AMD partners with OCZ Storage Solutions to create Radeon R7 line of solid state drives

[Shawn Knight]

AMD on Tuesday announced a partnership with OCZ Storage Solutions to create AMD Radeon-branded solid state drives. The new line, officially called the AMD Radeon R7 Series, is being marketed to gamers looking to upgrade their system's overall responsiveness.

The AMD Radeon R7 Series SSDs utilize Toshiba Group’s latest A19 MLC NAND flash as well as the Barefoot 3 M00 controller, the exact same controller found in OCZ's Vector 150 line. When comparing the two side-by-side, we find the Vector 150 line is a hair faster in a couple of performance categories and offers a longer warranty period but otherwise, the drives appear to be identical.

Drives are available in capacities of 120GB, 240GB and 480GB priced at $99.99, $159.99 and $289.99, respectively via Newegg. As usual, the higher capacity drives offer faster performance - something you may want to take note of if you plan to make a purchase.

It's also worth pointing out that these prices are identical to the Vector 150 which again offers a bit more performance and a longer warranty period.

The retailer lists a release date of September 9 for the drives despite the fact that AMD's press release says they're available for purchase starting today.

This branded SSD is the next step in AMD's strategy to be a one-stop shop for consumers according to the presser. True enough, their portfolio now includes graphics cards, FX processors, APUs, Radeon-branded memory, processor chipsets and now, solid state drives.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/57779-amd-partners-with-ocz-storage-solutions-to-create-radeon-r7-line-of-solid-state-drives.html

 

[TomSEA]

Really amazing how the SSD market has taken off. Wasn't but 2-3 years ago it was a fairly niche product for people with plenty of money to burn. Now it seems like everyone but McDonald's is making them. Probably won't be long before they do too.

 

[wastedkill]

R9 296X a watercooled 1.5TB SSD with speeds of 2Gbps....

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Really amazing how the SSD market has taken off. Wasn't but 2-3 years ago it was a fairly niche product for people with plenty of money to burn. Now it seems like everyone but McDonald's is making them. Probably won't be long before they do too.

It wouldn't surprise me if McD's uses drives old recycled drives to bulk up and flavour their patties.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

I'll wait for Steves expert opinion on it which we should be seeing any moment now...

 

[Guest]

Unfortunately, there is not much to discuss about it until the release and the following tests: Still, I have to admit that pattern looks awesome in my eyes.

 

[Guest]

I'll wait for Steves expert opinion on it which we should be seeing any moment now...

Steve's expert opinion about the Radeon R7 SSDs is that "Apple sucks".

 

[Guest]

I bet they will market that ssd will be faster if paired with an Amd cpu and gpu

 

[Guest]

Crappies do suck, just FYI. I have been in the IT industry a long time now, I can't tell you how overpriced those POS are.

 

[VitalyT]

Dear AMD, give us an SSD + Video combo, and that'll be grand

 

[dividebyzero]

I'll wait for Steves expert opinion on it which we should be seeing any moment now...

To tide you over until then, here's W1zzard's review at TPU

 

[Steve]

I'll wait for Steves expert opinion on it which we should be seeing any moment now...

Sorry to keep you waiting. We don't have a review of the AMD Radeon R7 SSD incoming, AMD never coughed up samples.

That said I can pretty much review it without a sample.

The Radeon R7 SSD is a clone of the OCZ Vector 150 using cheaper Toshiba's A19nm MLC. This means it is much slower than the budget king the Crucial MX100 and the MSRP means it also costs much more.

The 240GB model costs $0.68 per gigabyte while the 256GB version of the MX100 costs $0.44 per gigabyte.

Not sure how many will be lined up to pay 55% more for AMD's clone of an OCZ drive :S

 

[Guest]

@Steve Nice Reader's Digest of a review of it..Pretty much sums it up.

 

[robb213]

Still don't even see how their memory has been profitable enough for this kind of move. Don't think I've actually seen anyone on any of the tech forums I visit advertising they got them.

Not sure how many will be lined up to pay 55% more for AMD's clone of an OCZ drive :S

As it stumps me too, probably more than enough. I think the naming scheme and the aesthetics of the device will be enough to get the (many) uninformed to pay up no problem.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Really amazing how the SSD market has taken off. Wasn't but 2-3 years ago it was a fairly niche product for people with plenty of money to burn. Now it seems like everyone but McDonald's is making them. Probably won't be long before they do too.

I don't think it was amazing. Considering the scalability and inevitability of economies of scale, it was only a matter of time that it was going mainstream. And you look at the bang for buck over the last few years - they were rapidly becoming more viable.

As far as performance goes, the real limitation is a mainstream bus. You can just keep paralleling flash chips and controllers for performance at the drive level. Getting the data to/from the CPU is the problem. Physical disks were doomed the moment these drives were released.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Sorry to keep you waiting. We don't have a review of the AMD Radeon R7 SSD incoming, AMD never coughed up samples.

That said I can pretty much review it without a sample.

The Radeon R7 SSD is a clone of the OCZ Vector 150 using cheaper Toshiba's A19nm MLC. This means it is much slower than the budget king the Crucial MX100 and the MSRP means it also costs much more.

The 240GB model costs $0.68 per gigabyte while the 256GB version of the MX100 costs $0.44 per gigabyte.

Not sure how many will be lined up to pay 55% more for AMD's clone of an OCZ drive :S

Now that's how all reviews should be written. the meat & potatoes in just a few short sentences. The only thing missing is the percentage rating but from what you just said I think I can safely assume it'll be anything from 70-75%.(y)

P.S. With such a detailed and honest review it's little wonder AMD are somewhat hesitant to send you review samples.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

To tide you over until then, here's W1zzard's review at TPU

Thanks but a lot of sites have reviewed it already so I won't die wondering(y)

 

[Gaara]

Great Move by AMD

 

[Guest]

Hi all. Right now I would say Samsung 840 Pro or Samsung 840 EVO or the Samsung 850 Pro would be the way to fly in the SSD catagory. I own 5 Samsung SSD drives... Two Samsung 840 EVOs 750 GB... Two Samsung 840 Pros 256 GB and One Samsung 840 EVO 1 TB. They all installed with zero problems and are performing great! No, I am not a rep or employee for Samsung but I do tell people of a good product when I get one and find it's a good thing. So far, (knock on wood) all my SSDs are performing fine and the diagnostic numbers are very good. Seeing the prices of this article's SSDs I would rather spend my money on a tried and confirmed SSD instead of risking it on something just off the assembly belt with no time tests. Do some research before you buy any SSD. But I'll tell you most reviews will point towards Samsung SSDs to be at the top of the performance lists! BTW, the Samsung 850 Pro is their newest SSD and has excellent ratings. Yes, it's a bit pricy but you get what you pay for.

 

[Darth Shiv]

I agree guest. It's hard to go past a Sammy atm.