Show us your SSD performance

[nate42nd]

I'm interested to see what others are getting out of their SSD or SSDs in RAID. It's cool to look through the "Show us your hard drive performance" thread but here's a place for just SSD performance. I have a 128GB Patriot Torqx. (F/W v1881) Please post your benchmarks.



Edit: I now have 2 Patriot Torqx drives (Indilinx controlled) and am running v1881 F/W and LOVE them both like my own kids. haha They are great drives but there are better ones out there and even better ones coming out soon. Thanks to whoever made this a "sticky" It's a good thread.




Benchmark Program Links:

• AS SSD Benchmark
• HD Tune trial

 

[Mercurial]

damn... gimme that

 

[pparks1]

While I understand that SSD's are great with read speeds and almost non-existent access times.....there is no denying that their write speeds are staggeringly bad.

So, my question for the SSD's users out here is what you really think overall about the SSD drive? I'm not talking about a screenshot of a benchmark, or a timed reboot of your machine...but rather what is performance like installing the OS, installing some software, installing some games, etc.

 

[nate42nd]

I have not done anything with games but I LOVE mine. I would have a hard time going back now. The write times on this drive are fine. Programs open VERY fast including every Windows related program in the OS itself.

I would like this thread to turn into somewhere for benchmarks and discussion about SSDs. I have found the manufacturer sites to be not quite up to par with Sevenforums standards.

I know some of you have SSDs....post some numbers and what you think of yours.

 

[BugMeister]

you can improve write speeds by moving the Windows swapfile to a separate HDD, away from the OS

- mine's an SSD/HDD hybrid rig, with a 32-bit W7 OS installed on the SSD
- I put the swapfile on the HDD, set at 5500MB min/max

- works a treat and frees up SSD space, too..

 

[fseal]

While I understand that SSD's are great with read speeds and almost non-existent access times.....there is no denying that their write speeds are staggeringly bad.

So, my question for the SSD's users out here is what you really think overall about the SSD drive? I'm not talking about a screenshot of a benchmark, or a timed reboot of your machine...but rather what is performance like installing the OS, installing some software, installing some games, etc.

Staggeringly bad wrandom write speeds in real life use plauge a lot of SSDs it's true, but Intel and OCZ have seen the light and they both post random write speeds as good as a single high perfoamance hard drives at the cost of a slight reduction in "overall" write speeds in benchmarks.

Many drives when brand new post great sequential write speeds out of the gate and that's what the manufacturers tout and most people never look further from, but then fail to almost useless when they start to fill up or use random write block sizes. Not so with the latest offerings with latest firmware from Intel and OCZ.

Intel and OCZ had rough starts with this but have clered up dramatically in the last few months. I finally was willing to actually buy an SSD for myself after months of seeing them fail miserably when put to real use.

Toms and Anandtech have some pretty in depth articles on the subject.

[Edit]
I got the 160 gig X-25M, not really benchmarked it yet but in a test install of 7100 I got a WEI score of 7.6 for the drive The harddrive is no longer by far the slowest thing in my mahcine but is now by far the fastest.

 

[nate42nd]

The new generation controllers by Samsung and Indilinx are still "up in the air" on this subject. I have an Indilinx in mine and it seems to be fine. I guess we'll see what happens but this write speed issue is changing I believe.

 

[zrtom]

This is a really good article for starters. It's long but really worth reading (as well as the follow-ups).
AnandTech: The SSD Anthology: Understanding SSDs and New Drives from OCZ

 

[nate42nd]

That IS a good article. I hope once Windows 7 comes out in full force we can get a sticky for a thread like this so we can see what users are experiencing with SSDs and Windows 7.

I am about ready to start a website as a repository for info about using them with Windows. How to configure, etc.....

 

[pparks1]

Intel and OCZ have seen the light and they both post random write speeds as good as a single high perfoamance hard drives at the cost of a slight reduction in "overall" write speeds in benchmarks.

Well, this is good to know. I might investigate a little further and do some more reading on these drives then.

Many drives when brand new post great sequential write speeds out of the gate and that's what the manufacturers tout and most people never look further from, but then fail to almost useless when they start to fill up or use random write block sizes. Not so with the latest offerings with latest firmware from Intel and OCZ.

