Haswell incompatible with first gen Sandforce SSDs

Just as a warning, the new Haswell platform is incompatible with older first gen Sandforce controllers, i.e. SF-12xx/15xx. The newer SF-2xxx controllers are fine.

All 6 GB/s Sandforce SSDs are fine.

But all 3 GB/s Sandforce SSDs are affected. This affects all manufacturers, including OCZ agility 2/vertex 2, Corsair force (1st gen), GSkill phoenix, OWC mercury, Mushkin callisto, Adata s599, Patriot inferno, etc.

If you're still using a first gen Sandforce drive, you might want to upgrade to a newer drive if upgrading to Haswell.

First generation Sandforce controller SSD's are not compatible with Haswell
Intel Haswell i7-4770K IPC and Overclocking Review @ [H] - Page 12 - [H]ard|Forum

 

Thanks for news

 

If you are still using a SF1200 drive you probably have RMAed the thing several times already

 

Thank you Jesus I have an SH100S3 with a 2nd Gen sandforce in it!

 

So is the problem on Intel's side (CPU/chipset bug like the USB 3.0 issue) or on Sandforce's side (firmware bug like the ones that plagued the early days of SF-2xxx)?

 

I remember reading somewhere that the problem was on SF's side, but I can't remember whether it was from a reliable source or not. I'll try to find where I saw that again, but I'm not too optimistic that I will.

 

It is always SF's side even if else-one's side took a part of this too

 

Wait who still uses SF-1200 controller SSDs, and how are they possibly still alive after this long?

 

I still do, can't make corsair to exchange for a newer model even after several RMAs, even with several propositions of paying for a replacement (not full price off course)

 

According to HardOCP it's Sandforce's fault: HARDOCP - Overclocking & Conclusion - ASUS Z87-A LGA 1150 Motherboard Review

For the record my Vertex 2 has worked great for the past two and a half years. IIRC SF-1200 drives were still pretty popular into 2011, so it hasn't been *that* long, and most of the drives are probably still under warranty.

Still I think this is good sign to upgrade to a more modern SSD. Then again the only issue I've encountered so far is that the BIOS only recognizes the drive about half the time. That's not so bad right?

 

I'd always heard that Corsair has excellent customer service...

 

they kind of do, I can get a ticket for rma instantly and just pay for sending it, since its international they deliver me back in around a month, though in cost terms, I won't send it back next time, not even taking devaluation into account I will have already paid for another SSD, just because of the shipping cost

basically reviewers of the SF drives at the time were a bunch of incompetent hypocrites, most don't even raise the concerns with the "new" drives

 

Ouch. It must cost a fortune to send even a small package with just an SSD inside from Brazil to the USA.

This is exactly why most people don't trust SSD reviews anymore and how the "wait 3-6 months" conventional wisdom came about. At best, the reviewers were extremely negligent in their recommendations and at worst they were in OCZ/Sandforce's pockets.

Personally, there's several review sites that I used to highly respect. I completely stopped visiting them after their terrible SSD coverage back then though - I simply can't trust them anymore.

 

It costs around 50 for shipping, thus I have already paid 250 for shipping alone, though this cost is variable, sometimes I paid 50, others I paid around 60

in other terms, I was pretty damn stupid, the guy offered my to buy a intel x25m(?) or was it a 320? with 160gb for 20 bucks more, fooled by the reviews that said the SF was faster bought it. I could have saved me a lot of headaches