Intel Releases 910 Series Enterprise PCIe SSD

Subject: Storage | April 12, 2012 - 10:10 AM | Allyn Malventano
Tagged: ssd, pcie, Intel

Intel has officially entered the Enterprise PCIe SSD market with the release of their 910 Series SSD. Available in 400 and 800GB capacities, this half-height PCIe 2.0 8x card boasts over 180,000 4k IOPS and 2GB/sec sequential on reads. Writes are roughly half of that - limited by the 25W PCIe spec power available to the card, but since many server motherboards have no issue providing a bit more power (28W), those numbers can be boosted to ~120,000 4k IOPS and 1.5GB/sec via end-user reconfiguration possible through the Intel management software.

The 910 is not all-Intel in its construction. While the flash is High Endurance Technology IMFT, it is driven by an Intel-tweaked Hitachi SAS controller, which is in turn controlled by an LSI 2008 Falcon SAS HBA. This means the storage is presented to the system as either two or four SCSI LUNs. This choice makes sense as you can attain higher IOPS when you let a high end server decide how to spread that data around. It also allows for more flexibility as each 200GB segment of storage appears as its own unit, meaning databases can be distributed amongst them. Unfortunately, this configuration choice means the 910 will not be bootable, at least not with all LUNs paired together.

Intel is taking endurance seriously with this product. They claim 30x over standard MLC expected lifetime with their High Endurance Technology, and they mean it - The 910 is rated and guaranteed to sustain writing 10x its capacity for each and every day of the 5-year warranty period! That comes to 3EB (yes, EB, or 3,000 TB) for the 800GB model!

Prices start at $1,929 for 400GB and $3,859 for 800GB. Intel is sampling to us shortly, and we will get the full performance review up as soon as humanly possible upon its arrival.

Full press release after the break.

Take a pictorial tour of Kingston's SSD facility

Subject: General Tech | April 10, 2012 - 11:48 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: kingston, fab, tour, ssd

Tweaktown was invited put on a bunny suit and take a tour of Kingston's SSD manufacturing facility in Taiwan.  Starting from a pile of surface mount transistors which are automatically soldered and inspected before being baked at up to 270C once all the components have been mounted to the PCB, they snapped pictures of as much of the process as they could.  From there it is off to the testing facility where Kingston ensures that all the drives that came off of a particular run are up to the expected standards.  TweakTown does mention a burn-in machine, but unfortunately they were told not to post them as Kingston wanted to keep at least a few trade secrets from getting out.  It could also be that they don't want the world to know that they cloned Al several times and use his SSD killing expertise as the final test before releasing a drive to the channel to be sold.

"We were exclusively invited into the Kingston factory where few media have been and got shown the process of making an SSD from start to finish. Due to media restrictions, we were not allowed to produce a video of the tour, but we were allowed to take photos. Obviously Kingston is a market leader in memory and SSD products and there is plenty of sensitive machinery and such - and we needed to respect that and their rules."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• The TR Podcast 109: Dude, where's my Apple tax?
• Former Intel employee pleads guilty to stealing secrets before joining AMD @ The Inquirer
• GCC 4.7 Compiler Performance On AMD FX-8150 Bulldozer @ Phoronix
• ClearOS,the Missing Link LAN Server @ Linux.com
• Ubuntu 12.04 LTS KVM Virtualization Battles 8.04.4, 10.04.4 LTS @ Phoronix
• Tegra T37/AP37 pops up on the Nvidia roadmaps @ SemiAccurate
• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX10V Review @ TechReviewSource
• Weekly Giveaway #26: Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H (Intel Z77) Motherboard @ eTeknix

Podcast #196 - The new iPad, the OCZ Vertex 4, AMD FX-6200 CPU and more!

Subject: General Tech | April 5, 2012 - 04:32 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: Vertex 4, ssd, podcast, ipad, Intel, gpu, FX-6200, cpu, amd, 680

PC Perspective Podcast #196 - 04/05/2012

Join us this week as we talk about the new iPad, the OCZ Vertex 4, AMD FX-6200 CPU and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Jeremy Hellstrom, Josh Walrath, and Allyn Malvantano

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!

Program length: 1:10:16

Program Schedule: 

1. Introduction
2. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
3. http://pcper.com/podcast
4. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper 
   
5. 0:01:45 The New iPad (2012) Review: Pixel Power
6. 0:07:00 SilverStone Strider Gold Evolution 1000W Power Supply Review
7. 0:09:00 OCZ Vertex 4 512GB SSD Initial Review - Vertex Returns to its Indilinx Roots (Firmware Progression Testing)
8. 0:25:00 AMD FX-6200 CPU Review: A Small Bulldozer Refresh
9. 0:37:00 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!
   
