There are other sites which have confirmed this sometime ago and I've heard it elsewhere, but if you choose not to believe me fine. Launch of these SandForce drives aren't far off now ;) All of the details were in the post you replied too.
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WTF! Are you serious and for real. No one has been able to confirm anything. You actually think Intel would let someone print that.
READ THIS CAREFULLY AND SLOWLY -- Everyone has stated in their articles that it being SF was based on the performance numbers given by Intel.
p.s. -- Darn it, thanks...now I feel like I'm arguing in every post now (that one is for you johnw -- side joke) LOL!
The slides I were referring to showing HET MLC for Cherryville were laughably fake. They were drawn in crayon by a pack of feral Taiwanese pre-schoolers working in a internal-document-forgery sweat shop. Certainly not confirmation of anything, other than the fact that, like me, preschoolers get cranky when they don't get animal crackers and apple juice as an afternoon snack.
The only people who can confirm anything have probably already been assassinated by some kind of Ninja-Cyborg wetwork team bent on silencing people who "know too much about Cherryville".
Here you go, this is before those performance slides were even "leaked" or whatever you'd wanna call it:
http://translate.google.com/translat...fran-sandforce
It has also been confirmed to me, so I am very confident in what I know regarding this ;) If you choose still not to believe me, just wait until the begining of next year from the best confirmation that can be had.
Someone post these photos in our forum about 10 months ago, the original photo show Intel 520 ES use SandForce 2281 ES , NAND: JS29F32B08JCME2 ES.
http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/a...7113336665.jpg
http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/a...7113335844.jpg
Not every ES (engineering sample) will make it to a full retail product, but i'm pretty confident that the 520 will be based on an SF controller.
Custom firmware?
Only in as far as SF allows customization for Sandforce partners.
Intel is quite a "special" partner in this case... They've been working with SandForce for the past 10 months on the firmware. Pure speculation from my side is that this firmware will be Intel exclusive but we shall see. Anyway I have full faith in Intel when it comes to SSD's so perhaps (finally) I can recommend a SF-2281 SSD to people.
If Intel does indeed put their stamp on it, it will be good. Their validation is just supreme. I know they had a snafu with the boards lately, but look how they neutered the X79 as a 'precaution' due to the previous mistake. They arent one to repeat mistakes. [but they ARE venture capitalists that one is new to me :)]
their SSD division is tops...
Agreed. I can't see Intel doing shed loads of validation just to let other SF vendors benefit. SF need a vendor that can validate (and help restore their product name), so it is in their interest to let Intel have special access to the firmware. On the other hand who would buy a SF drive from a different vendor if Intel were offering them. You would have to be insane. Oh the suspense.
Hey when well these new SSDs release? this month? i was at IDF i saw the SSDs but most were older ones. I need a new SSD.
im sure they will have it at CES. believe me that is the first booth i am headed to.
I have no problem sharing it cause it's pretty well known at least here in the Nordics amongst publications, thought it was the same elsewhere :shrug:
All I know is that it will be SandForce-based and that Intel have had their part in making of the firmware, so it's actually a product worth buying (not buggy, buggy) compared to other SF-2281 SSD's. 60, 120, 180, 240 and 480 GB parts will be available, and afaik there is no exact date for release yet except for Q1 2012 is the goal - just like you said. I've only been assured that they won't release something bad to the market when I asked about the firmware.
IMO, these SSD's will be so damn worth it. I don't know the pricings but I would only expect them to be competitive and with what I hope is a SF-2281 controller as bug-free as possible.
I read a translation of the blurb from your link. Maybe it loses something in the translation, but that is not even close to a confirmation:
"Now it appears that Intel gets help from a not so expected direction. According to documents Sweclockers noted the 520-series contains a controller chip from SandForce,"
According to documents? What documents? From where? How are these documents known to be genuine?
Now, if you have the information from someone who you are sure has inside information (but you cannot reveal that person's identity), then just say so. Otherwise, you are just repeating rumors and speculation.
By the way, my best guess is that Intel will be using a controller that uses compression, and the only controller that I know of that currently uses compression is Sandforce. But that is just a guess. I certainly do not claim to have any "confirmation", and I would not be surprised either way (520 with or without Sandforce).
I've even said in detail how long they've been working with SF on this firmware, so I thought it was obvious. Yes I've been speaking with someone about this, and is very sure about what that person told me is correct. Otherwise why would I present something as facts if I was not 100% sure of it?
I don't know. Why would you claim to have some vague confirmation in so many posts and only just now state clearly that you heard it from someone with inside information? But don't answer, I don't really care.
Does your source know if the 520 series will have power-loss protection features? If it is using Sandforce, I guess the controller will still have supercapacitor support. But Intel prefers multiple conventional capacitors (in the 320, at least) rather than a single, expensive supercapacitor.
I stated it now cause you asked for it... Saying I heard it from a "source" or "inside information" the next obvious question that will be asked is "who?" which I obviously can't answer, so I don't see the point in starting a discussion or forum post with that.
No idea, only that SandForce and custom firmware will be used. But it was hinted Intel had more in store then the other companies using SF-2281. Considering it is Intel I would assume there is a power-less feature but that's nothing I've heard of.
How can your inside source not know that? If he knows what controller Intel is using, and how long they have been working on the Sandforce firmware, it would seem he should know about power-loss protection. Maybe your source is not as reliable as you would have us believe.
I saw the original photo 10 months ago. It is SF2281 ES and JS29F32B08JCME2 ES.
We blurred out the controller because it is Intel confident, we don't want make trouble.
I am not sure Intel will still use SandForce or not, but check the marketing number show they didn't change the controller.