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

Page 121 for me...I don't understand how people stand having less than 50 posts per page. I'll usually register for a site just so I can change the default amount of threads and posts per page to the max.

As for 512GB SSDs, even though they're stupidly expensive, I'm amazed there aren't more out there. Heck, Intel could make their SSDs go up to 640GB if they used 32GB NAND chips in their SSDs, since Intel drives each pack 20 NAND chips.

 

I do heavy web surfing, heavy email Outlook, some Dreamweaver, some Fireworks, MS Office, Backup Software testing and a few other programs here and there. Which would be better for me, the Vertex 120GB or the Corsair 128GB? That amount of space is about right as I normally use between 80-100GB. Thanks for your input, Dave

 

Unless you're running a home Exchange server, the X-25M is the better choice.

Cape Consultant,

Corsair, it's a good bit less and uses a good Samsung controller.

 

Thanks. I see that Newegg has them both for about the same price. So you think the Indiliix is not as good as the Samsung controller? The one thing I do not want is any stuttering, that is for sure

 

it shouldnt have any stuttering but the corsair specs look like it is using the 1st generation samsung controller. It is cheaper than the 120GB OCZ Vertex but the speed is going to be slower.

Why not Gkill or Supertalent? They are pretty much the same as the OCZ using the same indilinx controller.

 

I see now that the Corsair is about $75 cheaper on the egg. Also that its reads and writes are "slower" due to no dual "RAID" controller like the Vertex and G.Skill, etc. Still, the overall usability of the Corsair seems to make users happy, according to user reviews. I like the fact it is all Samsung. I am not sure there is a Samsung 2.0 controller at this time, is there?

 

Corsair's P256 uses Samsung's latest controller.

 

i am waiting for Samsung firmware update to support TRIM~~~

 

The specs seems to indicate a 1st generation controller. I wasnt aware that the Vertex or GSkill's Falcon is using a raid configuration, I thought that was supposed to be Vertex 2. Can anyone confirm?

I would go with Samsung as their stuff has a good solid record and the fact that most of the innards are made inhouse.

 

OCZ Apex/G.Skill Titan use RAID0 but it's not better setup than the Vertex/Falcon. Don't live by spec's only with SSD's, or else the Intel's would be terrible given their "pokey" 70MB/sec write speed spec. The Corsair is definitely better (controller-wise) than the Apex/Titan.

The 256GB Corsair uses the 2nd gen Samsung controller (samsung rebadge SSD).

 

IMO Vertex is better than Samsung 1st generation controller with MLC chips, but as Cape Consultant said, I like the fact it is all Samsung.

 

but currenty samsung 256G firmware does not support TRIM at the moment. maybe this is why I got 4k write 2Mb/s, and 512K writting 80MB/s

 

Get a 120 falcon. they seem to be the least expensive of the indilinx drives right now. Although, supertalent and ocz have been releasing firmware updates which is always good but the falcon has just come out so i'm sure they'll follow the same...

The corsair is just too slow of an MLC at this point and price IMO...

 

Where have you seen this available. When i was keeping up with things a little better before vertex came out, I recall OCZ saying the the summit they would charge a premium for the samsung controler and make the vertex less because it uses indilinx. But is its cheaper hell yeah!!!

Edit: so i don't wanna triple post... just found this . Does patriot have an indilinx drie too now? and also what kind of kingston is this?

Edit: just found these... Summit 60gb 120gb So if you have a better source please share

 

I know that Samsung firmware doesn't support TRIM, but I know that Samsung never had problems with stuttering.

I had 1st generation Samsung SLC with 0,4 MB/s random 4K write and never had problems with stuttering.

BTW: I attached results from Crystal Disk Mark for SSD that I had

 

I had a first generation Samsung SLC and I didn't have problems with stuttering either. I gave that drive to my brother when I gave him my NC8430. My generation 2 Samsung SLC doesn't stutter either.

 

me 2
although I don't really know what will I do with it once when the FW is released
couse, no OS supports trim at the moment, with an exception of windows se7en, but, it is still beta and no one know that it actually works

and as far as your bad benchs, for sure those are not result of lack of TRIM, you can be sure in that, TRIM only come handy when ssd fragmentation starts to kicking in

 

what's even so bad about the benches? I thought the samsungs never had super high random writes...

