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SandForce SF-2000 Series Client Launch
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 "2010 was not only SandForce's break out year, but the year in which SandForce became an industry leader. In order to do that, SandForce needed to engineer a product that was innovative and offer a significant increase in performance to the competitions products, while doing so at a lower cost. That is exactly what SandForce managed to do.
Today SandForce is launching two new consumer products designed to build upon the success of the SF-1200. The SF-2200 will be the successor for the high end enthusiast market, and the new SF-2100 will occupy the quickly emerging mainstream SSD market. We have a lot of information to share with you today, so let's get started."
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OCZ Technology Vertex 3 (SF-2200) Solid State Drive Preview
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"Yesterday we looked at the Corsair Performance 3, the first retail next generation Marvell - BKK2 controlled SSD to hit our lab. Today we have the Performance 3's, and for that matter every other new consumer SSD's main competitor in house; the OCZ Technology Vertex 3. OCZ Technology leads all other manufacturers in SSD development. The company has put forth a vast amount of resources in this market and even all but abandoned their memory products that put OCZ on the map. The payoff has been a near two year domination of the SSD market with sales that dwarf all other manufacturers. OCZ is at this point the SSD manufacturer in which all others strive to be.
SandForce is announcing two new consumer class controllers. There's the SF-2200, a high end consumer controller with 16 data lanes (8 accessible at one time) in a 400-TFBGA package capable of reading data at 550MB/s and writing data at 525MB/s. The other one is the new mainstream SF-2100 which has up to 8 data lanes and uses a 256-TFBGA package. SandForce didn't give out a lot of information on the new 2100, but we've working on getting more information. We'll give you a full breakdown on the new controllers tomorrow since not all of the information relates to the Vertex 3. Yes, today is all about the OCZ Technology Vertex 3. A few websites previewed the Vertex 3 PRO a few days ago, but the PRO model is an enterprise part that costs considerably more than the consumer drive we are looking at today."
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Intel 311 Larson Creek 20GB SLC SSD Review
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"The Intel SSD 311 Series 20GB 'Larson Creek' drive proved itself to be a great cache drive. If you have an Intel Z68 platform that can run Intel Smart Response Technology, it's worth looking into if you have a hard drive for the primary drive and don't want to splurge on an SSD and having to re-install your OS! "
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Patriot Torqx 2 128GB SSD Review
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Every now and then it is refreshing to see a company that believes that rushing into the dog race of technological advance might not be as business smart as simply understanding customer needs. This is definitely the case with Patriot and their new Torqx 2 SSD that not only remains to be a SATA 2.0 drive, but also, is definitely in the price range to attract new SSD enthusiasts. In the rush to push out SATA 3, SSD manufacturers may have forgotten that 99% of computer owners are using SATA 2 systems and just might seek a SATA 2 SSD in the near future.
The Patriot Torqx 2 SSD has just been released to consumer sales and is available in capacities of 32, 64, 128 and 256GB. Patriot has listed its performance as 270MB/s read and 230MB/s write and have upped their warranty to 3 years which is great to see in a SSD although, most likely it will never be needed. At the time of this report, there was a company rebate which brought pricing to a very reasonable $74.99 (32GB), $114.99 (64GB), $199.99 (128GB) and $489.99 (256GB).
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Intel's Smart Response; SSD Caching Tested
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Interested in faster-than-mechanical performance but don't want to splurge on a big SSD? Intel has a tech for that, and it meets you half-way by utilizing a modestly sized SSD for caching purposes, used in conjunction with any HDD you want for total storage. Read on as we cover both the setup process and our real-world test results.
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HDCV-1 and KF-252-BK Hard Drive and SSD Docking Solutions Review
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The amount of data we transfer from one computer to another is getting a bit tedious. Couple this with our constant need for computer upgrades, most of us in industries related to computers of any sort usually have a bunch of extra hard drives kicking around. Some of us even tend to be on the hoarder side of the coin and can't seem to get rid of any amount of data storage. If this sounds a little familiar chances are the two products we are about to show you from Kinwin will be exactly what you are looking for. Let's take a look at the Kingwin HDCV-1 and KF-252-BK Hard Drive and SSD Docking Solutions on deck for today and see if they are a good fit for your data access needs:
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Intel SSD 510 Series 120GB Review
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The OCZ Vertex 3 240GB blew us away when we reviewed it earlier this month. Its lighting fast transfer speeds and application performance left no room for the competition to breathe -- including the once-praised Samsung 470 Series and Crucial RealSSD C300 drives. The Vertex 3 proved to be dramatically faster than its predecessor, and perhaps just as important, that speed comes at nearly the same cost.
