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SSD shootout, round III: OCZ, Corsair and PhotoFast butt heads
Like clockwork, we've stumbled upon yet another updated SSD shootout almost a year to the day since the last one, and nearly two years since the first. Since 2008, we've seen OCZ introduce a new "garbage collection" algorithm for its Vertex Series 120GB SSD, Corsair introduce its P64 and PhotoFast make waves with its supposedly speedy G-Monster-V5. The benchmarking gurus over at HotHardware had the patience to sit 'em all down and break out the rulers, and the long and short of it is this: the Vertex Turbo and G-Monster V5 bested the Corsair, with the PhotoFast drive in particular showing remarkably strong performance in read / write tests. Of course, all of the units were quite a bit quicker than traditional HDDs, but the folks at HH maintained that SSD pricing is still way out of reach for many consumers. But hey, if you've got the means to lay down $3 per gigabyte, feel free to tap that read link and ingest.
OCZ's Indilinx-based Solid 2 SSDs bring MLC NAND to the masses
Indilinx controllers are widely viewed as some of the best in the industry, and while most SSD manufacturers don't have any issues charging a few arms and a leg for the privilege of ownership, OCZ Technology is hoping to bring the charm and pizazz of said controller to the general populace. The firm's newest SSD range, the Solid 2 crew, is comprised of just two models to start: the 60 (64GB) and the 120 (128GB). Designed to fit into 2.5-inch laptop spaces, these "mainstream" SSDs offer up 125MBps read rates and 100MBps write rates, not to mention 64MB of onboard cache and "unique performance optimizations to keep the drives at peak performance." We're guessing that it's referring to that oh-so-endearing garbage cleanup system we heard about earlier in the week, but don't say you heard from us. Oh, and if you're curious about whether or not these are actually priced for Joe Six Pack, it looks like you'll have to ping your favorite flash dealer to find out.
Indilinx firmware cleans dirty SSDs, restores performance while idle
You know those quirky, not-at-all convenient issues that can cause certain solid state drives to lag with extensive use? Yeah -- not cool. Thankfully, the engineers at OCZ Technology and Indilinx are fed up, and rather than sitting around doing nothing, they've both collaborated on a breakthrough firmware that can actually clean and restore one's "dirtied" SSD while the drive sits idle. In short, the firmware instructs the SSD to perform a "garbage collection" process in order to mitigate the unwanted block re-writing quandary, where the drive actively seeks and removes garbage that hinders read / write performance when handling small chunks of data. The crew over at HotHardware managed to run a few speed tests with said firmware firmly implemented, and the results are downright shocking: after just five minutes of idle time, the SSD was restored to near new, with an hour of downtime being enough to "totally restore" performance. Don't believe us? Give that read link a tap, bub.
OCZ's 1TB Colossus SSD gets a price and launch timeframe
We already got word of the starting price for the entry-level 128GB drive in OCZ's new Colossus line of SSDs, but details on the standout 1TB model have unfortunately been quite a bit harder to come by. OCZ's now finally cleared up most of those remaining questions, however, and announced that the drive will be available mid-August for a jaw-dropping $2,500 (give or take a few bucks). The 500GB drive will also apparently be available at the same time, although OCZ doesn't seem to be saying anything more than that it'll be "less expensive."[Via Electronista]Update: OCZ just hit us up with the official information. The company is actually "about three weeks" out from release, and it'll ship the Colossus 120 (128GB), 250 (256GB), 500 (512GB) and 1TB (1024GB) for $300, $650, $1200 and $2200 in order of mention.
OCZ's Colossus SSD comes out of its shell
We got a brief glimpse of OCZ's massive new Colossus SSD drive at Computex last month, and gotten the official word on most of the basic specs straight from OCZ itself, but we've only just now gotten a look inside that slightly mysterious-looking black box and, well, there's a whole bunch of SSD chips inside. Available in capacities ranging from 128GB to 1TB, all of the drives boast a tightly packed design that includes a pair of Indilinx controllers and some associated DRAM cache for each, along with a dual-drive, single PCB implementation that makes it all appear as a single drive to the system. Still no word on a release date just yet, unfortunately, but it looks like these'll start at $299 for the 128GB drive.
