2011 SSDs

[bluewhale1]

So with the upcoming ssd drives coming out this year
Intel G3
Sandforce 2000
Crucial C400
Corsair Performance 3 (not sure if this is the same as Crucial C400)
Do most of you have an idea of which drive you plan on getting? I know a lot of you are waiting for benchmarks, reviews, etc etc but what drive do you think you might buy when they are out?

[One_Hertz]

At this point they are all so fast that speed would hardly matter for the overwhelming majority of people. I expect the cheapest one to sell the most.

[sethk]

At this point they are all so fast that speed would hardly matter for the overwhelming majority of people. I expect the cheapest one to sell the most.

You may be right about the cheapest drives selling best, although if 'fast enough' was the goal, XtremeSystems would be a very empty forum. A fully overclocked i3 is probably fast enough, why look at any other CPU. It may be fast enough for the unwashed masses, but us technorati must know, which one is best or which one is truly the fastest (in various scenarios).

Anyways, I would add to the original post that I am sure that there will be an update to Samsung's controller, which is rarely used in aftermarket drives and aftermarket Samsung branded drives (although there a few) to compete with the latest tech and to use the newer, faster NAND chips, toggle mode, etc. that they are making. Here's one of the later models I've seen, but that one is in the SF1200-class of performance, not the SF-2000 class. Typically Samsung is a notch below the fastest drives on the market, but they are quite competitive overall and sometimes show up as good deals.

The Samsung drives are often used as OEM SSDs for Dell, HP, Sony, etc.

[F@32]

Corsair P3 64, 128 and 256Gb is available at newegg. Don't like that performance varies so much with the drive capacity...

[Computurd]

Don't like that performance varies so much with the drive capacity...

yea that sucks. isnt very friendly to cheap UBER raids and such.

i would wait it out for the high performance devices. wait. until SF-2000 and the G3 come out, all bets are off. and the remaining options will be overpriced (c400 and corsairs) until these two come along and keep them honest in regards to pricing.

[Johnny87au]

awaiting the Vertex 3 pro here , Anands mini review looks good just hope the final release is even better

[bro20000]

Corsair P3 64, 128 and 256Gb is available at newegg. Don't like that performance varies so much with the drive capacity...

Only problem with theses drives is the 12k iops abit low!

Have gone for 2 OCZ IBIS 100GB in raid!

[F@32]

Have gone for 2 OCZ IBIS 100GB in raid!

I'm wary of proprietary interfaces... Device + cable + PCIe card. It's messy. 750Mb/s is compressible data speed. Lsi 9260-8i or 9240 and 8 C300 would be my choice.

[bro20000]

Am just waiting for the HDSL raid contoller card to put 2 in raid!

[Computurd]

Am just waiting for the HDSL raid contoller card to put 2 in raid!

you need to post some benches of that please

[bro20000]

I will do am hoping to have it next week! 2x100GB OCZ IBIS in raid!

[Anvil]

At this point they are all so fast that speed would hardly matter for the overwhelming majority of people. I expect the cheapest one to sell the most.

I'd have to agree with 1Hz

For the rest of us, i'd wait another month or two before deciding.

Looks like 25nm transition isn't so straightforward.

[Etihtsarom]

I'm waiting for Sandforce. Thinking 120GB if ~$250. Too much?

[Highendtoys]

TweakTown has an article on the upcoming 2011 SSDs.

I hate to say it but there will also be a new JMicron SSD out this year as well with SATA III. I'm hearing it is suppose to be a high performance part. Maybe the Toshiba enterprise controller is going to make it into a SATA package after all with a JMicron label on it.

[Johnny87au]

TweakTown has an article on the upcoming 2011 SSDs.

I hate to say it but there will also be a new JMicron SSD out this year as well with SATA III. I'm hearing it is suppose to be a high performance part. Maybe the Toshiba enterprise controller is going to make it into a SATA package after all with a JMicron label on it.

Yeh same as the c300 controller, different firmware and complete different ssds.. Performance doesn't look that great though

[odditory]

Unless Crucial gets cost under control with a SF-2200 based offering in a reasonable timeframe (late Q1, early Q2), then sorry to say but 2011 is going to be the year of the Micron C400 and Intel G3. I say that because MSRP $525 for a 100GB Vertex3 Pro with the enterprise-class SF-2582 controller = no go for most people including those with RAID aspirations.

The mysterious absence of any SF-2200 based drives at CES doesn't bode well for a lower tier Vertex 3 offering. Obviously they're having problems with the lower end SF controller, its like SF-1200 all over again.

[-HoNY-]

Plane for 2011:

• JMicron JMF66x: Q2?/2011, SATA 600 + USB 3.0, 430/300 MB/s R/W
• Indilinx Barefoot 2: Q1?/2011, 8ch ×16bit, 430/350 MB/s R/W, SATA 600
• Indilinx Jet Stream: Q1?/2011, 16ch × 16bit, 500/400 MB/s R/W, SATA 600, support Mosaid HLNAND
• Marvell 88FE102* (Indilinx Thunderbolt): Q4/2010, fw by Indilinx, 8ch ×16bit, SATA 600, 400/300 MB/s R/W
• Toshiba Daikoku 4 T9UG4XBG: Q4/2010 (Kingston V+100E?), 16ch × 32bit, 250/180 MB/s
• Toshiba Phoenix-S1 : Q2/2011, enterprise SAS controller, 510/230 MB/s R/W
• Intel PC29AA31AA0??: Postville Refresh (SSD 320 Series = G3), 250/170 MB/s R/W
• Intel EW29AA31AA0: enterprise, 535/500 MB/s, SAS 600

Here is short info about Intel SSD 320 Series (mine blog).

