Will the price of Crucial's C300 256 Gig SSD drive come down soon?

[SlowSVT]

I know the answer to this question is "yes, eventually" but I want to run pair of 256 gig Crucial C-300 SSD drives in a RAID 0 config and I'm looking at a $1000 for what is equivalent of a fast 256 Gig drive where I could just throw in a standard Winchester drive for $70. When I get them I want to buy them as a matched pair of identical drives rather then buying 1 and waiting where there may be a slight difference buying the second drive later down the road.

Anyone crystal ball clear enough and know how the trend goes on how quickly the price will fall? I could justify $500 for a pair but not $1K :(

Thanks much

[zalbard]

They have C400 coming out soon. $500 for 512GB, though? You gotta be kidding me. Not happening.

[SlowSVT]

They have C400 coming out soon. $500 for 512GB, though? You gotta be kidding me. Not happening.

:shakes:

[mbreslin]

Agreed, ssd prices are insane, especially on the day they launch! What kind of nutjob would pay so much for so little space!

As a person with means, I don't mind footing the bill for the r&d cycle.

http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy154/mbreslin/yw.jpg

[Sam_oslo]

I know the answer to this question is "yes, eventually" but I want to run pair of 256 gig Crucial C-300 SSD drives in a RAID 0 config and I'm looking at a $1000 for what is equivalent of a fast 256 Gig drive where I could just throw in a standard Winchester drive for $70. When I get them I want to buy them as a matched pair of identical drives rather then buying 1 and waiting where there may be a slight difference buying the second drive later down the road.

Anyone crystal ball clear enough and know how the trend goes on how quickly the price will fall? I could justify $500 for a pair but not $1K :(

Thanks much

I think you should wait.

Both Intel's G3 and C400 are right around the corner. These will push the price on C300.
Intel we be offering BIG drives for cheap, and C400 will be offering good performance. C300 will fall in no-man-land between these tow, and will get cheaper fast.

[F@32]

I think you should wait.

Both Intel's G3 and C400 are right around the corner. These will push the price on C300.
Intel we be offering BIG drives for cheap, and C400 will be offering good performance. C300 will fall in no-man-land between these tow, and will get cheaper fast.

Most likely inventory of C300 will be cleared out quickly to make room for C400. I don't expect them to occupy retail channels at the same time. X25-M G1 to G2 transition is case in point. However, when C400 is out, I'd expect 64Gb C300 to go for $99 until they are gone. Window of opportunity will be short though ;)

[mbreslin]

most likely inventory of c300 will be cleared out quickly to make room for c400. I don't expect them to occupy retail channels at the same time.


f@32++;

[Computurd]

yeah, and then the C300 can be picked up uber cheap used and whatnot. they have a long life too, so they would actually be a decent buy imo, durawrite , i would be more likely to bet money on a used c300 than on any other used ssd. not that im gonna buy a used ssd or nothin, just saying hypothetically...:idea:

[Mitchb]

Newegg is currently selling the 256Gb C300 for $484. It can be had for less, I know, but still that's a good price.

Mitch

[Computurd]

gah the day i spend 484 for an ssd will be a cold day in....
oops, just ordered it on accident:D

[Lu(ky]

Hey what do you guys think of the new Corsair Performance 3 SSD's compared to the C300.. I sold all of my 4 x Vertex 2 SSD's need something soon. Any ETA on the Intel or C400 or even the new OCZ Vertex 3? Are we talking weeks or months tell out?

[Johnny87au]

seems pretty dam good under raid 0 imo, http://www.anandtech.com/show/4116/corsair-performance-series-3-ssd-benchmarks .. IIRC this is how the ssd market will pan out..
Crucial C400/M4 (release date: February/March 2011).
Corsair P3 (release date: February/March 2011).
Intel G3 SSD (release date: February 2011).
OCZ Vertex 3 and other SF-2000 drives (release date of the Vertex 3: May/June 2011).

[DooRules]

corsair F3 are available now according to the egg...http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100008119%2050001459%20600038519&IsNodeId=1&name=SATA%20III

[Johnny87au]

listed but N/A = (

[Sam_oslo]

seems pretty dam good under raid 0 imo, http://www.anandtech.com/show/4116/corsair-performance-series-3-ssd-benchmarks .. IIRC this is how the ssd market will pan out..
Crucial C400/M4 (release date: February/March 2011).
Corsair P3 (release date: February/March 2011).
Intel G3 SSD (release date: February 2011).
OCZ Vertex 3 and other SF-2000 drives (release date of the Vertex 3: May/June 2011).