Having surpassed some of the best SSDs we've tested, we were left to wonder if the Vertex 3 would remain unattested in the short-term. With Crucial's M4 shaping up to be a mainstream drive, who else could rise to the challenge? We may have an answer to that question today as we test the closest thing the Vertex 3 has to competition: Intel's new flagship SSD 510 Series.
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ICY DOCK MB974SP-B Internal 4-bay Enclosure
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“Storage is something we can never have too much of, I myself have over 4TB of space and it is running out! Most of my storage is external though, so it’s a pain to take with me to LAN parties or other events. Most cases these days have room for 4-6 hard drives, but for some people that still is not enough. How many optical drives do you have? I don’t even use them anymore so I have 4 open spots in my case for nothing really. Well not nothing, ICY DOCK has a great device that will allow me to fit four more hard drives in three 5.25-inch drive bays. The device is the MB974SP-B, let&rsqu o;s see if it is the perfect device for you to add more storage to your system."
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Silverstone FP36 3.5" USB 3.0 Bay Device/SSD Mount
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"Silverstone's FP36 will only run you about $20CDN and is a wonderfully high quality 3.5" bay device that gives you two front-mounted USB 3.0 ports, and is also capable of holding two 2.5" HDD's or SSD's on the inside of your case. This really makes it a great and affordable device to bring your case up to speed with support for both the latest USB interface and the latest storage trend, SSD's."
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Intel 320 Series 300GB SATA II SSD Review - Intel Maintains Focus On SATA II
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Every so often a subject presents itself that, on the surface, leaves people wondering what the heck the company had in mind when they started the production line rolling. The 320 Series SSD seems to be just that as word of this SSD was leaked a few weeks back and the technology community seems to think Intel would be crazy to release this in a time of so many SATA 3 SSD releases. What the heck is Intel thinking?!?
This past week we had the opportunity to speak with Troy Winslow, Intel NAND Group Marketing Manager, with respect to just this and we were also able to put this new Intel release through the paces first hand to see what the buzz was really about. Troy reminded us that we might take a look at the bigger picture which was that this is Intels third release in three months and that there is a large segment of present SSD users, as well as those migrating to SSDs, that still rely on SATA 2 computers. Hence, there just may be a key audience for the Intel 320 Series SATA II SSD.
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Thermaltake Silver River II 3.5" Hard Drive Enclosure review
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Thermaltake released a new HDD enclosure in the Silver River series, aptly called the Silver River II. What is different about this enclosure compared to its predecessor, the Silver River DUO? Well, absolutely nothing -- or at least it seems like it. It appears that what the Silver River II 3.5" offers to users that is different from the older versions would be a giant cosmetic upgrade. Interested? That will have to depend on you. Even though in terms of performance and functionality, the newer Silver River II may at first be 'questionable', it may very well be worth your money and time. You may loathe the new and improved design, but I am here to tell you this enclosure may have more to offer than its sweet and sleek lines. It took four years for Thermaltake to take the Silver River to a new evolution, and as a company notorious for its amazing cooling capabilities, we have already set high standards for this enclosure. This time around, the enclosure boasts of the spectacular and sleek-looking silver lines gracing the riced futuristic designs as well as the most impressive "diamond-cut" finish. Now as 100% of you intelligent people would know, diamonds are a woman's best friend; clearly, Thermaltake wants the enthusiast population to get in on the action (Note that in order to dodge the 'sexist' bullet, I created my own sex: Enthusiast). I mean, the Silver River II allows you to have both "Silver" and "Diamonds" -- kidding. So, is this enclosure good enough to being your HDD's new set of clothes? Or, will it be just another riced up product? Either way, you will have to read on to find out!
