Hynix Introduces Consumer SSDs

Memory manufacturer Hynix, also known as SK Hynix and best known as a manufacturer of memory chips for flash products, is going to release a solid state drive for consumers. The company recently acquired a controller manufacturer.

More than a week ago, SK Hynix announced that it had acquired a manufacturer of hard disk and flash controllers. That company, Link_A_Media Devices, mainly supplied SSD controllers for the business market, but had released its first controller for consumer SSDs earlier this month. This LAMD LM87800 controller is used in Corsair’s Neutron SSDs. However, it seems likely that SK Hynix will use the same controller in its first consumer SSD. The company does announce that the drives have synchronous onfi-flash on board, which is baked at 26 nanometers. Update: Hynix would control the SSD’s memory with a SandForce SF2281 controller.

The SSDs that SK Hynix releases will be available as 2.5″ drives and in msata format. The 2.5″ drives have a sata-600 interface and a capacity of 128 and 256GB. The maximum read and write speeds are 510 and 470MB/s and the iops peak at 55k and 85k. The msata variants will have 32, 64 or 128GB on board and will be connected via a mini-pci-express connector. The 32GB version gets a sata-300 interface and is somewhat slower than the two sata-600 drives. SK Hynix has not yet announced prices.