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

That's possible, but if Intel drives cost exorbitantly high while performing less than Sandforce, noone will buy them. One of them will have to happen. Lower prices, or (much)better performance. I'm assuming the former, but we'll see.

 

If you look at the IOMeter queue depth 8 and above benchmarks, the Gen2 Intel drives are still better than the Gen3 Sandforce and probably the Marvell controller. Enterprise SSD adoption by governments and corporations probably account for the vast bulk of SSD demand. Those IOMeter queue depth 8 and above benchmarks are what I would be looking at if I was buying for enterprise applications. Intel being the leader has the luxury of waiting to see the Gen3 competition before finalizing the focus of their Gen3 controller, be it greater performance, capacity, cost per GB or a combination of the above.

We know the Gen3 drives will offer greater capacities, performance and lower cost per GB. Even if capacities double, performance is increased by 20% and prices are reduced by 20%, many will still consider SSD's to be exorbitantly priced.

 

Ok, so the new intel G2 drives will apparently be comming with encrption soon, roadmap:

http://hothardware.com/Articles/Intel-34nm-X25M-Gen-2-SSD-Performance-Review/?page=2

Does this mean old G2 drives get the shaft or is this merely a simple act of upgrading the firmware?

 

The new Intel drives will be G3 not G2's, the G2 drives are 34nm and the new ones will be moving to 25nm. The 25nm drives will actually be 4th generation because the first were 72nm then 50nm G1's, then to the G2's @ 34nm.

You will not be able to update G2 firmware with G3 features just like you cant update the 50nm G1's with 34nm G2 firmwares.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/188265/intel_micron_introduce_25nm_nand_flash_production.html

 

No, if you look at the roadmap in that site, it says 34nm in Q2 of 2010. Therefore, they are G2 drives, and it is a 'refresh' of the drives, but this time with purported encryption. In this case, is this encryption merely a firmware upgrade or do these refreshed G2 drives have an encryption module?

 

On a side note... that's from July 2009 - over 6 months old - things may have changed since then.

 

Yeah, that roadmaps color thing differentiating between G1' and G2's is wrong in the Postville refresh column. If you carefully read the article you posted you will see that Postville refresh will be 25nm.

 

Postville refresh is supposed to be only larger capacities and a new controller. G3 is when the drives shift to 25nm.

And while the article is six months old, it still is probably true, because frankly, I can't see Intel just sitting on their thumbs for the next 8 or whatever months to compete against the newer, faster and higher capacity drives that will release between now and then.

 

Originally Posted by dreadlord369
Hey guys, I just got a 30gb OCZ vertex ssd and it turns out that the sata controller on the laptop is limited to sata150 speeds when the pm55 chipset which is in the laptop is supposed to support sata300 speeds. I know that theres nothing wrong with the drive (I tested it with two other computers and it hit 200 mbps average on hd tune).
I just wanted to inform you guys that the laptop was purposely limited to sata150 speeds by HP and to take this into consideration if you guys want to buy a ssd for the laptop. I mean the ssd still performs great (I load up 50 google chrome tabs in under 2 seconds and boot up in 12 seconds) but its still not at its max performance.
Heres a screenshot of an hd tune screenshot of it showing its limited to 150

Ok just was wondering how i could check to see if this is true.If its true i guess theres no need to wait ang get the new intel ssd.Thanks I have a DV6 Quad core HP

 

seen this with some dell, too.. check for a possible bios update that could help (and check if nothing in the bios is set up wrong. you're on AHCI, right?)

but it can sure be that there's no sata2 in there for what ever reason

 

Just on a side note... Even IDE mode can hit 230MB (my SZ did).
(currently AHCI on and I'm on Sata 2)

 

sure. but ide has many modes with differing speeds. sata has (so far) only 2

 

yes its on on AHCI.Is there a way to check it?

 

i dont think its wrong. people have been saying for a long time that these new g2s can easily fit extra flash modules in there to make it even double the 160gb capacity. plus that looks like a slide ripped off an intel presentation.

so ok a question again for everyone, I'm wondering if the refreshed g2 drives will be different in hardware? in terms of encrpytion, is it going to be a firmware upgrade for everyone, or are new drives diffferent because they come with an encryption module?

 

I would guess that the encryption might be done natively by the controller, meaning that it would be a feature unique to the Postville refresh drives.

 

Indeed about the free space of the Intels. I remember back when the G2s launched, some site did a tear down of the 160GB and saw that flash was all grouped together on one side. The other side had no flash (unlike the Vertex et al) but seemed to be begging for more... to get to 320GB perhaps. Seems this site agreed with me http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1022/2/

Question: another SSD site linked to this utility http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?49779-SSD-Tweak-Utility Does anything it does besides disable system restore really matter?

Oh, and Congrads to the New Orleans Saints.

 

no, most are just placebo effects of "we know that we can change it, so lets do it all together and feel well and intelligent and brave". actually, even system restore is like that. but it's known to right now have quite some feelable effect (but it does have a feelable purpose, too). personally, i have it disabled, as home server replaces the functionality for me.