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Seagate Barracuda XT 3TB Hard Drive
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As SSDs continue to encroach upon the storage market, hard drive manufacturers have been working overtime to increase the capacity and performance of their products. Seagate has taken things to the next level with the Barracuda XT 3TB; a drive which offers impressive benchmark numbers alongside a massive amount of storage space.
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BLACX 5G External Drive Dock by Thermaltake
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The BlacX 5G is a welcomed upgrade to USB 3.0 from the BlacX Duet which was just USB 2.0. gives you the ability to hot swap out SATA drives and gives you the speed of having the SATA drive connected via a SATA cable to the motherboard. This is a welcomed upgrade to all those I.T. techs who deal with stacks of hard drives and need to search multiple drives for misplaced data or image drives quickly.
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News: OCZs Octane 512GB solid-state drive
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OCZ bought SSD controller maker Indilinx earlier this year, and the first product of that acquisition is now out. Join us for a look at the Octane SSD and its new Everest controller."
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OCZ Vertex 2 160GB 25nm SSD Review
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A few weeks ago, my main desktop computer decided cash in on me. And before you ask, yes, as the Editor-in-Chief here at APH Networks, I do have tons of replacement components readily available on hand. The thing is, I am not about to reinstall Windows when I will have to do so again shortly anyway -- thanks to a collection of vastly superior equipment coming my way in the next week or so. So I decided to wait it out, and during this time, I took my spare computer upstairs and connected everything in. Now my "spare" computer probably isn't as bad as you think it is. In short, it consists of an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650, ASUS Striker II NSE, a mix of OCZ Platinum XTE 2x2GB and Patriot Viper II Sector 5 2x2GB for a total of 8GB RAM, plus a Gigabyte Radeon HD 4850 1GB to boot. Pretty good, right? Well, I will have to tell you this: My spare computer drives me absolutely nuts. It is not because the processor is slow, or it has a lack of memory; it is because all my fast SATA hard drives are in use somewhere else, so I simply shoved an old school Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB PATA drive in there. Back in 2005, it was probably a pretty decent drive. But fast forward to 2011, putting Windows 7 Professional on it simply ends up in an endless cycle of disk activity. Windows takes forever to boot. Programs take forever to load. What I am trying to say is, even if you have great hardware, a slow hard drive will ruin it all. This is why I want you to meet my new friend, the OCZ Vertex 2 160GB. Wait a second. What happened to our old friend, the OCZ Vertex 2 60GB? Other than the obvious of the new kid having bigger storage capacity, the last Vertex 2 we have reviewed back in November has 34nm flash ICs, whereas the one we are reviewing today is from a new batch consisting of 25nm chips. This is where all the controversy started. People were complaining about OCZ silently swapping to 25nm, resulting in degraded performance and lower usable capacity. But with all the controversy around lower capacity units like the 120GB version, how is the slightly more expensive 160GB unit? So we stacked up some benchmarks and put them in to the ring for a nice boxing match. OCZ Vertex 2 34nm vs. OCZ Vertex 2 25nm. Is it really as bad as you think? Read on to find out!
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OCZ Vertex 3 SandForce SF-2000 Based SSD Preview
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Just last week, we offered a glimpse of what OCZ has in store for the enterprise SSD market with a preview of the Vertex 3 Pro. Without giving away all of the juicy details, the Vertex 3 Pro essentially buried the competition and offered performance that was significantly better than any current-gen solid state drive. As we mentioned though, the Vertex 3 Pro is an enterprise-class drive, and as such, it sports a price tag outside of the realm of your typical PC enthusiast. OCZ did hint that the “non-Pro” version of the Vertex 3 was coming soon, however, and stated that it would be priced “significantly lower”.
Well, here we are, just one week later and we’ve already got a beta Vertex 3 in hand for some initial testing...
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| The best Guides by the best writers on the internet; PCSTATS Beginners Guides explain computers, software, and all those other wonderful things that cause you frustration.
Learn how to use your computer better, master the internet while protecting yourself, and know what to do when your hard drive kicks the bucket.
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"Get the 'Stats and Stay Informed!"
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Beginners Guides