With so many better drives hitting the marked in few weeks, it's a really bad idea to buy any SSD right now.

These are going to have different kind of next-gen improvements, some with better performance, some with bigger capacity, and some with better price. This combination will shake the SSD and reduce the price on current SSD, soon, for sure.

[Johnny87au]

That it will sam, got my 9260 ready just need to pick up some C300's :D

[Lu(ky]

With so many better drives hitting the marked in few weeks, it's a really bad idea to buy any SSD right now.

These are going to have different kind of next-gen improvements, some with better performance, some with bigger capacity, and some with better price. This combination will shake the SSD and reduce the price on current SSD, soon, for sure.

Yeah I agree I guess a month or so will not kill me... I am starting to go through withdrawals coming from 4 x 60GB Vertex 2 SSD in a raid -0- 600 writes 700 reads then going back to a WD VelociRaptor :nuts:

[Computurd]

oh jesus you must feel like its back to the dark ages :)

[tiro_uspsss]

seems pretty dam good under raid 0 imo, http://www.anandtech.com/show/4116/corsair-performance-series-3-ssd-benchmarks .. IIRC this is how the ssd market will pan out..
Crucial C400/M4 (release date: February/March 2011).
Corsair P3 (release date: February/March 2011).
Intel G3 SSD (release date: February 2011).
OCZ Vertex 3 and other SF-2000 drives (release date of the Vertex 3: May/June 2011).

those vertex3's are too far away! :( :shakes: :down:

[Johnny87au]

those vertex3's are too far away! :( :shakes: :down:

Well that month is gonna be awesome for us! :up:

[zalbard]

Yeah I agree I guess a month or so will not kill me... I am starting to go through withdrawals coming from 4 x 60GB Vertex 2 SSD in a raid -0- 600 writes 700 reads then going back to a WD VelociRaptor :nuts:
oh jesus you must feel like its back to the dark ages :)
:rofl:
You're making some of us feel bad! :ROTF:

[Mech0z]

Any indication wether it will be in first or last parts of feb that intel g3 is released? I dont like getting a new system drive in the middle of a semester but I am so tired of my vertex 60, need abit more space

[zalbard]

Any indication wether it will be in first or last parts of feb that intel g3 is released? I dont like getting a new system drive in the middle of a semester but I am so tired of my vertex 60, need abit more space
Make that March or later, there is no indication that G3 is coming in February, whatsoever.

[Mech0z]

Make that March or later, there is no indication that G3 is coming in February, whatsoever.

Is any of the new gen going to come out in feb then? I will get C400 if that comes first at a decent price

[Johnny87au]

more likely march mate.. No info on february released ><

[Sam_oslo]

Yeah I agree I guess a month or so will not kill me... I am starting to go through withdrawals coming from 4 x 60GB Vertex 2 SSD in a raid -0- 600 writes 700 reads then going back to a WD VelociRaptor :nuts:

That sounds like a good plan. :)
Anybody has tested how these new SATA-ports (specialty those SATA3.0's) on SB are doing with RAID setup?

[Johnny87au]

@sam minor improvement over the X58 3gb sata ports imo.. better all around sequential read/write /random 4k etc.. I havent worked out the difference in benchmarking but im assuming its only a few PTS..

[zalbard]

Is any of the new gen going to come out in feb then? I will get C400 if that comes first at a decent price
C400 and Corsair Performance 3 SSDs should be available in February, both are based on 25nm NAND.

That sounds like a good plan. :)
Anybody has tested how these new SATA-ports (specialty those SATA3.0's) on SB are doing with RAID setup?
Slightly better numbers, nothing special. Check Storage section.

[hlonipha]

[QUOTE=mbreslin;4718758]Agreed, ssd prices are insane, especially on the day they launch! What kind of nutjob would pay so much for so little space!

As a person with means, I don't mind footing the bill for the r&d cycle.

^^
agreed!!

jejejeje a few months back I bought 4 C300 256's and an areca 1880i controller card. If the means and purpose are there "why not" :rocker:

Looking forward to see the improvements on the C400's.

[Nizzen]

That sounds like a good plan. :)
Anybody has tested how these new SATA-ports (specialty those SATA3.0's) on SB are doing with RAID setup?

