Corsair Launches Force Series Solid-State Drives

[btarunr]

Corsair, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer and flash memory products, today announced the Force Series of SSDs, providing outstanding SATA 3 Gb/s performance based on innovative SSD Processor technology from SandForce Inc.

By utilizing the state-of-the-art SandForce SF-1200 SSD processor combined with MLC flash memory, the Corsair Force Series of solid-state drives deliver outstanding performance figures of up to 280 MB/sec read and 260 MB/sec write. In addition, these drives feature class-leading random read/write performance. The highly innovative SandForce DuraClass Technology also delivers unparalleled write endurance and error correction features.



“The Force Series are the fastest SSDs that Corsair has launched to date,” stated Kevin Conley, Vice President of Engineering at Corsair. “We have been very impressed with the SandForce SSD Processor innovations in the months that we have been working with them, and we can’t wait to get these extraordinarily fast SSDs into the hands of our most demanding customers.”

The Force Series of SSDs are available in capacities of 100 GB and 200 GB and support the TRIM command in Windows 7, which helps to maintain optimal performance over the drive’s lifetime.

“The SandForce SF-1200 SSD Processor employs revolutionary flash management technology to create a new class of SSD with unparalleled performance and reliability,” stated Thad Omura, Vice President of Marketing at SandForce. “We have enjoyed working closely with Corsair to bring this exciting technology to market for Corsair’s large worldwide network of system builders, retailers, and computing enthusiasts.”

The Force Series of SSDs will be available within two weeks from Corsair’s worldwide network of authorized distributors and resellers. For more information on Corsair Force Series SSDs, please visit this page.

[Thrackan]

Hawt damn! Lots of SSD releases with this new Sandforce controller

Let's hope it will finally result in dropping prices.

[Reefer86]

Im very interested in SSD's and with the release of the sandforce controller on many of the new released ssd's, Hopefully prices will drop and i will pick up a 100 - 200gb drive.

[buggalugs]

Ya i want one but the performance is increasing at a fast rate and i dont want to be stuck with a slower one..... especially for those prices.

[wiak]

waiting for 6Gbps ssds so i can finaly upgrade to a SB850 motherboard :P

[tkpenalty]

this situation where its an oligopoly between several large controller manufacturers with AIB partners really reminds me of the GPU market..

[btarunr]

^exactly, tk. It's futile expecting "$100, 256 GB SSDs" just because there are so many players in the SSD industry with so many models. SSDs are like sports cars: there are many manufacturers, many models, yet they're inherently exclusive and expensive.

[Thrackan]

Originally Posted by btarunr

^exactly, tk. It's futile expecting "$100, 256 GB SSDs" just because there are so many players in the SSD industry with so many models. SSDs are like sports cars: there are many manufacturers, many models, yet they're inherently exclusive and expensive.

They will come, just not this year, and the first ones will have dire performance in randoms.

Though I hope the SandForce controllers that are pumping SSD's up right now give the market an impulse. Both performance and pricewise.

[TIGR]

Originally Posted by btarunr

^exactly, tk. It's futile expecting "$100, 256 GB SSDs" just because there are so many players in the SSD industry with so many models. SSDs are like sports cars: there are many manufacturers, many models, yet they're inherently exclusive and expensive.

Unfortunately true. The cost of raw flash material is just too high, which is not the fault of companies like Corsair, Intel, Kingston, etc. They have to buy the MLC/SLC, put it in a drive, and obviously still make a profit. The price of the raw flash material is dropping by about 50% annually last I checked, with capacities approximately doubling in the same time frame.

At that rate, I really see 2011 or even 2012 being the "big year" for SSDs hitting mainstream popularity and beginning to grab serious market from HDDs.

[mlee49]

Funny how Corsair shows:

285 MB/s sequential read
275 MB/s sequential write

for speeds, but I'm leaning on actually seeing less than 280/260. Guess you have to fluff your own numbers sometimes.

[WarEagleAU]

Im sure another year if not this one, prices will drop pretty decently. So we have Intel, Samsung, Idilinx, and now Sandforce. Im loving this, especially the writes on these SSDS. Man I wish I could find me a couple k lying around. Id so get two of these to Raid.

[mlee49]

I'll have two Nova Series this Friday

Raid 0 expects 40% improvements over just one drive: 40% of 250MB/s is 350MB/s Oh how fun will loading be!

[Hayder_Master]

WOW this is very fast, i wonder how the cost of this