 16 GB dual-channel 32 GB dual-channel |
DDR4-2666 CL16 DDR4-3200 CL16 DDR4-3600 CL19 DDR4-4133 CL19 |
Air Cooling | ||
XPower Turbine Memory | Aluminum heatspreader | ||||
XPower Turbine RGB Memory | Aluminum heatspreader with RGB LEDs | ||||
XPower Turbine PA34A80 RGB SSD | 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB 2 TB |
Reads: 3.2 GB/s Writes: 3 GB/s |
M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe 1.3 Phison PS5012-E12 RGB LEDs 5-year warranty |
One thing to point out about the XPower Turbine initiative as a whole is that as the company intends for them to be premium gaming products – meaning they're focusing on performance and quality, but they also aren't going to be sold at cutthroat prices. Instead, it's part of a a step-by-step approach of the company, gradually expanding the lineup and building up the brand.
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17 Comments
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Dizoja86 - Tuesday, June 25, 2019 - link
There are tons of options without RGB. I've never had an issue doing PC builds without RGB. It's really not forced on anyone.brakdoo - Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - link
Yeah, just look at new cases this year and say that again. You barely have any good new non-RGB / non-windowed / non-meshed cases. Most of those are either super cheap business PC cases (where nobody cares how they look) or super expensive cases. The middle segment is lost to "gamers".Even companies like Lian Li or Fractal Design offer less and less non-gaming cases.
Arbie - Monday, June 24, 2019 - link
How is RGB bling a "gaming" element? It has nothing whatsoever to do with playing computer games.I get that PC enthusiasts can generally be sold anything under the "gaming" label, but Anandtech shouldn't mindlessly buy into it too. Instead, you should be making this same point.
LordSojar - Tuesday, June 25, 2019 - link
That's not how colloquialisms work sir. Once they become part of the standard vernacular, it's the standard operating procedure to reference them as a material aspect of a given category or concept."Gaming" refers to a lot of things in society, to various different people. RGB is also just a choice to enable or not. You do understand that it costs them less to manufacture RGB-based tech and add it to their product lines than it costs to split the product lines, etc.
Do you know what else doesn't have anything to do with playing computer games directly? Ascetics as a whole! See below for other examples:
1. LED keyboards
2. Any design or coloration on a case
3. Any cooling beyond stock/cheapest air
4. Any case lights
5. Monitor designs being anything other than a box with light (the panel is all that matters)
6. Any material other than plastic in a case
Just because YOU feel like it's not part of gaming and vernacular surrounding it doesn't make that true. Your opinion isn't a fact, nor is it a basis of determining the wants or needs of others. This argument is getting older than RGB on everything. At least RGB can be shut off; unfortunately, people complaining about RGB don't have said off-switch.
Diji1 - Tuesday, June 25, 2019 - link
Thank you Captain Obvious.Arbie - Tuesday, June 25, 2019 - link
Just because YOU feel like it's a part of gaming and vernacular surrounding it doesn't make that true.And your reading comprehension could be improved. I didn't complain about the RGB being present. I complained about marketing that aspect of the product as an adjunct to gaming. I game pretty steadily without the slightest concern about how my PC case appears. And, as a computer gamer, I'm offended by the inference that because of that I will automatically value bling. You, apparently, don't mind being packaged, talked down to, and sold. But I think we need to draw the line somewhere. Hence the complaint.
PeachNCream - Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - link
Hmm, those look like stupid products.