Corsair Enters SSD Market With 128 GB SSD

Corsair enters the SSD market as its new Corsair S128 SSD silently hits store shelves.

Although an official announcement has yet to be made, it would appear Corsair has entered into the SSD market.  Appearing recently at e-retailers, Corsair's new S128 SSD features 128 GB of storage capacity and modest sequential read and write speeds of 90 MB/s and 70 MB/s, respectively.  It has yet to be seen if Corsair will offer SSDs in other capacities.

According to Hexus, this Corsair S128 SSD is equipped with a Samsung controller and Samsung NAND flash memory.  Later this year, Corsair is expected to release its second generation of SSDs, which will increase performance to more competitive levels.  These faster SSDs are expected to be based on existing high-performance SSDs, quite possible from Intel, with read and write speeds surpassing 200 MB/s.  It is also believed that Corsair will eventually release SSDs capable of speeds hitting 400 MB/s, but little is known about a potential release date for those.

The 128 GB Corsair S128 SSD has been spotted for order at NCIX for $335.74.  With the cost of SSDs quickly becoming affordable for mainstream users, it may not be long before other companies, such as Western Digital, also feel now is the right time to get on the SSD bandwagon.

Detailed specifications of the Corsair S128:

• Form Factor 2.5'
• Unformatted Capacity 128GB
• User Addressable Sectors 250,069,680
• Bytes per Sector 512
• Interface SATA II
• Sequential Read/Write 90 MB/s read / 70 MB/s write
• Voltage 5V ±5%
• Power Consumption Read 0.48W
• Power Consumption Write 0.46W
• S.M.A.R.T Support Yes
• MTBF 1,000,000 Hours
• Operating Temperature 0°C to 70°C
• Shock 1500G
• Width 69.85 mm
• Height 9.5mm
• Weight 72g