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Samsung SSD 840 Pro caters to speed seekers with faster random access
It's difficult to thrive in the solid-state drive world. Unless you've got just the right controller and flash memory, most performance-minded PC users will rarely give you a second glance. Samsung muscled its way into that narrow view with the SSD 830 last year; it intends to lock our attention with the new SSD 840 and SSD 840 Pro. The Pro's 520MB/s and 450MB/s sequential read and write speeds are only modest bumps over the 830, but they don't tell the whole story of just how fast it gets. The upgraded MDX controller boosts the random read access to a nicely rounded 100,000IOPS, and random writes have more than doubled to 78,000IOPS or 90,000IOPS, depending on who you ask and what drive you use. The improved performance in either direction is a useful boost to on-the-ground performance, as both AnandTech and Storage Review will tell you. We're waiting on details of the ordinary triple level cell-based 840 model beyond its 120GB, 250GB and 500GB capacities, although there won't be an enormous premium for the multi-level cell 840 Pro over existing drives when it arrives in mid-October -- the flagship line should start at $100 for a basic 64GB drive, and peak at $600 for the ultimate 512GB version.
Kingmax intros speedy, SandForce-packing SATA III Client Pro SSD
Kingmax is known for pushing the limits now and then with its flash storage, so we're intrigued when it puts out a high-end solid-state drive for the mainstream. Its new SATA III Client Pro SSD lives up to that bill with the combination of a SandForce controller and faster flash memory that can reach some heady speeds for gamers and simple speed freaks alike. With the right drive and ideal conditions, we're looking at a brisk 550MB/s for sequential reads, 520MB/s for similarly ordered writes and a very capable 85,000 IOPS when writing at random. Kingmax isn't directly providing prices or release details, but it's offering capacities from 60GB to 480GB as well both laptop-focused (SMU32) and desktop-friendly (SMU35) kits. The Client Pro-inclined can find the full nuts-and-bolts details after the break.
Corsair unveils Performance Pro Series SSDs, loads 'em with 6Gb/s Marvell controllers
SandForce-equipped SSDs are seemingly all the rage nowadays, but lest we forget that others, like Marvell, have some peppy controllers of their own. Step up Corsair, who's just announced its new Marvell-equipped line of SATA 3 Performance Pro Series 6Gb/s SSDs. These 2.5-inch storage slabs can achieve 515 MB/s read and 440 MB/s sequential write speeds, and sports a TRIM-like "built-in advanced background garbage collection," which company deems helpful for RAID setups. Notably, desktop users will be pleased to know that the drives will mount into 3.5-inch slots via an included adapter. If you're interested, $280 will snag you a 128GB version, while $530 doubles the capacity to 256GB. You'll find more details in the press release past the break.
Dell jams a terabyte of SATA3 SSD storage into Precision M6600 laptop
Dell is tweaking some of the options offered on its Precision M6600 and M4600 mobile workstations. You can now choose to add 512GB SATA3 SSD drives and (in the case of the M6600) a 4GB NVIDIA Quadro 5010M card. The interesting thing though, is that the 6600 has space for three drives: two full size and one mini-card slot. That means you could outfit this 17.3-inch beast with a pair of 512GB SSDs and one 128GB SSD, for a grand total of 1.1TB of solid state storage. Of course, with each half-terabyte drive adding a whopping $1,120 to the price of this professional lappy it's not exactly for those on a budget. But, we wouldn't be shocked to see this trickle down to high-end, portable gaming rigs (we're looking at you Alienware) relatively soon.
SATA-IO outs new SATA Express and Embedded SSD standards, acronyms abound
It's a big day for SATA-IO, as the organization has just announced not one, but two new SATA standards. The first of these, the SATA Express specification, gets the latter half of its name from the 'e' in PCIe, as it will allow current SATA standards to piggyback on the PCIe interface, boosting speeds to 8Gbps and 16Gbps, up from the current 6Gbps. SATA Express is expected to make its official debut later this year. SATA µSSD, on the other hand, is currently ready to go, and already implemented in SanDisk's iSSD embedded drive. It ditches the module connector from the old interface, allowing OEMs to stack single-chip drives right on the motherboard. A plethora of SATA-related press releases awaits you after the break -- if you're into that sort of thing.
RunCore outs T50 6Gb/s mSATA SSD, SandForce speeds included
It's finally here: a 6Gb/s mSATA SSD, rocking those highly coveted SandForce speeds. RunCore's new T50 series offers maximum sequential reads of 550 MB/s and writes of 470 MB/s, with the help of SandForce's SF-2281 controller (formerly relegated to the big boys). The little guy's being marketed for high-end portables and offers 60GB for $198 or 120GB for $358. The outfit's also touting the new I50 line, serving up more modest 280 MB/s reads and 270 MB/s writes based on SATA 3Gb/s. The I50's targeted at tablets and laptops, and ranges from $178 for 60GB to $308 for 120GB. We'll hold our final judgement for when we see these things hit the market in late July -- until then, you can peep the full PR after the break.
Corsair Force Series 3 SSDs: SandForce speed for modest money
Solid-state storage aficionados are well-versed in the virtues of SandForce controllers, and Corsair's new Force Series 3 drives pack a fresh version of the technology. Like the firm's Force GT, Series 3 delivers data using SATA III 6Gbps connections, but uses a newfangled SandForce SF-2281 controller to shoot your info to and fro at up to 550 MBps read and 520 MBps write speeds. The SSDs also perform 85,000 IOPS, which makes the 60,000 IOPS from similarly-priced offerings from OCZ look downright dilatory in comparison. Prices are $139 for 60GB, $219 for 120GB, and $499 for the 240GB version, so they still aren't cheap, but it's a small price to pay to dodge the dangers of disk-based storage.
Plextor M2 line of SATA III-packing SSDs available now
We just received word from the fine folks at Plextor that the M2 series SATA 6Gb/s SSDs (that we saw yesterday with their European designation, M2S) are available now for stateside purchase. Just like their old world counterparts, these bad boys rock a Marvell 88SS9174 controller and boast sequential read rates up to 480MB/s and sequential write rate up to 330MB/s. Available now in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB capacities for $180, $330, and $700 respectively. PR after the break.
Plextor announces the M2S line of SATA III-packing, 480MB/s SSDs
Plextor's invasion of the SSD space continues unabated with the announcement today of the new M2S series drives. These 2.5-inch internal drives feature a SATA III 6Gb/s interface for read speeds up to 480MB/s, 128MB DDR3 cache, and are available in one of three denominations: 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB. And you know how you were just saying how much you love Acronis True Image software? Well, they come with it! Look for 'em in Europe and the UK in March, with further availability and pricing to be announced. PR after the break.
Thermaltake's Max 5G dual-fan USB 3.0 HDD enclosure cools your platters with style
We know what you were thinking: my external hard drive enclosure is nice and all, but why is it so quiet? Well, Thermaltake is here to fix that with its new Max 5G dual-fan enclosure. Outside the fans and the fancy LED lights (which can be switched off, if you're feeling unextreme one particular morning), the enclosure is pretty great itself, with a smokin' USB 3.0 plug and support for high-end 3.5-inch SATA 3.0 drives. The fans are to promote long life on your hard drive and "data integrity" and all that, but pretty much they just say to your SATA drive: "I care." And isn't that all that matters? The enclosure is available for pre-order right now for $52, no word on release.
