Silicon Motion
At FMS 2024, the technological requirements from the storage and memory subsystem took center stage. Both SSD and controller vendors had various demonstrations touting their suitability for different stages of the AI data pipeline - ingestion, preparation, training, checkpointing, and inference. Vendors like Solidigm have different types of SSDs optimized for different stages of the pipeline. At the same time, controller vendors have taken advantage of one of the features introduced recently in the NVM Express standard - Flexible Data Placement (FDP). FDP involves the host providing information / hints about the areas where the controller could place the incoming write data in order to reduce the write amplification. These hints are generated based on specific block sizes advertised by the device. The feature is...
The OWC Aura Pro X2 SSD Review: An NVMe Upgrade For Older Macs
Apple was an early adopter of PCIe SSDs, introducing them in 2013 when the NVMe specification was still in its infancy and before any M.2 NVMe hardware was available...
32 by Billy Tallis on 6/5/2019Silicon Motion: PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD Controller in Development, Coming Q2 2020
Being the next step in PCIe, SSD controller makers are looking to release their PCIe 4.0 designs into the market. Silicon Motion is not an exception, with its upcoming...
27 by Anton Shilov on 6/4/2019A USB Stick as an SSD? A New Silicon Motion SM3282 Single-Chip Controller for USB SSDs
Silicon Motion has introduced its first single-chip controller for portable USB SSDs. The SM3282 promises to enable makers of portable drives to offer up to 400 MB/s sequential read...
46 by Anton Shilov on 5/31/2019ADATA Shows Off SMI’s Prototype PCIe 4.0 x4 512GB SSD: An SM2267 SSD
One of the world’s largest suppliers of memory modules and SSDs, ADATA is a company to watch when it comes to the latest technologies. This is certainly the case...
6 by Anton Shilov on 5/30/2019Mushkin’s Helix-L SSDs Available: Pushing the Price of 3D TLC
Mushkin this week said that it had started shipments of its Helix-L SSDs that promise to combine high performance and relatively low prices. The drives use Silicon Motion’s entry-level...
12 by Anton Shilov on 5/22/2019Kingston Launches Client-Focused KC2000 M.2 NVMe SSD: 96L TLC On SM2262EN
Kingston's latest flagship client/consumer SSD is launching today: the KC2000, which is set to replace the two year old KC1000. The KC2000 was previewed early this year at CES...
3 by Billy Tallis on 5/20/2019SK Hynix Begins Sampling of 96-Layer 1 Tb 3D QLC NAND
SK Hynix recently started sampling of its 1 Tb 96-layer NAND flash memory devices featuring its PUC 3D QLC architecture. The new 1 Tb chip will enable SSD makers...
14 by Anton Shilov on 5/10/2019The Intel Optane Memory H10 Review: QLC and Optane In One SSD
Intel's latest SSD caching solution using 3D XPoint memory is here. This time, the Optane cache is paired with QLC NAND flash, and all bundled onto one M.2 drive...
60 by Billy Tallis on 4/22/2019OWC Launches Aura Pro X2 NVMe SSD Upgrade For Macs
Other World Computing (OWC) has launched a new line of NVMe SSD upgrades for several Mac models that used Apple's custom not-quite-M.2 form factor. The new Aura Pro X2...
17 by Billy Tallis on 4/16/2019Intel Releases Optane Memory H10 Specifications
Intel's Optane Memory H10 SSD will begin shipping soon in pre-built systems from major OEMs, so Intel's ready to unveil more detailed information about the drive first previewed earlier...
23 by Billy Tallis on 4/10/2019CES 2019: New Kingston KC2000 NVMe SSDs for High Performance
At this year’s CES, Kingston demonstrated its first SSDs powered by Silicon Motion’s controllers. The new KC2000-series drives are aimed at high-end client systems.
45 by Anton Shilov on 1/23/2019CES 2019: Kingston A2000 NVMe SSD Aiming for Below SATA Pricing
Manufacturers of SSDs have traditionally sold drives with a PCIe interface at a premium when compared to devices featuring a SATA interface because of higher performance and despite of...
16 by Anton Shilov on 1/18/2019Mushkin at CES 2019: SSDs With 96L 3D NAND in Q2
At CES, Mushkin provided their usual roadmap update detailing the next several SSDs they plan to release. There aren't any big surprises: several of the products have been mentioned...
2 by Billy Tallis on 1/11/2019HP Announces EX950 M.2 NVMe SSD
HP has announced a new high-end consumer NVMe SSD, the HP EX950. The EX950 is the successor to the very successful HP EX920, which for most of 2018 was...
13 by Billy Tallis on 1/9/2019ADATA Announces XPG Gammix S11 Pro: SM2262EN, 3D TLC, Up to 3.5 GB/s
ADATA on Thursday introduced its highest-performing SSD to date, featuring sequential read speeds of up to 3.5 GB/s and random read speeds of up to 390K IOPS. The enthusiast-class...
12 by Anton Shilov on 12/13/2018Innodisk Launches M.2 Graphics Card with 4K Output
Innodisk has released a graphics adapter in an M.2 form-factor. The card supports resolutions of up to 1920×1080 at 60 Hz or 3840×2160 at 30 Hz and is designed...
23 by Anton Shilov on 12/5/2018The Mushkin Source 500GB SATA SSD Review: A Value Proposition For An Everyday PC
QLC SATA SSDs haven't quite hit the consumer market just yet, so the most affordable entry-level SSDs are still DRAMless designs with TLC NAND. The Mushkin Source is a...
31 by Billy Tallis on 11/21/2018The Crucial P1 1TB SSD Review: The Other Consumer QLC SSD
The Crucial P1 is the second consumer SSD with QLC NAND to hit the market, and the first consumer NVMe drive that Crucial has released. It is fundamentally similar...
68 by Billy Tallis on 11/8/2018Crucial's First NVMe SSD: P1 M.2 With QLC NAND
Micron's consumer-oriented Crucial brand is finally entering the world of NVMe SSDs with the new Crucial P1 M.2 SSD. The P1 is an entry-level NVMe drive using four bit...
56 by Billy Tallis on 10/16/2018The Team Group Delta RGB SSD Review: Lite Performance, Light Drive
Today we're looking at another SATA SSD with RGB lighting, but the Team Delta RGB is very different from our previous RGB SSD. The lighting design is far more...
14 by Billy Tallis on 9/26/2018