FUD: AMD preparing Radeon R7 solid state drives

[MentalIlness]

http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/35439-amd-preparing-radeon-r7-solid-state-drives

Sounds like rebranded OCZ drives

AMD is definitely pushing its plan to have a hardware lineup for a complete system and after the introduction of AMD Radeon memory, a newly leaked slides suggest that the company is just days from releasing its Radeon branded solid state drives, the Radeon R7 SSD series. We originally reported on AMD's SSD plans back in April, but now it seems launch is imminent.

To be available in 120, 240 and 480GB capacities, the upcoming Radeon R7 series SSDs will be based on OCZ/Indilinx Barefoot 3 M00 controller paired up wtih Toshiba 19nm MLC NAND flash memory. The recently leaked OCZ Arc 100 SSD lineup will feature similar specs and it appears that AMD has struck a deal with OCZ Storage Solutions, which is now a part of the Toshiba Group, to rebrand these drives.

AMD Radeon R7 series SSDs will use the standard 2.5-inch 7mm form factor and this combination of the Indilinx Barefoot 3 M00 controller and Toshiba 19nm MLC NAND will offer sequential read and write speeds of up to 550MB/s and 530MB/s (470MB/s write on the 120GB model). The 4K QD32 random read will be set at up to 85k, 95k and 100k IOPS for three models while maximum random 4K QD32 write will be at up to 90k IOPS on all three models.

While the leaked slides do not shed any light on the price, they do indicate that the drives should be released later this month. Since these are quite similar to the OCZ Arc 100 SSD series, you can expect them to have a similar price set at US $74.99, US $119.99 and US $239.99 for the 120, 240 and 480GB models.

 

[Cerb]

Hopefully it's rebranded Toshibas, instead. I know they bought OCZ, but their own SF drives prior to that were like Intel's, offering fair speed and reliability. I'd trust a THNSNF much more than a Vertex .

 

[Elixer]

As with the AMD branded RAM, this also don't make sense.
Whomever came up with these marketing stunts needs to be fired.

 

[Coup27]

As with the AMD branded RAM, this also don't make sense.
Whomever came up with these marketing stunts needs to be fired.

Agreed. Totally pointless. Trying to hitch a ride on their Radeon branding and apply it to as many products as possible. If anything, it will just dilute the strength of their GFX branding in the long term.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

::considers building an all-Radeon system for fanboy cred...::

 

[VirtualLarry]

... waiting for re-branded ECS or Biostar "Radeon" motherboards...


In all seriousness, if this is a profitable venture for them, and won't cost them R&D dollars, then this will be a nice addition to AMD's bottom-line.

The Barefoot 3 controller is decent. IMHO, as good as Marvell, and better than SandForce Gen2.

The Barefoot and Barefoot 2 controllers have always been reliable for me.

 

[sandorski]

As with the AMD branded RAM, this also don't make sense.
Whomever came up with these marketing stunts needs to be fired.

AMD branded RAM does have one unique thing about it. The chips used are consistent within each Model. That means that if you buy 1 stick of a Model now, then buy another of the same Model 3 years from now, you are going to get complete compatibility between them. They will use the same Memory chips and all other components will be the same. You don't get this with other Brands.

Maybe not enough to sway many people, but it's something that differentiates AMD branded RAM. Whether any AMD SSD product will have some kind of uniqueness remains to be seen.

 

[spat55]

::considers building an all-Radeon system for fanboy cred...::

I was just thinking the same thing! Might be good for people on a budget. If it is true then I think it is a good idea, trying to make money in other places so they don't have all their eggs in one basket.

 

[Cerb]

... waiting for re-branded ECS or Biostar "Radeon" motherboards...


In all seriousness, if this is a profitable venture for them, and won't cost them R&D dollars, then this will be a nice addition to AMD's bottom-line.

The Barefoot 3 controller is decent. IMHO, as good as Marvell, and better than SandForce Gen2.

The Barefoot and Barefoot 2 controllers have always been reliable for me.

Marvell controllers are better than Marvell controllers? It's all marketing. They are relabeled Marvell controllers, with custom firmware, not really different than Micron, Plextor, et al.

 

[Elixer]

AMD branded RAM does have one unique thing about it. The chips used are consistent within each Model. That means that if you buy 1 stick of a Model now, then buy another of the same Model 3 years from now, you are going to get complete compatibility between them. They will use the same Memory chips and all other components will be the same. You don't get this with other Brands.

Where did you get that info from ?
From everything I have read, the only real difference is they got timing profiles, so, you wouldn't have to tune the RAM timings to get optimal settings. Well, in theory anyway, in practice, most O/Cers still must manually adjust the timings anyway.

 

[sandorski]

Where did you get that info from ?
From everything I have read, the only real difference is they got timing profiles, so, you wouldn't have to tune the RAM timings to get optimal settings. Well, in theory anyway, in practice, most O/Cers still must manually adjust the timings anyway.

LinusTechTips

 

[Elixer]

Well, all RAM follows JEDEC specs, and this is no different, and each different category just tweaks the profiles.
Other than that, these are just generic sticks that could come from multiple sources.
So, yes, the timings will be the same for each category, but, that don't mean they will also use the same chips from the same OEM years down the road.

I found another 'advantage' though, you get 'free' RAMdisk software, but, I still say this is just a marketing gimmick, nothing more.
http://www.radeonmemory.com

Radeon CPU, Radeon SSD, Radeon RAM, Radeon keyboard, Radeon mouse, Radeon monitor, Radeon USB stick, Radeon Heatsink, Radeon PSU, Radeon fans, Radeon case, Radeon WIFI, Radeon headphones, Radeon optical drive, Radeon HD, Radeon bluetooth adapter, Radeon Dustbuster, Radeon cables!

I can't wait!

 

[sandorski]

Well, all RAM follows JEDEC specs, and this is no different, and each different category just tweaks the profiles.
Other than that, these are just generic sticks that could come from multiple sources.
So, yes, the timings will be the same for each category, but, that don't mean they will also use the same chips from the same OEM years down the road.

I found another 'advantage' though, you get 'free' RAMdisk software, but, I still say this is just a marketing gimmick, nothing more.
http://www.radeonmemory.com

Radeon CPU, Radeon SSD, Radeon RAM, Radeon keyboard, Radeon mouse, Radeon monitor, Radeon USB stick, Radeon Heatsink, Radeon PSU, Radeon fans, Radeon case, Radeon WIFI, Radeon headphones, Radeon optical drive, Radeon HD, Radeon bluetooth adapter, Radeon Dustbuster, Radeon cables!

I can't wait!

Except that's exactly what they are doing. Same manufacturer(Patriot IIRC), same chips, controllers, PCB.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Maybe we're on our way to a Radeon-branded Steambox / gaming HTPC? That would be cool.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Marvell controllers are better than Marvell controllers? It's all marketing. They are relabeled Marvell controllers, with custom firmware, not really different than Micron, Plextor, et al.

No, you are thinking of the "Indilinx-infused" OCZ Vertex 4 drives. Those were actually Marvell controllers, with Indilinx firmware. The Barefoot 3 is a genuine home-grown Indilinx controller, and is used in several OCZ Vector-series SSDs.

 

[Cerb]

Huh, looks that way.