14 DAY TRIAL // In the fashion of truly capable and high-performance PCI Express SSDs, OCZ Storage Solutions, a supplier of Toshiba-controlled SSDs, has announced a new PCIe solid state drive for enthusiasts.
Built to compete against Intel's high-performance PCI Express-based SSDs found in workstations worldwide, the RevoDrive 400 uses an M.2 form factor and will be based on Toshiba’s multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory using 15nm process technology.
According to Tech Report, the new RevoDrive 400 will use a controller made by Toshiba and not OCZ’s own JetStream Express ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). Specs-wise, the new enthusiast-class PCIe SSD will use a blazing fast M.2 form factor with PCI Express 3.0 x4 interface with 4GB/s peak bandwidth. At the same time, the actual read speeds of the SSDs will be as high as 2000MB/s, with write speeds around 1600MB/s - 2000MB/s. Unfortunately, storage sizes haven't been disclosed yet, but it's likely they'll be under 1TB.
The first images with the OCZ RevoDrive 400 SSD appeared during Intel's IDF forum, where it was also demonstrated in front of an enthusiast crowd. OCZ hopes the new SSD will be the company's flagship in terms of high performance.
It's unknown why OCZ decided to choose Toshiba controllers entirely, and not its own Jetstream Express chip. The OCZ device has been regarded as an advanced controller, and has been in development for a long time, long enough to be implemented in OCZ products.
Probably, Toshiba wants to get better visibility and maximize profits while enjoying a possible success of OCZ devices.