Tag Archives: MLC NAND

ADATA XPG SX8000 Gaming SSD Launched

Taipei, 29 September 2016 – ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, today launched the XPG SX8000 SSD, which uses an M.2 form factor loaded with 3D MLC NAND Flash and an SMI 2260controller.

The SX8000 meets NVMe 1.2 specifications and connects directly to motherboards via PCI Express 3.0 x4 (PCIe 3×4) to deliver 2.4GB/s read and 1GB/s write, with 100K/140K IOPS. The SX8000 arrives in diverse capacities (128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB), ensuring a new generation of SSD performance is available to more users.

A slightly faster version fitted with an attractive XPG heatsink will release by the end of October, promising an aesthetic bonus for case modding enthusiasts.

ADATA XPG SX8000

Compact M.2 PCI 3×4 shatters speed barriers

The XPG SX8000 connects to desktop and notebook PCs via low profile M.2 2280 and channels data through PCI Express 3.0 x4 (four lane). The low latency and big bandwidth of PCIe enable up to 2.4GB/s read and 1GB/s write – four times the read and twice the write performance of average SATA 6Gb/s SSDs. Random 4K IOPS figures are 100K read and 140K write, also significantly more than SATA-based drives.

The SX8000 features full NVMe 1.2 compatibility, powering a large performance boost that means users notice gains in real world scenarios, especially loading times within games that require heavy asset streaming and in professional applications such as graphics and audio rendering.

Flexible and durable 3D NAND

The XPG SX8000 represents a new era not just in performance, but in its very architecture. It uses reliable 3D MLC NAND Flash, allowing ADATA to produce versions in capacities from 128GB to 1TB. With 3D NAND, reliability, performance, and efficiency all get a boost as more storage is fitted onto a smaller form factor without increasing power demands. The SX8000 features a 2 million hour MTBF (mean time between failures) rating, or 25% longer than 2D NAND SSD (which average 1.5 million hours).

Range of data-enhancing features

ADATA firmware design takes utmost data performance and integrity into consideration with every SSD. Intelligent SLC Caching allows the drive to operate in pseudo single-level cell mode for speed boosts when extreme data loads are encountered. It can also leverage system RAM to increase performance via DRAM Cache Buffer, helping maintain consistent throughput even during the most intense tasks.

LDPC ECC (low density parity check error correction) prevents data corruption and promotes integrity, while Data Shaping evenly distributes task loads across NAND Flash cells. The SX8000 is therefore a pioneer in performance that offers a complete package of reliability-augmenting features. It is backed by a 5-year warranty.

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Apacer Z280 M.2 PCIe Gen 3 x4 SSD Introduced

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The Apacer Z280 is Apace’s latest answer to advanced SSDs. It supports PCIe Gen 3 x4 and is compliant with NVMe 1.2 in a M.2 form factor. The blazing speed will boost the game status without getting too costly.

With sustained read/write performance at 2500MB/s and 1350MB/s, the compact M.2-2280 keeps everything efficient at a massive capacity of 480GB. Want to be one step ahead of others? Look no further than Z280, the high-performing SSD that is compatible with mini PCs and laptops.

Apacer Z280 M.2 PCIe SSD

Fast & Large Storage

The cutting-edge Apacer Z280 is compliant with NVMe 1.2 standard and features the latest PCIe Gen 3 x4 interface to provide up to 4 times of bandwidth – up to 2500 MB/s read & 1350MB/s write. Offering a massive memory capacity of 480GB, the Apacer Z280 has a random write of 175,000 IOPs to ensure all actions in each gaming scene is smoothly processed, fluid and sharp, efficiently boosting a gamer’s status.

With only 80mm in length, the Apacer Z280 adopts the ultra slim size of M.2-2280 and fits most of the laptops and mini PCs, easily turning any devices into highly portable gaming tools. With utmost performances and superb qualities, the Apacer Z280 is undoubtedly the most powerful booster you can find for gameplay enhancement.

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Stable & Safe Storage

The Apacer Z280 is equipped with several advanced features to ensure PCIe Gen 3 x4 performs at optimum, including ECC with 120bit/2KB BCH, End-to-End Data Protection, Smart ECC, Global Wear Leveling, for fortified SSD life, SmartRefresh, for maintaining accuracy and safety of data access, and S.M.A.R.T. monitoring system to keep all performances at their smoothest.

Meanwhile, Apacer publishes specially designed Apacer SSDWidget software which allows users to examine the SSD status as well as instant firmware update. In addition, the Apacer Z280 is an efficient power saver, capable of performing at low-power consumption, enabling to the laptop battery to sustain longer and PCs to be eco-friendlier.

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Toshiba OCZ VX500 SATA SSD Series Announced

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SAN JOSE, Calif. 13 September 2016 — Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC), a committed technology leader, today announces the launch of the OCZ VX500 SATA solid state drive (SSD) series. Aimed at mainstream desktop and notebook users looking to migrate away from primary hard disc drive (HDD) usage, VX500 SSDs feature superior endurance ratings and provide a faster, more responsive PC experience thanks to well-balanced read and write performance.

