Corsair Announces Force Series 3 Solid State Drives

[btarunr]

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced the Force Series 3 family of solid-state drives. The newly announced Force Series 3 models take advantage of the new SATA 6.0 Gb/s (SATA 3) interface to deliver impressive speed at an attractive price. The Force Series 3 features the highest performance version of the latest-generation SandForce SF-2281 SSD Processor with out-of-box read and write speeds of up to 550 MB/s and 520 MB/s respectively, and an impressive 85000K IOPS for measurably faster system response, boot times and application load times than SATA 2 solid-state drives.

All Force Series 3 models are also backward compatible with SATA 2, and include an easy-to-use 3.5" adapter to allow owners of both desktop and notebook PCs to enjoy the cool, quiet operation and enhanced system performance made possible by replacing their traditional mechanical hard drive with an SSD.



"With the rapid market adoption of SATA 3, there's strong demand for affordably priced SSDs that can take advantage of the enhanced performance it provides," said Thi La, Vice President of Memory Products at Corsair. "Our new Force Series 3 SSDs provide the performance that enthusiasts demand, at price points approaching the current generation of SATA 2 SSDs."

"We are pleased to have our SandForce SF-2281 driving the leading-edge performance of the Force Series 3 family," said Jeremy Werner, Director of Marketing at SandForce. " Corsair, and its newest Force Series 3 drives, is poised to ride the wave of SATA 3 adoption by offering compelling pricing and enthusiast-level performance."

Force Series 3 solid state drives will be available worldwide this month from Corsair's network of authorized retailers at a suggested retail price of $139 USD for the 60GB model, $219 USD for the 120GB model and $499 USD for the 240GB model. Note that stated capacities are unformatted and actual capacities will vary depending on the formatting and operating system used.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[claylomax]

If only the prices were: $14, $22 and $50.

 

[Frick]

If only the prices were: $14, $22 and $50.

Not likely in ... like forever. They're coming down though.

 

[Andrei23]

Not likely in ... like forever. They're coming down though.

like, for serious? in like forever? liek

 

[btarunr]

Not likely in ... like forever. They're coming down though.

Likely when, like, every device relies of the cloud for storage, when internet connectivity becomes as much of a requirement for devices as electricity.

 

[RejZoR]

Omfg, thank god i haven't bought old F120 or Vertex 3. If these really cost as much as they say these are pure win. $220 for 120GB model is super cheap. Especially since they have whooping 85k IOPS. That's insane compared to just 60k for Vertex 3.

Thugh idon't think they'll have such prices in my country. If i'll get it for 220 EUR it would already be very cheap.

 

[happita]

I hope more manufacturers start filling in the gap between 120GB and 240GB with 180GB. It seems like they're not too interested in the 180GB segment
If these come with TRIM support, then they're definitely win.

 

[RejZoR]

Of course they come with TRIM support. Plus, SandForce has it's own garbage collector that also works if TRIM is not present or available. Actually 180GB is not that common. 160GB are more common versions.

 

[ice_v]

How does this compete with the crucial c300 in terms of price/performance?

 

[Imperceptible]

Especially since they have whooping 85k IOPS. That's insane compared to just 60k for Vertex 3..

Try not to get overly excited about marketing numbers, especially when there are no specifics on how they were achieved. I'd prefer instead to wait for someone like Anand to put the drive through it's paces.

 

[RejZoR]

It's SandForce and Corsair. I see no need to have any doubts about that. Besides, their SF-1200 series drives were among the fastest drives.

 

[Undead46]

Holy crap, better than the Vertex 3's, and the 120GB cost $100 less!
Me like! c:

 

[dieterd]

and I was about to pull the trigger on vertex3 max iops, and now I see less $$$ and more iops, guess - I will have to hang on a little more....

 

[Whitey]

Would one of these saturate SATA 2 ?

I might get one of these instead of two F40s in Raid 0.

 

[slyfox2151]

Would one of these saturate SATA 2 ?

I might get one of these instead of two F40s in Raid 0.

considering Sata 2 caps out at 300mbps..... yes, these would nearly saturate sata 3

 

[WarraWarra]

120gb $220 is normal price, waiting for instant rebates or special to buy.

85000k IOPS yes please.

Hopefully with the new samsung chips the prices would come down and speed go up.

How is the reliability ie: (DOA) 2 weeks of use and 2 months of use as this will make or break this product just like with OCZ and their problems.

Finally something else to buy instead of OCZ at 500mb/s .

 

[DanishDevil]

This is sweet. Now I know why they took so long to release. They wanted to undercut the Vertex 3 prices with more IOPS. I'm definitely in for a 120GB soon. Anybody want an F120?

 

[MilesRdz]

1
85000k IOPS yes please.
.

Please keep in mind that could be the combined read/write IOPS.
In which case the Vertex 3 240GB beats it by 15k IOPS.

 

[happita]

Please keep in mind that could be the combined read/write IOPS.
In which case the Vertex 3 240GB beats it by 15k IOPS.

This is true, companies never like to divulge ALL the info on such a product. However with that being said, it is Corsair and they are awesome(from past reputation dealing with them). I just can't believe that price on the 120GB.
I see it now, they're going to be sold out real quick, demand is going to skyrocket for them, and then Corsair raises prices to compensate for its demand

 

[Taskforce]

Please keep in mind that could be the combined read/write IOPS.
In which case the Vertex 3 240GB beats it by 15k IOPS.

Apparently not combined, "ATTO Disk Benchmark): 550 MB/s sequential read — 520 MB/s sequential write 85K IOPs (4K aligned)" official site: http://www.corsair.com/solid-state-drives/force-series-3.html

 

[buggalugs]

I have a vertex2 but the Corsair 240GB could be my next drive for that price.

Not happy with OCZ shenanigans and marketing either so corsair here i come....

 

[Delta6326]

Might as well just buy two 120gb models and save money from the 240gb I'm liking Sandforce!

 

[1c3d0g]

I LOVE the pricing on the 60GB drive! Yes, some of us DON'T need all that capacity and only need a speedy SMALL SSD. This is perfect! Thanks, Corsair!

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

IMO $220 for 120 gigs for those speeds that is a solid deal, and withe Corsair warranty it's all the better.

 

[lilkiduno]

is there a set date of release? given a good release time I may actually finally talk mysel into a SSD and get the 60GB version. :]