What's after sata 3?

MrBlobby · 5 May 2011 at 11:25

Just curious as SSDs already are reaching its maximum throughput.

paradigm · 5 May 2011 at 11:28

When you reach the point of needing more throughput than the theoretical maximum of 774MB/s of SATA3, you're not just an enthusiast, you're clearly doing something critically data intensive, at which point you'd be using a proper storage solution using hardware RAID SAS, or even fibre-channel DAS.

MrBlobby · 5 May 2011 at 11:58

Oh I thought the maximum was 600 MB/s

wilko49 · 5 May 2011 at 12:02

Next easiest step for data throughput for home users is SSDs plugged straight into a PCIE socket - actually, I think OCZ already did it... anyway, point is, that can be done already.

paradigm · 5 May 2011 at 12:05

wilko49 said:
Next easiest step for data throughput for home users is SSDs plugged straight into a PCIE socket - actually, I think OCZ already did it... anyway, point is, that can be done already.

I'd say it's both easier and cheaper to just get two (or more) SSDs and configure them in whatever RAID platform is on your motherboard.

Myself I'll be running three SATA2 SSDs in RAID5 in the coming weeks.

Ben Harrison · 5 May 2011 at 12:20

SATA 4?

I wonder about the PCI solution though. OCZ's RevoDrives already do it: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/search_results.php?sortby=&groupid=&search=revodrive
Don't think they ever really took off though?

Leezy · 5 May 2011 at 12:22

Ben Harrison said:
SATA 4?

I was planning to answer with this before I saw your post.. DAM YOU

wilko49 · 5 May 2011 at 12:47

Ben Harrison said:
SATA 4?

I wonder about the PCI solution though. OCZ's RevoDrives already do it: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/search_results.php?sortby=&groupid=&search=revodrive
Don't think they ever really took off though?

Not fast enough. Only 540Mb/s read (slower than SATA3's theoretical, not sure about actual) and VERY expensive. I'm sure PCIE can do a lot faster than that, especially on more lanes (that looks like a 4x ?).

paradigm · 5 May 2011 at 12:53

wilko49 said:
Not fast enough. Only 540Mb/s read (slower than SATA3's theoretical, not sure about actual) and VERY expensive. I'm sure PCIE can do a lot faster than that, especially on more lanes (that looks like a 4x ?).

OcUK don't stock the newer Revodrives.

The current crop of RevoDrive x2's offer over 740MB/s sustained throughput.

Ben Harrison · 5 May 2011 at 12:59

x4 PCI-E maxes out at about 2GB/s, I think, so that's not what's holding the drives back.

Leezy said:
I was planning to answer with this before I saw your post.. DAM YOU

Heh, I was surprised no one had posted it already.

Sampsy · 5 May 2011 at 13:02

paradigm said:
When you reach the point of needing more throughput than the theoretical maximum of 774MB/s of SATA3, you're not just an enthusiast, you're clearly doing something critically data intensive, at which point you'd be using a proper storage solution using hardware RAID SAS, or even fibre-channel DAS.

That may be so today but SSD technology is moving very quickly. I wouldn't be suprised if most mainstream SSDs were reaching this speed by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

paradigm · 5 May 2011 at 13:07

Sampsy said:
That may be so today but SSD technology is moving very quickly. I wouldn't be suprised if most mainstream SSDs were reaching this speed by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

Again, that's not my point.

Consumers physically don't need the data throughput (regardless of if SSD technology can provide it), and anyone who DOES require that level of sustained throughput will want redundancy AND capacity, which is going to require hardware arrays either internally or externally connected using something that provides low-level CPU-offloaded logic, and potentially failover clustering abilities (such as persistent reservations).