OCZ Reveals Agility 3, Solid 3 SSDs

OCZ revealed two new SSD lines featuring the SandForce SF-2200 processor and an SATA 6 Gbps interface.

Tuesday OCZ announced two new SSD lines catering to speed-seeking enthusiasts in search of the best value for performance. Called the Agility 3 and Solid 3, both new SSD lines use the same MLC NAND Flash while taking advantage of SandForce's SF-2200 processor and a SATA 6 Gbps interface to provide super-zippy read and write speeds.

"With increased availability of SATA III platforms, the demand for the latest generation SSDs has grown rapidly," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ technology Group. "We are addressing this demand with new products that offer both the best performance and value for consumers."

The OCZ Agility 3 arrives in three capacities: 60 GB, 120 GB and 240 GB. The drives offer read speeds up to 525 MB/s across the board, write speeds up to 475 MB/s on the 60 GB version and write speeds up to 500 MB/s on the 120 GB and 240 GB models. Both the 60 GB and 120 GB drives feature a random write 4KB (aligned) of 50,000 IOPS and the 240 GB performs slightly lower at 45,000 IOPS.

The OCZ Solid 3 arrives in only two capacities: 60 GB and 120 GB. The performance of these drives are slightly lower than the Agility 3 line, providing read speeds up to 500 MB/s, write speeds up to 450 MB/s, and a random write 4KB (aligned) of 20,000 IOPS. But like the Agility 3 line, the Solid 3 drives feature a 2.5-inch form factor, a seek time of 0.1ms, RAID support, native TRIM support and a MTBF of 2 million hours.

Depending on the retailer, the Solid 3 60 GB and 120 GB drives cost around $152 and $267 respectively. The Agility 3 60 GB, 120 GB and 240 GB drives cost around $158, $268 and $509. Both solutions come backed by a 3-year warranty for ultimate customer satisfaction and peace of mind, OCZ said.

Seagate Reveals HDD With 1 TB Platters

The Seagate Barracuda XT 3 TB HDD will be the company's first to use 1 TB platters.

For those who still can't give up the tried-and-true method of serving up data on a silver platter, Seagate has revealed a new flagship 3.5-inch hard drive with an areal density of 625 Gigabits per square inch using 1 TB platters. The drive, slated as the "world's first" for the general consumer, will be added to the company's GoFlex Desk line sometime in mid-2011 and eventually offered in four storage capacities: 3 TB, 2 TB, 1.5 TB and 1 TB.

"Organizations of all sizes and consumers worldwide are amassing digital content at light speed, generating immense demand for storage of digital content of every imaginable kind," said Rocky Pimentel, Seagate Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing. "We remain keenly focused on delivering the storage capacity, speed and manageability our customers need to thrive in an increasingly digital world."

Seagate said that the first model-- the Barracuda XT 3 TB HDD-- will have enough storage to house up to 120 HD movies, 1,500 video games, thousands of photos and virtually countless hours of digital music. Compatible with both PC and Mac, the drive will also come packed with an NTFS driver for Mac, allowing it to store and access files from both Windows and Mac OS X computers without reformatting. Rotational speeds and other hardware specs were not provided.

Although Seagate is the first HDD manufacturer to bring the new high-density drives to the market, Samsung was actually the first to break the barrier on storage capacity for hard drives using one-terabyte-per-platter areal density. The tech was shown at CeBIT 2011 and will be used to create 2 TB HDDS using only two platters, the company said.

Kingston Reveals its First SandForce-based SSD

The Kingston HyperX will use the SandForce SF-2281 controller for sequential read speeds up to 525 MB/s.

This week at Computex, Kingston revealed its very first 2.5-inch SSD using a SandForce controller targeting enthusiasts, gamers and performance users. Dubbed as the Kingston HyperX, the SSD is based on SandForce SF-2281 controllers and a SATA 6 Gb/s interface, and ships next month in 120 and 240 GB capacities.

"This launch is very exciting for us at Kingston," said Ariel Perez, SSD business manager. "The SandForce controller allows us to deliver the high-end performance that is needed for power-users, gamers, and enthusiasts. Integrating a final production quality controller and firmware, and undergoing extensive testing has been an exacting process, but well worth the wait. By pairing SandForce’s latest controller with Intel 25-nm compute NAND (P/E 5K), we have built an SSD that meets the requirements set by true enthusiasts.”

As stated, the SF-2281 controller is paired with Intel's 25-nm Compute NAND (P/E 5K), allowing for sequential read/write throughputs of 525/480 MB/s and IOPS of 40,000/60,000 (240GB). SandForce DuraClass Technology provides best in class endurance whereas Advanced Wear-Leveling technology ensures that flash memory blocks are consumed at a very balanced rate. Additional features include TRIM and S.M.A.R.T. Support, and user-configurable over-provisioning for tweaking performance to suit the user's individual needs.

"Enthusiasts have long known the Kingston HyperX brand as the industry leader in cutting edge memory," the company said. "The new HyperX SSD continues this tradition of innovation and high performance by pairing the latest SandForce controller with Intel® 25nm compute NAND (P/E 5K) to provide the performance and endurance that the most demanding users require."

Both Kingston HyperX SSDs are expected to ship on July 11, 2011. They'll be backed by a three-year warranty and Kingston's 24/7 tech support.