Corsair P256 - 256GB SSD

Noto · 12 May 2009 at 13:47

P256 -- packs specially selected Samsung MLC flash memory and a sophisticated Samsung Controller IC, coupled with 128MB of cache memory and Native Command Queuing (NCQ) support for stutter-free performance. By the books, this one can reach speeds of up to 220MB/sec (read) and 200MB/sec (write), though you can bet you'll be paying for the haste. We're seeing it on sale for around $658 online

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/12/...6gb-solid-state-drive-now-shipping/#continued

digging around for reviews atm

LeJimster · 12 May 2009 at 14:02

Just a rebrand of the Samsung drive. So don't expect the performance to be much different.

jrwagh333 · 12 May 2009 at 14:06

So like Kingston SSD's are to Intel?

Greenlizard0 · 12 May 2009 at 14:53

I would have thought Corsair produced their own memory no? Or is even their ram rebadged Sammies?

D D Danneh · 12 May 2009 at 16:24

Greenlizard0 said:
I would have thought Corsair produced their own memory no? Or is even their ram rebadged Sammies?

Even the RAM is Samsung I believe. Almost all OEM's just assemble the RAM, stick a heatspreader on it and sell it. The memory chips themselves actually come from Samsung. Which is why whenever you hear of new RAM technology, it comes from Samsung, or a company you wouldn't associate with RAM, or an obscure company that you never hear about (although they are large companies, they just aren't "public" market companies).

For example:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/25/metaram-aims-to-bumps-ram-capacity-by-4x-overnight/

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/05/samsungs-pram-chips-go-into-mass-production-in-june/

http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/samsung-unveils-powerhouse-fusion-memory-dubbed-onedram/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/02/toshiba-says-its-1gb-mram-chips-are-almost-ready-were-ready/

PhilGQ · 12 May 2009 at 19:21

128GB version seems good value

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-000-CS

Zarf · 13 May 2009 at 02:31

PhilGQ said:
128GB version seems good value

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-000-CS

That's an older model, with much worse read and write speeds.

Still, it's a pretty effective demonstration of what these drives actually cost to make, the SSD manufacturers are raking it from enthusiasts atm, massive profit margins.

miniyazz · 13 May 2009 at 08:06

Zarf said:
That's an older model, with much worse read and write speeds.

The read/write speeds probably aren't that important though, tbh. The main question is about the random write performance; as long as that's ok and it has decent IOPs, I'd be very tempted..

kkbigal · 13 May 2009 at 13:04

I think this will definitely be one of the drives to watch out for. As others have said, it's basically a rebadged Samsung drive, which got positive reviews.

It's not cheap, but 256gb is a very good amount of space for a boot/apps/games drive - waiting for a decent price and this might be a go-er.

Ninja Please! · 13 May 2009 at 15:23

Part of me wishes I would have waited when I bought my ssd, but MLC is not bad with the vertex's because of its wiper tool. Hopefully with all of these other good ssd's coming out it will make the vertex even cheaper and then I will be able to buy up a couple more. Once you have like 3 ssd's in raid0 like faceplantsi, than speeds are about as fast as they get (unless transferring really large files), but i'm not ever going to get an ssd as storage unless prices really come down. TBH because of the search indexing and cache on my 500gb WD (storage) my music files open up pretty much instantly anyway, unless doing a "cold open" (first time opening after start up).

Also would it be possible to raid0 different branded ssd's? EX: 60gb vertex with 60gb PB&J