How-to: Build a Blu-ray / TV tuner-equipped HTPC for under $1,000
Pundits may argue that the modern day HTPC has no place in the modern day living room, but we disagree. In fact, with the economy still struggling to regain its swagger, folks are staying in and finding entertainment at home more than ever. It's that truth that spurred us to start this here project: building a fully capable, Blu-ray and TV tuner-equipped HTPC for less than a grand. And lo and behold, we made it happen. If you're interested in seeing exactly how we pieced together a mighty fine entertainment box for less than the starting price of most pre-configured systems, hop on past the break with your notepad open.
Engadget's recession antidote: win an OCZ Summit Series 60GB SSD!
This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day to lucky readers until we run out of stuff or companies stop sending things. Today we've got an OCZ Technology Summit Series SATA II 2.5-inch 60GB SSD on offer, which ought to make your aging laptop quite happy. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Hooray for free stuff!Huge thanks to OCZ Technology for providing the gear!The rules: Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too. You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine. Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad. Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) OCZ Technology Summit Series SATA II 2.5-inch 60GB SSD. Approximate retail value is $239. If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Entries can be submitted until Tuesday, July 21st, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck! Full rules can be found here.
OCZ's Sabre OLED gaming keyboard now shipping, priced at $135
We've already gotten the official word that it was coming last month, and gone hands-on with the identical United Keys OLED keyboard even earlier than that, but it looks like OCZ is now finally shipping its own Sabre OLED gaming keyboard and, consequently, given it a price. Somewhat surprisingly, OCZ is letting this one go for just $135, which, while still not exactly a bargain, is a heckuva lot cheaper than the $260 that the United Keys version still runs. That'll get you nine customizable OLED keys, along with most of the standard specs you'd expect from a gaming keyboard, including "super tactile" keys, plenty of macro configuration options and, of course, some blue LEDs to remind you that you didn't buy this thing for work.[Thanks, Jay]
OCZ cranks clock speed, DRAM on Vertex Turbo SSD
While every other solid state drive maker is thinking of snazzy new model names to slap on their next-gen wares, OCZ Technology is actually breaking up the monotony with its Vertex Turbo SSD. While we won't go so far as to say that these things are overclocked ('cause let's face it, they aren't), OCZ has bumped the core clock speed and the SDR DRAM cache to 180MHz (compared to 166MHz on the original). These drives also posses a custom firmware designed specifically for performance junkies, and the company claims that users will see read and write speeds of up to 270MBps and 210MBps, respectively. We're still waiting to hear back on pricing, but you can expect capacities of 30GB (32), 60GB (64), 120GB (128), and 250GB (256) to hit the shelves in short order.Update: We've just received pricing from OCZ: 30GB - $139.99 60GB - $249.99 120GB - $409.00 250GB - $774.99
OCZ rolls out Sabre OLED gaming keyboard
If this OLED-laden keyboard looks a little familiar, it should, 'cause we saw the same one back at Computex when it was known as the United Keys OLED Display Keyboard (itself manufactured by Foxconn). Of course, with the OCZ name comes widespread US availability, although there's unfortunately still no word of a price or release date just yet (the United Keys version runs $260). Otherwise, it looks like this new Sabre model has remain unchanged from its earlier counterpart, with it still packing the same nine user-programmable OLED keys, 128MB of on-board memory, blue LED "sidelighting," limitless macro configurations, some "super tactile, low-noise" key feedback and, unfortunately, a lack of Mac compatibility.
