Solved SSD, Which one?

[Britton30]

When I built my current machine just a year ago, 8GB RAM cost me $228, now it is $137.
In 3 years we'll have Windows Twilight Zone 256 bit, spinning drives passe', SSD's the norm, IE14, Intel and AMD merge and we'll have 12 core CPU's at 6+Ghz.

Maybe. Doc can let us know, he's been to the future.

 

[pparks1]

Yes, but in a year when we have all the new fancy stuff...we are going to only be 1 year away from things we cannot even imagine.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Well, in a moment of weakness, I just plunged for an Intel 320 series, 80 gigabyte SSD. $160 at New Egg, discounted 25 or 30 from previous price.

This is a third gen drive, replacing the X25M series. Only 1 review on New Egg and I could not find any reviews of this particular size in this particular series.

All I intend to put on it is Windows. I hope to never buy another boot drive.

I just checked Intel's site---there are no firmware updates, so I guess all is going well with the drive so far.

I can't find any benchmarks either. Maybe I'll make some and post them in a week or so. I gather performance varies a bit with these things, depending on size.

Didn't order any mounting hardware--I'll probably go the velcro/duct tape/cable ties route.

 

[Britton30]

Cool ignatzatsonic, please keep us updated when you get it installed.glad you pointed out that is a newer drive than the X25 series, didn't know that.

 

[pparks1]

All I intend to put on it is Windows. I hope to never buy another boot drive.

Never? Huh, I bought my SSD about 18 months ago and I intend to replace it without question when I build a new computer. Things are always going to improve.

Didn't order any mounting hardware--I'll probably go the velcro/duct tape/cable ties route.

My Intel SSD is secured with Velcro.

 

[whs]

I assume you will use the SSD for the OS. The OS requires a fast access time and the Read/Write speeds are of minor importance. This said, it does not really matter whether you get a cheaper Gen2 or a more expensive Gen3 SSD because they typically both have 0.1ms access time.

I opted for 60 and 90GB OCZ Vertex2 for three Windows7 systems and two 80GB Intel Gen1 for two Vista systems. They all work very well (one since 2 years). I would not go overboard at this time because tomorrow they will have somthing better. The 90GB Vertex2 cost $145 at Newegg - that would be the most I would spend.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Yeah--I had sworn I wasn't going to buy until I could get at least 64 gb for under $100, either Intel or Crucial. I was leaning toward Intel due to a possible reliability advantage.

So much for my iron will. Apparently, I'm just another fool with a credit card, trying to prop up the GDP. That's my picture in Webster's next to "impulse buyer".

PParks: Not sure I meant that literally, but the truth is if I can't live with the overall boot and response time of this thing, I should probably hang up my computing shoes. I'm sure I'll have plenty of other PC related things to spend money on and I do grow weary of drive shopping. My data is growing only about 70 gigs per year, so if I can get boot drives off my list, I may be able to go 3 or 4 years without even a new storage drive.

Is there any particular software good for benching SSDs that will show both sequential and random read/writes like I occasionally see in articles??? I'd like to post them on this forum as it seems all the reviewers thus far are testing only the ultra-high capacity drives of this newer generation.


Here are the alleged specs, from Intel documents. I don't think these specs are significantly different from earlier generations, but the capacity has gone up.

Sustained sequential reads

• 40GB up to 200 MB/s
• 80GB up to 270 MB/s
• 120GB up to 270 MB/s
• 160GB up to 270 MB/s
• 300GB up to 270 MB/s
• 600GB up to 270 MB/s

Sustained sequential writes

• 40GB up to 45 MB/s
• 80GB up to 90 MB/s
• 120GB up to 130 MB/s
• 160GB up to 165 MB/s
• 300Gb up to 205 MB/s
• 600GB up to 220 MB/s

Read latency 75 microseconds

Write latency 90 microseconds

Random 4KB Reads

• 40GB up to 30,000 IOPS
• 80GB up to 38,000 IOPS
• 120GB up to 38,000 IOPS
• 160GB up to 39,000 IOPS
• 300GB up to 39,500 IOPS
• 600GB up to 39,500 IOPS

Random 4KB Writes

• 40GB up to 3,700 IOPS
• 80GB up to 10,000 IOPS
• 120GB up to 14,000 IOPS
• 160GB up to 21,000 IOPS
• 300Gb up to 23,000 IOPS
• 600GB up to 23,000 IOPS

 

[whs]

I may be wrong, but I think sequential or random does not make a big difference for an SSD. Much more important is the blocksize. For that kind of measurement, I like Atto. Example:

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Thanks for that WHS. I will check it out.

I've read that sequential means little, but that random performance is meaningful, particularly of 4k to 8k blocks.

 

[whs]

I've read that sequential means little, but that random performance is meaningful, particularly of 4k to 8k blocks

I cannot relate to that. But I will check whether I find something. If you have a link, I may get a headstart.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The SSD Manufacturers Bluff | The SSD Review

Above is the link I got it from WHS. I'm no authority, but it sounds plausible, given the research on what the average user does.

 

[whs]

Yeah, interesting. But that is a known fact. The 4K and 8K sizes are the most used by the system. That is why I always look first at those. And yes, the reads at least are mostely random because they are spread all over the place (e.g. .dlls). I still fail to see the big difference in random and sequential. With an access time of 0.1ms, it should not make too much of a difference whether a few blocks are being read sequentially or in random order. But as I said, I may be wrong.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I can't complain.

 

[Britton30]

The SSD Manufacturers Bluff | The SSD Review

Above is the link I got it from WHS. I'm no authority, but it sounds plausible, given the research on what the average user does.

Quite a helpful link.
Thanks Wolfgang for your input as well.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Britton:

I got the Intel 320 series 80 gig installed. Here is a benchmark for whatever it is worth.

These are little bitty things. The size of a pack of flip top Marlboros, but half as thick. I installed mine by taping it to the bottom of my case. It's odd not to hear drive noise like you do on spinning drives. No complaints yet. Intel has a nice toolbox for it. No noticeable heat at all. I can't yet judge it for speed yet. Boot time is 29 seconds so far.

For comparison, attached also is the same benchmark run on my WD Black spinning drive, just before I changed over to the SSD. The SSD is over twice as fast on writes.