Cherryville - SSD 520

[some_one]

I saw the original photo 10 months ago. It is SF2281 ES and JS29F32B08JCME2 ES.

10 months from ES and still not ready.

How long would it normally take for a product to go from ES to retail?

[Smartidiot89]

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.

You really are after to discredit me, aren't you? It's not someone I speak with on a regular basis, I was only told about the controller and work on the firmware and I didn't bother to ask more since it's someone I respect very much. If you are after to discredit me - take it by PM. I will not give out any granular details in an open forum thread that could reveal the persons identity.

EDIT: On the other hand I am not in the mood so just forget everything I said and move along, it's probably all just wrong precisely like you want it to be This will be the last thread I visit when more information on Cherryville comes up. Why I and my patience even bothered with you is also a mystery.

[johnw]

You really are after to discredit me, aren't you? It's not someone I speak with on a regular basis, I was only told about the controller and work on the firmware and I didn't bother to ask more since it's someone I respect very much. If you are after to discredit me - take it by PM.

No need to get excited. Strong statements ("confirmed") require solid evidence. I am not trying to "discredit" you, but rather trying to determine if there is any solid evidence to back up your strong statements. So far, I am not convinced.

[Ao1]

Below are the specs for an OCZ SF drive. I have cherry picked the fastest performance available over the spectrum of different capacity drives.

OCZ SF
0 fill:

Max Read: 550MB/s
Max Write: 520MB/s
Random Read 4KB: 50K IOPS
Random Write: 4KB: 50K IOPS (Logical Block Address (LBA) range: 85% of total drive capacity)
Random Write: 4KB: 85K IOPS (Logical Block Address (LBA) range: 8GB)

Non compressible (AS-SSD; 64 thread for 4K specs):

Max Read: 510MB/s
Max Write: 280MB/s
Random Read 4KB: 56K IOPS
Random Write: 4KB: 56K IOPS

Here are the specs for the 520 (from Anvils post #35). Again I have cherry picked the fastest specs. It is unclear how Intel established their specs, but I think they typically use a 8GB LBA range.

Intel 520

• Max Read: 550 MB/s
• Max Write: 520 MB/s
• Read IOPS: up to 85K
• Random Write 4KB: 70K

So capacities match, as do sequential speeds, but the 520 read IOPs are significantly higher. Write IOPS on the other hand are lower.


The other thing that Intel state on the pdf that Anvil linked is that:

“IOPs and endurance specifications are for client-based workloads”.

It would be a bit disingenuous of Intel to base their specs on 0 fill and then say the IOPS and endurance specs are based on client-based works loads, so based on specs only I’m not convinced yet, although there does appear to be an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence that it will be SF based. Guess we will soon see.

[bluestang]

Also, don't you think the SF bug would have been fixed along time ago if Intel was involved at all with the FW.

I mean, SF (and their parteners in crime) pretty much tried to basically blamed it on the Intel chipset.

[Hopalong X]

I always figured the 520 would have a Micron controller.
Something similar to what the Crucial m4 uses.

Seems plausible with all the close work they have been doing together on other projects.

[Anvil]

^
I expect you are thinking of the Marvell controller used on the m4/C300 etc.
(Micron does not currently offer an SSD controller for the masses)

There really is not much point in speculating, it can't be anything other than the SandForce-2XXX controller, even the delays point in that direction.

I was hoping for a release this year or some sneak preview, but...

[Hopalong X]

^
I expect you are thinking of the Marvell controller used on the m4/C300 etc.
(Micron does not currently offer an SSD controller for the masses)

There really is not much point in speculating, it can't be anything other than the SandForce-2XXX controller, even the delays point in that direction.

I was hoping for a release this year or some sneak preview, but...

That was the one I was refering to.

I know I read the Marvell was in the m4 on the endurance thread but had forgotten. My bad.
Thanks

[some_one]

Also, don't you think the SF bug would have been fixed along time ago if Intel was involved at all with the FW.

IMHO I would think with an excessive amount of time and money involved in holding up production without a reasonably quick fix then Intel might have looked for a different solution. Maybe the problem was not confined to just firmware, who knows.

I would also like to think Intel would not use figures based on unreal world performance, i.e. highly compressible data such as 0-fill for example used with a controller that uses compression, but perhaps I'm just being naive.

[Anvil]

CES
Quoted from legitreview

"Intel went on to say that it took a rather long period of time to bring the Intel SSD 520 to market as they had to validate it and make sure it was perfected. The drive will have an Intel written firmware that blends together reliability, functionality and performance. This means you get the longer than the industry average 5-year warranty, access to Intel Toolbox utility and other utilities to make life with an SSD easy. "

[Ao1]

The article can be found here:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1814/1/

Here it is in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx52qOgiP54

[Anvil]

Thanks for the links
(the forum editor is not iPad friendly and so putting in links is a pain)

[Nizzen]

Intel had a side-by-side demo of their next generation SSD up against a 10,000 RPM hard drive.

That is so 80's!

[johnw]

The article can be found here:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1814/1/

Thanks for the link.

But, ARGHHHHHHHH!

Intel confirmed that this is an upcoming drive that will be out shortly that uses a third party controller. This confirms rumors that we heard at this show last year and that Intel really is bringing a SandForce Driven processor by LSI into their flagship SSD.

No! If all the Intel representative said was that it uses a "third party controller", then no, it does NOT cofirm rumors that Intel is "bringing a SandForce" controlled SSD to market. The Intel 510 uses a third party controller (Marvell).

[Ao1]

I did pick up on that. It's like saying 2 + 2 = 5. Hopefully Comp comes back with some info.

[Ao1]

Thanks for the link.

But, ARGHHHHHHHH!



No! If all the Intel representative said was that it uses a "third party controller", then no, it does NOT cofirm rumors that Intel is "bringing a SandForce" controlled SSD to market. The Intel 510 uses a third party controller (Marvell).

You’ve got to love the internet

http://www.pcper.com/news/General-Te...-look-CES-2012

They (Legit Reviews ) got confirmation that Intel will indeed be using a Sandforce based controller in an upcoming SSD, the 520 Cherryville, which will replace the 510 series.

[Hopalong X]

You’ve got to love the internet

http://www.pcper.com/news/General-Te...-look-CES-2012

They (Legit Reviews ) got confirmation that Intel will indeed be using a Sandforce based controller in an upcoming SSD, the 520 Cherryville, which will replace the 510 series.

We all know there is only one third party controller available on the market so it would have to be SF.
1+1=11 so now we have confirmation.

[Computurd]

gah forum doublepost...then try to delete one it deletes both!

yes they have not officially listed the SF yet.

[Anvil]

The 520 is starting to pop-up in price-lists
(the prices are insane so don't bother looking at them)

Link to prisjakt
I wonder how long before it's removed from that page, no specs, just prices

[Computurd]

review units will be in hand (not mine unfortunately ) on Tuesday. they overnight them monday, public availability soon thereafter.

[Anvil]

I expected they were very close to release

Hopefully the prices will be more competitive than the 510 was.

[Computurd]

well, we both know that wont happen LOL

Les will have the scoop very very quickly. He is waiting with a screwdriver...

[minpayne]

The 520 is starting to pop-up in price-lists
(the prices are insane so don't bother looking at them)

Link to prisjakt
I wonder how long before it's removed from that page, no specs, just prices

Holy banana that 240GB is about £500 GBP if I'm correct about the currency conversion?!

[Anvil]

£520 or $800 based on the current rate for the 240GB
(incl 25% vat)

[Ao1]

Getting all the bugs out of the SF controller obviously didn’t come cheap (sorry could't help it )