OCZ intros 2.5-inch Agility SSD line: 120GB for $349.99
OCZ Technology seems to always be toiling away on new solid state drives, but it's rare to find any from the company that are priced for the average Joe / Jane. Rather than aiming specifically for the fat-walleted enthusiast crowd, the Agility series is hoping to make a decent sized splash in the mainstream market. These 2.5-inch SATA II SSDs promise 230MB/sec read and 135MB/sec write speeds, along with 64MB of cache and a two-year warranty. We pinged OCZ for details surrounding pricing and availability, so here's the dirt: the trio of models will be available in a fortnight or so for $129.99 (30GB), $219.99 (60GB) and $349.99 (120GB).
OCZ's Ion-based Neutrino and Colossus SSD hands-on at Computex
OCZ Technology's Ion-infused Neutrino may not look all that different than the existing model, but we all know it's the secret sauce within that makes it so magical. Our BFFs over at Engadget Chinese managed to spend a few quality seconds (some might say they "had a moment") with this very machine as well as the all new desktop-bound Colossus SSD. Sadly, the booth workers couldn't provide a definitive ship date or price for either, but the read link's still the place to go for a few hands-on shots as well as a video of the Ion Neutrino showing 3DMark 06 who's boss.
OCZ intros 3.5-inch Colossus SSD at Computex
Not satisfied with a few new machines from OCZ Technology? Have a look at this. Over in Taiwan, the company has slid out an all new SSD solution designed to fit into the 3.5-inch holes that desktop gamers have grown to know and love. The so-called Colossus solid state drive will be made available in around eight weeks in 512GB and 1TB sizes, though there's no telling just yet how pricey they'll be. From what we can gather, there will be a pair of drives in there strung together in a RAID 0 array; in a sense, it's a Z-Drive in a different form factor. Color us emphatically interested -- even though we aren't yet willing to sacrifice our child's education in order to put a down payment on one.
OCZ intros 17-inch DIY laptop, Ion-based HTPC / Neutrino netbook
Just as it did with the Z-Drive at CeBIT, OCZ Technology has delivered a few surprises across the way at Computex. Kicking things off the 17-inch DIY gaming laptop, which takes a note from the DIY-styled Neutrino, but gets a much bigger form factor. It's one of the few laptops that actually arrive sans a CPU, hard drive and RAM, but it'll support Core 2 Duo / Core 2 Extreme chips, as many as two 2.5-inch hard drives and plenty of DDR3 memory. Other specs include a 17-inch WXGA panel, NVIDIA's Hybrid GeForce 9600GTS graphics, an optional Blu-ray drive, ExpressCard slot and a full accompaniment of connectors. The 7.9 pound machine ships with an 8-cell battery, though there's no word yet on pricing or availability. Moving on, we've got the Ion-based HTPC, which is outfitted with a 1.6GHz Atom 230 CPU, Vista Ultimate (64-bit), 4GB of DDR2-667 RAM, an OCZ 120GB SSD, Blu-ray drive, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, HDMI output and a multicard reader. Finally, there's an all-new Neutrino, which is being introduced just weeks after the original shipped here in the US. This new character packs a little more color and a lot more oomph, with NVIDIA's nForce Ion graphics, a 1.6GHz Atom 230 CPU, 10.1-inch display (1,024 x 600), room for 2GB of DDR2 RAM (ships with none), a 2.5-inch HDD / SSD slot (ships with none), WiFi, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, Ethernet, HDMI, two USB 2.0 sockets and audio in / out jacks. As with the 17-incher, there's no word yet on pricing or availability, but we're hoping to hear more on those tidbits soon.
Engadget's recession antidote: win one of four OCZ 16GB SDHC cards!
This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we've got four of OCZ Technology's Gold Series 16GB SDHC cards, ready to hold tight to whatever memories / content you want to throw on there. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Check after the break for some photos of the prize!Special thanks to OCZ Technology for providing the gear!The rules: Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too. You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine. Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad. Winner will be chosen randomly. Four winners will receive one (1) OCZ Gold Series 16GB SDHC card. Approximate value is $46.75. If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Entries can be submitted until Tuesday, May 26th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck! Full rules can be found here.