If i understand TRIM correctly it would help because it wouldn't have to delete/rewrite "already deleted" pages for the small random write writes (if the drive is full)

 

Well, I gotta say, even though the 128GB Corsair looks good, I do not really want to be buying generation 1 of anything SSD at this time. (and it seems this drive has a gen.1 controller.) There are just too many changes taking place. And yes, I guess it was the Apex that had the 2 controllers in RAID, and the Vertex has a single Indiliix controller. Seems the sands they are a shifting Very exciting to watch the birth of this technology. I predict that even Staples will have a few SSD's for sale within a year. And they are usually the LAST to get anything near the edge

 

I'm going to have a look at a second hand Dell E4200 tomorrow with "UltraPerformance Solid State Drive 64GB".

Does anyone know what kind of performance I should be getting from this drive?
And is there an easy way to establish whether it suffers from performance degradation?

Thanks.

 

I have the 128gb corsair. I plan on upgrading soon and might be selling it cheap.

 

That's the 64GB Samsung SLC drive. My dad has an E6400 with one in it, it works great. Being SLC, it will suffer much less degradation than an MLC drive.

 

Its a good drive (100mb/s read and 90mb/s write). A lot of places still seem to be selling it for ~$500 but i got mine when geeks.com had them $179 I think it was. Windows loads yada yada yada... Multi tasking with your HD taxed will be incredable! and depending on what drive your used to the load time benefits will vary. I came from a 7k200gb and is seems to load my games 25-50% faster not at the blink of an eye, but noticably faster. Mine has suffered no degradation tested via ATTO... (and it's already been through a few write cycles)

Oh yeah and that virus scan time question... i only have about 40gb to scan but it takes less than 3min and i don't even notice it going on for me.

Darth Bane might help any decissions people thinking about the corsair might have to make... on one hand he might let it go for cheap, on the other hand he is already upgrading... It's always a question of how much are you willing to spend and how much performance do you want to gain.

Do to the sammy SLC's slower seq but better MTBF, I too am planning to get a faster seq SSD for storage and games and keep my sammy for OS and apps.

 

Thanks. That sounds good.

Any idea of read speeds I should be getting? I plan to run HDTune or something like that.

 

That's what i'm trying to explain in my above post.

 

I won't be running a home server, but I don't need 80GB and I thought the X25-E SLC drives were much better for longevity and fragmentation than MLC. But, if the firmware sucks on the X25-E, I guess I have no choice but the X25-M. I'm just looking for the best option possible.

 

Thanks. At first I missed your post.

What do you mean with Windows loads yada yada yada? not so good?

 

Actually it's quite good, kinda the what everyone always says faster windows load desktop ready instantly kinda stuff.

 

Kingston now has a v-sereis ssd's

 

Nobody ever said the firmware sucks, it's a solid SLC drive and they simply haven't needed to upgrade the firmware because they got it right the first time.

By the time the X-25M is too slow, you'll be buying SATA 6 SSDs for less than what we're paying now.

 

I understand that the X25-M is very capable of my needs and that it is FAST. But if the X25-E is technically "better" I'd rather get it, since money is no concern and the X25-E (32GB) is only $383 at NewEgg.

 

What exactly are your needs? X25-E is optimized for different things compared with the X25-M. Technically though, the X25-E is superior to the X25-M.

 

Just web design/normal usage Hd vids etc. I won't be running a server or anything, but I don't need 80GB and I thought the X25-E SLC drives were much better for longevity and fragmentation than MLC.

 

I would suppose that different uses would utilize the SSDs differently and get different results. I suppose that if you use the X25-E for your needs, you might get performance that is equivalent to the X25-M due to the way the 2 are tweaked for different use. Technically superior doesnt mean that you will get the most performance from the SSD. It might be better if you get the M as you might just change for a bigger faster SSD way before it starts to fail.

Just some thoughts.

 

I'm looking for a moderate SSD with no less than 250GB of space. What would you recommend?

 

Corsair P256.