Backed by OEM-level testing that provides validated reliability and built with the latest Toshiba MLC NAND flash, the Toshiba OCZ VX500 SSD series delivers endurance ratings of 74 to 592 terabytes written (TBW), making it suitable for write-intensive applications such as content creation, revolving media/game storage, or as a scratch disk.

Toshiba OCZ VX500 Series

The Toshiba OCZ VX500 series is designed to thrive in mixed workload environments representative of mainstream users who need increased performance to take their everyday computing to the next level. With sequential read/write speeds of up to 550 MB/s and 515 MB/s, and random read/write performance of up to 92,000 and 65,000 4KiB input/output operations per second (IOPS), VX500 SSDs can significantly boost system productivity compared to HDD storage. Users can also count on enhanced durability and power consumption over their hard drives, as well as quality lightweight housing weighing in at only 54g.

“Delivering over 3X the endurance of TLC-based SSDs, the Toshiba OCZ VX500 SSD series ensures users who need increased product longevity aren’t neglected in the wake of a value-oriented market,” said Alex Mei, VP of Marketing and GM of Etail/Retail SSDs at Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. “The VX500 series was designed for today’s DIYers looking to upgrade from traditional hard drives with a solid state solution that thrives in the wide spectrum of mainstream oriented mixed workload applications.”

The OCZ VX500 SATA SSD series will be available in four different capacities ranging from 128GB to 1024GB and will be backed by a 5-year Advanced Warranty Program, created to provide reliable customer service and mitigates the frustration surrounding warranty and support claims. Additionally, each VX500 SSD comes bundled with Acronis True Image cloning software for users to easily transfer their data to the new SSD and enjoy a smooth upgrade experience.

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PLEXTOR M8Pe SSD Series Announced

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Taipei, 10 August 2016 – PLEXTOR, one of the world’s leading brands in high-performance digital storage devices, is launching the M8Pe series, the latest high efficiency solid-state drive (SSD) built exclusively for gamers.

The first PLEXTOR SSD to adopt the revolutionary NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 interface, the PLEXTOR M8Pe series offers outstanding continuous and random read/write speeds. First-rate components, profession heat sink design, coupled with LDPC correction technology, the M8Pe is capable of providing the most stable long-term performance. By satisfying the most stringent professional gaming requirements, the M8Pe offers unparalleled performance in terms of access speeds, creating the smoothest experience for gamers.

PLEXTOR M8Pe SSD

The PLEXTOR M8Pe series recreates the highest standard for professional gaming grade SSDs. With NVMe, the M8Pe significantly reduces access latency to provide faster data transmission speeds. Combined with the new generation of PCIe Gen3 x4 high speed interface, the M8Pe can provide breakthrough performances with continuous sequential read/write speeds of 2500/1400 MB/s, and random read/write speeds of 280,000/240,000 IOPS. This allows players to easily satisfy complicated data access requirements of the latest games.

In order to provide the most reliable data read/write accuracy, the PLEXTOR M8Pe is incorporated with the latest LDPC correction technology that uses more advanced error correction capabilities. M8Pe’s system stability is also another important point of emphasis during product design. Equipped with the latest professional gaming grade high efficiency heat sinks, the M8PE is able to use air flow within its own chassis for rapid heat dissipation, preventing its components from overheating thereby extending the SSD’s optimum operation effectiveness and service life.

PLEXTOR SSDs always use top quality components made by renowned manufacturers in the industry. The PLEXTOR M8Pe is equipped with Marvell’s latest controller chip, Toshiba’s 15 nm MLC NAND Flash memory and PLEXTOR exclusive firmware technologies to satisfy user demands for read/write speeds, performance, stability, and long-term service life.

PLEXTOR’s Senior Director Shu-Qing Li states, “Gamers have always had the strictest requirements on system specifications, not to mention that the latest games are pursuing extreme video and audio effects which pose a great challenge on the processing capabilities of computers. As a result, PLEXTOR has designed a series of SSD products aimed exclusively for gaming use. All of them are equipped with the most advanced high speed interface specifications while also supporting the industry’s latest standards/protocols. The new M8Pe NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 interface enables the SSD to help optimize the system, allowing maximum computation power. For enthusiasts and advanced gamers alike, through M8Pe’s professional gaming capabilities, everyone will be able to enjoy games like never before.”

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PLEXTOR M8Pe Availability

The PLEXTOR M8Pe series solid state drives will be available in mid-August. To satisfy various system configurations and expansion requirements of today’s gamers, PLEXTOR will offer two different connection standards including the PCIe and M.2 2280 in various capacities – 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1TB.

All series of products have passed PLEXTOR’s stringent quality tests, with a 2.4 million hour MTBF (mean time between failures) guarantee in addition to a 5-year warranty period.

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Transcend MTS800 1TB M.2 SSD Now Available

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Kuala Lumpur, April 22 2016 – Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend) is proud to announce the availability of 1 Terabyte M.2 Solid State Drive coming with 2280 form factor for ultra-thin computing devices, such as Ultrabook, tablet computers and laptops.

The Transcend MTS800 M.2 SSD is equipped with high-quality MLC NAND flash to maintain its excellent stability, and is exclusively built with protective technologies, such as Global Wear-levelling, Advanced Garbage Collection, and Device Sleep mode.

