Intel 510 Series SATA 6 Gb/s SSD Slated for March 1

[15th Warlock]

SSD prices were supposed to go down this gen, but it seems everyone is driving prices up

First we have OCZ bamboozling consumers by selling 25nm Vertex 2 drives the same price as the 34nm drives, only for end users to find out that their drives have lower capacity after format and worst performance than the 34nm parts, and OCZ is laughing all the to the bank, 25nm not only is cheaper to manufacture, but is also expected to be less reliable than 34nm NAND.

Then Sandforce 2X00 drives are expected to sell at insane prices, I know all previews are from enterprise drives, but it's expected that consumer versions will retail at same or even higher prices than current SF offerings at the same capacity.

The only player left is Crucial, I read rumors that the C400 should cost around $210 for the 120GBs version for 1000 drives, but Corsair already is selling their 128GB version of the C400 at $319 at Newegg, so things are looking grim on that front as well, I guess retailers will see the lack of real price competition, and sell these drives at insane markups... :shadedshu

What happened to 25nm bringing prices down? Not only are the main players staying away from 25nm NAND for reliability and performance issues, but also, the few 25nm offerings currently available sell at the same or higher prices than 34nm parts.

This is not good indeed, I pity the fools who will preorder these drives at that price :shadedshu

And I was really looking forward to moving to SSDs this year with the rumored price drops and enhanced reliability, seems like I'll wait another year, this is madness

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

I think one part of the problem is they upped the speed. The controllers are more expensive, and they were already a huge part of the costs. Every time they start to get cheaper they just make a better one. Also possible I suppose is that maybe 25nm isn't that cheap, physical yields may be up but major defects could be up as well.

 

[15th Warlock]

I think one part of the problem is they upped the speed. The controllers are more expensive, and they were already a huge part of the costs. Every time they start to get cheaper they just make a better one. Also possible I suppose is that maybe 25nm isn't that cheap, physical yields may be up but major defects could be up as well.

I dunno, yields for 25nm should be fine, Intel has been sampling NAND on that process since last year, and it was supposed to be almost double the capacity per waffle as 34nm, driving manufacturing costs down, but I read that reliability has gone way down to less than 3000 cycles per cell, hence the need for more reserved spare drive capacity to maintain the SSD integrity, at least until warranty expires

The controllers may be selling at a premium, since performance has seen a revolutionary increase, almost doubling the performance of previous gen drives, and that may be driving prices up as you suggest, but shouldn't Moore's law also apply to these controllers as well? Dunno, something's just not right IMO.... :shadedshu

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

but shouldn't Moore's law also apply to these controllers as well?

If it was simply a processor cost then it should apply, but I don't think these little mobile processors they use get die shrinks very often and I think there's many other components involved.

 

[extrasalty]

People need to remember that Europe and UK always pay more than the currency rate. I'm pretty sure 120 would be around $225 if not less. Intel are behind their original schedule and knowing the smaller process is more profitable, there must be a serious reason for that. Either they have a stockpile of 34 nm they want to get rid of, or there is problem detected, or maybe its the sata3 controller itself. When Intel saturates the market, their drives will be around $1.5. Until then marketeers like OCZ will pray on the average Joe.

 

[Swamp Monster]

people need to remember that europe and uk always pay more than the currency rate. I'm pretty sure 120 would be around $225 if not less.

+1

 

[TAViX]

People need to remember that Europe and UK always pay more than the currency rate. I'm pretty sure 120 would be around $225 if not less. Intel are behind their original schedule and knowing the smaller process is more profitable, there must be a serious reason for that. Either they have a stockpile of 34 nm they want to get rid of, or there is problem detected, or maybe its the sata3 controller itself. When Intel saturates the market, their drives will be around $1.5. Until then marketeers like OCZ will pray on the average Joe.

Yep. We have in Europe all king of stupid taxes +VAT + other craps...exactly!

 

[Aceman.au]

6GB's per second... Jesus... I could copy all my por... INFORMATION, in a few seconds!

 

[shady]

They raised the price to cover the losses caused by failed Sandy Bridge chipset.

I remember last year there were news that Intel 3rd gen SSD will replace G2 at the same price with double the capacity. In other words, we could get 160GB G3 for the price of 80GB G2.

Seems like no point waiting for Intel G3. Current Sandforce drives are fast enough.

 

[SvB4EvA]

OCZ revo drive pci-e, 540 read/480 write +120g = around 300$

so f**k intel