SandforceSf-1500
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SandForce makes SSDs cheaper, faster, more reliable -- just how IBM likes it
We've been covering the progression of SandForce for over a year now, creator of smart SSD processors that extend the life of flash storage by better spreading writes across them, boosting performance and reliability along the way. This, according to the company, makes them reliable enough for enterprise use, and IBM has added its vote of support, configuring a 9189 Power 780 server with 56 177GB SSDs (10.5TB in all) sitting behind SandForce's SF-1500 processor. That combination, when running the TPC-C benchmark, delivered a performance of 150,000 transactions per minute per CPU core. That's 50 percent higher (per-core) than other entries in the TPC-C benchmark -- and considerably cheaper, too. IBM's configuration is set to be available around October of this year, perhaps ushering in a new era of the platter-free enterprise.
OCZ's Vertex Limited Edition SSD: $399 for best-in-class write speeds, only 5,000 available
Here's an interesting one. OCZ is essentially retailing the never-made-it-to-market Vertex 2 Pro as the Vertex Limited Edition. It runs the SandForce SF-1500 controller, which the Vertex 2 Pro put to such stunning good use in its prototype form, but unfortunately that controller proved to complex and costly for OCZ to mass retail the drive. Instead it's offering the Vertex Limited Edition, 5,000 drives sporting the superfast controller. The drives come in 100GB ($399) and 200GB ($829) flavors, and once they're gone they're gone. It's a better performing drive (particularly on writes) than the similarly priced Intel X25-M G2, but unfortunately the limited quantity isn't the only thing to worry about: there were some issues of failing drives with the Vertex 2 Pro. Only time will tell as to how well the supposedly-improved firmware of the Vertex Limited Edition will hold up, but all 5,000 might be sold by the time some serious reliability testing can be performed. We supposed that's just part and parcel with life in the fast lane.
Super Talent adds SandForce controller to new TeraDrive SSDs
All we ever hear of that SandForce SF-1500 controller seems to be about how wickedly fast it is, so we'd be remiss not to inform you that it's found another home -- this time inside Super Talent's new enterprise-class SSD line. Branded as TeraDrive FT2, these drives will range from 50GB to 400GB on MLC NAND flash, or up to 200GB on the even nicer SLC-based stuff. The only hurdle in all this glory is that the hardware seems destined primarily for non-consumer markets, with OEMs getting samples now and expecting volume deliveries by the end of this quarter. Then again, if you really can't wait for these to filter through in consumer machines, we're sure OCZ and RunCore will be more than happy to sell you some of their own silly fast SandForce-infused gear.
OCZ Vertex 2 Pro SSD previewed: awesome, and could do with some 6Gbps SATA love
Speedy SSDs might still be a pipe dream for most of us, but at least picking a top brand isn't a challenge. OCZ would no doubt be a popular choice, and SandForce has just made it easier with its debut SSD controller, SF-1500, to be featured on the forthcoming Vertex 2 Pro SSD. Our friends at AnandTech managed to harvest some jaw-dropping results out of their 100GB prototype -- most notably, the drive topped the charts with 2MB sequential performances at around 260MB/s (which is "virtually bound by 3Gbps SATA"), as well as a 50.9MB/s 4KB random write rate. SandForce dubs the magic behind these results DuraWrite, which is likened to real-time compression on the drive thus saving a significant number of write cycles. No prices announced yet, but hey, do we even care any more?