Trancend MTS800 1TB M.2 Solid State Drive

Spacious Capacity and Super Speed
By utilizing next-generation SATA III 6Gb/s interface, the Transcend MTS800 is capable of delivering sequential read/write performance of up to 560MB/s and 460MB/s respectively. The newly released spacious 1TB supplies the MTS800’s capacity to its full scale ranging from 32GB to 1TB, which is determined to satisfy the needs of various market fields and individual consumer with personal budget plans.

Protective Technology Leads to High Performance
The Transcend MTS800 features multiple built-in technologies for optimum protection, including Error Correction Code (ECC) that helps detect and correct potential transfer errors, Device Sleep mode to reduce power consumption and shorten the response time upon wake-up from Sleep or Hibernate, and the S.M.A.R.T. function to efficiently monitor SSD health conditions. More standard mechanisms include Intelligent Block Management and Wear-levelling algorithm to protect data integrity and prolong SSD lifespan.

Intel Smart Response Technology (ISRT) Supported
Transcend’s MTS series supports Intel Smart Response Technology (ISRT) in which an SSD is used as a cache between the hard disk drive and the computer system to memorize the applications and files that are most frequently accessed. This allows the hard disk more storage capacity to process and store other programs and files so as to improve the overall efficiency.

Apart from Transcend MTS800 available in 32GB~1TB capacities, two other Transcend’s MTS400 and MTS600 M.2 SSD models are also available in 32GB~512GB. All the MTS series are backed by Transcend’s Three-year Limited Warranty.

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Stacker NAND Technology TRIPLES Flash Capacity

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Terrarium Labs announces the successful certification of their Stacker NAND technology which triples the capacity of existing flash memory technologies. As an IP R&D company based in the China West Technology Park, Terrarium Labs has been focused on developing compression technology to massively expand flash storage capacity.

Stacker NAND Technology

Unlike existing MLC and TLC NAND technologies, Stacker NAND works independently of NAND process technologies. In fact, it is applied to existing NAND flash technologies to triple their capacities.

The Stacker NAND technology uses two different compression methods to deliver TRIPLE the capacity of any existing NAND flash storage technology.

The first is a lossless data compression algorithm that compresses data before they are written to the NAND flash memory. Depending on the file type, this can almost double the amount of data that can be stored in a particular flash chip.

To further increase the storage capacity to 3X, they add a lossy compression technology which applies filters that reduces the randomness of the data. This allows the earlier lossless compression technology to be even more effective.

At the moment, Terrarium says 3X more storage is a good compromise between additional storage and loss of data. But if necessary, they can scale it up to 5X or even 6X.

Only For Photos & Videos

As you can tell, the Stacker NAND technology cannot be used for regular data. It is designed to be used only for photos and videos. Terrarium Labs was very explicit that their compression technology will change some data in return for much small file sizes when compressed. However, they see this as a small price to pay for much larger storage capacities at the same price.

According to Terrarium Labs, a 256 Gbit Stacker NAND module paired with a regular 256 Gbit NAND module will double the effective capacity for very little cost – 768 Gbit of lossy storage + 256 Gbit of lossless storage.

Below is a prototype M.2 SSD module they created out of one regular 256 Gbit NAND module and two 256 Gbit Stacker NAND modules for 2.33X the effective storage capacity – 1,792 Gbits of storage, instead of just 768 Gbits. That’s just over 1,000 Gbits of extra storage!

Although Terrarium Labs admits that their lossy compression algorithm will reduce image quality, they say that at 3X, this is minimal and will only be obvious if the pictures or videos are examined very closely. They also pointed out that some of the filters used will actually reduce noise, which enhances picture and video quality.

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Photo Comparison

Obviously, we found that hard to believe, so they invited us to send them some photo samples. We sent them a dozen photo samples from the ASUS ZenPad 7.0 and the recently-reviewed honor 5X smartphone. Take a look at the four comparisons of their lossy compression filters at work.

They are correct that the difference is subtle and only apparent up close. There is some loss of detail, but also less noise. But would you accept such changes?

Adaptable

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Terrarium partners can pair the Terrarium Stacker processor with any number of NAND modules, and choose either lossless or lossy compression, or both.

Terrarium is also offering the compression software to partners who prefer to do without the processor, but it may sap up to 30% of a quad-core processor’s cycles.

They claim they’re currently in talks with the top smartphone manufacturers from the United States, Korea and China to introduce the Stacker processor and/or software into the next-generation smartphones.

Fun Fact

Tech old-timers will remember Stacker, the disk compression utility for MS-DOS. It not only doubled the capacity of our puny 42 MB hard disk drives, it also sped up reads and writes by compressing data before they were written to the abysmally-slow hard disk drives of the day. However, Stac Electronics, the company that developed Stacker soon crumbled after Microsoft introduced their free DoubleSpace disk compression software.

Little known to many, Stac Electronics spun off a chip making company called Hifn, which makes encryption and compression processors. Some of Hifn’s key engineers are those who helped form Terrarium Labs. That’s why they named their first product – Stacker.

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