JMicron JMF670H SSD Controller Preview

By Chris Ramseyer
published

JMicron sent over three SSD configurations that use the new JMF670H controller and are paired up with brand new flash memory.

Introduction

The road leading to Computex is paved with engineering samples. Over the next few days, you'll see us testing new controllers from JMicron and Phison, both with fresh flash configurations that we haven't seen used on retail products yet.

First up is JMicron, which sent over three parts in configurations we're expecting to see from partners at Computex. The JMF670H controller was first demoed a year ago in Taipei, but is now coming out of its development stage. This four-channel processor will compete in the low-cost mainstream category against Silicon Motion's SM2246EN and upcoming SM2256 controllers (the latter previewed on Tom's Hardware just a few months ago). Phison also has alternative in this segment, such as the S8 and S9 controllers that are already shipping.

We've talked about the race to the bottom. The mainstream space is where the large volume is. NAND flash makes up the bulk of an SSD's bill of materials, so in order to hit lower prices, the flash has to cost less. NAND comes from wafers, the price of which is fixed. If you want cheaper flash, you need to harvest more dies per wafer. This creates a big (or in this case small) catch-22. The smaller you shrink the manufacturing process, the less insulation there is between flash cells, causing problems with endurance and data retention. 

Overcoming those issues requires more powerful controllers able to cope with beefier error correction. So now we have this issue where the cost of flash is going down, necessitating sophisticated (and increasingly expensive) processors. This adds cost, but ultimately shifts the burden of maintaining reasonable pricing to the controller vendor, and not the giant flash fabs.

SSD controllers have always played a large part in our coverage of solid-state storage. But their importance will increase not only as it pertains to performance, but also endurance. In the years leading up to now, keeping flash healthy was relatively easy. We're on the final steps of 2D planar flash though, with program/erase cycles dipping down to 500. NAND flash manufacturers are combating this two ways. The first is with 3D cell structures that pack more bits into the same amount of space. Samsung is already shipping 3D V-NAND technology in its 850 Pro and 850 EVO. IMFT (Intel Micron Flash Technology) announced a 3D strategy but retail products will not come to market for some time. Flash Forward, the partnership between Toshiba and SanDisk, recently announced BiCS, its 3D NAND product.

With 3D cell structures still a way out for most flash makers, steps to extend the life of 2D planar NAND were taken. Pseudo SLC (pSLC) has played a large role in mainstream SSDs for some time now. Samsung introduced TurboWrite with the 840 EVO in 2013. SanDisk released similar technology to TurboWrite, calling it nCache.

Just a few weeks back, IMFT announced FortisFlash, a product name for what was once simply referred to as MLC+. FortisFlash is a component of L95B, the same 16nm flash found in Crucial's MX200 and Micron's M600. Micron used Dynamic Write Acceleration to describe the M600's pSLC functionality.

We normally associate pSLC write modes with performance increases, but the technology also helps extend endurance as well. In the latter stages of 2D planar NAND, this is imperative. The short of it is that in order to take advantage of modern flash technologies, companies need new controllers with more horsepower.


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Chris Ramseyer
Chris Ramseyer
Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews consumer storage.
Topics
SSD
Storage
8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • none12345
    "he untold aspect is available capacity. You can already purchase 128GB SSDs for the same price as 2.5" HDDs. For this example, we're using a 120GB PNY CS1111 SSD and comparing it to a large number of 2.5" 5400 RPM HDDs with 250GB of space. Current pricing comes out to $49 for the SSD and $35 for the hard drive. Once 256GB SSDs start selling for somewhere around $50 to $60, you'll see them becoming even more prolific. Believe it or not, that's going to happen this year."

    Wouldn't a much more appropriate comparison be the 1TB 2.5" 5400rpm drives that sell for about $50? 1TB HGST drive on newegg for $52(free ship) right now, first one i checked, so i didn't look for best price.

    When you say, look we can buy a 128gb flash drive for only a 30% more then a 250gb 2.5inch hard drive....you vastly inflate storage the value of the ssd compared to hdd.

    Dont get me wrong, would i want a $49 128gb ssd over a $35 250gb hhd as my only storage drive, yes! But, would i want the same ssd over a 1tb $52 drive as my only storage drive....no! Would i much rather have the $49 ssd AND the $52 drive as dual drives, YES!(well id much rather pay more then that and get both drives bigger tho ie 256gb and 2tb)
    Reply
  • Felipe Buxcador
    Just days ago Tomshardware ranted at users using adblocker applications, and today this page is putting my CPU at 100% usage for no reason.

    Sorry Tomshardware, you are blacklisted, and you need to earn your reputation back.

    ...and, by the way, this page took 40 seconds to load, and that without the crappy chart animations.
    You really need to fire the dude who made the charts, fix the long load, and fix you resource hungry ads. You have a problem here.
    Reply
  • apache_lives
    Samsung or Intel for SSD nothing else
    Reply
  • CRamseyer
    "he untold aspect is available capacity. You can already purchase 128GB SSDs for the same price as 2.5" HDDs. For this example, we're using a 120GB PNY CS1111 SSD and comparing it to a large number of 2.5" 5400 RPM HDDs with 250GB of space. Current pricing comes out to $49 for the SSD and $35 for the hard drive. Once 256GB SSDs start selling for somewhere around $50 to $60, you'll see them becoming even more prolific. Believe it or not, that's going to happen this year."

    Wouldn't a much more appropriate comparison be the 1TB 2.5" 5400rpm drives that sell for about $50? 1TB HGST drive on newegg for $52(free ship) right now, first one i checked, so i didn't look for best price.

    When you say, look we can buy a 128gb flash drive for only a 30% more then a 250gb 2.5inch hard drive....you vastly inflate storage the value of the ssd compared to hdd.

    Dont get me wrong, would i want a $49 128gb ssd over a $35 250gb hhd as my only storage drive, yes! But, would i want the same ssd over a 1tb $52 drive as my only storage drive....no! Would i much rather have the $49 ssd AND the $52 drive as dual drives, YES!(well id much rather pay more then that and get both drives bigger tho ie 256gb and 2tb)

    The choice to compare low capacity sizes revolves around OEMs and the lowest priced products. Even though a 1TB 2.5" HDD represents a great value, the OEMs will always choose a low capacity size model that shaves a few dollars off the price.

    A report came out last night that stated major OEMs are now buying 128GB SSDs at $50. Sadly, I didn't have that data when I wrote this article.
    Reply
  • RamCity
    Good article Chris. There is a certainly a lot happening in high-volume end of the SSD industry. The tipping point for the 256GB HDD vs SSD choice (based purely on price) is very close.
    Reply
  • PaulBags
    Heard a few times lately about fancy current controllers enabling more fragile nand to be effective. That's cool, building algorithms etc that can do more with lesser nand is impressive. Still, I wish there was some news of consumer/prosumer grade ssds with slc and/or larger nm nand taking advantage of newer controllers to be even more rock solid and effective. It's great and impressive that it works stability tricks work, but when I want performance I don't want to be relying so heavily on error correction.
    Reply
  • CRamseyer
    I'm with you. Long live SLC. Sadly though, I don't want to spend 1500 Dollars on a low capacity SSD that rips through my workloads at high speeds.
    Reply
  • f-14
    THE REAL Conclusion: Mushikin's Reactor is walking all over the competition even when the testing was rigged to make jmicrons newest 32 bit bottlenecked solution look better.
    Reply