Product Brief
SiI 5923
SteelVine
®
Series 3 Core
Third Generation SATA-to-Dual eSATA Storage Processor
The SteelVine
®
Series 3 Core storage processor is a low-cost, single chip solution
• CE Motherboards
Applications
• PC Motherboards
• DVR Motherboards
designed to be built into PC motherboards, DVRs and consumer electronics devices. It
features a 3Gbps SATA host interface and two eSATA capable device ports. The SiI5923
features Silicon Image performance RAID, which allows users to easily speed up or add
automatic back up by adding additional drives as needed.
Key Features
• Storage Offload
Engine (100%)
• eSATA capable
device ports
The SteelVine Series 3 Core storage processor
extends the capabilities of PC motherboards,
DVR devices, and consumer electronics by
adding eSATA and advanced storage features on
a single chip that easily integrates with existing
designs via a SATA connection.
Advanced features include enhanced sector
recovery and automatic data repair to provide
higher levels of protection for your customer’s
critical data. Management parameters can be
customized using the Manufacturing Utility or
through customer applications built using the
SiI5923 Software Development Kit.
SiI5923 storage processor supports JBOD and
the following RAID modes: FAST (RAID 0) and
SAFE (RAID 1). RAID mode configuration can
be accomplished through a System Management
Bus (SMBus)-based GUI or strap pins for true
software-free implementation.
• RAID 1 perform-
ance (racing)
• RAID 1 rebuild
boost
• Easy to Use Auto
Mirror / Failover
• High Performance
The SiI5923 reduces your power budget by
entering aggressive power-down modes when
drive(s) are idle or not present.
The economical 40-pin QFN package offers a
small footprint implementation.
- Hardware accel-
eration
SiI5923 System Diagram
JBOD, SAFE, or FAST
Southbridge
SATA 3G Host
SMBus
Mode Select
LEDs
SiI5923
SteelVine
®
Series 3 Core
SATA 3G Port 0
HDD 0
SATA 3G Port 1
HDD 1
SiI5923
RAID 1
Read Racing
Hard drives spinning at 7200
RPM require 8.3 milli-seconds
for one rotation. The two drives
in a RAID 1 pair are not syn-
chronized and are at random
locations in relation to the data
requested. The worst case is
when a complete rotation is
needed to reach the data,
causing a full 8.3 ms delay. To
minimize this delay, SiI5923
directs reads to a specific
port to minimize proximity
from the address read last.
The result is to reduce the
average time for RAID 1
reads.
Features
Serial ATA Host Interface Features
Electrical Specifications
• SATA 2.6 spec. and UTD 1.3 test compliant
• Serial ATA Gen2m compliance
• eSATA and 2-meter cable support
• 3 Gbps (auto-negotiates to 1.5 Gbps)
• Compatible with PM aware and non-PM
aware hosts
• Allows multiple drives to be accessed by non-
PM aware hosts
• Pass-through mode for vendor specific and
SMART commands
Device Interface Features
• 3.3V IO supply, 1.8V core supply
• < 1 watt (typical)
Environmental
• Operating temperature: 0ºC to 70ºC
• Operating relative humidity: 5% to 80%
• Non-operating relative humidity: 5% to 95%
Physical Specifications
• 40-pin QFN w/Epad (0.5mm pitch)
• 6mm x 6mm
Additional SteelVine features
• SATA 2.6 spec. and UTD 1.3 test compliant
• Serial ATA Gen2m compliance
• eSATA and 2-meter cable support
• 3 Gbps (auto-negotiates to 1.5 Gbps)
• Independent 8 KB FIFO / Port
• Power management capabilities
• Supports hot plug
• Supports ATAPI in JBOD mode & asynchro-
nous notification
SLOWER
FASTER
SiI5923 Block Diagram
SATA Link
and PHY
• No driver, BIOS or software required
• User API interface through SMBus, and H/W
error log
• No drive reformatting on RAID change from
JBOD to SAFE
• Optional SteelVine Manager GUI
• Mandatory SMART commands supported to
relay RAID state
• Integrated Power on Reset Circuit
• 100% host offload engine
• SAFE later (RAID 1 one drive, and hot
upgrade)
Host FIFO
Config/
LED Controller
SteelVine
®
Series 3 Core
Storage Processor
ATA Emulation
Mapping and Error Handling
Virtualization and RAID
SMBus
SATA Layers and FIFOs
Silicon Image, Inc.
1060 E. Arques Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
SATA
Device Port
SATA
Device Port
T 408.616.4000
F 408.830.9530
www.siliconimage.com
© 2009 Silicon Image, Inc. All rights reserved. Silicon Image, the Silicon Image logo, SteelVine, the SteelVine logo, SiI and SiI5923 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Silicon Image, Inc. in the United States
and other countries. Other trademarks are property of their respective holders. Product specifications are subject to change without notice.
Part Number: SiI5923
SiI-PB-1054 rev5 9/09