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Micron Unveils RealSSD C300 SATA 6Gb/s SSD

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:51:43 +0000

SSDs are a lot faster than traditional HDDs even when they use the same SATA 3Gb/s interface. With the new SATA 6Gb /s interface on the horizon, SSDS and traditional HDDs will get a lot faster. Micron has announced its new 6Gb/s SSDs called the RealSSD C300.

This new SSD is sampling now in limited quantities and Micron says it will be in full production starting in Q1 2010. I guess we can assume boards needed to take advantage of the SSDs will be on the market then too.

Micron will offer the SSDs in 2.5-inch and 1.8-inch form factors for notebooks and desktop systems. The new SSDs promise a read throughput of up to 355MB/s and a wire throughput of up to 215MB/s. Micron reports that on the PC Mark Vantage benchmark the new SSDs scored 45,000.

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Micron RealSSD C300 SATA 6Gbps drive teases awesome performance [Video]

Chris Davies — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:12:35 +0000

Only a fool argues with more speed in their computer, and by that logic only a fool would argue with the Micron RealSSD C300. The first SSD to comply natively with the new SATA 6Gbps specification, the RealSSD C300 is capable of up to 355MB/sec read speeds and up to 215MB/sec write speeds and will be available in 128GB and 256GB sizes.

Video comparison demos after the cut

Micron credit the speed on their use of 34nm ONFI 2.1 high-speed synchronous MLC NAND flash memory, which the C300 is the first SSD to use. It’s too early to see how the true performance benchmarks rack up – the C300 goes on sale at some point in Q1 2010 – but Micron have pushed out some demo videos below comparing the new SSD to a standard HDD and to one of their competitors’ SSDs.

What we don’t yet know is how much the RealSSD C300 will cost, and that’s likely to be eye-watering. There’s also something of a shortage of SATA 6Gbps motherboards to use it with, certainly in comparison with SATA 3Gbps boards, but happily the C300 is backward compatible with the older standard.

Micron RealSSD C300 vs. HDD—Everyday Tasks:

Fastest Client SSD: Micron RealSSD C300 vs. Leading Competitor:

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Intel and Micron announce super-efficient 32Gb MLC NAND memory

Ewdison Then — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:29:21 +0000

Intel and Micron have announced a new high-density, cost-effective memory chip, that could bring down the price of flash cards and USB drives. The chip uses 3-bit-per-cell (3bpc) multi-level cell (MLC) NAND technology and is manufactured on a 32nm production line; the two companies are calling it “the industry’s smallest and most cost-effective 32-gigabit chip that is currently available on the market.”

Mass production of the chip is expected to begin in Q4 2009, allowing OEMs to produce smaller devices at more cost-effective prices. Micron and Intel will announce their 2xnm technology later on in the year, even smaller memory that will enable more compact and efficient devices.

Press Release:

INTEL, MICRON ACHIEVE INDUSTRY’S MOST EFFICIENT NAND PRODUCT USING 3-BIT-PER-CELL TECHNOLOGY

Companies Hit Manufacturing Milestone Taking Advantage of 34-Nanometer NAND Process, To Deliver 32-Gigabit Density

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and BOISE, Idaho, Aug. 11, 2009 – Intel Corporation and Micron Technology Inc. today announced the development of a new 3-bit-per-cell (3bpc) multi-level cell (MLC) NAND technology, leveraging their award-winning 34-nanometer (nm) NAND process. The chips are typically used in consumer storage devices such as flash cards and USB drives, where high density and cost-efficiency are paramount.

Designed and manufactured by IM Flash Technologies (IMFT), their NAND flash joint venture, the new 3bpc NAND technology produces the industry’s smallest and most cost-effective 32-gigabit (Gb) chip that is currently available on the market. The 32Gb 3bpc NAND chip is 126mm². Micron is currently sampling and will be in mass production in the fourth quarter 2009. With the companies’ continuing to focus on the next process shrink, 3bpc NAND technology is an important piece of their product strategy and is an effective approach in serving key market segments.

“We see 3bpc NAND technology as an important piece of our roadmap,” said Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron’s memory group. “We also continue to move forward on further shrinks in NAND that will provide our customers with a world-leading portfolio of products for many years to come. Today’s announcement further highlights that Micron and Intel have made great strides in 34-nanometer NAND, and we look forward to introducing our 2xnm technology later this year.”

“The move to 3bpc is yet another proof point to the remarkable progress Intel and Micron have made in 34-nm NAND development,” said Randy Wilhelm, Intel vice president and general manager, Intel NAND Solutions Group. “This milestone sets the stage for continued silicon leadership on 2xnm process that will help decrease costs and increase the capabilities of our NAND solutions for our customers.”

