Show Us Your WEI [4]

Johnnycash said:

kbrady1979 said:

Mine was 120GB Gen 2 as well. If Intel would have made their SATA III SSD's with THEIR own controller, like the old models, they would be outselling Samsung more than likely. Unfortunately, they outsourced the 510 series controller to Marvell and their 520 series to Sandforce. The Marvell drives were very reliable and had decent speeds.......the 520 drives were blazing fast, but I had two different ones fail within 24 hours of installation.....several hundred blue screens in a couple of days. The third time around I went with the Samsung 830 and have never had so much as a hiccup since.

I think it is just assumptions/presumptions which is making rounds about SF controllers. When it comes to actual facts, the number of genuine SF issues is very minimal & I have strong belief that people are simply blowing this out of proportion. I am using sandforce based controllers from their initial days & I am sure there are lot many users like me which are proud to be pro-sandforce!

Glad you've not had any issues with them because there's nothing worse than hardware going bad. There was, however a known Sandforce bug that many people experienced that is well documented. You've been fortunate not to.

This forum had many people with Sandforce issues. I think it was with one in particular though, on all SSDs that used it. I would think Intel worked very close with them so their well respected SSDs didn't have the same issues.

I thought so too Gary. I had the Gen 2 SSD and it was phenomenal, so I went with Intel again when building this rig. I read Anandtech's review on the Intel 520 with the "Intel" modded Sandforce controller, the SF2281 I believe, and they gave their sample a favorable review saying it looked like Intel had worked the bugs out of the SF controller. The first couple of hours after installation, it was a smokin fast drive. A few hours later, and it had slowed down to SATA I speed and started throwing blue screens. Tested in another computer with the same result. RMA'd that one and the 2nd SSD followed suit. Loss of speed and eventually started causing hundreds of blue screens. Went with the Samsung 830, which was the drive I originally was going to buy instead of the Intel but didn't, and couldn't have had a better experience.

These days, there are several other controllers that give BETTER performance than Sandforce controllers without the risk, so I see no reason to buy one.

andrew129260 said:

kbrady1979 said:

Great scores andrew........it's absolutely begging for an SSD though

The difference between a HDD and an SSD is mind boggling!

Yeah, I figured someone would say that :)
I just am not willing to shell out a lot of money for a SSD that can hold 500gb or more.
I will probably get one when they come down in price in a few years. Plus, I do not think they are very reliable like others claim. For not having moving parts, they seem to die pretty quick in my experience with friends SSd's. Even good ones like Intel brand. Plus, once they get to many wrights they die out.
They are fast, but at what cost?

And I do not like having my OS on a separate drive and data on another. It's annoying.
The way I have my set up now is two terabyte Black edition Western Digital drives at 7500 rpms.
The one is my data and OS, the other is for windows backup. It makes a daily image every month on that drive, which makes it convenient so I don't need to remember to plug in my external hard drive every time windows backup is scheduled to run.

I Do have an external drive for a separate backup just in case.

Thanks a guy :)

Hmm Andrew wouldn't you just consider a small Samsung even if just to boot from? and then use the large spinners for the workload?

Just my thoughts on it mate I don't use or like large drives personally and I can't really comment on the WEI figures as they are just that - figures - to me and well as long as my machine run quickly then I am happy.:)

RacingKx said:

Mine

Welcome to Seven Forums RacingKx. Good numbers

A Guy

Britton30 said:

This forum had many people with Sandforce issues. I think it was with one in particular though, on all SSDs that used it. I would think Intel worked very close with them so their well respected SSDs didn't have the same issues.

lol sounds a lot like my experience with this Intel board

I got my issues worked out though so for me I been smooth sailing ever since

it just took some learning a new platform which paid off thanks to Kelly and Steve also Paul they had me amped up I couldn't believe I just upped and went Intel

RacingKx said:

Mine

It looks like a smoking rig you have.

Solarstarshines said:

lol sounds a lot like my experience with this Intel board

I got my issues worked out though so for me I been smooth sailing ever since

it just took some learning a new platform which paid off thanks to Kelly and Steve also Paul they had me amped up I couldn't believe I just upped and went Intel

And you are glad too, eh? I wish I could get my components as cheaply as you did.

madcratebuilder said:

Pulled my Crossfired HD7770's and installed a Sapphire HD7950 Vapor-X. Amazon has them for $199 after rebate. Brought my video scores up to 7.9 from 7.5. Next is memory work, I should be able to get it to 7.9 and may even bring the mobo up a point.

The RAM you can get to 7.9 although in reality it's pointless to upgrade RAM just for a tenth of a point, but nothing you can do will bump up your CPU score. No CPU that I'm aware of scores better than a 7.8. In fact, I once saw the WEI of a rig with dual Xeon's and the CPU score was the same as yours lol.