My HDDs are getting a bit long in the tooth now and given that my raid controller card does not support Windows 7 I have decided to go for an SSD to replace my main raid array and then install 7.
So which SSD is best atm, needs to be decent size for OS & WoW (ideally Steam too), everything else will sit on the other drives.
Kregs the best man to ask, he's done some testing I believe, from what i know, Intel are the market leaders, with the 'M' (mainstream aka MLC) and the more expensive 'E' (Extreme aka SLC) series,
However, around the corner is Oz vortex 2 which looks to be cheaper but as quick as Intels Extreme, and its only using MLC technology :blink: (compared to 'E's SLC).
The capacity's are due to increase soon, which might bring some of the other down, Might be worth holding out.
I know there are a few people on here who have made the move to SSD (delan + snooks I think?)
It's between Intel E and OCZ Vertex, I think OCZ has beaten the Extremes in some recent tests.
Link (http://www.tomshardware.com/news/ocz-ssd-vertex-intel-solid-state,7127.html)
OCZ look to be the way to go, and I think there's quite a jump to go up to an extreme.
I'm not tempted by SSDs at their current size, I can't fit my steam folder on any of them, would need 500GB and then more for windows. I can't see that being cheap to get at the moment.
I've got a Vertex. Almost as fast as Intel MLC's. I am very pleased performance-wise.
Both intels x-25m (e series are just to expensive to be worth the trouble) and OCZ vertex are both brilliant disks..
Intels x-25m are fastest but also more expensive.. and always buy Generation 2 (often labeled Gen2 or G2)
you might be able to grab some of the new OCZ vertex limited edition ssd's thats hitting the market now, as they are faster then intels.. but betting they will be more expensive too :)
on a side note, performance isnt everything you need to look at when choosing SSD's, always choose a drive that supports TRIM, as you use the SSD drive it will get fragmented (not in the same way as a HDD) and a disk without TRIM will get severely impacted on performance, dropping to below HDD speeds...
but also reliability.. SSD chips will last a few years, but not forever, as the blocks on the chips go bad they die, a feature all good ssd's utilise is block allocation... lets say the SSD is listed as a 128Gb drive, 128 is visible but the drive actually contains more, intels drives contain about 140-150gb, the extra gb is used for the allocation feature, when the bad block is shut down and a new is opened in the extra space... i think OCZ and Intel has about the same extra amount % wise.. cheap ones might have 1-2Gb extra, which severely decreases the lifespan of the disk..
feel free to poke me on msn if you need more advise TL :) btw why arent on you on MSN!
And IIRC TRIM is only natively supported in Win 7. On my XP-machine I use an app made by OCZ, available on their site. The OCZ forum is rather good btw.
Quote from: Snokio;304388Kregs the best man to ask, he's done some testing I believe, from what i know, Intel are the market leaders, with the 'M' (mainstream aka MLC) and the more expensive 'E' (Extreme aka SLC) series,
However, around the corner is Oz vortex 2 which looks to be cheaper but as quick as Intels Extreme, and its only using MLC technology :blink: (compared to 'E's SLC).
The capacity's are due to increase soon, which might bring some of the other down, Might be worth holding out.
I know there are a few people on here who have made the move to SSD (delan + snooks I think?)
just to clarify...
intels x-25m (MLC) are faster then OCZ vertex, and the intel x-25e Extreme is just silly awsome (e actually stands for enterprise and correct based on SLC)
ye the OCZ vertex 2 is around the corner previews popping up everywhere and yeah they look fast, but its not much they beat the x-25m with.. average transfers in teh 230 range, where typical x-25m gen2 is doing 220-225..
but the burst speeds of the Vertex 2's are insane, guessing its due to the new buffering features of the new sandforce controller (which looks to become the new big thing in ssd's
but those are from benchmark programs so remember take account that it doesnt always represent realworld performance :P
Quote from: delanvital;304401And IIRC TRIM is only natively supported in Win 7. On my XP-machine I use an app made by OCZ, available on their site. The OCZ forum is rather good btw.
yup trim is only natively supported by win7, both intel and ocz has made tools to solve that...
I cant really what you should choose OCZ or Intels's SSD's, both are fantastic pieces of hardware, which really gives you something for the money
Looks like I can get:
100GB OCZ Vertex Limited Edition (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-035-OC&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=910) (if that's the one you meant Kreg)
160GB Intel X25-M Mainstream 160GB (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-005-IN&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1427)
120GB OCZ Vertex (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-015-OC&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1427)
Not found any Vertex 2 yet, when are they due out?
Quote from: TeaLeaf;304408Looks like I can get:
100GB OCZ Vertex Limited Edition (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-035-OC&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=910) (if that's the one you meant Kreg)
160GB Intel X25-M Mainstream 160GB (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-005-IN&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1427)
120GB OCZ Vertex (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-015-OC&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1427)
Not found any Vertex 2 yet, when are they due out?
should be out in in march afaik, and price estimates looks like 500-550$ for the 100Gb version..
there is also the kingston, but ive heard a large amount of people having em die after 4 months of use, and trim isnt working properly yet.. but then again i havent read anything on their latest models
The new Kingston V+ range are very good, plus they support TRIM which is an absolute must if you're on Windows 7.
