SSD Questions (650+ posts is too much to read)

Ok, so I know there is a SSD dedicated thread, but it's over 650 pages, so it's a little bit cumbersome to read, to say the least. I'm not completely understanding everything about the different controllers and from the capacities and prices in the first post of the thread I'm assuming it hasn't been updated in a while.

Anyways, I'm about to buy a M860ETU and I'm looking at the possibility of buying an SSD instead of an overly fast CPU because I'm told the SSD's advantages will outweigh those of a faster C2D.

1) At the current price per GB and performance, is it worth paying ~$350 for a drive thats less than half the size of a ~$90 well rated 7200RPM 320GB HDD?

2) If I do buy a SSD, what is the best brand/model. I want at least a 120 or 128GB drive, but if I'm paying this much for storage, I want one that has good speeds.

3) Anyone disagree with the benefits of a SSD outweighing those of a faster CPU

I'm nervous about buying an SSD now because I'd imagine the price per GB is going to keep dropping and speeds will probably increase, this is similar to the reason why I'm not sure if I should go quad instead of duo; I don't want to buy something that's going to be significantly better and cheaper in the near future...

 

Best bang-per-buck is a small SSD and a big HDD in a hotswappable optical bay caddy. That way get SSD speed for your os and apps, plus a decent sized data repository from the HDD, and can still swap in the optical drive as needed to load software or watch DVDs. See DIY: Adding SSD or HDD storage using an optical bay caddy for more details on how to make this work.

As for SSDs, the better value ones being rebadged PB22-J Samsungs and Indilinx ones as listed here.

 

I would wait a little more, prices should go down a lot more.

Edit: didn't see above post, the small SSD and a big HDD is the best way to go.

 

There are basically only three drives worth getting at this point:

• Intel's X25-M (which isn't available at the size you want)
• OCZ's Vertex (or the SuperTalent ME - both use the same Indilinx controller)
• Samsung's PM800 (also known as the Corsair P series, OCZ Summit, and SuperTalent MasterDrive SX - all use the Samsung controller)

Anything else is garbage, using a crappy JMicron controller with built-in stuttering.

In terms of SSD vs. better CPU, you have to think about what the bottleneck in your notebook would be (hint: it's rarely the CPU). In most cases, the hard drive is the slowest component of the system by large margins, and thus any improvement there benefits the entire system.

 

in a week, new announcements by intel should come and maybe reshuffle the whole pricing marked. so till next week: wait. then, well, lets discuss it again

but yes, while a big investment, it gains more than a new notebook, so it's worth the money, no matter how much really.

btw, it's 6500+ posts

personally, i suggest the intel ssd's as i've good experience with them, and they are supported by a big company (as mostly everything else in your laptop is from them as well)

 

Oh, heh, meant to say 650+ pages
Thanks for the info, I will most definitely wait at least a week.

 

you made the 650+ typo again, lol

 

Like I said, pages, not posts, there are 669 pages. I don't think I can change the title of this thread...

 

sorry that was my bad reading skills showing.

 

It's all good

 

Recommendations for now:

Intel X-25M
Samsung, Corsairs, OCZ Summit, Supertalent Masterdrive SX
OCZ Vertex, Supertalent Ultradrive, Gskill Falcon

take a look around Newegg and see which one you prefer.

 

That's actually the first place I looked
I'm thinking of waiting a few months though.

 

If you plan on keeping your notebook for a while, SSD is the way to go. I personally would go for a 64/80GB SSD and a 500GB 5400RPM drive.

 

That may be a wise choice to wait a few months. For the past 2-3 months, the price of SSDs have been increasing gradually.... now is definitely not the time to buy one.

 

Yeah man, reading articles just a couple of months apart showed prices for similar sizes that were quite different from each other...

 

dunno, prices decreased over all that time, haven't they? at least the intels did..

 

Waiting for Intel's announcement is a good idea, currently these are your best 120gb SSDs (all with indilinx controller except last which is samsung based)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231256
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609394
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227395
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220389
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227462
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227462

 

Over the long term prices have decreased, but in the last month or so prices have increased for all products, including Intels. I've been monitoring the prices almost daily

 

This same argument works in the housing market as well. The price of an ssd may climb or it may drop tomorrow.

Conversely, there are alot of ssd's that will suit the consumer just fine to which they will see a very visible improvement in the performance of their machine in comparison to a hard drive.

