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    Help me choose

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Robert_84, Dec 19, 2012.

  1. Robert_84

    Robert_84 Notebook Guru

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    I need to buy mSATA

    which one to buy

    Mushkin Direct Atlas Deluxe 120GB mSATA SATA III Solid State Drive MKNSSDAT120GB-Dā€‹X

    or

    Crucial m4 128GB mSATA Internal Solid State Drive CT128M4SSD3


    thank you!!
     
    Robert_84, Dec 19, 2012
    #1
  2. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    I would buy the less expensive one. There's little practical difference between the drives.
     
    ZaZ, Dec 19, 2012
    #2
  3. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    I would buy neither (both of those capacities are too small to be of serious use going into 2013).

    The 256GB M4 mSATA would be my choice (partitioned to maximum 70% of the capacity - or about 165GB 'max').
     
    tilleroftheearth, Dec 19, 2012
    #3
  4. Robert_84

    Robert_84 Notebook Guru

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    Ok, thank you!

    but why only to use 70%
     
    Robert_84, Dec 19, 2012
    #4
  5. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    tilleroftheearth, Dec 19, 2012
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  6. ramgen

    ramgen -- Morgan Stanley --

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    Whoever says there is no difference in between apparently doesn't know anything about these drives. Mushkin uses the toggle-mode nand chips which is of much higher quality than the cheap asynchronous nand chips of Crucial...

    Google it if you would like to learn about toggle-mode, synchronous and asynchronous nand... Don't have time to give a lecture here... :)


    ps: I have been using Mushkin mSATA for a week or so and it performs just fine...
     
    ramgen, Dec 21, 2012
    #6
  7. zippyzap

    zippyzap Notebook Consultant

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    That's like saying there's a difference between DDR3-133, DDR3-1600 and DDR3-1866. Yes, you can MEASURE a difference using benchmarks, and some people say they can "feel" a difference when they're thinking about it, but really, an average user with average workloads will very likely not notice a difference.

    Someone can prank you and clone your Mushkin to a Crucial without telling you, and you probably won't notice a difference.
     
    zippyzap, Dec 22, 2012
    #7
  8. ramgen

    ramgen -- Morgan Stanley --

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    I haven't tested and compared both but the newegg specs claim that the difference is more than DDR3-1600 vs. 1866:

    Mushkin 120GB Enhanced Atlas Deluxe:
    Max Sequential Read: Up to 555 MB/s
    Max Sequential Write: Up to 525 MB/s
    4KB Random Write: Up to 80,000 IOPS

    Crucial M4 128GB:
    Max Sequential Read: Up to 500 MB/s
    Max Sequential Write: Up to 175 MB/s
    4KB Random Write: Up to 35,000 IOPS

    (My laptop supports SATAII in the mSATA slot so I cannot really verify the truth of the info above with my mushkin drive.)
     
    ramgen, Dec 22, 2012
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  9. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    The benefit of a SSD is the latency, not the throughput. SATA II or III doesn't matter, they're all fast, which is why you should buy on price.
     
    ZaZ, Dec 22, 2012
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  10. Peon

    Peon Notebook Virtuoso

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    That has far more to do with the controller (SF-2281 doing zero-fill vs Marvell 88SS9174 with outdated firmware) than the NAND...

    If you want to compare NAND performance between Toggle and ONFi, a much better apples-to-apples comparison would be the Plextor M3P vs Plextor M5S.
     
    Peon, Dec 22, 2012
    #10
  11. mayur033

    mayur033 Newbie

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    i'd go for the mushkin :)
     
    mayur033, Dec 26, 2012
    #11