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Micron low-power performance DDR3 RAM headed to NVIDIA

Chris Davies — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:24:44 +0000

Different types of RAM may not be as exciting or glossy as different ultraportables, say, or the latest CULV netbook, but it can have a whole lot of impact on how enjoyable the end result turns out to be. Micron have announced a new high-performance, low-power DDR3 memory, which the company claims uses the industry’s lowest 1.35V one-gigabit DDR3 components.

The upshot of that is a claimed 20-percent reduction in power usage, when compared to “standard” 1.5V memory modules, but still with the same performance improvements from DDR3. Bandwidth remains at 1,333 megabits per second.

Micron are now working with NVIDIA to validate the new RAM for use with their processors; given one of the company’s most recent announcements has been the Tegra platform for Smartbooks, which boast 1080p-delivering performance while still promising extended battery life, it doesn’t seem all that surprising that they’re interested in low-power memory. The first 2GB Micron DDR3 chips are available now; 4GB versions will begin sampling in the fall.

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Micron introduces Serial NAND Flash memory for embedded applications

Staff Editor — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:11:22 +0000

Today Micron Technology Inc announced a serial NAND flash memory technology, providing embedded applications with the flexibility to easily upgrade their storage capacity. With storage space starting at 1Gb, Micron’s serial NAND flash allows users to easily upgrade storage capacity beyond what is currently available with serial NOR flash, with a significant cost-per-bit advantage.

Items such as WiMAX devices, set-top boxes, printers and other industrial and automotive applications now contain more sophisticated operating systems for managing multimedia, photos and other data-intensive content, which are driving the need for these devices to contain greater storage capacity. This technology allows for improved performance, allowing users to expand their application storage capacity without having to perform a complete system redesign.

“Micron’s serial NAND offers the lowest cost-per-bit serial interface flash on the market,” said Kevin Kilbuck, director of NAND market development for Micron. “There are several embedded applications today that require 128 megabytes or more of storage, and we expect capacity to continue to grow, providing the need for a NAND-based storage alternative to NOR flash.”

Micron’s serial NAND uses the same package type as parallel NAND, also allowing users to move from serial into parallel NAND interfaces whenever you like. Micron Serial NAND is compatible with the industry SPI. Micron’s 1Gb serial NAND technology is expected to release in the first quarter of 2009. Higher density serial NAND flash ranging up to 4Gb will be available in early 2009.

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Micron 1GB/s SSD to be released in the near future

Brenda Stokes — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:11:29 +0000

Well this is exciting news. Micron has come up with a new SSD that could actually break current records for internal storage and would be incredibly fast. This new storage would actually use two solid-state drives that have 16 data channels. This would make for a transfer speed of up to 1GB/second!

Call me impressed! Performance exceeds 200,000 input/output operations per second. It also requires that the current Serial ATA II 300MB/s bandwidth cap be released with a PCI Express. During a demo video, the SSDs are mounted on cards and these managed to top 800MB/s.

Currently, the fastest SSD you can buy only reach 250MB/s and the fastest hard drive, the Western Digital Velociraptor, reaches 100MB/s. Supposedly, a production version of this super fast SSD will be released in the near future, though there’s no word on pricing or a specific release date. In the meantime, check out the video demo below:

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Intel 80GB & 160GB consumer SSDs for imminent announcement?

Chris Davies — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:14:12 +0000

Intel are preparing to announce their latest SSD storage range at IDF next week, according to information acquired by Expreview. The drives, made with partner Micron, will be consumer versions of that company’s RealSSD range, which will be targeted at enterprise customers.

Intel’s drives will be available both in 32GB and 64GB sizes, but also the more unusual 80GB and 160GB sizes. Both 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch versions will be sold, with 240 MB/s read rates and 70-170 MB/s write rates.

Pricing for the drives is still unknown. The 80GB drive is expected to be available sometime this quarter, while the 160GB version won’t be released until Q1 2009.

[via TGDaily]

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Micron C200 256GB SSD & P200 enterprise SSD announced

Chris Davies — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:04:29 +0000

Micron have announced a pair of new Solid State Drives (SSDs) in their RealSSD range, in the shape of the C200 and the P200. Where the former is an SATA drive aimed at consumers, offering up to 256GB in the 2.5-inch form factor or 128GB in the 1.8-inch, it uses MLC flash promising read rates of up to 250MB/s and write rates of up to 100MB/s.

The P200 range, meanwhile, is targeted at servers and other enterprise applications, prioritizing access speeds over raw capacity. All 2.5-inch in size, the drives range from 16GB to 128GB in size but, thanks to their use of SLC flash, have matching 250MB/s read and write speeds. According to Micron, the P200 range requires a tenth of the power of traditional HDDs and need almost no cooling.

The C200 range will begin shipping in 32GB to 256GB capacities in the Fall, both as part of assembled systems and as aftermarket upgrades. External storage using the drives should show up at the same time, under the Lexar banner. The P200 range will launch at the same time. Neither drives have been priced as of yet.

[via Electronista]

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