SSD Thread (Benchmarks, Brands, News, and Advice)

"What this tells us is that some of those write requests took much longer to complete on the Vertex 2."

it's a pity that there is no concrete data...

 

To me, that is concrete data (for the tested drive) - remember this was a pre-production model which was somewhere in between the 1200 and 1500 series SandForce normally offers. Therefore, the actual numbers do not matter - nobody will ever get these drives to use.

I'm sure when Anand gets his hands on hopefully both final, shipping versions his testing will include much more details.

What I wish SandForce to do is show a SATA3 interface with these controllers - not only are they slower than the original Vertex (which is slower than the Intel SSD's) at reading, but they seem to be capped by the SATA2 interface currently (at least for some writes).

With a SATA3 interface, we will know the potential of these drives/controllers for the future, because a 17% to 54% increase in 'some' benchmarks do not seem worthwhile right now to gamble with - even if ultimate speed is important for our storage needs.

 

How are people for boot up times? I notice my laptop takes longer to POST than it usually does.

From power-button to useable desktop it takes about 45-50 seconds, which seems very slow. Once I'm in my Win7, though, it flies. Just boot seems slow.

 

with m$ driver, AS SSD benchmark gets higher mark but boot up time is a bit longer than IRST 9.5.6 driver.

 

Any concrete times?

 

one thing i noticed is that, with m$ driver, log-on-window stays about 1s or more while with IRST driver this window just flashes about 1/10 sec then switches to desktop.

 

hmm. I'm currently running Matrix, but that's because I'm trying to pinpoint the cause of my evil, evil, HDD consistency problem. I might move back up IRST since I'm pretty sure the cause is either Left 4 Dead 2 (and maybe other games.) or moving large files, or both.

 

V series is toshiba/jmicron, V+ series is samsung the new V+ boot drive which is intel, M&E series is intel.

I'm guessing the way people who bought them without self healing firmware upgraded them, or didn't they?...I can't find any mention of it on their website

XP in 12 s, but not including the bios loading, so probably 14 or 15s.

 

Weird issue today with my boot up time on my intel ssd 80gb G2. Before tonight I would boot up and get to my desktop in about 27 seconds. Now with Restart-time i clock in about 48 seconds.???? I havent installed any new software lately. I noticed when I get the windows welcome screen it takes about 18 seconds before I get to my desktop. My setup is dell xps 1530. I believe this started right after i had to reboot (windows updated). I check msconfig for startup programs and theres nothing new since yesterday

 

Hi guys, i just saw this OCZ Solid 2 Series SSD at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227476

How does this drive compare to the others? It is fairly cheap for a 120gb SSD.

 

How to get your Kingston 40GB SSD to support TRIM
http://www.overclock.net/ssd/656984-how-get-your-kingston-40gb-ssd.html

 

Windows's recent longer than usual restart (or start) time possible cause...


So you guys have automatic updates on, don't ya ?

Well, noticed on my side KB977074 + KB976972 make your next reboot much longer, the exact symptoms you guys are describing, and it also makes sidebar.exe to eat up all my processor's resources...

FIX: Reboot 2 or 3 times in a row, windows + sidebar + anything else greedy shall calm down and get back to normal.

At least, it worked for me; it's free, give it a try !

 

maybe try the DefragBootFiles.bat from this very forum (at least the part that doesn't defrag, but i always run the full batch everywhere) instead of rebooting-till-fast-again. might accelerate the restoration to default performance.


sidebar? what's that? that oooold relict

 

Well, guess your solution is as good as mine. I just ran into this myself and that's how I fixed it, just thought it'd be nice to let others know, in case it'd work for them too...

At first, I didn't know what was going on, so I restored my system back to the point before the installation of those two updates, and my system's boot time went back to normal. Then, obviously windows re-installed those, and it did happen again. Then, I had the idea of rebooting 2 times to see if it would fix it, which it indeed did...

Rebooting on SSD is by far faster than on HDD, so, booting up 2 or 3 times in a row doesn't take much longer than 2 minutes, not exactly a pain you know where...

As far as sidebar goes, I just love my 3 gadgets showing me real time my memory and processor usage, my SSD capacity & usage, and my wireless network usage as well. Love to know what's going on with my system, like to be "in control" of my stuff...

 

Boot to desktop complete with Win7Ult64-Sammy 64Gbssd-4Gb RAM = 25 seconds on new system described below. It was the same on old.

 

hehe, the typical placebos of being in need of controlling the own stuff haha lovely (no attack btw. i just personally hate the sidebar, but if you like it, fine )

microsoft stated that windows updates can slow down the boot performance temporarily, as they often kill any optimisation data to gather new optimisation data with the new updated system components. i think it was on the win7 blog.

 

That is something someone told me to do way back with Win 95 - I've followed it faithfully ever since. Another 'trick' is to not simply do a reboot, but a full shutdown. Windows sets itself up differently between reboot vs. shutdown and has cured many problems 'over the phone'.

Every second Tuesday of every month (MS update day) each of my workstations get the updates, reboot (if asked by wu), then proceed to do full power off/on cycles three times.

