Samsung/Dell OEM SSDs really that bad?

So, it's well known that the Samsung SSDs don't stack up well against other companies (Intel and OCZ especially) but are these mostly just synthetic benchmarks? Would I really notice a big difference for boot up times and load times? I can save myself a good deal of cash if I order the Samsung SSD with the M17x rather than buy an Intel or w/e drive after the fact. It seems to me that even a lackluster SSD blows 7200 RPM drive out of the water. I don't need a lot of space, I don't download movies or a lot of music and just have my games that would need the space. I had planned on just going 7200 RPM Raid 0 and waiting until a good deal on an Intel or OCZ SSD came along, or maybe waiting for the Gen 3 drives. I'm not concerned about the risks of Raid 0 since I do regular backups etc.

TLDR version: Are Samsung SSDs noticeably worse than other SSDs in day to day performance, or should I just stick with Raid 0?

Thanks for any help!

 

Samsung is fine as long as the model supports trim.

 

I am very happy with mine

for the price they are a good deal IMO

and having TRIM is a definite must

 

Im going to get one as well...you cant beat the price with another SSD. The performance may not be as fast as some other SSD's but it should be better than a standard hard drive so I was told on the forums

 

Considering the cost of the upgrade on the US site (229) You could probably get the superior intel ssd or an ocz model and not only save money, but end up with an extra hard drive in your laptop (ssd+base) which would also solve the space issue of ssds.

 

$230 to upgrade from 250GB to 128GB SSD is pretty cheap as these things go. I'd still prefer an Intel, though.

 

Here is my 256GB Samsung in my Inspiron 1720. I'm happy with it. Ran these benchmarks a few days ago. Real world benchmarks.

 

That's amazingly fast

 

If you keep them optimized and manage start up programs well they boot up pretty quick. I have a few programs nstalled, but I've disabled a lot of the extra startup stuff I don't need. Things like Adobe, iTunes ect.

 

I love mine no problems. have had no performance loss at all.even i raid 0

 

Good to know, thanks for the input!

 

I have it, it's really not that good. I have both the Samsung 128gb and the Intel X-25 and I must say that the Intel is far superior, I'd trade my 128gb Samsung for the Intel 160gb plus 200-150 Cash anyday of the week.

 

Hey, how were you able to get those restart/bootup utilities? I would really like to try those, where might I find them?
A big thanks!

 

Hi guys! I would like to know which brand of 256 SSD are supplied with the M17x Rx ? And, how we can know if those are TRIM enabled? (means that the TRIM is already inside the bios) or they need a firmware update...?
Thanks for your answers

 

Dell has been using Samsung SSD drives not sure they used anything else.

This is one utility you can use to verify TRIM

Crystal Dew World

 

Thanks Dave-P! I haven't order yet but I would like to know before I order...

 

You nailed the critical issue. A Samsung SSD, though not as fast as the best of the best, is much, much faster than mechanical drives. The increase in booting up and opening and closing programs is astonishing. To me, an SSD provides a greater increase in apparent speed and responsiveness than any other computer upgrade. Get one if you possibly can.

 

Whats your stripe size?

 

Mine is great.

The only thing that makes the Intel SSD's better is the 4k speeds, as that is what is more noticeable in day-to-day use (snappiness).

I had both and sold the Intel G2 because the Sammy had nearly twice the space with just about as much speed.

Couldn't be happier

PS - my M15x is for sale if anyone is interested PM me.

 

alienware/dell samsung SSDs do not have TRIM support(as of right now). The ssd is not bad or slow but for the same price you can get something better.

 

I have seen others getting drives from Dell with TRIM enabled.

the rest of us who are lucky have manually upgraded the drives to have TRIM though not all can be yet.

 

From what I read, the Samsung SSD that you get with the M11x has trim.

 

All I know is that my area-51 m15x with samsung SSD sadly scores a 6.1 on the windows index drive speed score while my Intel one is nearly an 8 just a few short.

 

Alienware has been using the Samsung PM800 SSD's, at least that's what I have in my R1 right now.. My R2 replacement is going to have dual 256GB SSD's in raid 0. I will run HWinfo32 when it comes to see if the SSD model has changed in the R2... It's kind of a downer to purchase the most expensive hard drive option from dell (2x 256GB raid 0 $1,040) only to find out from many posters that not only do the SSD's not support TRIM, but even if they come out with an update, I have about zero chance of TRIM being supported b/c both SSD's are in raid 0. So basically I have reduced performance, less hard drive space, and double the chance of my hard drive crashing to look forward to with my expensive purchase.

I guess this proves that the most expensive isn't always the best.

 

I believe I heard somewhere that there's a new driver or firmware update from Intel that supports TRIM in Raid 0. It may depend on the SSDs controller, but it's worth checking into.

 

Thanks, I'll have to look into it. If anyone has some solid proof of this and can direct me where to get the update, please point me in the right direction.

 

worth running the samsung 128gig ssd from dell? Or am I better off running 2x hitachi 7200 rpm drives in raid 0? Are there benchmarks of the latter?

 

@Crocs09:

This brief article appeared recently in The Tech Report:

"Intel RAID driver adds pass-through TRIM support
by Cyril Kowaliski — 4:01 PM on March 22, 2010

In our latest system guide, we pointed out that folks who opted to run dual Intel X25-M solid-state drives in RAID mode wouldn't be able to enjoy TRIM capabilities, potentially impacting used-state performance. Some sources now say the latest Intel RAID software update lifts that limitation, but it ain't so.