The question as to whether or not to get an ssd/hard drive combination is one which only you can answer as well. If you get a small ssd simply for your OS yet all of your programs are held on the hard drive, you are then reverting back to the speed of the hard drive when using resource intensive software.

Important questions for now...

1. Are you buying a PC or laptop?
2. When are you getting it?
3. Does the company offer reduced prices to buy and ssd with the system?
4. Is the company negotiable if you are smart enough to get them to bring their price down a bit? An example with this used to work with Dell and probably still will if you get the right Rep. Simply order on the phone and say how you would like the ssd but its a bit out of your range. Many have successfully done this to get a reduced ssd price.

Alot of this is dependent on your needs because simply, if you are needing a laptop now, companies have great deals on ssds. I am running a 64Gb Samsung SSD that, to some here may seem ancient. Baby you should see my system fly though. I personally think Dell is replacing it simply to find out my tricks on performance eheheh.

Having said all that, you should really check out one or two of the articles on ssds and, at very least, read the "Intro to" guide in my link. It is very important for you to know the difference between slc and mlc if you are looking at lifespan and speed.

 

SSDs are getting more complicated, Fusion-IO has claimed to use a new SMLC technology that is a kind of hybrid the two... I guess we'll have to see how these fare up against current offerings.

http://www.nordichardware.com/news,9594.html

 

weird... wonder how thats going to work.

 

I don't get that statement. Is that comparing C2D's with different HD types and sizes? So you can't compare the system speed between an Atom and C2D processor with the same SSD size?

I'll need to read up on SSD since it is fairly interesting and fun technology. I'll check that SSD thread but for a person who does basic school work and probably basic office work in 2-3 years would you (as in anyone) recommend a SSD instead of regular HD? Also, are netbooks (or even possible future ones) too small to hold SSD and HD? Perhaps an external HD would work...?

 

No, you definitely misunderstood me. I'm saying that when you're upgrading your system, you should start with the component that is slowest, because that's ultimately the part that will bottleneck your performance.
Do you see in Task Manager that you're maxing out your memory? Time to get more RAM.
Is your hard drive constantly chugging and slowing down the performance of your system? Time to move to a bigger and/or faster hard drive, or go solid state.
Are movies taking FOREVER to encode, or is online Flash video slowing your entire system down? Time to consider a CPU change (if you can, of course - Atoms are soldered to the motherboard and can't be upgraded).
Are you unable to play games at the detail settings you want? ...actually, unless you own an Acer with a dedicated graphics card, you're pretty much stuck with that one.

In this case, a slightly faster CPU would not be as beneficial to the notebook's performance as an SSD (which is a HUGE speed boost over a conventional hard drive).

As for you, erin3, it wouldn't make much sense. Most modern hard drive are no slouches in the performance arena - it's just that SSDs are screamingly fast and just as expensive.
If a netbook can't even hold a hard drive and an optical drive, there's no chance in heck it'll handle an SSD and HDD.

 

i do so as well (in switzerland, in america, and in ebay) and have not encountered that behaviour. dunno but i only look close at the intels.

 

uhm. ssd and hdd are small, optical drive is big => this does not make sense?


for the rest, yes. fix the bottleneck and you will see wast improvement. fix anything else and you won't see any gain.

that's why investing in an ssd is worth the money, even if they cost much. they make an ultra fast pc out of a slow crap machine. netbook, notebook, pc, server, doesn't matter.

 

I double that.
The SSDs TehSuigi posted are in order of performance, with Intel being the best performing and Samsung the worst performing in most scenarios, though all three should be outclassing other SSDs.

"think about what the bottleneck in your notebook would be": For many, many years, HDDs have been the bottleneck of modern computers. You can even speed up the overall performance of an Atom netbook by putting in a fast SSD, because even a rather slow Atom CPU won't be the limiting factor for most usage scenarios.

 

Well then, have you seen a notebook that has room for two SSD/HDDs, but no optical drive?
Most notebooks that have two SSD/HDDs are 17" or bigger.

 

There is actually a netbook with SSD/HDD hybrid storage system. However, Microsoft does no longer allow netbooks that come with XP to have such hybrid systems: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/06/microsoft-reportedly-bans-netbooks-with-hybrid-storage-systems/. There are also notebooks smaller than 17" that have an exchangeable optical drive, allowing you to put in a second HDD instead. Hot swapping allows to do this while the operating system is running.