10. 0:38:50 IOLO U-NO-LOL. Ed Bott not amused by system optimizer ad
11. 0:40:10 PC bill of materials articles creeps lower.
12. 0:42:15 The fine waterline between genius and madness; toilet water PC cooling
13. 0:46:15 NVIDIA urges you to program better now, not CPU -- later.
14. 0:52:50 OCZ isn't the only one with a new drive today, Hitachi now offers a 4TB Ultrastar
15. 0:57:00 This week: FX-6200, GTX 680 SLI and Surround Performance Testing, Z77 motherboards, MAINGEAR SHIFT system review
16. 1:00:00 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Ryan: While GTX 680s are MIA still, HD 7970s are as low as $529
    2. Jeremy: Flying Car or Tricorder ... I can't decide
    3. Josh:  I really enjoy this game.
    4. Allyn: Koolance GTX 680 water block (in stock, oh wait, never mind, it *was* in stock an hour ago)
17. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
18. http://pcper.com/podcast   
19. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
20. Closing

OCZ's brand new Vertex 4 arrives

Subject: Storage | April 4, 2012 - 03:37 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ocz, ssd, sata 6Gbs, Vertex 4, Indilinx, vertex

There are quite a few changes in the 4^th version of OCZ's Vertex SSDs, not only the new Indilinx controller but the positioning of it right in the centre of the PCB.  You will also notice what looks like an mSATA interface, but The Tech Report is sad to say that it is only a connector for OCZ's internal testing machinery and is not a standard connector.  Of course, we may have to see what the modders do with it.  The performance is as good as you would expect in most circumstances though there were some tests the new prefetch mechanism had troubles with.  OCZ claims that the drive was intended to be partitioned and doing so could help the performance.  Also worth applauding is the move to a 5 year warranty, signalling OCZ's increased faith in reliability.

Our own Al Malventano took a look at not only the drive but also the difference between the 1.30 and 1.52 firmware revisions.

"Just a few months after its Indilinx Everest controller debuted in the OCZ Octane, a second-generation Everest chip has taken root in the Vertex 4 SSD. We take a closer look at the latest Vertex to see what's changed and how its performance measures up."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

• OCZ Vertex 4 @ AnandTech
• OCZ Technology Vertex 4 (Indilinx Everest 2) 256GB and 512GB SSD @ Tweaktown
• OCZ Vertex 4 512GB @ Kitguru
• OCZ Vertex 4 Indilinx 256GB & 512GB SSD Reviews @ Legit Reviews
• OCZ Vertex 4 Solid State Drive 512GB/256GB Launch Review @ HardwareHeaven
• OCZ Vertex 4 512GB SSD Review @ Hardware Canucks
• OCZ Vertex 4 SSD 256GB and 512GB @ Guru 3D
• ndilinx Everest 2 SSD Controller Platform Overview @ Tweaktown
• SSDs from Mushkin: Chronos deluxe 240 GB and Chronos 240 GB @ X-bit Labs
• Micron RealSSD P400e 6Gbps 200GB Enterprise SSD @ SSD Review
• OCZ Synapse Cache 64GB Solid State Drive Review @ circuitREMIX
• ADATA XPG SX900 256GB SATA 3 SSD @ SSD Review

Podcast #195 - GTX 680 Review, the MSI HD 7970 Lightning, and a 4GB GTX 680!

Subject: General Tech | March 29, 2012 - 03:29 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: ssd, podcast, nvidia, Intel, gtx680, amd, 7970, 680

PC Perspective Podcast #195 - 03/29/2012

Join us this week as we talk about our GTX 680 Review, the MSI HD 7970 Lightning, and a 4GB GTX 680!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Jeremy Hellstrom, Josh Walrath, and Allyn Malvantano

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!

Program length: 1:00:26

Program Schedule: 

1. Introduction
2. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
3. http://pcper.com/podcast
4. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
5. Gigabyte GA-X79-UD5 LGA 2011 EATX Motherboard Review
6. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Graphics Card Review - Kepler in Motion
7. Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 Review: Kepler's First Laptop
   1. PC Perspective Live Review Recap: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
8. MSI R7970 Lightning Review: AMD's HD 7970 Gets the Treatment
9. This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!
   