Maybe its superstition - I just know that I don't have most problems that seem to plague the masses. Like I said, even when there are issues a full off/on cycle usually fixes it, so this is definitely doing something.

 

I'm pretty sure those are the ones to stay away from? Pretty old tech and definitely not a 'deal' if you value, and are expecting, performance.

 

no problemo....

BTW, my gadgets do not really reside in a sidebar, they are free, they're not confined to the right side of my desktop to take an example, they are "sidebar free", still, the process owning them is indeed "sidebar.exe"...

May I kindly suggest you try this one called: O&O Disk Stat... (just to try)!

real cool... ...and Unique!

And you are right, some updates of windows do indeed kill boot optimisation, that's a known one, been there, done that, already got the t-Shirt...

 

why you suggest me that tool? or in general, for all ssd users as 'we don't have much space'?

if so, shall i present you other unique tools that exist for free, like windirstat, spacemonger..

edit: but haven't heard from the one from O&O, always nice to know.

 

Yup, it's like when you install a new hardware, the next boot, windows is a bit confused and looking at what's going on, updating itself about what it knows and what's real, integrating the changes that have been made while it was blind, while it was off.

:SLEEP:

 

Because:

1. I am kind
2. It does exists
3. It works
4. It's the only gadget (free tool) I know that show in real-time your disk usage (2% - 33% - 100%) while you access it...
5. It might be interesting for others as well
6. You need more ?

 

woah so much points

let me see

1. Indeed you are
2. Indeed it does
3. Not tested, but I trust you
4. usage is in the resource manager, and filled size is in the explorer window. but yeah, why not?
5. It might
6. No, actually less. I just don't have use for it But it's nice to learn something new. And as we talk about it, someone might notice it and find use for it.

so thanks for sharing

 

Thanks for your kind words.

True that usage is in the resource manager, and fill size in explorer. However, the nice thing about this handy tool is that it resides on your desktop, and I do not have to start any program to know what's going on, it's always there, kindly sitting on my desktop, showing infos I want to know, both usage and capacity (used and free).

I set it as always visible, and 20% opacity; when I over my mouse over it, it becomes 100% opacity...

Just a nice, simple and efficient tool I use everyday. But that's just me...

 

eYe-I-aïe,

you might be interested in this one (may already know about it too):

See:
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=a7f842a8-b5e3-44c9-acb3-133e8a7b2110&bt=1&pl=1


Although it doesn't show the HD temperature, it is useful to be able to jump to any drive/partition, quickly show the network status/settings and battery info with a single look/click and of course the CPU and RAM usage (along with an internet radio).

I've been using this for a while now... 2 years already, I think! Windows Vista and 7 just are not complete without it.

 

Hey !

Thank you very much for this one, very nice of you. Actually, I am not going to use it because apart from O&O Disk stat, I also use Network Meter and All CPU Meter; basically, I have everything I need. But it's real nice of you suggesting it, and my thought is that there's at least one person who read your suggestion that will actually use it from now on, so in the name of that or those person(s), eye thank you very much !

And I know you'll say that I am very much welcome, because you are, as everyone here, a nice person!

 

My understanding is that these are still Indilinx based drives. They are using cheaper and slower NAND. They still have great read speeds but sequential writes are lower. Seems reasonable for the price reductions. I haven't seen any reviews yet though. I assume that one would not really notice a difference performance wise in normal operation.

 

just to inform you. the adamo nice-n-sweet-n-sexy laptop from dell dropped prices.

i like. <1000$, 128gb ssd in. and the rest sure powerful enough for daily usage. together with a stylish laptop (some like some not, like always), sure one of the ssd are hip and actually affordable now sort of devices.

source: Engadget, what else

 

Yeah but...you know that is a Samsung SSD? My next laptop will be something like the Adamo -- thin, light, stylish, killer screen and a fast SSD, don't really need much in the way of graphics or processing power.

 

Is the Kingston 512gb SSD a Samsung and if so is it the same controller as the current crop of Samsung drives with the wimpy 4k random writes?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139115

http://www.kingston.com/ssd/vplus-series.asp

Looks like it is a Toshiba controller -- random IOPS does not look very promising.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=445&Itemid=60&limit=1&limitstart=7

 

Does the x25-v have the same power profile as the x25-m g2's?

I can't seem to find a review of them that does power usage. I'm thinking of swapping my mini 110's 160gb drive for one.

 

i sure know, as it's the typical corporate choice.

oh, and say hi to the laptop solution i went to years ago. thin, light, stylish, killer screen.. and the day it was possible, an ssd.

and by now i even do this for the desktop, as cpu power really got good enough to not strive for the highest end.

the only thing i dropped is the possibility for pc gaming. which i don't really do often anyways, and if, we have some nice systems for langaming at the club.

 

You're right about the controller, but 'great' read speeds is off by about half. (Almost at the level of the mech HD the 7K500 Hitachi, btw).

Still think these are ones to stay away from (especially for that price)

See:
http://tech-reviews.co.uk/news/ocz-solid-2-sata-ii-2-5-solid-state-drive-ssd-series-released/

 

Well, I try to be.

I too think people here are very nice.

Oh yeah: You're welcome eYe-I-aïe!

