New JMicron JMF612 Controller Could Halve SSD Prices

[malware]

Apparently JMicron is on its way to perfect solid-state technology, as the company is working on a new NAND flash controller for use in solid-state drives that may halve their prices. Named JMF612, this chip will use an ARM9 core in a 289-ball TFBGA package with 32 KB of ROM and 128 KB of RAM at its core, and will support the use of up to 256 MB of DDR or DDR2 DRAM as an external cache. It will work specifically with new 34 nm and 32 nm NAND chips, have Native Command Queuing (NCQ) and will aslo support 128-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) disk encryption. Supported interfaces by the new controller will include SATA 3.0 Gbps and USB 2.0 for data transfers or firmware updates. JMicron will be showing engineering samples of the controller at Computex 2009. Mass production of the new chip is expected to start in July. Once in production, the cheap and fast JMF612 could contribute to a massive 50% drop in prices of solid-state drives, but this could happen as late as the end of the year sources indicate.

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[Disparia]

Heh, now that we know that, we won't be happy unless we see some large cache SSDs! None of this pansy 64MB we're seeing now

 

[NinjaCool]

Now thats good to hear as SSD rocks but not their price so this will help alot!

 

[h3llb3nd4]

Could Halve SSD Prices

Now that's what we're waiting for

 

[twilyth]

Wonder if it will boost my 2011 Micron calls. No movement yet, but here's hoping.

Of course I just bought an SSD too. face-palm.

 

[cyriene]

Hopefully the performance will be better than the current J micron controllers

 

[WarEagleAU]

so the controller makes up roughly 50% of the costs of SSDs? Kind of odd to blame it on something so small Ha Ha. Sounds like SSDs are going to be the performance killers for a good time.

 

[BOSE]

Hopefully the performance will be better than the current J micron controllers

same here. current controllers are terrible.

 

[DaJMasta]

so the controller makes up roughly 50% of the costs of SSDs? Kind of odd to blame it on something so small Ha Ha. Sounds like SSDs are going to be the performance killers for a good time.

Yeah it's really strange... I know nand flash is cheap, but I wouldn't have guessed it was the controller that made it so expensive...


More performance at lower prices is always welcome though

 

[daragez]

that's nice!....thanks for the share!....

 

[Mussels]

half price SSD's for christmas!

 

[zads]

new NAND flash controller for use in solid-state drives that may halve their prices.

Source: DailyTech

Halve the price of the controller, maybe.. halve the price of the SSD? no way.
The cost of the SSD is all in the NAND flash chips, not the controller.

Even on a 16GB MLC SSD without dram cache chip (cheapest SSD), the controller only accounts for about 10% of the build cost of the SSD.

Step up to a 256GB MLC SSD with dram cache chip (most expensive SSD), the controller now only accounts for less than 3% of the build cost of the SSD.

Halve the cost of the controller, and you're only dropping the SSD cost by a couple percent, at most.

 

[Mussels]

Halve the cost of the controller, and you're only dropping the SSD cost by a couple percent, at most.

do you KNOW how much the controller costs, vs the cost of the ram in the SSD's? or are you guessing.

 

[zads]

do you KNOW how much the controller costs, vs the cost of the ram in the SSD's? or are you guessing.

Well, my company is building 350 ExpressCard SSDs today (among other products), we have about 2500 SSD controllers in inventory (more on order), and only god knows how many NAND flash and RAM chips..

Oh, did I mention I'm the lead engineer on SSD products at my company?

 

[Mussels]

Well, my company is building 350 ExpressCard SSDs today (among other products), we have about 2500 SSD controllers in inventory (more on order), and only god knows how many NAND flash and RAM chips..

Oh, did I mention I'm the lead engineer on SSD products at my company?

no, you didnt.

You also havent provided anything that would make me beleive you... no offense, this is the internet. I'm the queen of france, btw.

what % does the controller add to the cost, in your opinion, for MLC and SLC?

 

[zads]

no, you didnt.

You also havent provided anything that would make me beleive you... no offense, this is the internet. I'm the queen of france, btw.

what % does the controller add to the cost, in your opinion, for MLC and SLC?

Haha, what "proof" could I possibly provide you to make you 'believe' me?

The cheapest MLC 128Gb/16GB chips are ~$25 each. 16 in a 256GB SSD,
16 x $25 = $400 for 256GB of MLC NAND.
$5 for PCB and components.
$6 - $12 controller, depending on brand (not including Intel and Samsung controllers)
$5 for DRAM.

The article clearly states that the SSD cost will be halved, but not from decreased controller cost.
The cost is actually halved from the die shrink to 3x nm node.