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Intel Plans 'Overclocking' Capability On SSDs
Lucas123 writes "Anticipating it will make a 'big splash,' Intel is planning to release an product late this year or very early next that will allow users to 'overclock' solid-state drives. The overclocking capability is expected to allow users to tweak the percentage of an SSD's capacity that's used for data compression. At its Intel Developers Forum next month in San Francisco, Intel has scheduled an information session on overclocking SSDs. The IDF session is aimed at system manufacturers and developers as well as do-it-yourself enthusiasts, such as gamers. 'We've debated how people would use it. I think the cool factor is somewhat high on this, but we don't see it changing the macro-level environment. But, as far as being a trendsetter, it has potential,' said Intel spokesman Alan Frost. Michael Yang, a principal analyst with IHS Research, said the product Intel plans to release could be the next evolution of SandForce controller, 'user definable and [with the] ability to allocate specified size on the SSD. Interesting, but we will have to see how much performance and capacity [it has] over existing solutions,' Yang said in an email reply to Computerworld."
Time to make some watercooling blocks and special fans and make money from those with too much.
So, what Intel are saying, is that they are going to take a SSD controller with unstable, buggy firmware - and then add a feature that allows users to modify the internal constants the firmware uses to do it's job. This can only end very badly, unless Intel and Sandforce do some serious testing to find and fix the data corruption issues, the problems with the drive ignoring the host, and the problems where the drive gets stuck in busy.
(all problems detailed in this post have been experienced with an Intel branded, Sandforce controller-ed drive)
Wow. You really like the taste of the koolaid huh. Intel has always been against overclocking because it eats into their margin. They had thermal protection so overheating is not a problem. Overvoltage might fry your cpu, but only after a very long time or a very high voltage - both of which can be controlled, so it's not like you'd pump 5V through a 1.35V part.
And Intel traditionally bins its parts - you might want to check that out.
All SSDs use compression.
Citation needed.
After you deal with HD & SSD failures, you are only concerned with reliability.