My opinion about OCZ 25nm performance issue.

[Ao1]

So the SSD marked 2MX is what OCZ have been palming off as the Vertex 2?

[Ao1]

HoNY, now I can translate your article I think what you are saying is this:

25nm NAND comes in two flavors:

64Gbit (8GB)
32bit (4GB)

Due to the doubling capacity with 2Xnm NAND OCZ were able to ship drives with 64Gbit (8GB) NAND that gave the same capacity but on half the available channels.

Similar to what Intel did with the X25-V, except Intel could only do it by halving capacity as they had to use 32nm.

The upgrade trade in that OCZ subsequently offered was for an exchange to 2Xnm NAND, but with a 32Gbit die to regain the channels.

I believe there are a few other changes with IMFT 25nm NAND.

An increase in the page size to 8KB, with block sizes upped from 128 pages to 256 pages.

IMFT 25nm ClearNAND incorporates ECC into the NAND chip not the controller. On each ClearNAND device you get a 24-bit BCH ECC engine.

IMFT also supply 25nm raw NAND which does not incorporate ECC into the NAND chip.

SF controllers use RAISE, which I believe takes away usable capacity for data redundancy.

[-HoNY-]

HoNY, now I can translate your article I think what you are saying is this:

...OCZ were able to ship drives with 64Gbit (8GB) NAND that gave the same capacity but on half the available channels.

Or half width bus. I'm not sure.

Similar to what Intel did with the X25-V, except Intel could only do it by halving capacity as they had to use 32nm.

Yes, Intel on 34nm X25-M 80 GB series using 10 pcs 64Gbits MLC chips with 8bit bus (total 10channels 8-bit).
X25-M 160 GB = 20 pcs 8-bit chips, conected to 10 channels with 16-bit bus; all test confirm performance improvment
X25-V 40 GB = 5 chips, 5 channels, 8-bit bus; good read speed, poor write performance

35nm OCZ Vertex 2 = 16 chips 8-bit chips is conected to 8 channels by 16-bit bus
25nm OCZ Vertex = 8 chips 8-bit is conected by 16-bit bus to 4 channels or 8-bit bus to 8 channels (I'm not sure)

I believe there are a few other changes with IMFT 25nm NAND.

An increase in the page size to 8KB, with block sizes upped from 128 pages to 256 pages.

Yes, it's true. IMTF 25nm using 8kB block size. IMTF 34nm using 4kB block size.

See these leaked 25nm datasheet: http://wenku.baidu.com/view/91061cd0...5cc170a20.html

IMFT 25nm ClearNAND incorporates ECC into the NAND chip not the controller. On each ClearNAND device you get a 24-bit BCH ECC engine.

IMFT also supply 25nm raw NAND which does not incorporate ECC into the NAND chip.

SF controllers use RAISE, which I believe takes away usable capacity for data redundancy.

I don't know how to identify IMTF CleaNAND - is this Micron without ClearNAND?

RAISE in SF-2xxx is twice or more faster then SF-1xxx. Main reason:
25nm.jpg

So the SSD marked 2MX is what OCZ have been palming off as the Vertex 2?

New 25nm revision of Vertex 2 looks like as low-end graphic card.

[Computurd]

the funny thing is that lifespan would be a line drawn down the middle, like thus: through increased ECC they gain same lifespan. thats the beauty of it, especially with clearnand. dont underestimate the advancements i hate that chart, where is line for performance? oh i will add that too \

yes there are drawbacks with the scaling, however it is the advancements that mitigate those factors. even with a smaller P/E ratio, these drives should have more longevity. write amplification should be excellent!

[johnw]

-HoNY-:

Thanks for the information on the Intel 320 series, that is interesting.

By the way, Intel-Micron Flash Technologies is abbreviated as IMFT (you had the last two letters consistently reversed).

[Ao1]

HoNY have you come across anything on the 510 model? According to Fud it will be 34nm.

http://www.fudzilla.com/memory/item/...50/300mb/s-r/w

Intel510 codenamed Emcrest

Intel is getting ready to launch two new 34nm 2.5 SSD drives based on its latest 34nm process.

Codename Emcrest will convert to Intel 510 brand that will guarantee up to 450MB read and 300MB/s write speeds. Let’s not forget that these drives are SATA III 6Gb/s compatible. The specification promises up to 20K IOPs at 4KB read and 4K IOPs at 4KB write.

Intel plans to launch these drives in February and the bigger of two is Intel 510 250GB, which is going to sell for $579 at launch. The smaller one is Intel 510 120GB 34nm drive that will debut for $279 in February.

Also the mSATA 310 drives are currently shipping with 34nm. The product number is however stating G2.

[Anvil]

Search for SSDSC2MH250A2K5 or SSDSC2MH120A2K5

[Ao1]

^ Nice one Already listed on e retailers sites. Looks like it is 34nm as well.

Skinflint lists the specs as:

Read: 400MB/s • Write: 200MB/s • Random 4K Read: 20000IOPS • Random 4K Write: 4000IOPS • Cache: not specified • Connector: SATA 6Gb/s • NAND type: MLC • Controller: Intel • Three years warranty

£428 for the 250GB drive.

4launch:

Intel 510 Series
Aansluiting: SATA600
Capaciteit: 250GB
Type geheugen: MLC
Leessnelheid: 450MB/s
Schrijfsnelheid: 300MB/s
IOPS: 20000
Seek time: 0.1ms
Formaat: 2.5"

Price including tax: € 510.50