[citation][nom]hellwig[/nom]Mouse-Wiz, OCZ is connecting a SATA RAID controller to PCIe. That new PCIe card is 4 SSD drives in RAID configuration, with a RAID controller inside. Each individual drive still uses only a regular SATA 3Gbps connection. Therefore, no individual drive needs more than the 3Gbps.[/citation]
I do not know or care much about what the internal connections of the drive are (neither do you afaik... I don't recall seeing anything specific posted). The internal connections are kind of beside the point, though.
Right now OCZ has the Apex drive on the market which is 2 RAID'd SSDs in a 2.5" enclosure with a SATA 3.0Gbps connection on the back. The Apex is not the only example of this approach being used either. There is also talk that the Vertex v2 is/was on the horizon, which would be 2 Vertex drives on RAID 0 in a single enclosure.
The thing is, the Vertex 2, if it comes into existence with the expected numbers, *WOULD* saturate a 3.0Gbps connection.
Therefore, if OCZ is going to continue ramping up the throughput of it's drives, regardless of if the method used is internal RAID or not, needs to move away from 3.0Gbps SATA connections.
Further, if the Z Drive were crammed into a 2.5" package Apex style, SATA III would still not be enough to handle its potential sequential r/w. Hence the move to the PCIe bus.
I do not know or care much about what the internal connections of the drive are (neither do you afaik... I don't recall seeing anything specific posted). The internal connections are kind of beside the point, though.
Right now OCZ has the Apex drive on the market which is 2 RAID'd SSDs in a 2.5" enclosure with a SATA 3.0Gbps connection on the back. The Apex is not the only example of this approach being used either. There is also talk that the Vertex v2 is/was on the horizon, which would be 2 Vertex drives on RAID 0 in a single enclosure.
The thing is, the Vertex 2, if it comes into existence with the expected numbers, *WOULD* saturate a 3.0Gbps connection.
Therefore, if OCZ is going to continue ramping up the throughput of it's drives, regardless of if the method used is internal RAID or not, needs to move away from 3.0Gbps SATA connections.
Further, if the Z Drive were crammed into a 2.5" package Apex style, SATA III would still not be enough to handle its potential sequential r/w. Hence the move to the PCIe bus.