 

What's your budget? The cheapest of the "good" SSDs, as stated above, is based on the Samsung 256GB SSD. Corsair sells it under their name for around $700.

 

or supertalent 256G

 

no. i just didn't wanted to restate that obvious thing (i stated it before, more than once, in this thread).

 

the MLC is better for you. why? because of the more storage, once you want to temporary store a hd movie on it, you'd have problems else.

and, it's optimized for desktop usage. the SLC one isn't, and performs actually a bit slower in some tests, desktop usage tests, that is. i think it's slower at booting, f.e. all in all, the E does not gain you much really in a desktop anyways, because it is tweaked for servers, and for their workloads.

 

So i really wanna say these Kingston V-Series drives are mtrons or samsungs. Most likely (if i were to guess) the mobi 3000 but kingston has so little info available they don't even state if it is SLC or MLC!!!! If they are, WHAT A STEAL!

 

Newegg seems to think the V-series is MLC. No idea on the controller, but if it's samsung or whatever mtron uses, that would be awesome.

 

Hmm yeah newegg says MLC. If so what bumber! Why would they release an MLC that slow for so much money at this point in the game!? and they know all people care about is the controller so y don't they list it???

Edit: the 250gb Summit just landed on newegg for a whopping $899!!! LOL WHAT A JOKE!!!

 

A slightly relevant warning about OCZ - if you go back thru this thread you'll see that several months ago I bought a 120GB OCZ Core V2 SSD, thinking that since it was marketed as firmware upgradeable, I'd see fixes for it down the road if any big operating problems turned up. Of course, I immediately ran into problems and joined OCZ's online forums to discuss the issues and workarounds. Eventually they announced there would be no firmware updates to address these issues because they were essentially unsolvable with the JMicron controller.

Yesterday I went back and added a post complaining about the lack of support and asking for a firmware update to support the TRIM command. Today, the entire thread is gone. In fact, if you look at my user info there "highlandsun" you'll see it says my post count is 26, but searching for all of my posts only gets 7 hits - it seems that they routinely delete posts, without warning. There was nothing inflammatory in my posts, and there were no lies. A lot of my posts contained useful information about workarounds; all of that is gone.

Conclusion: if you buy an OCZ product, be prepared for it to not perform as specified/advertised, and to be ignored and have your user feedback deleted without warning or explanation. OCZ has earned a place next to Netgear on my vendor blacklist.

 

The OCZ Summit is probably the exact same drive as the Corsair P256 and the P256 is a lot cheaper than the Summit.

 

OCZ scares me to be honest. I know they sent one guy a drive without any firmware whatsoever- showed up as SingSongShang Heavy Machinery. Seems to be one guy called, Tony, who handles everything... lolz.

From what I can tell, the OCZ drives seems to be like a lab experiment and all the buyers are testers...

At least that's my perspective. I am looking at buying an SSD and the only drives that seem to be actually ready for sale are the Intel/Samsung ones. That's just me though...

 

My OCZ Vertex (through amazon) came without firmware. After some failed attempts at flashing it, I had to RMA it to OCZ. They didn't hassle me about the RMA but I did have to pay to ship it to them despite getting a faulty drive in the first place. Then it took them over 3 weeks to get my replacement drive.

Needless to say, OCZ quality control and product support are severely lacking. How they can ship a bunch of drives out without firmware is beyond me. Makes me wonder if they check any drives before they ship them out.

However, my replacement works great and my computer is a lot snappier. Not sure how much of that is switching from Vista to Windows 7 but at the end of the day, I'm happy to have a Vertex in my computer. The hassle of getting there was pretty bumpy and irritating but I have to admit the OCZ Vertex is a good product so far.

 

Super Talent, G.Skill, etc. aren't any more impressive than OCZ...you're rolling the dice no matter who you buy from, OCZ's failures are just more visible because of their forum.

 

The 60gb summit is up and kicking at newegg too but has nearly half the sequential writes, only 120mb/s for $239 much more reasonable than the 250gb

I wonder if they nerfed it to sell more vertex ex's

 

Smaller capacity drives have lower write speeds because they have half the chips, so there are fewer channels. I'm amazed we had to wait this long for someone to come out with a non 256GB Samsung based drive, though.