JMicron 612 SSD Controller to feature cache

Author: bit-tech Staff
Published: 28th May 2009
Comments (5) Stumble
JMicron 612 SSD Controller to feature cache

JMicron's older 602 controller had stuttering issues, but the 612 should change that. The picture is of the JMicron 602 dual controller SSDs.

COMPUTEX 2009: After all the palaver with "JMicron SSD controllers" to date, JMicron is set to launch a new controller that features cache to prevent stuttering and should also be cheaper than Indilinx and Samsung as well.

The JMicron JMF612 SSD controller should be available to OEMs in late June or July and is different from Indilinx and Samsung because it can accept a wider variety of DDR or DDR2 cache, up to 256MB, rather than specifically "mobile DRAM" as well as, more importantly, a variety of NAND Flash IC from the likes of Toshiba, Intel, and Micron. This is instead of the most expensive Samsung chips which the Samsung and Indilinx controllers are currently limited to.

Whether the 612 can be tamed into a high performance, low price beast is yet to be seen, but at least the wider variety of combination, in conjunction with the extremely competitive SSD market will certainly yield some interesting results.

JMicron's current 602 controller costs $10 to 12, while the Indilinx is $15, however there's no word on the price of the new 612 but we expect should be more competitive with Indilinx considering the savings that can be made elsewhere.

It might be wise to hold off on that SSD purchase, because the second half of this year will get even more competitive!

Discuss in the forums.
Quote perplekks45 28th May 2009, 15:54
I'll wait for reviews but from what I can see the major difference are a couple more circuits on the top left.
SSD is not an option for me at the moment but I think it'll become one before Christmas.
Quote Bindibadgi 28th May 2009, 16:01
Quote:
Originally Posted by perplekks45
I'll wait for reviews but from what I can see the major difference are a couple more circuits on the top left.
SSD is not an option for me at the moment but I think it'll become one before Christmas.

That's not a picture of the 612 sorry - it's the old 602. I'll change the caption.
Quote B3CK 28th May 2009, 18:42
Any idea on what intel's controlloer cost? For comparison reasons only.
So this controller will command a wider range of memory, and fixes the stuttering, but how much faster should it be? Am looking for an educated guess here, as I don't have an ssd yet, but the ocz review last week(?) has me chomping at the bit for a couple of the smaller size ones. I just don't want to shell out the "hard earned cash" on it if replacements are coming in less than a year that fixes the bugs and improves the price per Gb.
Quote perplekks45 28th May 2009, 19:24
I was wondering why they looked almost identical.

Thanks for pointing that out, Bindi. ;)
Quote docodine 31st May 2009, 08:05
I just hope that the dropping cost of SSDs will someday soon (christmas?) bring them down to the point of being somewhat competitive with HDDs. The less problems the better.
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