Hynix Prepares Client-Side SSD

Korean memory company Hynix is one of the few flash manufacturers that were not into SSD manufacturing. Samsung, Intel and Micron all have their own line of SSD products. Hynix decided to join the ranks of SSD manufacturers and has just announced a new client-side SSD, on its official website.

We don’t know yet whether Hynix, or SK Hynix as they call themselves these days, will use their own flash inside, but there is a strong likelihood that they will.

There is no information on the controller of the new drive either, but looking at the transfer rate specifications, we can think at the popular SandForce line from LSI.

Hynix says that its new SSD uses ONFI synchronous NAND Flash memory manufactured in 20nm class process and comes in capacities of 128GB and 256GB.

The SATA interface is 3rd generation and allows for a maximum theoretical transfer of 6 Gb/s, while the high-performance SSD achieves sequential read speeds of 510 MB/s and sequential write speeds of 470 MB/s.

The drives come complete with TRIM technology and 128-bis AES encryption, while model will be available in normal 2.5” and mSATA format.

The mSATA models use a Mini PCIe connector and come in 32 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB capacities.

The difference between the 32 GB model and the 64 GB /128 GB ones is the fact that the former uses a slower SATA 3 interface and it is rated at only 260 MB/s read speed and 250 MB/s write speed.

The write speed is quite high at 250 MB/s on a SATA 3 SSD, but most of the specifications are theoretical and, when it comes to SandForce technology, they remain theoretical once data is written on those flash cells.

Pricing info has not been made available yet.