Storage
Western Digital expanded its WD Blue NVMe family of budget SSDs this week with the introduction of the the WD Blue SN5000 series, an updated lineup of SSDs that, among other things, adds a 4 TB model. Being budget drives, the SN5000 series is not going to be a performance monster, but their combination of capacity, reliability, and relatively low price could make them popular both among casual buyers and among enthusiasts looking for relatively cheap bulk solid-state storage. Western Digital's WD Blue SN500 NVMe drives come in an M.2-2280 form-factor and are based around an in-house WD controller (the company rarely discloses their codenames these days). WD's controller is a 4 channel, DRAMless design, which is what we typically see for budget and mainstream...
Corsair Neutron & Neutron GTX: All Capacities Tested
Corsair surprised us all at Computex this year when they announced their Neutron and Neutron GTX SSDs based on a so-far relatively unknown Link A Media Devices (LAMD) controller...
44 by Kristian Vättö on 12/19/2012Samsung Acquires SSD Caching Company NVELO
This came out of the blue. Samsung announced their intent to acquire NVELO, known for their Dataplex SSD caching software. Price or specific timeframe of the acquisition have not...
16 by Kristian Vättö on 12/16/2012Plextor Updates The Firmware on M5 Pro: Promises Increased Performance, We Test It
Plextor released their M5 Pro SSD in August, which we reviewed shortly after the release. Now nearly four months later, Plextor has released an updated firmware (v1.02) for the...
46 by Kristian Vättö on 12/10/2012Samsung Explains The Firmware Bug Causing The Failures of SSD 840/840 Pro
We've been covering the issues surrounding Samsung's SSD 840/840 Pro lately. The issue was first discovered when Anand's pre-production review sample died during testing and we also noted that...
56 by Kristian Vättö on 12/7/2012Mushkin Announces First 480GB mSATA SSD
We're seeing a true shift in the mobile market to including SSDs in more of the market spectrum. What was once the domain of $1500+ laptops is now being...
27 by Jarred Walton on 12/6/2012Exploring the Relationship Between Spare Area and Performance Consistency in Modern SSDs
When we reviewed Intel's SSD DC S3700 I started looking at consistency of IO latency, an area that Intel's latest controller specifically targeted for significant improvement. In our review...
134 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 12/4/2012Update on Samsung SSD 840/840 Pro Failures
In our review of Samsung's SSD 840 Pro I noted that my drive died shortly after I completed testing. Samsung sent me a replacement, which also stopped working (although...
45 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/28/2012TRIM & RAID-0 SSD Arrays Work With Intel 6-Series Motherboards Too
A few months ago, Intel brought TRIM support to RAID-0 SSD arrays but limited it to its latest 7-series chipsets. As 7 and 6-series chipsets are very similar, there...
36 by Kristian Vättö on 11/28/2012OCZ Vector (256GB) Review
Times are changing at OCZ. There's a new CEO at the helm, and the company is now focused on releasing fewer products but that have gone through more validation...
151 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/27/2012Patriot Gauntlet Node/320 Review: Wireless Storage for Tablets
One side effect of the current march towards ultramobility is the nearly complete abandonment of expandable/upgradeable local storage. No modern smartphone or tablet allows for upgradeable internal storage, and...
35 by Anand Lal Shimpi & Cara Hamm on 11/22/2012Crucial v4 (256GB) Review
As with virtually all consumer electronics devices, there is market for various types and levels of SSD. Not everyone is ready to pay the premium for the fastest possible...
44 by Kristian Vättö on 11/22/2012SandForce TRIM Issue & Corsair Force Series GS (240GB) Review
SandForce and TRIM—that has always been a tricky combination. SandForce SSDs have always behaved a bit differently when tortured and TRIM'ed due to their internal design. When a non-SandForce...
56 by Kristian Vättö on 11/22/2012The AnandTech Podcast: Episode 10
We've made it to 10 episodes of the AnandTech Podcast! As promised, this week's episode is a bit more PC focused as we discuss the future of AMD. Intel's...
32 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/21/2012Intel Explains 20nm NAND Endurance Concerns on the SSD 335
It's common knowledge by now that as NAND cells shrink in size (thanks to smaller process nodes), their endurance and program/erase latencies both suffer. Consumers wouldn't really be happy...
31 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/17/2012AnandTech/Intel S3700 Roundtable Discussion & Webcast Videos Live
Intel invited me to attend SC12 and participate in a webcast for the launch of its new DC S3700 SSD. I joined Roger Peene from Intel's SSD Solutions and...
33 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/16/2012Samsung SSD 840: Testing the Endurance of TLC NAND
NAND endurance is something that always raises questions among those considering a move to solid state storage. Even though we have showed more than once that the endurance of...
48 by Kristian Vättö on 11/16/2012AnandTech/Intel SSD Webcast Live Today at 9AM PST/12PM EST
We are live at SC12 from Salt Lake City, Utah this morning and are preparing to answer your SSD, NAND and Intel SSD DC S3700 questions. In about two...
14 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/13/2012AnandTech Webcast Live 11/13 at 9AM PST/12PM EST from SC12: Ask Your Intel SSD DC S3700 Questions Here
There's a bunch of cool stuff happening at this year's Supercomputing conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. For starters, we'll get to see the updated list of the world's...
33 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/9/2012The Intel SSD DC S3700 (200GB) Review
When Intel arrived on the scene with its first SSD, it touted superiority in controller, firmware and NAND as the reason it was able to so significantly outperform the...
30 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/9/2012Rescheduling the Intel SSD DC S3700 Review
This is a rare situation so I thought I'd post a quick explanation here. There was a miscommunication relating to the exact date and time of the embargo lift...
14 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/6/2012