14 DAY TRIAL // In a world where 19nm NAND Flash chips are considered amazing, having a series of solid state drives based on 16nm NAND suddenly appear is pretty remarkable. Patriot is bound to get a good deal of attention because of it.
The new series of solid state drives hasn't actually been released yet, but the drives did get revealed by Amazon ahead of launch.
That means that all the relevant information about them is already out there, for everyone to see. In the interest of expediency, however, we've made a summary of the most relevant facts.
The Patriot Torch solid state drives
We're not sure what “Torch” is supposed to mean here. Perhaps it is a reference to carrying the torch ahead of the Olympics, suggesting that the new 2.5-inch SSDs will be the forerunners to a new generation of storage devices.
The 16nm synchronous MLC NAND flash certainly stands out, seeing as how you won't find any SSDs built out of chips more advanced than that.
Indeed, the most advanced drives on the market are those built from 19nm Toshiba NAND, if the NAND chip architecture is what you're most focused on.
It's almost a shame that the Patriot Torch units don't have a SandForce controller or similarly overpowered chip driving the data throughput.
While the read speed available to the Phison PS3110 controller isn't bad at all (555 MB/s), the write speed could stand to be at least ten or twenty gigabytes better (it's 535 MB/s).
And that's just for the 240 GB model, the highest capacity in the line. The performance goes down with total space, leaving the 120 GB drive with 545 MB/s read and 430 MB/s write speed.
Then again, the prices of the products are lower than for other SSDs, so it balances out.
There will be other capacities eventually, all in the same 7mm-thick, 2.5-inch package, but for now only 120 GB and 240 GB drives are up for order.
Availability and pricing
Since the newcomers have been listed by Amazon despite Patriot not launching them (technically speaking), you can already place orders for the Patriot Torch MLC-based solid state drives.
The 120 GB variant sells for $66.53 / €53.41, while the 240 GB drive has a price of $106.11 / €85.18. Any computers with SATA III ports will be able to make use of them.
As for design, you'll find that the Patriot Torch have the arguably dubious honor of being clad in brown metallic cases instead of something more conventional like white, grey or black.
