7-Way SSD Round-Up: Sandforce vs. JMicron

Name: 7-Way SSD Round-Up: Sandforce vs. JMicron - Page 4
Brand: 7-Way

by Marco Chiappetta — Friday, June 25, 2010, 10:00 AM EDT

Patriot Memory recently releaed the Zephyr line of Solid State Drives, based on the JMicron JMF612 controller. Unlike the other drives featured here, the Zephyr's capacity is somewhat larger at 128GB, but the performance of the JMicron controller isn't on the same level as the SandForce SF1200...

Patriot Zephyr 128GB - JMicron JMF612

Specifications & Features

Interface: SSD SATA 2.5" Serial ATA I/II
Raid Support: 0, 1, 0+1
Performance
Sequential Read: up to 240MB/s
Sequential Write*: up to 180MB/s
64MB DRAM Cache
JMicron 612 controller paired with qualified MLC NAND flash for best performance reliability
TRIM support (Operating System support required)
Power Consumption: DC 5V Operating 6.6W

MTBF: >1,500,000 Hours
Data Retention: 5+ years at 25°C
Data Reliability: Built in BCH 16, 24-bit ECC
Operating Temperature: 0°C~70°C
Storage Temperature: -40°C~ 85°C
Operating Shock: 1,500G (@ 0.5msec half sine wave)
Vibration Resistant: 15G/10~2000Hz w/ 3 axis
O/S Support: Microsoft Windows Series, Linux, and Apple Mac OS
3 Year Warranty

The JMicron based Patriot Zephyr 128GB drive's specifications show max read and write speeds that are significantly lower than those of the SandForce based drives (240/180MB/s versus 285/275MB/s). Also note, it is the only drive in the round-up to feature a DRAM cache. SandForce's controller is designed as such that it doesn't require external DRAM cache, but the JMF612 is a differnt animal, and hence, performs best with some cache attached. TRIM support is present here as well, and Patriot offeres a 3-year warranty on the device.

Tags: SSD, OCZ, Corsair, Storage, SATA, OWC, Patriot, solid state

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com