Been continuing the search and came across a new SSD product, the Micron C300 256GB SSD during a discussion with Kreg. More to the point:
- at 256GB it is way larger than most SSDs and therefore more 'normal size'
- is almost identical size to my current raid array so no messing about with multiple drives
- supports SATA3 so can move to my next machine
- is at a decent price point for the size
- performance is absolutely stunning
They get sold as Crucial (http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CTFDDAC256MAG-1G1) and my finger is hovering on the pre-order button as they arrive with them next week. I have a feeling Crucial can add +1 to the sales column. :)
Tech PDF (http://download.micron.com/pdf/datasheets/realssd/realssd_c300_2_5.pdf)
Average Transfer Speeds:
(http://www.pcper.com/images/reviews/874/hdtach-avg.jpg)
Random Access Time:
(http://www.pcper.com/images/reviews/874/hdtach-randomaccess.jpg)
Big thanks to Kreg for spending the best part of an hour discussing various technical aspects of it (which I still do not understand) but putting my mind at rest that it was a decent buy.
Damnit. I ordered one. I should have it early next week to put a fresh copy of Win7 64-bit on it. Performance piccies to follow.
Quote from: TeaLeaf;304673Damnit. I ordered one. I should have it early next week to put a fresh copy of Win7 64-bit on it. Performance piccies to follow.
Once you've tried it, there is no turning back :norty:
just to boost TL's ego those benches are the ssd running on a SATA2 controller
here is it running on a Sata 6gb/s controller :P
(http://benchmarkreviews.com/images/reviews/storage/MTFDDAC256MAG/ATTO-Benchmark_SATA6G.png)
(http://img.hexus.net/v2/SSD/Crucial/C300/CrucialR.jpg)
Im using a Crucial 256Gb jobbie and am very happy with it, needed a firmware update to get Win 7 trim support but speed wise its night and day to mechanical drives.
guessing your using a m225 lionheart?
the main difference to TL's is the controller chip, the drive gets it power from an incredible new Marvell controller chip, capable of native 6gb/s Sata 3, Trim and what impresses me the most.. its rumored to contain a sweet pair of ARM processors to give the SSD all the horsepower it needs
So are these things even more super mega fantasmagorical when used in raid configuration?
Yea got the M225.
Quote from: OldBloke;304690So are these things even more super mega fantasmagorical when used in raid configuration?
In theory it should do.
Looks very impressive indeed, how much did it sent you back for one of those?
Raid currently = No TRIM, so atm you'll do fantastic in Raid for a limitedc period as the size of your drives slowly shrinks and the performance drops off.
Adaptec have some RAID controllers on the way which support TRIM, I doubt it'll be long before it's adopted as standard.
The C300 arrived last night and very wallet/credit card sized it is too. Popped it into a nice Akasa caddy and slotted into the system and then hit the first snag - my Win7 discs have gone AWOL so MS are sending me new set. So test driving the disc on Win 7 will have to wait until probably next week. Just in time too, another Raptor failed on me this afternoon. I'm getting seriously peeved with Raptor failure rates, very poor indeed, it's my 3rd failure within 3 years on a 4 drive raid array. :sad:
Quote from: TeaLeaf;304999The C300 arrived last night and very wallet/credit card sized it is too. Popped it into a nice Akasa caddy and slotted into the system and then hit the first snag - my Win7 discs have gone AWOL so MS are sending me new set. So test driving the disc on Win 7 will have to wait until probably next week. Just in time too, another Raptor failed on me this afternoon. I'm getting seriously peeved with Raptor failure rates, very poor indeed, it's my 3rd failure within 3 years on a 4 drive raid array. :sad:
Don't know if it will help but the official Windows 7 ISOs are available from the links on this page (http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/11/10/windows-7-iso-x86-and-x64-official-direct-download-links-ultimate-professional-and-home-premium/).
My rig is running a pair of Raptors in raid0 ... I'm starting to panic :sad:
Just have backups available. I'm currently removing swapping every Raptor in my system and replacing them with 640GB normal drives for additional storage when the SSD becomes my boot drive. When all is said and done I should have the following internal HDDs:
264GB C300 SSD for OS & some 'prime' games
640GB Program drive
640GB Data Drive
2 x 640GB Storage
1 x 1.2 TB Storage
Fortunately my backup system worked this time, so I had one that complete some 12 hours before the drive failure and I happened to have 4 x 640GB WD normal drives hanging around that never went into my NAS box.
Thanks for the Win7 ISO, with BC2 downloading though I doubt a download would beat the post unfortunately!
Very nice. I gotta say, I have a Crucial M225 128GB as my primary system and program drive and a 1TB secondary program and data drive and it is fantastic.
From pressing the power switch I am in windows and browsing the web within 30 seconds! It boots faster than my PS3 does!
Quote from: OldBloke;305009My rig is running a pair of Raptors in raid0 ... I'm starting to panic :sad:
I used to get all sorts of funny problems with my Raptor drives, until I started using some 'SecureConnect' cables with them: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/wdsc50rcw.asp
The downside is that you have to power the drives using an old molex connector, but I haven't had a single problem with them for two years now.
I've got 2 x raptors in my work machine and they have been stable for a few years now and the machine is hammered all the time and up until a few months ago, was on 24/7
i had a pair of raptors in raid, they failed a fair bit of times too, but yeah i swapped to SSD's and man that felt sweet..
i hope you get your disk fast, so you can get that sweet disk installed TL :)
All Raptors now swapped out, so I am just waiting for the disks from MS. Currently using the SSD as a Vista install to help restore the main boot raid array to the new 640GB disks and will then put the Win7 on when the new disks arrive.
Very nice have been lookng forward to the first sata 3 ssd coming through for a bit now. Will wait for raid trim then hopefully get a couple for some nice fast fun.