 

Guis, look at these degraded speeds on my Intel G2 80GB:

After fresh install of Win7X64



After ~2 months with Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers:



It looks to me like the IRST driver isn't passing the trim command on I thought it was supposed to?

The degradation is a lot worse than I thought it ever could be.

I've uninstalled the IRST driver and am now using the default MS driver in Win7. I have *not* yet run the Intel toolbox utility because I'm curious what you all have to say about this and also if simply using the default MS driver (which is definitely supposed to issue the TRIM command) will restore the drive.

 

I just got an Intel X18-m 160gb. I inadvertantly got the OEM version instead of the retail version (although I haven't seen the retail version in stock anywhere).

Any ideas/suggestions as to how I would mount it? I've found mounting brackets online for 2.5" drives, but not 1.8" drives.

 

it will only restore the performance after the same timespan that it degraded without trim. because it takes the same time to re-overwrite it fully and thus allowing data to get trimmed.

use the toolbox to instantly free all space, and getting your speeds back.

 

Are you looking for something like what comes with this SSD?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=1.8_to_2.5_adapter-_-20-157-021-_-Product
What size case do you need and what system are you putting it in?

 

Sorry, it's to put it into a laptop (Vaio TT).

The X18-m OEM version is a small credit-card sized thing, with no screw holes of any kind, while the retail version is attached to a caddy with the standard holes. So I need some type of 1.8" bracket, but I don't know if anyone makes one that can be purchased seperately.

 

well, the laptop has a 1.8" microsata drive in, not? the new one should fit perfectly, no mounting stuff required.

if the original disk was not 1.8" microsata, you'd need a converter to sata anyways.


i have not mounted any of my ssds specifically. i just plug them in. they work without an issue..

 

I'm indeed replacing a 1.8" microsata, so I've got the right size and connector. My concern is how to secure the drive so that it doesn't flop around once it's in my laptop, since it's got no holes for screws. I guess I could tape it down, but that doesn't sound like an ideal solution...

 

Can anyone suggest a good IDE SSD that they have tested and are using daily?

TIA!

 

if you want an IDE SSD, I would suggest you to get a new laptop, coz IDE SSD is expensive.

 

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3731

 

thanks for the explanation. I ran the toolbox utility and speeds returned to normal

Should I be surprised that the trim command has apparently not been working with the IRST driver?

 

does it really flop around? mine fits into the laptop with zero space inbetween (really absolute zero). but yeah, some rubber or something works perfectly. it's only for silencing possible noise when shaking. the ssd doesn't care if it's mounted.

no, but i guess tiller could be.

 

The only way to know for sure is wait till Q2 and see what drive they release.

Plus you should your article and also the original article from before i posted. Your article alleges G3 (THREE) drives will be released in _Q4_ (thats FOURTH quarter). my article says G2 (TWO) drives will be released in _Q2_ (SECOND quarter). They do not contradict each other.

 

Newegg has the 1.8" 80gb G1 SSD with 2.5" case and adapter by Dane Elec for $189. Thats $2.36/GB and free shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820157021

 

Here are some numbers for Intel X25-V 40 GB:

I downloaded Adobe CS4 Master Collection and unzip it with 7-Zip 4.64 Portable (it is reading 5.43 GB file and writing 8.06 GB in 68114 files, and all that on same partition):

with Super Talent MasterDrive SX 64 GB:
19 minutes and 43 second ==> 11.6 MB/s

with Intel X25-V 40 GB:
22 minutes and 59 seconds ==> 10 MB/s

with 5400 rpm HDD:
29 minutes and 12 second ==> 7.83 MB/s


And here are some "winsat disk" results:

Code:

							MasterDrive SX 64 GB	Intel X25-V 40 GB
> Disk  Sequential 64.0 Read			MB/s	125,41	7,0		132,69	7,0
> Disk  Random 16.0 Read			MB/s	34,71	6,2		120,63	7,3
> Responsiveness: Average IO Rate		ms/IO	1,56	7,4		2,87	6,5
> Responsiveness: Grouped Ios			units	10,14	7,1		14,75	6,1
> Responsiveness: Long Ios			units	3,36	7,9		7,75	7,5
> Responsiveness: Overall			units	34,05	7,4		114,38	6,7
> Responsiveness: PenaltyFactor				0,00			0,00	
> Disk  Sequential 64.0 Write			MB/s	114,39	6,8		42,78	5,1
> Average Read Time with Sequential Writes	ms	0,355	7,9		0,953	7,7
> Latency: 95th Percentile			ms	0,973	7,9		3,118	6,9
> Latency: Maximum				ms	14,610	7,9		3,880	7,9
> Average Read Time with Random Writes		ms	0,396	7,9		0,980	7,9
> Total Run Time					1:13.60			1:30.59	

All was done on system in signature and Intel was optimized with Intel SSD toolbox 1.2 before tests.

 

That winsat disk is from the masterdrive sx no?

I see that Mushkin is selling SSD's in the U.S. now -- with Indilinx controller.
http://www.mushkin.com/Digital-Storage/SSDs/MKNSSDIO128GB.aspx

 

Left column is for MasterDrive SX (one with 1:13.60 total run time) and right one is for X25-V.