 

Datasheet specifications show same power profile as X25-M G2 drives.

 

[Please pardon my posting this here as well as on TabletReviews, as this place gets a LOT more SSD-related traffic.]

The Dell XT tablets have finally come down enough on the used market for me to consider buying one as an experimental toy. I just bought a package with extra battery and AC adapter for under $500. A far cry from where they started.

The unit comes with a 120GB 5400RPM HDD, but I really abhor HDDs. I've upgraded HDDs in every single computer I own to SSDs.

Doing research, there don't appear to be a lot of options out there for 1.8" PATA ZIF SSDs.

The Samsungs that a lot of people recommended appear to have disappeared entirely.

The Mtron MOBI SLC, at least on paper appears to be the performance winner at 100/100 read/write, but it's still expensive ($240 for 32GB) and from what I've read it draws a lot of power.

The only other name brand unit I can find is the Super Talent Masterdrive. It's only rated at 80MB/40MB, but you're getting double the capacity at 64GB. Available new on eBay for about $185.

The only other ones I've found are an Active Media SaberTooth 64GB on Amazon (no reviews anywhere, a relative latecomer to the SSD game), a KingSpec 64GB (never heard of 'em), and a RunCore 64GB SSD (but there are reports over on the TabletReviews forum with problems with this particular SSD and the Dell XT).

So which way to go?

I'm leaning towards the SuperTalent just because 32GB is a bit too tiny and Mtron's 64GB has turned into vaporware.

Any recommendations or suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

If there was a way to get around the zif cable issue the RunCore would be the way to go, I like the 4k read and write specs.
http://www.runcorestore.com/ProductDetail.jsp?LISTID=800000AA-1249410156

 

RunCore Pro IV use Indilinx controller. Somewhere I was reading that they had problems with compatibility because they were set to cable select, apparently it's changed to master and they now work good, but can't say how it actually works.

 

For all the people who were fighting about Trim...

http://download.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/intel_ssd_optimizer_white_paper_rev_2.pdf

Argument over
(Its an Intel white paper - pretty much easy to understand - the key parts -just scanned through it)

 

Kinda funny....ssd guy such as myself and I am still not a big believer in TRIM (here come the wolves). I understand it and it makes total sense but...its the performance drop and gain that currently has me questioning things still.

so....

Yes it makes sense in its logic; and
Yes I have seen the examples of how the ssd slows but....

If you look at the above paper, its diagram of the ssd not optimized shows that it only loses a certain level of performance and then holds that level.

So.... if I remember, my ssd gets something like a 165 write whereas the typical Intel TRIM ssd, from what I have seen, gets 100 write.

Is my ssd going to drop below 65 mb/s without trim? Or are we only looking at the 4k writes which I will admit are vastly different speeds advantage going to the Intel???

If this were the case, is it possible that without TRIM, my Samsung 256 Gb would still always be faster than that TRIMMED up Intel ssd?

Thanks ahead gang.

 

2 things about samsung: a) they where pre-crapped, filled with random data so that they will continue at their speed no matter what. so no loss over time. mtron did the same afaik
b) trim in itself is absolutely great. my only fear is, cheap manufacturers will use the fact that they support trim as an excuse to not make them work well without trim, which can lead to bigger issues in the end.

 

Hmmm...thats interesting.

 

well, i'm happy to have drives that perform awesome without trim, but (some of them) do have trim for added constantness of highlevel performance.

it's just nice to know that they know how to clean up their mess, unlike myself but i'm happy to know as well that even without that, they perform awesome.

and that second point is my fear for future cheaper ssds.

 

Here is some "numbers" that show how TRIM works on my SSD.

So from now on TRIM is disabled on my current SSD.

 

Are those figures from running the Windows performance index thing? It seems to me that looking at your figures, that total run time from when you started (1/20) and now (1/30) is the same, so wouldn't TRIM be doing it's job?

Can you give more "details" on what you are unhappy about?

 

Oh Oh..... Just as I feared. The infamous ssd thread is just might become the forefront of the realization that TRIM is as much of an Intel sales pitch as....oh crap... I forgot what that thing was called in Xp and forward. It was wear you could get a chip that added an extra 512mb of memory to the system and umm.....

oh man I hate age...you forget the most menial of things.

umm...virtual...nope....similar to the concept of Ready Boost...

help me here guys...what was it called???? Cost only like 70 bucks to have it added to a system yet did nothing....was Intel as well I think....

 

i know what you mean, don't know the name. but no, trim isn't like that.

trim is something that actually should have been implemented since ever. why? because it only makes sence the os and the disk are in sync with knowing which regions are actual data, and which are not used.

problem is, hdds never cared about that info, they just overwrote everything all the time, not caring about if it's actual data below.

now ssds do care, as they can work much better if they know which cells have actual valid data, and which ones can be purged.


so trim is a great thing. but it can get abused in the future for cheap crap.

then again, what CANT be abused for cheap crap?

 

Intel Turbo Memory

 

That was it!!!!! Biggest scam that ever was!

 

Newegg has a combo deal on 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Laptop Memory with Intel X25-V 2.5" 40GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive for $459.98 free shipping.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.324450