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Solid state storage technology outfit SandForce has released the firm’s second generation SF-2100 and SF-2200 controllers which are expected to appear in a wide array of SSD drives.
The SF-2100 features a 3 GB/s SATA interface while the high end SF-2200 offers the nippy 6 GB/s version capable of reaching an astonishing 500 MB/s sequential transfer rate.
The new controllers offer support for the latest 30nm and 20nm class of NAND flash as well as 256-bit AES encryption.
"The new SF-2200 and SF-2100 Client SSD Processors break new ground in terms of reliability, performance, and affordability by optimizing access to the most advanced NAND flash technologies," said SandForce boss Michael Raam.
Storage specialist OCZ was quick to release drives based on the firm’s new chip, announcing the Vertex 3 and Vertex 3 Pro SSDs. The Vertex 3 drives are to be available in 120 and 240GB models while the Vertex 3 Pro will come in 100, 200 and 400GB models.
SandForce has long been regarded as a top-shelf SSD controller solution with many of the industry’s best performing drive based on the firm’s silicon.
In a performance preview of the Vertex 3 Pro, Tom’s Hardware said that the new SSDs "makes SSDs exciting again", also suggesting that the 6 Gb/s SATA standard was just in time to deliver to massive throughput of the new SandForce controller.
However a review on thessdreview.com was more impressed with the 4kb random write score of 100MB/s which they described as "just about doubles that of which we are seeing in the top SSDs today", calling it a "very welcome characteristic".
Image: thessdreview.com