We are testing at diskusjon.no ;)
"SSD-benche tråden"
http://www.diskusjon.no/index.php?showtopic=1149834&st=3520

Random read 4 workers = 176' iops / 688.9MB/s :D

[WangChung]

What I'm wondering is what are you RAID guys doing with your SSDs? Since TRIM isn't supported for RAID volumes, how are you mitigating the degredation of performance over time? Are these OS volumes or just data volumes? Or are these purely just benching "numbers" volumes?

[Computurd]

What I'm wondering is what are you RAID guys doing with your SSDs?

enjoying massive speed, no hangs lags or glitches, on anything, ever :)


Since TRIM isn't supported for RAID volumes, how are you mitigating the degredation of performance over time

dont really notice on big time arrays anyway. much speed to burn :) every few months (3 or so) i will image my drive, then Sanitary Erase my drives, and reimage. takes about 30 minutes start to finish.


Are these OS volumes or just data volumes?

OS volumes. it would be retarded imo to use them in any other fashion. i do use mine for benching whenever i get new hardware or when i get bored. in order to play top ten PCMV you must have a good card for sure :) some would say a 980x too, but not me with my little ol 920 :)


WangChung

is that from the song "everyone wangchung tonight?" lol now i have it in my head GAH!

[WangChung]

is that from the song "everyone wangchung tonight?" lol now i have it in my head GAH!

Indeed it is :)

So there's no other option than wiping the drive and reinstalling? Or are you using some program that can actually restore images to RAID?

What do you think about the OCZ RevoDrive X2 vs. the C300? I think they're around the same prices right now (OCZ might be like $40 more, but in the grand scheme of things...). I was thinking you could even go further with the RevoDrive by using multiple cards and do a RAID in Win7. Granted usually software RAID is NEVER something you want to implement for performance, but with the configuration of these drives it could be well worth it.

[Computurd]

? Or are you using some program that can actually restore images to RAID

oh yes, cant live without it. acronis will restore to anything


Granted usually software RAID is NEVER something you want to implement for performance,

huh? is there some other reason than performance? :)


OCZ RevoDrive X2 vs. the C300

C300. period.

[Mitchb]

Bought yet another 256GB C300 - this on ebay. $300, I could not resist. I'll find use for it.

Mitch

[hlonipha]

enjoying massive speed, no hangs lags or glitches, on anything, ever :)



dont really notice on big time arrays anyway. much speed to burn :) every few months (3 or so) i will image my drive, then Sanitary Erase my drives, and reimage. takes about 30 minutes start to finish.



OS volumes. it would be retarded imo to use them in any other fashion. i do use mine for benching whenever i get new hardware or when i get bored. in order to play top ten PCMV you must have a good card for sure :) some would say a 980x too, but not me with my little ol 920 :)



is that from the song "everyone wangchung tonight?" lol now i have it in my head GAH!

^^
I could not write it in better words!!!

Wondering if the 980x really plays a major role on PCMV. :D

[Sam_oslo]

Garbage Collection works really good these days, who needs TRIM ?

C300 64GB on SATA3, AHCI mode, ASUS P8P67 Deluxe.
Fresh W7-install on a "dirty drive", no Sanitary Erase this time, just 1 hour log off with GB! BTW, this is the 5th W7 install on this drive.

MS Security quick scan finishes under 5 Sec. :)
http://img.techpowerup.org/110204/Capture008.jpg

[WangChung]

Ah, so I've read that this drive has native garbage collection. That's what I was missing, I see your point about TRIM.

Noticed your RAMDisk there, what program are you using for that? Just the one from Dataram?

[Sam_oslo]

Ah, so I've read that this drive has native garbage collection. That's what I was missing, I see your point about TRIM.

Noticed your RAMDisk there, what program are you using for that? Just the one from Dataram?

Yeah, GC works really good now. At least on the C300-drives :)

Yep, Dataram RAMDisk has been working really good for me, for a long time.
I put all my temp-files and IE-temporary files on that. It keeps the junk away from SSD, in a fast way.

[zalbard]

64GB C300 is sold for $109.99 at MicroCenter (http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0345740).
Great price if you ask me.

[Sam_oslo]

64GB C300 is sold for $109.99 at MicroCenter (http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0345740).
Great price if you ask me.

That's a really good start. Told ya prices will fall soon, LOL.

I guess this price-drop makes perfect sense when you look at these resent news:

Plextor M2 SSD Now Shipping (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=266515) Isn't this based on C400?
Intel to launch 34nm SSD with 450/300 MB/s R/W in February (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=265769)

A couple more of these kind of news, and I bet we will see a new price-drop. Then it will be a good time to hit, if you still want to buy that "old" junk tho. :rofl:

[zalbard]

All of these are Marvell based. But still, not the same design (afaik).

