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

Tobias have you tried a fresh install of Vista whilst making sure that you reformat at time of setup. This will align the partition and give much enhanced performance. Also if you have an on-board RAID controller try setting the Core as a non-member disk of the RAID array.

 

^ is that SSD of yours still working good for ya ?

 

Im using Vaio VGN-SZ61XN/C (european version of SZ650) but with "nLited" Windows XP. And I really insist on XP Ive tried all of these registry changes and enabling/disabling functions. With fresh install its fine but when I start filling my drive it goes wrong.

About MLC raid0. Ive read that it doesnt work well because of writing/reading of small pieces of files. This does make sense to me. So Ill save some bucks for single x25-m.

 

That's really too bad, since my Vista X64 partition's performance blows my XP partition's out of the water
Also, Vista is more optimized with SSD than XP due to partition allignment. Proper partition allignment can enhance the speed of your SSD and stops stuttering.

 

Tobias have a read of this and then follow this guide to align your XP partition (therookie's guide in the second link is probably a bit easier to follow and carry out). Should make a world of difference as this has been the primary cause of poor performance in XP compared to Vista.

miro - yes I have not experienced one micro second of stutter even with multiple apps on the go - Media Center, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, whole host of games, Firefox, IE, Newsleecher, etc etc. Quite the opposite of stutter to be honest - everything is pretty much instant all day long. It is the best $195 I have ever spent in my 20 odd years of computing.

 

I'm interested if this helps on the asus eee ssd as well. have to check...

 

ok. on the eee, the disk really isn't aligned. REINSTALL TIME!!

 

All good questions:

-Benchmarks have been run over the past few days, after light gaming/surfing.

-Installation was a clean install

-Daily usage pattern is mostly websurfing, but honestly since I got the drive I've been running so many benchmarks on it that it's probably throwing off the optimization.

-New drive.

-50% of the drive capacity is used (about 35GB)

Any thoughts?

 

Im planning on getting a 64gb ssd. Im going to install vista on it. Is there a good guide I can look at to get the most out of my ssd? (like how to format it, maybe software to improve ssd performance).

 

Just make sure you format the drive using Vista setup. Check here for loads of other tweaks:

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=186

I'm also using Diskeeper 2009 with HyperFast which ensures "optimization of free space to keep file writes at peak "out of box" performance levels. Its design considers both performance and longevity, increasing both through intelligent organization of data on these drives. It addresses the needs of Flash drives without the negative aspects of traditional file defragmenters specifically designed to improve HDD performance."

 

I don't know which one to get, any advice?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231220
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227373
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609332

 

I want to get it off newegg and I am not spending over $150.

 

I have the 128 gb model( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609333) of the 60 gb supertalent you were looking at and it's running as my system drive for my laptop and I haven't run into any problems.

 

Does any one out there know how to load Aliwenware Command Center on a non-Alienware desktop. I have the case, light board & AlienFX 1.03 & 1.5 & Command Center software, but when the software trys to install it says it will only work on an Alienware computer and than closes. Please Help, I am also running Vista 64 Bit Home Premium.
Thanks

 

You're in the SSD thread...

 

Today I learned that if your SATA controller BIOS setting is set to IDE/Compatibility or any other non-AHCI setting, it may have a negative impact on storage subsystem performance for high end devices.

What OS are you running those benchmarks on? Was your SATA settings compatibility or AHCI? Also, if your Intel SSD was run in SATA compatibility mode, I strongly would recommend you to give it another try by installing the SATA/AHCI drivers and switching to AHCI mode in BIOS. You might be in for a very nice surprise.

 

Not in real world applications. There's very little in terms of sequential, sustained, large block IO for either workstation or server workloads. That's the only way you're going to get 150 MB/second.

 

Ok what about simply copying a file from one SSD to another, which is a frequent activity for many?

 

That's not a single-channel configuration, and I'd like to see that performance in real world applications rather than synthetic benchmarks.

 

Which version are you using?
http://www.diskeeper.com/diskeeper/home/dk2009comparisonchart-home.aspx

 

Diskeeper 2009 Pro Premier with HyperFast.

http://www.diskeeper.com/diskeeper/home/purchase.aspx

 

You would have to ask OCZ (or your retailer) to get any good answers. However, considering that they are five months old I would say that your probability of success is low (you should try though).

As iata has stated, there are two interesting performance tweaks you can apply. SteadyState and Partition Alignment.

 

It seems Diskeeper is designed exclusively for SSD's and not HDD's?

 

The HyperFast add on is yes.

http://www.diskeeper.com/hyperfast/index.aspx

 

there are ssds available that easily saturate s-ata1. and in my case, a lot of real world applications can easily use that. it's not like i have it saturated all day long no


but the main problem is still true: if an ssd expects full s-ata2 and gets just half the speed, it may drop to half of it's own speed, or even get into stuttering.

that's not a thing about max-speed actually but more behaviour similar to clock-rates. an ssd that can deliver 240MB/s read on s-ata2 may deliver exactly 120MB/s on s-ata1 as it just halfes it's internal speed. that means it will half everything, including it's slowest parts (random writes).

this of course depends on how the ssd handles lower-than-max bus speeds. and, as it looks like, intels ssd doesn't like slower-than-max bus speeds and starts stuttering quite a bit.

