We have known for some time that Intel is planning new SSD products for 2009 and among others it would double the capacity from 160GB to 320GB. This will be possible through chips made at the new 34nm node which will lower both production costs and reduce the size of the chips compared to the current 50nm node. Intel’s complete roadmap for its Solid State Drive family has been caught by VR-Zone and we can see eight new models emerging before the end of the year.
Six of these are in the mid-range M series where you can get it in either 1.8″ format, X18-M, or 2.5″ format, X25-M. When you have decided about the factor, the physical storage ranges between 80GB, 160GB or 320GB.
At the same time it will also announce two new Intel X25-E models that unlike the M models use the faster SLC technology. This results in better performance, but at the same time sports less storage, 64GB or 128GB. Intel will also tweak the numbers with its new drives as they will sport a new memory controller, but the exact details are so far unclear.
The roadmap also mentions Intel’s new Turbo Memory technology Braidwood that will offer SSD-like performance with chips integrated on the motherboard, from 4GB to 16GB capacity. Braidwood will appear with the second wave of Intel 5 series chipsets in the beginning of 2010.