Here's what Intel told us before the update hit the web last Friday:

The latest: Intel® RST 9.6 will be released this week which includes TRIM support for SSDs. It will support TRIM with SSDs in an AHCI configuration, or with the RAID controller enabled and the SSD is used as a pass through device. An example of this use case is for users that want to use the SSD as a boot drive but still be able to RAID multiple HDDs together to allow for large protect data storage – a great use for the home theater PC. TRIM support for SSDs in a RAID configuration is under investigation and is not included in Intel® RST 9.6.

Translation: if your Intel storage controller is set to RAID mode, you'll now be able to benefit from your solid-state drive's TRIM functionality when running it alongside a RAID array comprised of mechanical drives. TRIM isn't supported for SSDs participating in a RAID array, however. Intel may add that feature in the future, but it hasn't committed to doing so.

Of course, running multiple SSDs in RAID mode might not appeal to the majority of users to begin with—if only because SSDs still tend to cost upward of $2 per gigabyte. Besides, capacities and pricing tend to increase in a fairly linear fashion. Instead of blowing almost $300 on, say, a pair of 64GB Kingston SSDNow V drives, one could as well opt for the 128GB model for $279."
___________________________________

So, it appears that you still cannot use TRIM on SSD's operating in Raid 0. But you could just take them out of Raid 0 and operate them as separate standalone drives. Given their speed, you are unlikely to notice any difference, and you retain the benefits of TRIM enabled drives (assuming those Samsungs qualify).

 

Thanks for the article.. I remember reading that somewhere. All this does is support my previous post. To be honet, I would rather them operate as standalone drives. My current R1 is set up that way, but that's how I bought it. Forgive me, but I'm still a newbie when it comes to certian technical things. If my R2 is set up with hardware raid 0, how do I take them out of Raid???

 

Just google "Windows boot timer" and "reboot timer" Shouldn't be to hard to find them.

Check out the pics below. You'll see that both my Dell/Samsung 256GB SSDS are TRIM enabled.

 

128 kb

they absolutely support trim.

wow,there is still debate as to whether raid 0 utilities trim. Every test i run on my pc says trim is working, but other people (who don't have a set of ssd's running in raid 0) tell me trim doesnt work on raid set ups.All i can say is that I have deleted up to 50 gb of data at once off my pc and have had NO performance loss. With steam anti virus and about 15 other programs running at start i get about a 30 sec boot time. So trim working on raid setups is still under debate.As far as never supporting trim while running raid no one can see the future.

 

You just turn off Raid in the bios at bootup. You will then need to reformat the SSD's and install Windows and supporting drivers on the new standalone boot drive, at which point you will be in the same operating configuration as your R-1.

 

Thanks for the info.. I will try out the raid 0 set-up for a while, but if I see any performance loss or end up needing more space, it's nice to know I can back up my stuff and take them out of raid..

 

Claxdog, if you have TRIM actually functioning on two SSD's working together in a Raid 0 array, then more power to you. I did not suggest that TRIM support would never be available for such configurations; in fact, I can't imagine that it won't be implemented at some point in the future.

 

Sounds like a good approach. Good luck with your new toy. It is very impressive.

 

no worries man.I dont know if trim is defiantly working or not. all my test say yes, but people and Intel has said they jumped the gun when they said the rapid storage manager passed the trim command through the raid set up. all i can say for sure is that the performance has not degraded since i got my pc.

 

And that's all that matters.

 

RST 9.6 says it supports TRIM

 

What tests Crystal Disk Info doesn't work for me and have you tried a 64KB stripe size i got better read/write performance then 128KB stripe size

 

yeah I saw that also added it to my argument here http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/479903-ssd-raid-0-a.html

and was shot down.

 

there are links i think in the link i just posted.

 

Yah i saw that they all say TRIM is enabled on mine too IDK

 

I know there was a boot time thread, but cant find it my boot time with 256gb X2 Raid o is just under 15 secs!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

Mine scores a 7.2 since I flashed it with a TRIM supprted firmware

 

I know my old SSD did not support TRIM....are the new ones coming from Dell now supporting this function or will I need to flash the firmware?

 

Some of the "replacement" drives have had the firmware which supported trim, others have not, and there are verions that cannot be flashed

there is a good thread here about Samsung SSD drives Firmware update go check it out for more info.

I will get the link in a few

 

here it is

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ers-samsung-pm800-ssd-trim-now-available.html

 

Thanks I don't know if this will work for mine though, my samsung drive is old from the Area-51 m15x

 

I know some folks have called Dell and complained when their drive performance dropped and Dell sent them a new SSD drive which did support TRIM.

The frustrating part is Samsung released the firmware to Dell in late November and they have not released the update to the end user yet.

 

Noob question... I'm getting my R2 tomorrow with dual 256GB SSD's in raid 0.
How can I tell if my SSD's will support TRIM? I know TRIM is not supported while in raid, but I'm just asking in case I want to take them out of raid. My current R1 also has dual SSD's that are not in raid, and I don't know how to tell if they support TRIM either.. I have the Crystal disk program, but to be honest, I really don't know what I'm reading lol and I don't see anything about TRIM..

Nevermind, I'm DUMB!!! I guess my current SSD's don't support TRIM, it's greyed out on CrystalDisk. Note: This computer was manufactured April 2010..

[/IMG]