Show us your SSD performance

[tw33k]

AMD RAID driver supplied by Gigabyte
GA-MA790X-UD4P (rev. 1.0) - GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - Driver

I have the same board and use the windows driver

 

[cclloyd9785]

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.

I also wanted to know how SSDs would perform in normal use, not testing programs.

Do they write faster than normal HDDs?

 

[whs]

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.

I also wanted to know how SSDs would perform in normal use, not testing programs.

Do they write faster than normal HDDs?

According to the specifications, the top of the line SSDs write faster than HDDs. But in real life it is a wash. But it is not such a determining factor since they are mostly used for the OS which does not write big chunks of data. The access times and the read speed counts, e.g. at boot time. And overall they are really a lot faster and snippier.
In the same box I have Vista on an HDD and Win7 on an SSD. And I can see a very significant difference in day to day performance. And both systems are very similar in their layout.

 

[pparks1]

Real world experiences with SSD's are great. The OS loads fast, boots fast and shuts down fast. Applications start almost instantly, virus and malware scans complete in about 2 minutes.

Write speeds probably are on par with standard hard drives. However, most people aren't going to write all that much to an SSD with limited space. It's best to write to a dedicated mechanical storage drive for the time being in my opinion.

 

[cclloyd9785]

What about within the end of the year? SSD ( to my knowledge) is said to be a rapid developing technology. Do you think that by the end of year, SSDs will be cheaper, and bigger in capacity? Maybe improved in performace too.

 

[pparks1]

What about within the end of the year? SSD ( to my knowledge) is said to be a rapid developing technology. Do you think that by the end of year, SSDs will be cheaper, and bigger in capacity? Maybe improved in performace too.

I think that everything in the computer field gets better as time goes on. Prices go down, features improve and performance just gets better.

The drives with the sandforce controllers are going to be the next thing...however in my opinion sooner or later you need to buy and just don't look back..otherwise you might be waiting forever.

 

[cclloyd9785]

I didnt plan on waiting forever. It seems to me that once every now and then, a technology would get a pretty good size jump in performence without much raise in price. Thats when I would get it. Say mabye SSDs would go to avg 500 GB at 250$ price.

 

[pparks1]

Well, thus far it's been prices dropping on SSD's. That's been happening over the past 18 months or so. I recall looking at the 80GB Intel's and they were about $600. Then, when they dropped to about $260...it was time to check to see what all the hype was about. I'm glad I gave it a shot, it's been the biggest upgrade that I have ever made as far as real world performance that is beneficial at every step along the way.

I forgot to mention, my games load a ton faster now too. Things that used to take 10+ seconds on my standard drive are now done in less than 2. It's pretty sweet.

 

[cclloyd9785]

I also heard that scans, take like a minute or 2, and there isnt any defraging necessary, but what is that TRIM i heard of?

 

[pparks1]

I also heard that scans, take like a minute or 2, and there isnt any defraging necessary, but what is that TRIM i heard of?

Read this; it's long but worth it.
Welcome to AnandTech.com [ Article: The SSD Anthology: Understanding SSDs and New Drives from OCZ]

 

[whs]

Here is a good deal: Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex Turbo OCZSSD2-1VTXT60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - SSD

 

[mpcrsc562]

AMD RAID driver supplied by Gigabyte
GA-MA790X-UD4P (rev. 1.0) - GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - Driver

I have the same board and use the windows driver

How did you install Windows? I initially wanted to use the Windows driver, but no discs could be found until I loaded the AMD RAID driver.

 

[tw33k]

How did you install Windows? I initially wanted to use the Windows driver, but no discs could be found until I loaded the AMD RAID driver.

my very bad . I didn't read your post properly. I'm not using RAID. Sorry.

 

[mpcrsc562]

How did you install Windows? I initially wanted to use the Windows driver, but no discs could be found until I loaded the AMD RAID driver.

my very bad . I didn't read your post properly. I'm not using RAID. Sorry.

No problem.

 

[GeneralEclectic]

Patriot Torqx M28 128GB

This is on Win 7 x64, P35 chipset, ICH9, Intel 9.6.0.1014 (AHCI & Trim-enabled, 3 Mar 2010) driver. The SSD is a Patriot Torqx M28 with the new VBM19C1Q firmware. After the firmware update, the drive was completely zeroed-out with a secure erase tool. The system image was restored using Windows Image Backup.

 

[GeneralEclectic]

Another Patriot Torqx M28 128GB

This is on Win 7 x32, P45G chipset, ICH10, Intel 9.6.0.1014 (AHCI & Trim-enabled, 3 Mar 2010) driver. The SSD is a Patriot Torqx M28 with the new VBM19C1Q firmware. After the firmware update, the drive was restored using Windows Image Backup (IOW, it wasn't deliberately erased).

 

[RTShaw]

AMD RAID driver supplied by Gigabyte
GA-MA790X-UD4P (rev. 1.0) - GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - Driver

I have the same board and use the windows driver

How did you install Windows? I initially wanted to use the Windows driver, but no discs could be found until I loaded the AMD RAID driver.

thats it.. u load the Raid driver off a floppy, flash drive, DVD, CD or what ever devices your system has.
I''m running 2 OCZ Turob's Raid0, using BootitNG i boot 7 diff operating systems. linux, win 7 64 bit, win 7 32 bit, vista 64 & 32 bit, xp pro.. adding mac & Amiga oses.

 

[mpcrsc562]

thats it.. u load the Raid driver off a floppy, flash drive, DVD, CD or what ever devices your system has.

Please don't take this wrong, but I know how to load the RAID driver during installation. If you read the posts, tw33k stated he had the same motherboard but was using the Windows driver. I wanted to know how he installed Windows using a Windows driver--which he responded by stating that he wasn't running RAID.

 

[mpcrsc562]

Curious...

What is the preferred way in which everyone benches their SSD's using the HD Tune app? After I set my RAID up, I posted a screen-shot showing a "roller coaster." Today, I was playing with the app, and went into the options. On the left, I selected Benchmark. On the right, i moved the slider to Accurate and for block size I selected 512KB. Afterward, of course, I ran a bench and was somewhat surprised by the result. No longer a "roller coaster," but rather a fairly straight line as I have had previous to setting up the array and similar to screen-shots I've seen of others.

 

[Wishmaster]

AS SSD IMHO is the best test for a SSD.

Alex Intelligent Software - Downloads: AS SSD Benchmark


Although many use HD Tune, and like it, its not really intended for SSDs where-as AS SSD is.

I have heard tell, that HD Tune is really not good for a SSD because it can actually cause them to loose performance.

I honestly do not know if this is true in any form, but I I like to use AS SSD just because its designed specifically for SSD benchmarking.