OCZ's Z-Drive priced at Amazon: $1,561 and way up
The kind folks at OCZ Technology's CeBIT booth told us that they expected the forthcoming Z-Drive to be priced between $1,500 and $2,000, and unfortunately for consumers, they were obviously just talking about the starting tag. Today, the much-hyped PCI-Express SSD card -- which strings a few blocks of flash memory together on a wicked fast PCI-E pipeline -- has been listed at Amazon, and the asking prices are downright eye-popping. The drive is slated to ship in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB flavors, with Amazon demanding $1,561.30, $2,450.50 and $3,368.99 for each in order of mention. We know read rates up to 500MB/sec and write rates of up to 470MB/sec are appealing and all, but damn.[Thanks, Gary]Read - 250GB Z-Drive listingRead - 500GB Z-Drive listingRead - 1TB Z-Drive listing
Prototype OCZ Z-Drive PCI-Express SSD splayed, scoped out
Mmm, PCI-Express-based SSD storage. Be honest, is there anything more delicious? The camera-wielding cats over at Hot Hardware managed to climb behind the scenes at OCZ Technology and snap a bevy of shots of the outfit's highly anticipated Z-Drive in prototype form, and while the device doesn't look all that different than the press shots we peeked last month, there seems to be some ways yet to go before this bad boy's available for purchase. At any rate, the innards look about as you'd expect 'em to, with loads of green PCB littered about with oodles of ultra-speedy flash storage. The drive pictured above is actually a 512GB version with a single 4-pin molex power connector and an X4 PCI-e slot, and it benched at upwards of 500MB/sec during read tests and 400MB/sec on write tests. Check the read link for a closer look -- just don't forget to prep the drool rag before heading over.
OCZ gets official with Z-Drive PCI-Express SSD
Technically, OCZ outed this here PCI-Express SSD way back at CeBIT in March, but it's just now making things super official. Now available with a fresh face and hard specifications, the Z-Drive is aiming to take on wares by firms like Fusion-io and provide blistering transfer rates to anyone who buys in. Essentially, this device removes the SATA bottleneck by employing the PCIe architecture and four Vertex controllers configured in four-way RAID 0 array. Curious about performance? Read speeds can hit upwards of 510MB/sec, while write speeds top out at 480MB/sec -- plenty respectable in our eyes. OCZ's planning to push these out in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB capacities, and while final pricing is still being kept under wraps, we're told that it'll be kept "competitive."
OCZ's Neutrino netbook reviewed, deemed totally handy and easy to use
OCZ's Neutrino netbook looks much like any other 10.1-incher, but this DIY affair comes with no OS, hard drive, RAM or multicard reader, leaving the users to decide for themselves how to outfit it. The folks over at ExtremeTech are kind of unhappy about that point -- they'd like to see it be more customizable than it is for the truly nerdy, but they're still pretty happy with what OCZ's got to offer. They did a test run, installing a 60GB SSD, one 2GB SODIMM and WindowsXP onto the machine, all which went off without a hitch. They didn't try to use the Neutrino for gaming or anything, but it apparently handled everything else quite snappily, and overall, they seem to think that for $269 plus some parts and labor, you can't really go wrong.
OCZ outs its first Mini-PCIe SSDs in 16GB / 32GB capacities
Just as Buffalo did in December of last year, OCZ Technology is busting out a duo of netbook / notebook-ready SSDs in 16GB and 32GB capacities. Obviously aimed at the smaller, more low-cost machines, the company's first ever Mini-PCIe solid state drives are a so-called "affordable flash-based storage option to significantly increase the capacity for netbooks." The pair will be available in SATA and PATA interfaces, which will deliver read speeds of up to 110MB/sec and write speeds as high as 51MB/sec (or 45MB/sec [read] and 35MB/sec [write] for the PATA versions). Regrettably, there's no mention of price, but you can bet these will come packed in a specced-out version of the firm's Neutrino.