I hope this is what You asked.

 

Is the ThinkPad T60 SATA 150? I was getting more than double that 16k read score with the x-25v and 250mb/s for 64k.

 

yes, T60 is sata1.5

 

nice nice. and all this in the worst case possible for the ssd: a lot of writes. and it still doesn't work bad.
i have one now in my media center, and it's an amazing snappy system now, much faster than with the hdd at starting up (but i killed my slot-blueray drive yesterday.. always something new )

 

Actually it's is reading 5.43 GB while writing 8.06 GB of small files.

To be honest, I expected more from Intel.

 

it's having at max 40MB/s write speed. how much does the other one have, and still performing quite close to it? how much does the hdd have?

it IS one of it's worst cases, and it's still fighting fine for being the cheap and slow end of the line.


edit: and the read speed is blocked by the sata1, too..

so a drive with max specs of 170MB/s / 40MB/s is close to a drive stating 200MB/s / 120MB/s, or 3x the write speed?

imho, this is impressive.


and if you want more, get an 80gb or 160gb one.

 

So since everybody says the dv6 quadcore laptop is limited to sata 1 woul this be a good upgrade or is it worth going with the G2 or waiting for the G3?

 

Now You are talking all about perfect Intel...

Way are we even talking about sequential speeds?

BTW: On Samsung both read and write speeds are blocked by SATA-1.

If You look at winsat disk results You will see that Samsung is having lower latencies during parallel reading and writing.

And I can say that I can't feel that Intel is better.

 

Tomy B.,

davepermen is not talking about sequential speeds: he is talking about your real world tests where the Intel drive is 'rated' for only 1/3rd less write speeds than the Samsung you're testing. (BTW, thanks for these updates)!

And, the Intel is 'only' 1.6MB/s slower (a whole 3 minutes 18 seconds slower over a twenty minute period).

What I would be questioning is not that the Intel doesn't feel better, but rather that the Samsung doesn't (with all the specs/benchmarks going for it).

Also, you guys with your 'snappy' SSD's still don't come close to the VRaptors I'm running for the last few years.

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5737282&postcount=26

 

I think he is talking about sequential speeds...

I'm questioning myself why all benchmarks show so high numbers for random writes for Intel controller and winsat disk shows high access times for parallel reads and writes.
Only answer I can see now is that parallel reads and writes are the one that matter.

It would be nice to see someone with better system and SSD download Adobe CS4 Master Collection and unpack .7z file and report time needed to do it.

 

If I had time (Which I don't), I could do that on an 80GB G2, WD Black 1TB, and 30GB Vertex in my desktop. ICH10R and quad-core at 3.4GHz would give a nice, less CPU-limited evaluation.

 

well, one thing i noted is, the intel performs worse in general on a sata1 system. not just max read speeds get down, but performance on a whole, and latency goes up. why? no clue. should they fix that? no. sata2 is standard on any new system.

i'll download it onto a sata2 intel 40gb g2, a sata2 intel 80gb g2, and a sata2 intel 160gb g1. but not yet, have to still wait for my mainboard to come over.

but yeah, main essence is, a drive that states it has 120MB/s write speed delivers just a tiny bit more than a drive that states 40MB/s. now which one is impressive, and which one fails?


in other news, 2012 we get terabyte ssds.. maybe.. : http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/11/keio-university-and-toshiba-ready-tiny-1tb-ssds-for-2012/

 

Hello,

Do you guys have any thoughts on the new Kingston V+ series SSD's?

I'm considering buying one for my new Sony Vaio I just purchased.

http://www.kingston.com/ukroot/ssd/vplus_series.asp?id=8

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m_re=kingston_128GB_v+-_-20-139-109-_-Product

 

The Kingston V+ has a Toshiba controller, formerly JMicron and Toshiba/JMicron. They have completely dropped JMicron name because the original JMicron SSD's sucked so bad. I have seen benchmarks for these drives that are about on par with Indilinx drives. afaik they are 34nm and support TRIM.

http://ssd.toshiba.com/benchmark-scores.html

 

Thanks

I think I'll have to do a lot of research since I really have no clue what all that means I just want one for my database on my computer that I use nearly every day and it pisses me off when I gotta wait for information to load.

I was gonna get an 80GB Intel X25m G2 but my friend says I'll run out of space...and I should get a 128GB SSD minimum as that'll last me the life of my laptop probably.

I'm gonna put my 500GB internal into one of those combo esata/usb enclosures and use it for media.

 

Here is a link to IOMeter benchmark comparison that shows the Kingston V+ random IOPS performance at about half of the OCZ Agility with Indilinx controller. I would not recommend the Kingston V+ over the Intel or Indilinx drives.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=445&Itemid=60&limit=1&limitstart=7

 

wow that is much better. I guess I'm back to looking at the Intel's and OCZ's again.

Glad I asked because I almost pulled the trigger on the Kingston about an hour ago.

Thank you. I think I'll wait a couple more weeks and think about this some more.