Friday G.Skill announced an upcoming SATA II-based solid-state disk called the Phoenix EVO. The new 2.5-inch SSD will feature 2x-nm MLC NAND flash (likely 25-nm) and the SandForce SF-1222 controller, providing read speeds of up to 280 MB/s and write speeds pf up to 270 MB/s.
"Keeping pace with the flash manufacturers’ transition from 3xnm to 2xnm, G.Skill has utilized 2xnm flash chips for its award winning SSD, Phoenix family," the company said. "To ensure the best performance and reliability during the transition, G.Skill has teamed up closely with SandForce and has run G.Skill Phoenix EVO through a wide range of rigorous tests with the latest firmware. All Phoenix EVO drives only use strictly selected original flash chips from key suppliers to guarantee the top reliability and stability."
Although pricing is unknown at this point, the tag should be relatively cheap compared to G.Skill's other offerings like the Phoenix PRO and Phoenix II SSDs. The EVO will only offer 115 GB of storage and connect via a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, but will arrive with a reliable MTBF (mean time before failure) of 1 million hours, a three-year warranty and built-in EDC/ECC functions. The drive doesn't provide any DRAM cache.
As for a delivery date, G.Skill said the Phoenix EVO will be available through authorized distributors within the next few weeks (early April). In the meantime, the company is offering benchmarks on the product page (CrystalDiskMark 3.0 x64, ATTO Disk Benchmark, AS SSD) so that consumers can "easily choose the right product according to their desire and budget." Transparency is an epic win for everyone.
