Legit Storage Reviews

SandForce SF-2000 Series SSD Controllers Detailed

Manufacturer: SandForce
Product: SandForce SF-2000 Series Processors
Date: Thu, Oct 07, 2010 - 08:30 AM
Written By: Nathan Kirsch -
Share:

SF-2000 Series of SSD Processors Continued

SandForce SF-2000 Series

The slide above shows the changes in bold text. SandForce informed us that the SF-2000 series of controllers will enter mass production between Q1 and Q2 2011 and that pricing will be in-line with the existing SF-1000 product line for the most part.  SandForce will be launching new sku's that they haven't had before, so there will be some difference in the controller pricing. The company says they expect the SF-1500 will continue on in the Enterprise market, but expects the SF-1200 controllers to slow down as the market will move to the SF-2500 controller. They also mentioned that consumer drivers based on the SF-2000 controller will come to market slightly ahead of the enterprise drives since the require less testing and certifications. This means that we could be seeing some fast new SandForce SF-2500 controllers used on consumer SSDs as early as Q1 2011! Just how fast?

SandForce SF-2000 Series

SandForce showed us this slide that compares performance of a pair of 200GB drives running different controllers and they were showing nearly twice the performance across the board. Notice the SF-2000 series numbers are just estimates and not real test results.  We can only hope that SandForce can hit these numbers in the real world.

SandForce SF-2000 Series

Most know that data is encrypted before it goes to the MLC NAND Flash, but here is a closer look at how the new SF-2000 series controller goes about it. A new AES-256 engine has been added in front of the old AES-128 engine to encrypt data, so the data is now double encrypted. The SF-2000 controller does have FIPS-197 certification of the AES engines.

SandForce SF-2000 Series

SandForce just recently signed deals with LSI and Seagate as OEMs & Manufacturers that use their controllers, which is a pretty significant design win for the company. SandForce expects companies like Corsair, OCZ, Mushkin, Patriot, G.Skill, ADATA and Super Talent to bring SF-2000 series drives to market once they ramp up production and get the firmware finalized this spring.

SandForce SF-2000 Series

SandForce also made mention that they are still the only controller company with a write amplification of less than one. They say it took three years of dedication to solve the write amplification equation and are shocked that the other companies haven't figured it out yet. They say that features like this is what make their drives perform better than the rest.

SandForce SF-2000 Series
As you can see SandForce has some pretty big plans with the SF-2000 series controller and we can't wait to see them in some SSDs first hand!

Questions or Comments? View this thread in our forums!

Return to Storage Home or Return Home


Review Index
Page 1 - SandForce SF-2000 Controllers Announced
Page 2 - SF-2000 Series of SSD Processors Continued