Go big or small?

Hey there, I just ordered my first laptop (w230st). It has 2 mSata slots and a standard SSD slot.

I'm really torn between getting the Crucial 960gb/480gb or getting 2 256gb M5M mSata's.

Are their any other good options?
I was also wondering if the market is expecting a somewhat significant price drop in the next couple months?
Lastly, is RAID0 really as tricky/risky to implement?

I know this kind of question must come up a lot on these forums but 400-600$ is a lot of money to shell out without some input from people who know what they're talking about! I really appreciate it

 

RAID0 is not tricky/risky to implement: it is risky to keep using it without the necessary backups (physical, software, O/S and data backups). Especially if the 'reward' is only for bragging rights and not for the specific improvements it offers (high, sustained reads and writes: sequential).

Are the dual mSATA slots SATA3? I would be putting in the best performing SSD's in there (not the M500 series...).

My first choice for a setup like this would be Intel 525 or 530 Series mSATA's and a SanDisk Extreme II in the drive bay slot.

(You have the system RAM maxed, right? And you know you should OP the SSD's too? If sustained performance over time is one of your requirements for your new system).

See:
Experiment: Can Adding RAM Improve Your SSD's Endurance? - Can You Get More Speed From Your SSD By Adding RAM?



Good luck.

 

Yes, both mSATA slots are SATA 3

Go BIG!
Can't really argue Tiller's picks except from a price/value perspective: Crucial m500 480GB versus Extreme II ($395 vs $450 at Newegg) Other Enterprise features of the m500 are compelling. power loss protection, Microsoft eDrive/BitLocker compatible, TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 compliance, The power draw is a negative except for Devsleep, Hopefully, a firmware update to address this.

The 960GB is in a class of it's own at the moment.

Go very BIG!
I would wait for the m500 480GB mSATA - capacity, price, Crucial reliability, performance... yes, probably slightly behind Intel 525/530 (only 240GB Intels) 525 240GB $267 at Amazon, Crucial listing the 480GB at $399. Intel 530 $? not available yet.

 

When I think 'go big' I think performance, not capacity (when my platforms were HDD based, it was the same, except I could get about triple the capacity and still have > 85% of the performance with the Hitachi Travelstars).


Also; if you want the highest performance: don't use mSATA drives (even in RAID0...) they are slower, less optimized and definitely not worth the $$$ (for the performance) vs. 2.5" drives with more nand chips which fully/optimally populate the controller channels and the nand chips themselves are optimally interleaved on each channel too.


Yeah, the 960GB M500 is in a class of it's own atm - but it is not in the performance class.


Get the big mSATA drives (for storage) - but make sure you install the biggest, baddest 2.5" SSD to power the system though.

 

Crucial M4 and Plextor M5M perform similarly to their 2.5" brothers. And you just won't see the difference between it anyhow. Just get 256GB or larger usually and you'll be in good shape.

 

going big on a performance basis i dont think there is any faster read/write speeds than the samsung drives.
at the time a 512 wasnt available but thats what i would of gone for but i must admit my crucial m4 is no slouch.
it purely depends on budget really.

 

The M4 is a great real world usage SSD. The Samsung 840 Pro benches the highest.

But the king of the hill right now is the SanDisk Extreme II...

And in the metric that matters: sustained, 'steady-state' R/W workloads (i.e. how the drives are actually most used...).


See:
HARDOCP - Iometer & Steady State Testing - SanDisk 240 GB Extreme II SSD Review


The last graph in the link above is the only 'score' that I've found worth comparing (in the last 4 years of SSD madness).

 

Yes, I was thinking the m500 480GB mSATAs as storage as my "go big" was capacity in those slots.

As for the 2.5" m500 480GB, the actual numbers are higher in the graphs for "steady-state R/W mix." The 240GB Extreme II hits 20K IOPS at about QD3,5, hits about 21K at QD4 and tops out at about 23K at QD6. The 480GB m500 hits 20K just before QD3, hits 25K just past QD4 and tops out at about 28K QD6. Note* This isn't the 480GB Extreme II or the 960GB m500 but the numbers, I suspect, are similar.

HARDOCP - Iometer & Steady State Testing - Crucial M500 480GB SSD Review

OT, [H]ardOCP is advertising for a SSD reviewer in their forum. I hope, it's to review more drives. If Hugh Briggs left or is leaving, I hope someone continues these same "steady-state" tests.

 

Bullrun, good catch.

However, those are still 2.5" drives - not the weaker mSATA variants (with channels not filled, interleaving not optimal and firmware trying desperately to make the mSATA and 2.5" SSD's perform similarly).

 

Thanks for all the great input! I think what I'm going to do is max the RAM in my laptop and add either the Crucial m500 480gb or SanDisk Extreme II 480gb... There's a 50$ price difference in between the two, is the SanDisk worth the extra cash in the end?
Also is the SanDisk as reliable as the Crucial?
Thanks so much again!

 

Agreed, Tiller, The 2.5" OS/Boot drive m500 480GB vs Sandisk Extreme II the numbers I posted were about this, not inferring mSATA performance.

The yet untested mSATA m500 480GB for storage. Crucial list the specs as the same for 2.5", mSATA, M2

 

Since they are both new: reliability will be something that you may be able to tell us about in the future. However, I have used both SanDisk Extreme and Crucial M4's extensively and both are solid and reliable SSD's in mine and my clients systems.

Without having both SSD's to try in the same setup, it would be easy to recommend the higher benchmark performing Crucial - however, I have tried an M500 480GB model - and I didn't keep it (even if it was obviously better than the M4 it would have replaced).

While the SanDisk Extreme (not the II's...) models were Very competitive for the Intel 520 Series (240GB models) - especially at their $150 'sale' prices for the SanDisk.


So, are you a gambler? My money would be on the SanDisk Extreme II (and for $50 - it's not that much of a gamble, imo).

 

Yeah; spec's... hard to swallow...

 

Save even more on both drives But the gap widened to $75
B&H has the m500 480GB SSD 2.5" for $368.95 Free Shipping
Crucial 480GB M500 2.5" Internal SSD CT480M500SSD1 B&H

Tiger Direct has the Sandisk Extreme II 480GB for $444.05 (439.99 + 4.05 shipping)
SanDisk Extreme II 480GB Solid State Drive - SATA III Gb/s, Up To 545 MB/s Read Speed, Up To 500 MB/s Write Speed, Quiet (SDSSDXP-480G-G25) at TigerDirect.com

 

Thanks for the sale prices Bullrun but I live in Canada!
I'm going to go with the SanDisk..seems to be getting good initial reviews!

Also: By far the most helpful forum I've ever stumbled upon

 

I guess it would have helped if I noticed the big Flag attached to the post.