SanDisk Announces Ultra II SSDs

SanDisk has announced the new Ultra II SSD series. According to the manufacturer, the SSDs with storage capacities of 120GB, 240GB, 480GB and 960GB perform better than SSDs such as the Samsung 840 Evo and Crucial MX100.

The solid state drives feature a Marvell 88SS9187 controller. SanDisk opts for tlc nandflash chips based on a 19nm process. The Ultra II series promises maximum sequential read and write speeds of 550MB/s and 500MB/s in both the 120GB and 240GB models. The iops on the 120GB model is 81,000 at random 4k reads and 80,000 at random 4k writes. In the 240GB version, the iops is 91,000 and 83,000 respectively. According to SanDisk, the two models are on average faster than many competitors with a similar storage capacity. The company mentions, among other things, the 840 Evo from Samsung and the Crucial MX100.

SanDisk also plans to release 480GB and 960GB models. These offer similar read and write speeds, but slightly higher iops, reports AnandTech. Like the 120GB and 240GB versions, these SSDs come with a three-year warranty.

The Ultra II drives use SanDisk’s nCache 2.0 technology to boost performance. The included SSD Dashboard tool provides monitoring capabilities, while SanDisk also provides a one-time cloning tool and Trend Micro antivirus software. The 120GB, 240GB, 480GB and 960GB SSDs are priced at 75, 109, 209 and 409 euros respectively. The SSDs should be on the market in September.

Update 16:48: Euro prices added.