Archive for: solid state
- February 21, 2011 5:20 pm
As February rolls into March, the PC enthusiast sector is primed and ready for a slew of new hardware, with the most exciting being a slew of next gen SSDs from leading manufacturers. While OCZ’s Vertex 3 Pro may be the speed demon according to early previews, Intel in particular has something very interesting lurking within their new 510 series as well.
If you know anything about Intel’s current line of SSDs, you know that compared to other higher end SSDs, performance isn’t exactly mind blowing — the average read speeds of ~170MB/s and writes at just south of ~100MB/s don’t exactly “scream”. But Intel’s next gen 510 series of high-end/enthusiast SSDs look to change that, boasting speeds of 430/315 MB/s read/write respectively. That’s quite a bit faster than the current C300 series of SSDs by Crucial (fastest SATA III SSD available at the moment) which tip the scales at 355/145 MB/s.
But before you go lunging for the wallet, take a gander at prices first:
Not exactly cheap, though pretty close to current gen pricing. Looks like the fastest 120GB SSD you can by will still sit squarely at ~$300. For those looking for a price break, there’s always next year. According to VR-Zone’s sources, we’re looking at a March 1st release date. Will you be partaking?
Today, Corsair took the wraps off of their latest range of high performance SSDs. Dubbed the “F90″ and “F180″, the two drives feature capacities of 90GB and 180GB. Read/write speeds are rated at 285MB/s and 275MB/s respectively, while random 4K writes are claimed to top 50,000 IOPs. PC enthusiasts will be pleased to know that these new drives make use of the latest Corsair SF-1200 controller which has already proven to be very quick.
Combined with the previously released 40GB and 240GB Force Series SSDs, Corsair now has spread of options for any budget or need. Speaking of which, the new 90GB F-Series SSD has a price tag of $189 while the 180GB retails for $399. On that note, the 180GB drive seems a bit high to us. But you know how it goes — you get what you pay for. And as we’ve seen thus far (Google benchmarks), Corsair has already proven to back up their prices with heaping amounts of performance.
Anyone hold off on the 40GB or 240GB drives for something a bit more “middle of the road”?
It’s no secret that if speed and performance are priority #1 in your computer, an SSD is one of the first things to consider. While traditional HDD’s can compete with lower end SSD’s in regards to raw transfer speeds, when it comes to random I/O and access times, HDD’s don’t stand a chance. With 2.5″ SSD prices finally settling into a comfortable range for more mainstream users, the next hotbed of activity looks to be on the 1.8″ front.
Foremay, a reputable computer hardware manufacturer specializing in flash memory-based storage has a new 1.8″ drive that screams — literally. Featuring 280MB/s read/write speeds and 4kB IOPS of 30,000/15,000 (read/write), speed is clearly the name of the game. But even more impressive for a drive of this size is the 400GB max capacity. All of this will be available in the company’s SC199 and EC188 series product lines.
As for price, we don’t know it yet. But even forgetting the usual harbinger of cash loss — sheer storage space — these drives already have a few dollar signs placed on their head. Speeds approaching 300MB/s aren’t cheap. Tack on a potential to have 400GB of 1 and 0 holding space and you’ve got the recipe for a bank buster.
With that said, have you taken the SSD jump yet, or are you still holding onto those spinning platters?
Another nail is being pound into the traditional platter-based, spinning hard drive’s dominance. OCZ, popular computer hardware manufacturer, is planning to open a new plant dedicated solely to pumping out high quality solid state hard drives. In doing this, OCZ will effectively triple their SSD output from the current ~50,000 units per month to more than 140,000.
That’s good for a two main reasons. (1) We the consumer will have more options when it comes to SSD and (2) it will help drive down the cost of SSDs. The latter point is the big win for me. I simply have too much media, which would make a transition to SSD an extremely costly one. Once SSD’s hit the ~$250 range for 500GB or more, then I’ll bite. Until then, it’s old school for me.
As we sit here watching traditional HDD’s climb to 3TB and beyond, the homefront for SSD’s is a bit more…homely. While a few manufacturers have outed some pretty massive (by SSD standards) 512GB drives, they’re not exactly lightening quick nor cheap. But the technology is improving with each passing day and dropping in price.
PNY is looking to add some more fuel to the fire with some new offerings in their Optima SSD line. The new drives feature either 64GB or 128GB of MLC memory in svelte 2.5″ sizes. Further specs include USB 2.0, SATA 3.0 Gbps, a JMicron controller, 64MB buffer, and TRIM support.
At $192 (64GB) and $359 (128GB), they’re not exactly “cheap” for the amount of storage you’re receiving nor are they the fastest SSD’s we’ve seen. Speaking of speeds, PNY says the 64GB model will push 220/100MB read/write speeds while the more capacious 128gigger will sail a little faster at 235/150MB read/write.
For those teetering on the fence, do PNY’s new Optima drives strike the perfect balance between price and performance?
When Seagate introduced the HybridXT hard drive a few weeks ago, it seemed like previous failures were finally being corrected and that all the bugs of the HDD/SSD co-mingling had been sorted out. A new in-depth analysis by The TechReport is coming up with data that is actually contrary to that belief however.
Namely, higher price and many areas in which the XT’s performance fallls below that of drives $40+ cheaper isn’t a good way to win people over…
SSD’s have come a long way since “back in the day”. From measly single-digit storage capacities unfairly matched with astronomic prices to half a terabyte capacities for a fraction of the cost. Of course, half a terabyte in SSD’s is still going to cost you a pretty penny compared to current HDD models.
Speaking of that half a terabyte claim, OCZ has taken the wraps off of two new options in their Vertex 2 and Agility 2 SSD lines. If speed is number one, capacity has to come in a close second. Finally — Finally! — we can have some super fast and capacious solid state storage to the tune of 400GB or 480GB.
Prices haven’t been revealed yet, but at 240MB/s read and 250MB/s write speeds and taking into account the aforementioned storage sizes can only mean one of your children must pay the price…
Which one will it be?
- February 17, 2010 11:28 am
SSD hard drives are great and all, but there’s still one big roadblock as far as ultimate speed is concerned. Some of the high-end SSD’s easily eclipse the throughput that USB 2.0 can muster. Kind of negates the point of an SSD now doesn’t it? Thankfully, speed have a crutch to fall back on by way of Active Media Products’ “Aviator-2 USB 3.0 SSD. Available in 64GB and 128GB capacities, expect to hit 230MB read times for both and 130/120 MB/s write times for the 64GB and 128GB variants respectively.
They won’t win any speed contests, but the 64GB option at $260 is at least somewhat reasonable. But if you must have more, the 128GB will set you back a fair amount more, to the tune of $450. Still interested?
GadgetVenue
- February 4, 2010 10:20 am
Want a gadget to nominate in the “gadget/invention of the year” award? Look no further than the HDDBOOST. It’s a super simple concept: a small box that has SATA connections for SSD and traditional spinning drives. The beauty of it is that the SSD you plug in (32GB recommended) acts as a big buffer to the slower, spinning hard drive, allowing you to only access the old giant when you need to directly access files.
The pro’s are of course added system speed in general computing tasks thanks to the SSD but at a more affordable price thanks to cheap spinning hard drive storage. The cons are the validity of the 150% speed increase claim seeing as there isn’t any software based optimization. It’s nothing more than an automatic copy of the most used files. Is 150% really obtainable? The other “aw bummer” moment is the Japan only availability for the time being.
Look on the bright side though, it’s only $55 so what do you have to lose?
Gizmodo > Hexus
