OWC Announces the Most Affordable SandForce-Driven SSD, 40 GB Mercury Pro Under $100

[btarunr]

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today a new 40GB model to its award-winning OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD line as the most affordable high performance SandForce Processor based Solid State Drive on the market. Designed and made in the U.S. from imported parts, the new OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 40GB SSD's special introductory pricing of $99.99 makes it the lowest priced SSD on the market to offer three key high performance features:

• Industry leading sustained Read AND Write speeds over 260MB/s (with peak speeds up to 285MB/s).
• Best in class error correction (ECC) and SandForce RAISE redundancy with 7% over provisioning.
• SandForce DuraClass technology with ultra-efficient Block Management & Wear Leveling for long term durability.

The OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD line, which has won Editor's choice awards and review comments like "Eye popping speed with consistent performance over time", "Best write speeds we've seen", and "The fastest SSD to hit our test bench yet" from leading performance testing sites like Tweaktown, Hot Hardware, MacPerformanceGuide, Maximum PC, Storage Review and Benchmark Reviews, is available for immediate ordering in nine configurations from 40GB to 480GB starting at $99.99. All models are Macintosh and PC compatible and install easily into notebooks, as well as into desktops/towers with an OWC Multi-Mount adapter kit sold separately.

Doesn't Slow Down With Use Like Ordinary SSDs
Ordinary SSDs offer fast read/write performance during first initial uses, but then experience significant write speed degradation over repeated usage. Independent simulation tests by leading drive performance experts (this page) confirm the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD's ultra-efficient Block Management & Wear Leveling technologies are able to eliminate virtually any reduction in data transfer speeds over heavy long term usage of the drive and without dependency on less than effective OS TRIM management.

Longer Notebook Battery Runtime
Because the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD uses as little as 1/3 the power compared to the most power efficient 2.5" hard drives and up to 1/2 less power than other leading brand SSDs without any performance sacrifice, notebook users can now maximize their "unplugged" mobile use time while desktop/tower users can enjoy the benefits of a more energy efficient system.

Video Highlights Performance Gains
The OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD models are an ideal way for typical Mac or PC desktop and/or notebook computer users to dramatically increase the performance of their existing machine. In several side-by-side comparison tests (this page) the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD was able to boot the OS and load six apps up to four times faster than the factory stock configuration. And even older machines equipped with an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD saw an up to 2.5 times faster performance gain over newer machines with faster processors and more RAM.

"Throughout this revolutionary product's evolution, it has scored numerous industry achievements," said Larry O'Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. "From being initially announced as the fastest SSD on the market, to offering the highest capacity found in a SandForce-based SSD, to now offering the most affordable high performance model available on the market, the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD line continues to make headlines for all the right reasons."

For more information on the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD line, including Reseller inquiries, visit this page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[DanishDevil]

Sandforce on a budget, sweet.

 

[Rakesh95]

This is pretty good news for people on a budget.

 

[Mussels]

sounds good, one or two in RAID for an OS drive sounds good. (they say they dont need TRIM, so RAID is back on the table with these)

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

Should be a good drive for a wow enthusiast to install the game on.

On a related note, remember to delete update files in the wow directory to save space.

 

[Frizz]

SO CHEAP! Hope they release very soon as my HDD's are slowing my whole rig down!

 

[Tartaros]

Should be a good drive for a wow enthusiast to install the game on.

You read my mind

Much better than my intel for the same price.

 

[Frizz]

Are you able to put the 40GB 99 US dollar version in raid?

Because I'm considering buying two right now.

 

[Disparia]

Nice. Now OWC, produce a OCZ Revo-like SSD (PCIe, fast, and cheap)!

 

[ERazer]

im sooo buying this!

 

[bear jesus]

Are you able to put the 40GB 99 US dollar version in raid?

Because I'm considering buying two right now.

I admit i'm thinking the same, a couple of these in raid sounds like a very nice option although it would be nice to some performance numbers when raided and see if the wear leveling still works well in a raid array (can't think why it would not though)

 

[Mussels]

I admit i'm thinking the same, a couple of these in raid sounds like a very nice option although it would be nice to some performance numbers when raided and see if the wear leveling still works well in a raid array (can't think why it would not though)

since its built into the drives, yeah, it should work in raid.

