SSD are back!?!

[robamb2002]

I noticed the new 80GB SSDs are available on the machines! has XoticPC found a SSD that is NOT oozing with problems!?!

[Zatara214]

The new Intel ones don't have the problems that the older ones did. At least they don't from what I've seen in the benchmarks. But I'm sure Xotic tested them VERY thoroughly before allowing for purchase, so you can assume that they're good.

[robamb2002]

But I'm sure Xotic tested them VERY thoroughly before allowing for purchase, so you can assume that they're good.


thats what I love about this company, they do all the research for you! I've learned from experience, if they sell it, its a good product!

[robamb2002]

Here is a pretty nice review of the SSDs offered. Its written for the semi-layman. enjoy!

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3403

[Zatara214]

I can't wait to see how much the 160 GB turns out to be. If it's within my price range I'd get one.

[Justin_W@XoticPC]

Here is also another website that gives nice performance charts with a review
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2329597,00.asp

http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/21/0,1425,i=219316,00.gif


http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/21/0,1425,i=219318,00.gif

[Zatara214]

Wow! Ok I honestly didn't think it made THAT big of a difference until now lol... of course, I suppose the effect on gaming will be minimal for those of us that have 4 GB of RAM, unless you're running stuff in the background... a LOT of stuff... but compared to the Raptor RAID 0, just wow lol

[TheDarkPreacher]

While these benchmarks are very impressive, keep in mind its only READ ones , the SSDs major issue is WRITEs where the Raptors in Raid 0 leave them FAR behind.

Dont get me wrong, I want one of these as well , but I am going to wait for the next generation of them with larger drives and better write speeds / lower prices!

[Zatara214]

While these benchmarks are very impressive, keep in mind its only READ ones , the SSDs major issue is WRITEs where the Raptors in Raid 0 leave them FAR behind.

Dont get me wrong, I want one of these as well , but I am going to wait for the next generation of them with larger drives and better write speeds / lower prices!

I saw some benchmarks a while ago that had these Intel drives (which are MLC) pinned at the same write speed level of current SLC drives, which isn't that bad. Also, they last a LOT longer than the current drives as far as write cycles go. I think I heard you could cycle 100 GB per day for 5 years or something rediculous, and they'd be fine for that amount of time.

[robamb2002]

While these benchmarks are very impressive, keep in mind its only READ ones , the SSDs major issue is WRITEs where the Raptors in Raid 0 leave them FAR behind.

Dont get me wrong, I want one of these as well , but I am going to wait for the next generation of them with larger drives and better write speeds / lower prices!

While the statement above is true, the Raptors in Raid 0 leave them FAR behind, you should also consider the SSD in raid 0. I have seen WRITE benchmarks that put them single drive vs single drive that come out pretty close in real world situations. (http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3403&p=9)

while the READ benchmarks seem to show a clear advantage for the new SSDs.(http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3403&p=14) specifically where most of us on this forum are concerned. According to this site the min FPS of Crysis is increased by 33% by just dropping the Intel SSD in place of the Raptor.

[Zatara214]

While the statement above is true, the Raptors in Raid 0 leave them FAR behind, you should also consider the SSD in raid 0. I have seen WRITE benchmarks that put them single drive vs single drive that come out pretty close in real world situations. (http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3403&p=9)

while the READ benchmarks seem to show a clear advantage for the new SSDs.(http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3403&p=14) specifically where most of us on this forum are concerned. According to this site the min FPS of Crysis is increased by 33% by just dropping the Intel SSD in place of the Raptor.

Not that I'm doubting your words or anything, I just want to know how that's even possible... like... especially if you have 4 GB of RAM, and a high end GPU, hard drive access should be minimal (especially for me, I disabled my page file lol...)

I can understand that load times would be... instantanious lol, and especially with the streaming textures that Crysis uses, it'd be helpful... but 33%!? That's pretty impressive lol.

[robamb2002]

You can doubt all you want, they arn't my words they are from the website :p

[Zatara214]

You can doubt all you want

Not that I'm doubting your words or anything

:rolleyes:

[robamb2002]

I was thinking more about this topic and came to realize something. Why are we comparing raptors to these SSDs? you can't stick a raptor in a laptop without significant modifications and all sorts of warrenty-voiding activities. It seems like a moot point to me

[Zatara214]

I was thinking more about this topic and came to realize something. Why are we comparing raptors to these SSDs? you can't stick a raptor in a laptop without significant modifications and all sorts of warrenty-voiding activities. It seems like a moot point to me

Yeah but some people use SSDs in desktops, so I guess these tests are done in desktops. Shouldn't make that big a diff though. But you're right, the comparison to a 5400 RPM drive should be even more lol...

[TheDarkPreacher]

I saw some benchmarks a while ago that had these Intel drives (which are MLC) pinned at the same write speed level of current SLC drives, which isn't that bad. Also, they last a LOT longer than the current drives as far as write cycles go. I think I heard you could cycle 100 GB per day for 5 years or something rediculous, and they'd be fine for that amount of time.

Well the write speeds is mostly an issue for ppls that would use them to do video editing or aplications that do more writes than reads.

And so far the only drive that i consider worthy of calling °A working solution° where it will never shutter no matter what you do, and will offer you enough read performance to be on par with a regular 7200 rpm drive is the Intel X25-M, but as you all know it has only 80GB and it costs 600$. I guess if you have an unlimited budget and want to shell 1200$ into 160GB of lightning fast storage, its nice but I think overall this technology just started and that in the near future we will see bigger drives 150+GB with equal or better performance from more manifacturers and at a much better price than now.

Just wanted to clear up, that i think those intel drives are the best things that happened to laptops since gaming level GPUs were introduced. Its just at the moment i feel they are overpriced and do not hold enough.

:D

[Woody]

I think at this point due to the capacity limitations I plan to use my new SSD (once I get the RMA replacement) only for my applications rather than the Windows boot disk. It's impressive watching Windows boot off an SSD and even more impressive watching it wake from hibernate but I just don't trust the issues they have currently to trust my WIndows install running on it.

Once Windows is up and running, however. It seems the most important place for speed is your applications folder. You can also use it for your WIndows swap file but that's less important with the huge amounts of RAM we typically use today.