 

From what I can find the new SSDs with excellent wear levelling controller and DRAM buffers can suffer from great performance degradation.

Fundamentally all SSD technology suffers from very slow write speeds because it needs to erase before writing and it also writes in blocks resulting in write amplification(the amount of actual written compared to the amount requested by the controller).

Therefore the "fresh" performance lives up to manufacturer claims but after every place on the drive has been written, in order to write more it starts erasing. Performance slows down in that case.

But the new SSDs with DRAM buffers will suffer more degradation since they are faster and the drive gets "dirty" faster. Faster writes=more writes done to drive. Remember the bottleneck of ANY system is the slowest point in the system. The bottleneck of the SSD technology is the write speeds.

All the SSDs based on next generation controllers suffer from this: FusionIO/X25-M/X25-E.

The controllers are supposed to optimize performance though, so if the usage isn't intensive it should in theory recover the performance(but never 100%).

 

i prefer my "dump" mtrons.. they are not as high in peak performance. but it looks like they're pretty constant in terms of behaviour. which is more important to me.

 

Does Hyperfast work on a system boot disk (C:\)?

 

Yes is does. How much of a performance boost it gives though I'm not sure. I really need to do some benchmarks with it enabled and disabled.

 

All versions support hyperfast, correct? Is there any real benefit of getting pro premier over home? (im cheap)

 

It used to be only the Pro Premier version that was available with HyperFast but they all offer it now (apart from home server).

Compare versions here:

http://www.diskeeper.com/diskeeper/home/dk2009comparisonchart-home.aspx

 

Please elaborate Dave...

 

When are any of the new larger, faster SSDs coming out?

ie:
OCZ Vertex
Intel 160GB
Samsung
SanDisk

models all with 250+ read and 150+ write

They've all been announced as in production, but nobody has any for sale.

 

I like to know this as well, I'm so eager for either the intel or the ocz vertex ssd reviews so that I can plunk down for one.

At this point the intel x25-m seems a bit too expensive for the 80gb. Maybe these will drop to $250 when the new SSDs are out.

 

I've reconciled to the cost. I really want a minimum of 256 and I haven't been impressed with the performance vs cost ratio of the existing drives. I'd possibly get the 160GB Intel. But all the drives I've seen were all announced as going in production in November or earlier. Where are they?

 

well, get used to it. my 1.8" zif ssd got anounced last february with capabilities of 64gb slc and up to 128gb mlc.

in september, months after, the 32gb slc got released. mlc got completely dropped and 64gb _may_ come sometimes later (but i highly doubt it).

so wait another half year and then you should be able to get one of those drives.. (one, the others will still delay ).


i hope this last post won't get true..

 

Thats not too bad about 5-6 month of wait (I can wait). If I can score a 160gb intel ssd for $499, I'd gladly pay that price. In the meantime my 200gb hitachi travelstar 7k200 isnt really slowing me down for what I usually do, I guess ignorant is bliss. =)

 

hyperfast is a $25 premium over basic version. ouch.

is it worth it?

it is supposed to improve performance in regular use, not just through defragmenting?

 

The Intel X25-M 160GB is already out. They have official pricing of $990.

 

Where can you buy one??

Update: Nevermind, I found some places.. but I'm not paying $1050 or more for one of these. I guess I should wait until next year.

 

I agree, Mtron is very rock stable in terms of real-time performance. I even benefitted from extra snappiness feeling with the superfetch. I wasn't really able to use superfetch with intel X25-M without major 1 minute stuttering.

If I were to turn off Vista features to use SSD, I would say it's very lame.

The only thing with Mtron is the heat, really added at least 7degrees more to my system and yes the battery life also somewhat felt shorter.

 

I don't think it was worth it. I was not aware any performance boost with intel X25-M though. Honestly. I haven't tried on my Mtron 3500 yet.

 

This is a good question for all the potential MLC buyers. I think iata has it.

 

I do but I have yet to run proper benchmarks with it on and off. However it's not just about performance as it is supposed to reduce wear also.

therookie at OCZ forums has posted some initial results here.

By the way I believe the Diskeeper trial has HyperFast included so anyone can try it.

 

I just heard that the new OCZ drives will land on the 9th ... let's cross our fingers that they do.

 

Just a few days ago nobody actually claimed to have them in stock. Supposedly the Intels are the best of the current bread. But 1000$ for a 160GB drive. I'll probably force myself to wait.

Link?

 

Latest rough estimate: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showpost.php?p=326980&postcount=155

 

Yeah... Intel needs some decent competition. $1000 for 160GB is way too much. Hopefully the new SSDs coming out soon will compare with or even exceed Intel's drive. Can't wait for the reviews!

 

Ah, great forum. And I see there are 4 vendors showing up in Google listing the 250GB as early January, and some even have a rebate that expires Jan 16.

Looks like the price point on the 250 is right at $1000. GB/GB that's cheaper than the Intel, however it's the same thing out of pocket. I've read a lot of complaints about the earlier model OCZs. But I'm a risk taker, too, and expect that these Vertex models have worked through these problems.