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Best Performing SSD Drives In 2010 - Trends and Technology
Apr/14/10 07:05 Filed in: SSD Hardware
As 3rd and 4th generation SATA SSD drives hit the scene in 2010 - Here's some technology advancements, predictions and product trends to watch for:
1. "Me Too" performance. Most SSD's are based on a very few drive and NAND flash controller chipsets available to OEMS. Some SSDs are simply rebranded OEM reference designs - and that puts many of them in the same ballpark of performance.
2. Incremental speed gains thru minor Firmware tweaks, cache size options and flash memory clock speed timing is what differentiates many drives in benchmark tests. But these performance differences may become less apparent to end users.
3. The emergence of SATA III - 6Gbps interface SSD drives. The new Serial ATA 3 spec provides the potential to DOUBLE SSD performance - in theory. As more personal computers begin to include SATA III controllers, solid-state drives will take advantage of the increased bandwidth.
4. 3.5" form-factor solid-state drives will become more common. Consumers want a drop-in drive replacement option and would rather not fuss with SSD adapters and brackets and whatnot.
5. The return of more SSD drives with USB mini ports built-in. JMicron's revised SSD controller chipset supports this very convenient USB transfer option. Many 2nd tier SSD suppliers will rebrand JMicron based drives and compete heavily in the cheap SSD 'value' end of the market.
6. JMicron 612 controller based SSDs won't suffer from the bad reputation of slow writes and 'stuttering' that plagued thier 1st and 2nd generaiton JMF 602 based SSDs. The JMF612 supports much larger DRAM cache sizes and works with a wider variety of NAND flash chips: Toshiba, Intel, and Micron - in addition to Samsung flash.
7. Intel's in-house design fab will continue to push the efficient and optimized SSD performance envelope. Intel will continue to be the SSD to beat.
8. Product branding and SSD naming conventions will continue to confuse buyers in the consumer market. What's the difference between an OCZ Summit - Vertex - Apex - Turbo - EX - Solid - Solid v2 and Solid 2 series SSD? Or... a SuperTalent LE - ME - GX - GX2 - DX drive? Deep analysis of the variants by cross-referencing spec sheets and Read/Write numbers will still be needed.
9. The arrival USB 3.0 SuperSpeed peripherals in 2010 will open up opportunites for SSD's to be used as external backup drives - Largely only for those who can afford the large capacities most people want in a back-up disk.
10. SSD price competition will likely be heaviest in the 128Gb drive market. It seems to be the sweet spot of SSD affordabillity with enough capacity to meet most users needs. Price pressure - and endless rebate promos will likely pull these down from around $400 closer to $300 by the end of 2010.
1. "Me Too" performance. Most SSD's are based on a very few drive and NAND flash controller chipsets available to OEMS. Some SSDs are simply rebranded OEM reference designs - and that puts many of them in the same ballpark of performance.
2. Incremental speed gains thru minor Firmware tweaks, cache size options and flash memory clock speed timing is what differentiates many drives in benchmark tests. But these performance differences may become less apparent to end users.
3. The emergence of SATA III - 6Gbps interface SSD drives. The new Serial ATA 3 spec provides the potential to DOUBLE SSD performance - in theory. As more personal computers begin to include SATA III controllers, solid-state drives will take advantage of the increased bandwidth.
4. 3.5" form-factor solid-state drives will become more common. Consumers want a drop-in drive replacement option and would rather not fuss with SSD adapters and brackets and whatnot.
5. The return of more SSD drives with USB mini ports built-in. JMicron's revised SSD controller chipset supports this very convenient USB transfer option. Many 2nd tier SSD suppliers will rebrand JMicron based drives and compete heavily in the cheap SSD 'value' end of the market.
6. JMicron 612 controller based SSDs won't suffer from the bad reputation of slow writes and 'stuttering' that plagued thier 1st and 2nd generaiton JMF 602 based SSDs. The JMF612 supports much larger DRAM cache sizes and works with a wider variety of NAND flash chips: Toshiba, Intel, and Micron - in addition to Samsung flash.
7. Intel's in-house design fab will continue to push the efficient and optimized SSD performance envelope. Intel will continue to be the SSD to beat.
8. Product branding and SSD naming conventions will continue to confuse buyers in the consumer market. What's the difference between an OCZ Summit - Vertex - Apex - Turbo - EX - Solid - Solid v2 and Solid 2 series SSD? Or... a SuperTalent LE - ME - GX - GX2 - DX drive? Deep analysis of the variants by cross-referencing spec sheets and Read/Write numbers will still be needed.
9. The arrival USB 3.0 SuperSpeed peripherals in 2010 will open up opportunites for SSD's to be used as external backup drives - Largely only for those who can afford the large capacities most people want in a back-up disk.
10. SSD price competition will likely be heaviest in the 128Gb drive market. It seems to be the sweet spot of SSD affordabillity with enough capacity to meet most users needs. Price pressure - and endless rebate promos will likely pull these down from around $400 closer to $300 by the end of 2010.
