New SandForce controller supports 1.8GB/s read speed

LSI has announced new SandForce flash controllers. The SandForce SF3700 is the first controller to offer native support for both PCI-e and SATA-600 interfaces. The advertised sequential read speed at PCI-E is 1.8GB/s.

The SF3700 family of controllers is the third generation of LSI’s SandForce line. It’s alright according to LSI to introduce the first controller-asic with native support for both PCI-e 2.0 x4 interfaces and SATA-600 interfaces, making it easier and cheaper for SSD manufacturers to produce products in multiple form factors such as M.2.

Where the predecessors SF1200 and SF2200 were still based on the same architecture, LSI has built the architecture of the SF3700 from the ground up. The manufacturer comes with four models: the SF3719 for entry-level SSDs, the SF3729 for mainstream products, the SF3739 for the high-end market and the SF3759 for enterprise applications. For the entry-level and mainstream market, M.2 is the recommended form factor combined with SATA-600 and PCI-e x2 interfaces, while for the higher segments the PCI-e x4 interface is also within reach and multiple form factors are possible.

In combination with pci-e x4, sequential read and write speeds of 1800MB/s are possible, while the number of iops for random reads and writes are 150K and 81k respectively. When using the sata 600 interface, these values ​​are respectively 550MB/s, 502MB/s, 94K iops and 46K iops.

The SF3700 series also features a new Shield error correction technology, which uses different algorithms to strike a balance between performance and stability. Finally, LSI’s data protection functionality Raise and DuraWrite for minimizing the number of nand writes have been optimized in the new SandForce generation.