The Inq: Intel Launching Cheaper 34 nm SSDs in Two Weeks Time

[glugglug]

Originally posted by: Denithor

Originally posted by: glugglug

Originally posted by: drizek
G1 can still do a manual purge.

How would it do this?

The TRIM command IS the way the OS or other standalone app would tell the drive what LBAs can be purged.

No TRIM = no manual purge.

Really?

The problems with this are:
1) Manual. TRIM will maintain the drive in its "fresh" state without you having to do anything.
2) Wipes the drive. Completely. So back up to a different drive or whatever before performing.

Erasing and re-imaging is a pretty big pain for the occasional manual "purge". Thought you meant more like the OCZ tool.

BTW, I have used HDD Erase 4.0 successfully on the X25. Had to run it from a USB stick instead of from the CD ISO because the ISO tries to use emm386 and expand the app into a RAMDisk to run it and EMM386 doesn't work with 6GB, but once I put the app on a bootable USB stick and set the SATA to compatibility mode instead of AHCI it had no problems erasing.

 

[drizek]

Yes, I did assume that Intel was developing an OCZ like tool for both G1 and G2. I didn't realize that it depended on TRIM.

 

[ilkhan]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Originally posted by: ilkhan
...

...

OK, I can accept that.

As I understand it, flash memory is inherently slow, which is solved by having the controller read/write to several chips simultaneously, much like RAID0 does. So my only question is how is Intel going to keep the rated speeds for the SSD without using the 10 channels the controller supposedly support. If the other chips aren't there, the controller can't use those chips to increase speeds.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Denithor

Originally posted by: taltamir
The bulk of the price is the samsung chips, and samsung is looking at a choice, either it lowers prices significantly, or nobody will buy their stuff because intel is better and cheaper.

Does Intel sell their flash to other companies or consume it all internally? What is the likely impact of in essence doubling production capability (34nm vs 50nm)?

Originally posted by: bamacre
Any reason why they aren't offering 3.5in versions for desktops? I know these are best used for laptops, but with Intel's speeds, I would think there'd be some demand for desktop use.

Just set it on the bottom, velcro it into an open HDD bay, zip tie it to the frame, duct tape it to the cpu heatsink - it really doesn't matter - these drives are not sensative to bumps so rig it up any way you like. You can even get a 2.5->3.5 adapter if you're truly anal about how your innards look.

(Just kidding about that last point - taping to hsf. If you do that I want pictures but I'm not to be held responsible for any damages you cause. )

AFAIK the agility drive is indilinx controller with intel MLC instead of samsung.
Also the G1 is 20 chips and the G2 10 chips. not 10 and 5. According to anands disection pictures... well, at least the 160GB is.

 

[ilkhan]

G1-80 10
G2-80 5?

G1-160 20
G2-160 10

G2-320 20

Thats what we were referring to.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Double Post.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

ilkhan the reason it will be 5 chips and not 10 for the 80GB drive is because the 34nm chips are 16GB chips. 5x16GB = 80GB.

Same reason the 80GB G1 drive is 10 chips (8GB chips at 50nm, 10x8GB = 80GB) whereas the 160GB G1 drive is 20 chips (8GB chips at 50nm, 20x8GB = 160GB).

Much like they do with CPU's and GPU's, new nodes are not used to make existing chips smaller but rather to keep them the same size (same number of chips per wafer) but increase the xtor count per chip (increase memory capacity) because the gross margins are always highest for the highest density chips available.

16GB chips will not only sell for more than twice an 8GB chip they will also have more than twice the gross margins. They won't bother making 8GB 34nm chips, thats not how the economics of node cadence works in memory CMOS business.

Idontcare, if you look at the pictures of the X25-M review you'll notice the 80GB G1 drives are marked "29F32G0BCAMC1". The "32" stands for 32Gbit which is 4GB. The 160GB versions are marked as 64Gbit.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/788/2/

That means its

80 G1 20x 4GB
160 G1 20x 8GB

80 G2 ??
160 G2 10x 16GB

 

[silverlight]

Anyone know where to buy these drives? or when they'll be available? did a part number search on a few of the common sites like newegg.com (and google) and nothing showing up yet

 

[rcpratt]

They JUST showed up on newegg. $230 for 80GB. Purchase order limit 1.

 

[rcpratt]

FYI, to get around the order limit, you must use both a different account (email) and credit card. I'm glad that they will be shipping two packages to me now /sigh

Clearly they just wanted me to pay the $2.99 rush processing twice!

 

[silverlight]

Thanks for the tip, just placed my order

 

[taltamir]

80GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820167016

I went ahead and ordered one... interesting that the G1 is still priced at 320$
both are non refundable (the G1 and G2 that is)

This item is covered by Newegg.com's Limited Replacement Only Return Policy.
Return for refund within: non-refundable
Return for replacement within: 30 days

 

[drizek]

Its dead, Jim.

 

[ilkhan]

aka newegg is OoS.

 

[NC MacGuy]

Newegg still has 160's at $449 in stock.

 

[taltamir]

wow, that was certainly quick! I am glad I nabbed one of those. maybe I should have gotten one at buy.com when it was 5$ less.
I hope they get to shipping it tommorow. I also hope they don't send me a G1 and pretend they are the same item.

 

[silverlight]

So I jumped in and got an 80 and a couple 160's for my music server setup, and then learned of this bios issue / recall.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/bl...cup-on-new-intel-ssds/

So if it's only firmware, I could care less as I definitely want to start my Mac Mini modding. also since Mac only uses EFI and not BIOS should also be fine and unaffected.

But.... since they're holding off on distribution of the drives for a couple weeks or so, anyone think there's a hardware modification happening?

Newegg automatically sent me RMA return notices for the drives.

 

[Yuriman]

I doubt it, my gut feeling is that Intel just wants the drives to be "right" the first time, perhaps as an excuse to support them minimally.


"You get what you pay for. No more, no less."

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Yuriman
I doubt it, my gut feeling is that Intel just wants the drives to be "right" the first time, perhaps as an excuse to support them minimally.


"You get what you pay for. No more, no less."

exactly... with the indilinx i know it will PROBABLY equal intel's level after a year of firmware updates. with intel i get quality at day 1.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: silverlight
So I jumped in and got an 80 and a couple 160's for my music server setup, and then learned of this bios issue / recall.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/bl...cup-on-new-intel-ssds/

So if it's only firmware, I could care less as I definitely want to start my Mac Mini modding. also since Mac only uses EFI and not BIOS should also be fine and unaffected.

But.... since they're holding off on distribution of the drives for a couple weeks or so, anyone think there's a hardware modification happening?

Newegg automatically sent me RMA return notices for the drives.

there is no recall, there is a firmware bug and it is getting fixed. Just don't set a password on it..