Introduction

Around Computex we started hearing about SandForce SF-1500 controllers being paired with SAS interfaces. At first we didn't think these products would live to see the light of day since the SATA versions were already very fast. Well, we were wrong and the first SandForce SF-1500 SAS drive is on my desk right now in engineering sample form.

SMART Modular announced their XceedIOPS with a couple of configurations some time ago, but with a drive on my desk it is clear that this product will come to market. For the most part the XceedIOPS will be an OEM part sold to major server manufacturers, so don't start digging through Newegg thinking they will list anytime soon. SMART Modular caters to the highest levels of the server market and doesn't produce a retail line of products.

SMART Modular is offering two versions of the drive; one capable of 26K IOPS and another capable of up to 30K IOPS. The model we are looking at today is the SG9XCA2200GE10, the 26K IOPS unit. Our engineering sample has a capacity of 200GB. Let's take a look at the full specification sheet.