Yeah, that was the experience that I had heard about. We had an exec in our office with a Mac Book with an SSD drive and while good at the start, become a nightmare once his drive started filling up. In fact, it became so bad that he ordered a new Mac Book Pro and get a standard hard drive in the new one. Of course, we formatted the other machine and gave it to another employee...who was delighted at first...but I'm not sure how they feel at this point.

 

[nate42nd]

This is a really good article for starters. It's long but really worth reading (as well as the follow-ups).
AnandTech: The SSD Anthology: Understanding SSDs and New Drives from OCZ

If you have the time to read the WHOLE article, the Patriot Torqx F/W v1571 I downloaded from Patriot along with the trim command will keep my drive WAY, WAY above the best HDD. I would look into the latest developments and really consider looking at the new drives. They are performing amazingly. I will reserve end judgement for a few months.

If you have one or get one, please post some benchmarks here. I would really like to see what you are getting and any problems you are having so I can compare them with mine.

 

[zrtom]

After reading the Anandtech article I ended up buying several of the OCZ Vertex models. A few months ago Newegg had the 30GB on sale for $99, I think it was, and plus a $20 rebate from OCZ.
I'm going to aggregate benchmarks to post here for my desktop, my M1330 lappy and my Mini 10. But first I'm going to flash them with the latest firmware and use the final final Windows 7 when its on TechNet next week.
Tom

 

[nate42nd]

The new firmware Patriot released about a week ago improved my performance a good deal. I would use the latest firmware for sure. It's the same firmware for the Vertex I believe (with a different #)

 

[BugMeister]

the problem is that they are SO fast, you don't want to use anything else
- hence they fill up too quickly..

 

[nate42nd]

the problem is that they are SO fast, you don't want to use anything else
- hence they fill up too quickly..

True, You have to store stuff elsewhere. In my case I have a 640Gb WD that's plenty of space for what I need plus a 250GB external.

My mobo also has a cool bracket that makes it so I can use internal drives externally. I can hook up a molex power connector (if needed) and sata power and an e-sata to sata cable. This is VERY nice when i can get a 1.5 TB internal drive for very cheap and use it externally.

BTW - I stilll want some benchmarks for some SSDs here guys. Lets see them! Ones you have been using for a while.

 

[Mercurial]

you can improve write speeds by moving the Windows swapfile to a separate HDD, away from the OS

- mine's an SSD/HDD hybrid rig, with a 32-bit W7 OS installed on the SSD
- I put the swapfile on the HDD, set at 5500MB min/max

- works a treat and frees up SSD space, too..

btw what happens if that hdd goes boom? no more windows 7 boot?

 

[fseal]

the problem is that they are SO fast, you don't want to use anything else
- hence they fill up too quickly..

Ha yeah

Well for the time being, they will just make really great boot drives for desktops. Have your OS and your installed programs on it, where read performance is most crucial. Then user storage on other much larger conventional drives. Swap, mail, user files etc.

Maybe in another 5 years we'll see TB SSDs with 600MB/s sustaned random read/write speeds for $105. Then the rotating drive may truly be dead. (The sooner the better!)

 

[BugMeister]

btw what happens if that hdd goes boom? no more windows 7 boot?

aye, you're always gonna be right, there..
with W7 still in it's infancy, a re-format isn't so much of a big deal, via the ISO..
kinda goes with the territory (- on a bad day!)

planning on doing a complete re-install anyway - might increase the size of current SSD's
a couple of OCZ 128G's in RAID0 ought to do..

with 6G of RAM via 32-bit W7, everything's kinda experimental, anyway..

the current 2x60G SSD array gives a performance figure of 6.9, BTW
I'm hoping this will improve with a firmware update from OCZ - as and when..

the 64-bit leap should push things even further, methinks..

 

[nate42nd]

I have turned off my page file at the urging of another member here. I have notice NO difference at all. I have been doing some RAW image processing and some other intensive apps. I am glad it's worked out.

I think we are at the point where the write speed problem is so far above standard HDDs even after the SSD slows a bit. They are now worth geting (if you get a good one) and this will only get better and cheaper.

SSDs will take the place of standard drives...it's just a matter of when the price gets down.

Still waiting for some benchmarks.....

 

[BugMeister]

can you suggest a (free?) benchmarking tool..