Daily Tech News 27 August 2021

• Western Digital has confirmed that it swapped the flash in the Blue SN550 SSD for cheaper parts. (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Under continuous write load performance eventually drops to 390MB/s, where the original model had a baseline of 610MB/s. It's not terrible but... If you're just playing games and doing regular office tasks, you won't notice at all. You'd only see it if you're doing things like editing video or high-resolution camera raws.
  
  In which case, buy a Samsung 970 Evo Plus.
  
  
  
• Even Samsung was caught in the act. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  They quietly replaced the controller in their well-regarded 970 Evo Plus range with a newer and better one. The new version is 10% slower in one test - unqueued sequential reads - but as much as 50% faster on random reads.

• AMD's mid-gen upgrade Milan-X server CPUs have broken cover with a list price of $10,746.99. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  That's for the new top of the line 64 core part, now with 768MB of L3 cache instead of 256MB. The existing version costs $9424.99 so it's not that much of a markup.
  
  Desktop versions with the new and larger cache - and an average 15% better gaming performance - are expected by the end of the year.
  
  
  
• Zen 3 Threadrippers are also starting to leak out. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Zen 3 arrived on the desktop last year, and is already out for servers and laptops, but the workstation lineup has been stuck on Zen 2. Threadripper is expected to be updated in November and Threadripper Pro by February.
  
  Though Zen 3+ and Zen 4 are both expected next year, which will put workstation users behind the curve again.
  
  
  
• Apple appears to have weaseled its way out of a class action suit over their App Store restrictions. (Axios)
  
  They don't appear to have given up much at all. Developers will now be permitted to email their uses about payment options other than Apple, and Apple won't deliberately cheat the search results.
  
  And those are the highlights of the deal.
  
  
  
• There's a big bad bug in Synology networking gear. (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Ugh.
  
  
  
• Moderators of some of the largest forums on Reddit demanded that the site do more to clamp down on free speech. Reddit said no. (Motherboard)

  Dissent is a part of Reddit and the foundation of democracy. Reddit is a place for open and authentic discussion and debate. This includes conversations that question or disagree with popular consensus. This includes conversations that criticize those that disagree with the majority opinion. This includes protests that criticize or object to our decisions on which communities to ban from the platform.

  Reddit isn't quite Big Tech but it's no longer a plucky little startup, and even this mild defense of free speech is good to see.
  
  Motherboard - owned by those shitheads at Vice - is of course deeply offended.

posted by Pixy Misa at 05:06 AM

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