We've just heard that SATA 6Gbps updates to the most popular and newest SSD controllers - namely, those from Indilinx and Sandforce - aren't due until the fourth quarter this year, earliest. That leaves Micron's RealSSD (and Crucial's licensed version) with a nice big lead when it comes to adopting the latest storage speed standards. This is despite the fact that current Sandforce SF-1200 drives literally max out the SATA 3Gbps bus, and calling the Indilinx Barefoot mature seems like an understatement in the fast moving world of SSDs.

ADATA claims it will also ship a Micron chipset-bqased SATA 6Gbps SSD in Q3 of this year, with a sample slated for public demonstration at Computex in June. ADATA commented that AMD's current SB850 southbridges are the preferential partner for these drives and future SATA 6Gbps SSDs as no current 3rd party chipset (which Intel motherboards are reliant on) provides the same sort of throughput performance. This is something our own test results have shown, too.

As for cheaper SSDs, ADATA claims the latest JMicron 612 firmware update for its S596 improves performance above most Indilinx drives, for a competitive or cheaper price, although everything is still ultimately decided by the whim of NAND.

Are you holding off for a SATA 6Gbps SSD or is your upgrade still dictated by NAND prices? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.