10. Galaxy Readying 4GB and Hall Of Fame Edition GTX 680 GPUs
11. About that pricing AMD; you sure you want to stick with it?
12. Super Talent Releases New RAIDDrive upStream PCI-E SSD
13. Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Ryan: is lame and didnt have one
    2. Jeremy: I got a better deal but this is close
    3. Josh: Two SSDs for the price of one 
    4. Allyn: Khan Academy
14. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
15. http://pcper.com/podcast   
16. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
17. Closing

Toshiba MK4001GRZB 400GB SAS, take your SSD to work

Subject: Storage | March 26, 2012 - 02:26 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ssd, Toshiba 400GB SAS SSD, SAS

The main concern for enterprises is reliability, perhaps the main reason that most companies have not immediately jumped onto SSD storage as their primary solution.  The cost is another barrier but for high volume database usage as well as disk intensive tasks like transforming video the speed advantage can pay for the initial investment in very little time, as long as the medium is reliable.  Where an SSD failure on your home machine is frustrating, it can cost a business a lot of money.  This is changing as we are starting to see more companies offering Enterprise class SSDs, usually SAS SSDs which can help ameliorate the possibility of downtime due to a failed drive.  The Toshiba MK4001GRZB 400GB SAS 6Gb/s Enterprise SLC SSD is one such drive and when the SSD Review had a chance to test this $7000 drive they jumped at the chance.  Check out the review to see its speed in action and keep in mind the stellar warranty which Toshiba offers, unlimited writes for the life of the 5-year warranty, when you are considering the drive for business use.

"Our SSD review today will be on the Toshiba MK4001GRZB 400GB SAS 6Gb/s Enterprise SLC SSD and will be the first to experience our new Enterprise Test Protocol. This SSD brings with it some of the best sustainable performance in the realm, and also has recently taken the Grand Prize for Excellence in Energy Efficiency and Conservation from the Japan Energy Conservation Center, so it is definitely a top candidate to initiate our new Enterprise Test Protocol."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

• Patriot Pyro SE 240 GB Solid State Drive @ X-bit Labs
• OCZ Octane 512GB @ Legion Hardware
• OCZ Synapse Cache SSD Review @ HCW
• OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 - 240GB PCIe SSD @ Funky Kit
• Plextor M3 256GB SATA 6Gb/s @ SSD Review
• Crucial Adrenaline SSD Review: Solid State Cache for Your Hard Drive @ Techspot
• Crucial M4 Adrenaline 50GB Cache SSD @ SSD Review
• Kingston SSDNow V+200 120GB SSD Review @ Legit Reviews
• MyDigitalSSD 32GB Super Cache mSATA SSD @ SSD Review
• OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS 240GB SSD Review @ circuitREMIX
• SanDisk Extreme 120GB @ OC3D
• Plextor M3 128GB SSD Review @ HardwareLOOK
• OCZ Octane 512GB SSD Review @ Neoseeker
• SanDisk Extreme 240GB SATA 3 SSD @ SSD Review
• 24nm Flash SSD Faceoff - SanDisk Extreme Retake and Plextor M3 Pro @ Tweaktown
• Kingston SSDNow V+200 90GB @ Kitguru
• Patriot Wildfire (SandForce SF-2281) 4x SSD RAID @ Tweaktown
• Plextor M3 Pro 128GB @ Tweaktown
• ADATA S107 Superior USB flash drive @ Guru 3D
• 10 Things to Consider Before Setting Up RAID @ TechwareLabs
• Icy Dock MB082SP EZ-FIT Pro Dual 2.5” to 3.5” Hard drive & SSD Bracket Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• Synology DiskStation DS112j NAS Review @ HardwareHeaven
• Icy Box IB-MP3011Plus Review @ HardwareLOOK
• QNAP TurboNAS TS-419P II 4-Bay NAS Review @ eTeknix
• Synology DiskStation DS412+ 4-bay All-in-1 NAS Server for SMB Users Review @ Madshrimps
• Thecus N4200 Pro 4-Bay NAS Review @ eTeknix

Ceton Announces SandForce Based SATA III SSD Lineup

Subject: Storage | March 26, 2012 - 01:11 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: ssd, centon, sandforce, mlc, 20nm

Centon Electronics today announced an expansion of their solid state drive lineup with new SATA III offerings. The 2.5” SATA III drives utilize 20nm class MLC (multi level cell) flash memory and a SandForce 2281 SSD controller. They claim that the drives will take full advantage of the extra bandwidth provided by SATA III with read and write speeds of 400 MB per second and 300 MB per second respectively.

According to a chart on Centon’s website, the new SATA III SSDs are part of a new VVS1 series and they come in 60 GB (though this is listed as VS1 series), 120 GB, and 240 GB capacities. The drives support RAID and are rated for a mean time before failure (MTBF) of 2 million+ hours. They further carry a two year warranty. The 240 GB and 120 GB SATA III SSDs are rated at the 400 MB/s and 300 MB/s read and write speeds, but the 60 GB SATA III SSD is only rated at a max of 300 MB/s read and 200 MB/s write.  More information can be found on the company's website.Currently, there is no word on pricing or availability.  Also, don't forget about our SSD Decoder for all your SSD research!