 

[3volvedcombat]

corsair has a 80 dollar 32gb drive

so 20 dollars less
8 gigs less?

corsair vs ocw?

and the corsair drive write speeds seemed fast.

 

[n-ster]

were the corsairs sandforce?

 

[erocker]

corsair has a 80 dollar 32gb drive

so 20 dollars less
8 gigs less?

corsair vs ocw?

and the corsair drive write speeds seemed fast.

Yes with 170 read and 70 write. Brand name means nothing with these anyways.

 

[Mindweaver]

I want 3.. lol I just checked there site and I can't see the price jump from 40GB to 60GB as something i would do.. I would spend a little extra cash and get 2 40GB's. You guys think newegg will start carring these drives?

40GB - $99.99
60GB - $179.99
120GB - $319.99
240GB - $629.99
480GB - $1599.99

 

[WarEagleAU]

Thats it I am losing satellite to get two of these beasts lol.

 

[OnBoard]

Uh oh, now that seems like a fair price for the performance it offers. When I bought my F3 I got almost SSD performance with fraction of the price. This would be twice as fast for triple the price.

Next drive purchase will surely be SSD then. Won't happen untill next year, so who knows if 60GB is already the same price (and 40gb even cheaper!)

 

[Mussels]

Uh oh, now that seems like a fair price for the performance it offers. When I bought my F3 I got almost SSD performance with fraction of the price. This would be twice as fast for triple the price.

Next drive purchase will surely be SSD then. Won't happen untill next year, so who knows if 60GB is already the same price (and 40gb even cheaper!)

when you bought your F3, you got nothing near the speed of an SSD.


why do people think throughput is all that matters? its the access times and IOPS!

 

[OnBoard]

why do people think throughput is all that matters? its the access times and IOPS!

Isn't throughput what gets game/levels loaded? My HDD doesn't really seems slow in anything else.

Anyhow, it's read/write what every SSD market, so I go with that. Market me access times and IOPS

(btw. nice HDD combo you got there )

 

[Mussels]

Isn't throughput what gets game/levels loaded? My HDD doesn't really seems slow in anything else.

Anyhow, it's read/write what every SSD market, so I go with that. Market me access times and IOPS

(btw. nice HDD combo you got there )

no, its not the throughput.

if you're loading 1,000 smaller files, then the access times is what holds it back.


dont forget taht HDD's are only fast on the outer edges of the platter too, so a mechanical drive is going to be slower than an SSD and it only gets worse the more full teh drive is (and thus, the odds of your game files being on the inner edge of the platter increases)

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

I'd be interested in seeing what happens to random access and IOPS when you short stroke a 600 GB raptor to an SSD size of the same price, like 120. I'd imagine 4 ms is what you'd get based on scaling I've seen before.

 

[Mussels]

I'd be interested in seeing what happens to random access and IOPS when you short stroke a 600 GB raptor to an SSD size of the same price, like 120. I'd imagine 4 ms is what you'd get based on scaling I've seen before.

which is still hundreds of times slower than an SSD.

 

[OnBoard]

dont forget taht HDD's are only fast on the outer edges of the platter too, so a mechanical drive is going to be slower than an SSD and it only gets worse the more full teh drive is (and thus, the odds of your game files being on the inner edge of the platter increases)

Of course not, hence my swapdrive is first 8 gigs of the F1. Games are next 200 gigs. OS is first 100gigs of F3. So my swap/games are 110MB/s whole partition and OS is 140MB/s whole partition

And I do defrag regularly to maintain the speeds.

SSD would be OS drive, still feel iffy about putting one for games with updates/saves writing there. Not to mention as a swap drive where it would eb most usefull but also short lived fun.

But price is coming down, they offer warranty and claim to maintain the speeds through usage. Next year will certainly be SSD goodness and were are getting to a point were the first drives are few years old. They should start crapping out if they are going to go.

 

[Tartaros]

SSD would be OS drive, still feel iffy about putting one for games with updates/saves writing there. Not to mention as a swap drive where it would eb most usefull but also short lived fun.

I have used my ssd for games before using it for os, and after that expierence I don't want any hdd for games. Even if it's a velociraptor or raid. And mine is the cheapest ssd from intel.