VGN-Z890 CTO ssd hard drive and RAM upgrade question

Hello,

I am about to order a new VGN-Z890 CTO but I was thinking on ordering a default 250GB HDD and 4 GB of memory to later upgrade it to a SSD disk and 8 GB of RAM.

My questions are,

Does this laptop support installing this SSD drive?: Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2MH160G2C1 2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167017

And which brand of RAM should I buy? is it still needed to use 2 equal ram modules to take advantage of the dual channel feature? and finally, is there really a performance difference on buying my own ram or should I just order the laptop with the 8 GB option from the sony store?

Thanks a lot.

 

For the SSD: Yes, you can. But look for the Postville (2nd generation), cheaper and more performant.

For the RAM: Corsair, Kingston, Crucial.... all is ok.

 

Thank you NHT.

Which drives are those? (Postville) I thought the one I was listing was 2nd gen with TRIM support.

Also, I called Sony and the seller told me that I cannot switch a regular hard drive for a SSD because apparently the SSD drive is smaller in size and I would need an special chassis or something, is this true or is he just trying to convince me to buy the Sony SSD hard drive?

Thank you.

 

About SSD:

Sony uses 2 x 1.8" Samsung SSD for a Raid 0 setup in Z. By today there does not exist any single 2.5" SSD that can beat the Raid 0 setup on capacity and performance:

a) The official SSD (2 x 1.8" Samsung SSD Raid 0) can do 300MB/s read and 240MB/s write, with capacity of 256G ($660) or 512G ($1380);

b) A single 2.5" Intel X25-M 160G can only do 250MB/s read and 70MB/s write (or 100MB/s write with firmware update), with capacity of 160G ($610); without saying you'll probably void warranty by cracking up your Z to install 3rd party SSD, it looks like the choice of X25-M is paying the same money to buy less capacity and poor performance;

c) Even 2 x Intel X18-M cannot do better! 2 x Intel X18-M in Z can do 400MB/s read and 140MB/s write (or 200MB/s write with firmware update), with capacity of 320G (about $1500);

d) If you really like Intel SSD, it's probably better to wait for the upcoming 320G models of X25-M and X18-M.

Conclusion: I would recommend you buy pre-configured SSD rather than aftermarket SSD if you need SSD.

About RAM:

Any brand should work, e.g. Corsair, Crucial, etc. Just choose good memory timings (e.g. 7-7-7-20 or lower). A pair of same modules is recommended. However the aftermarket memory modules have a higher rate of failure. A thorough stability test is recommended (e.g. 24 hours memtest86+).

If you need 8G RAM now, then the pre-configured 8G is cheaper than the current aftermarket upgrade ($370 vs $500). The price may drop in the future.

 

Thank you sniper, another question, do you know if sony´s samsung ssd drives support the TRIM instruction? if I understand correctly without this the drive would lower its performance over time, is this correct?

And, assuming I decide to go the intel ssd way, would there be any issues with the physical drive space on the laptop? like the sony representative said, would I need an additional chassis or adapter to use them?

Sorry if I am asking too many questions, but the laptop isn´t exactly cheap and I want to make the most for my money with this purchase.

Thanks.

 

That is a good question. TBH I don't know whether Samsung 1.8" SSD supports TRIM. I don't even know whether 2 x Intel X18-M Raid 0 supports TRIM through the raid controller, given that a single Intel X18-M G2 supports TRIM. Of course, Intel X25-M G2 supports TRIM.

If you decide to choose Intel SSD, there won't be issues with the physical drive space. If you buy an HDD model, you may install any standard 2.5" SATA SSD (e.g. Intel X25-M) without a problem. If you buy an SSD model, you may install 2 x 1.8" SSD into the raid frame, without the covers (i.e. these 1.8" SSD must be naked).

It's good to figure out everything before buying

 

Thanks for the useful info Sniper-sung...this is helpful as I decide about my Vaio Z purchase as well.

I'm considering either going with the Intel X25-m 160gb drive, or the standard one that comes through Sonystyle CTO (SSD 128gb).

Is the SSD 128gb also a Samsung? Does it also have the impressive read/write speeds you mentioned in your previous post, or is that only for the 256gb model? I'm trying to determine what is the better buy between the two (Intel vs. Samsung or whatever Sony is using for the 128gb SSD).

 

yes i wonder the same too, how about the performance of 128 and 256gig models? i think they're not raid, they're single ssd's, but long as they have same performance, i wudnt care about the capacity and pay 1000+ more.

 

Take a look of this article before you make decision:

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3631&p=22

Samsung are very fast when you copy big files according to the benchmark. However, most of the O/S operations are copying/moving small files. Intel SSD perform better under this situation. According to information shared by the people in Intel forum. It seems that no TRIM is available for Intel Raid-0 configuration.

 

I guess you are looking into a very old model from Samsung. Check this thread out:

http://www.benyouhui.com/thread-997863-1-2.html

 

If you look at the CrystalDiskMark result in the thread, the Z92 Samsung can only provide 8.085MB/s at 4K write even at Raid 0. My x25m g2 is 58MB/s without Raid configuration. This is the difference. As I said, the selling point of Intel SSD is not large file transfer. Most SSD in the market is better than Intel for large file transfer. The selling point of Intel is small file random access.

I had 2 160G X25M in my Z46 now. The extra money I spent can buy a Z48 with SSD raid. However, i still prefer to pick my SSD as i don't like the Samsung OEM SSD. Samsung has no direct support for their OEM SSD. When you see Intel and OCZ offer firmware/tools to improve their product, you will regret to go for this Samsung OEM SSD. Even they have firmware update to improve their SSD, they never provide it to us directly. We also cannot expect Sony to provide any firmware update to those SSD they sold. If I really want to buy SSD, I will buy Intel, OCZ vertex or Corsair rather than the Samsung OEM sold by Sony.