[Mungri]

I've been thinking about picking up a second 64 Gb to raid it, but Crucial support are strongly against raiding these drives, they say that initially they will work great but then after just a year they will massively degrade to an unrepairable point.

Has anyone here been running C300s in Raid 0 and actually had them working fine for 24/7 use as an OS drive?

Also, is the marvel controller on the R3E still useless for Raid 0? If so then I wont be raiding them at all since my Sata II ports are already full.

[zalbard]

Yeah, on-board Marvell controller is still pretty useless.

[mbreslin]

http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy154/mbreslin/SLOWPOKE/slowpoke6.jpg

@bhavv: This picture was taken in February of last year so I'm right at one year with these drives, no problems so far, fingers crossed.

Edit: Keep in mind whoever told you the one year thing is likely full of bananas because I got the drives literally on the first day of release, 6 am from crucial.com, and only just now are they one year old. So anyone saying anything about what they might do after a year of use likely has no idea.

[mattkosem]

Has anyone here been running C300s in Raid 0 and actually had them working fine for 24/7 use as an OS drive?

Yep. I've had 4 in R0 for months now. Performance is still within a margin of error of where it was when they were new.

--Matt

[Johnny87au]

I've been thinking about picking up a second 64 Gb to raid it, but Crucial support are strongly against raiding these drives, they say that initially they will work great but then after just a year they will massively degrade to an unrepairable point.

Has anyone here been running C300s in Raid 0 and actually had them working fine for 24/7 use as an OS drive?

Also, is the marvel controller on the R3E still useless for Raid 0? If so then I wont be raiding them at all since my Sata II ports are already full.



You shouldnt see any degrading tbh raiding both drives, I haven't and I've ran several benches with a lot of re imaging / reinstalls OS.. Just make sure you pick the appropriate stripe size for your needs..

[DooRules]

Yep. I've had 4 in R0 for months now. Performance is still within a margin of error of where it was when they were new.

--Matt

same here, 4 in R0 since Aug past, just as fast now as then

[Mungri]

Still I dont think I would be able to pick up a second after they go cheap and raid it on the Marvel controller, no point really then if its still rubbish on marvel.

I only have 6 native Sata II ports (well, 7 but one is too awkwardly placed), and 2 Sata III on Marvel, and I have 4 HDDs, DVD drive, and one C300, and can fit in one more SSD drive and a Blu Ray drive after the prices get cut. Maybe if the 128 Gb C300 gets reduced a lot after the new ones come out, I can get one of those and use it for games.

My 64 Gb C300 has around 12-15 Gb free on it at all times after windows, drivers, and apps are installed, so its doing fine as an OS drive. If theres some nice price cuts soon on the C300s, I'll look for a 128 Gb one.

Also after the I7 970 gets price cutted somemore, I can get one one of those. They've just gone down to £450, but thats still too much. After Ivy Bridge comes out, I hope that they fall to <£300, and I can get one then because I want to keep my mobo and ram.

[Lu(ky]

Just curious if anyone here is running any 2 x c300 in a raid on the new P67 Intel Sata III controller and what are your R/W
Thanks

[Sam_oslo]

^^ No RAID here. But this is a ~1 year old C300 on P76, SATA3.0

http://img.techpowerup.org/110213/Capture029.jpg

[cx-ray]

What I'm wondering is what are you RAID guys doing with your SSDs? Since TRIM isn't supported for RAID volumes, how are you mitigating the degredation of performance over time? Are these OS volumes or just data volumes? Or are these purely just benching "numbers" volumes?

I've been using a pair of C300 256GB for around 4 months now. They don't appear to degrade over time in RAID 0. The native GC is the best I've seen so far. I've tried Intel in the past and those lose performance in a matter of a couple of weeks with normal OS use (installs, de-installs, write files, delete files).

[mbreslin]

I mitigate it by ignoring all the FUD.

[Nizzen]

I got mine c300s 11.03.2010. Almost a year, and still going strong! I used Raid-0 from day one :)

[Johnny87au]

I got mine c300s 11.03.2010. Almost a year, and still going strong! I used Raid-0 from day one :)

+1. ...
I haven't had a ssdd degrade or die for a year n half now, first sad died on me was the old corsair p60 iirc.. Ever since I moved onto the xm25 160gb and onward to using the vertex 2 and the c300s I've had no issues what's so ever :up:

[odditory]

I've been using a pair of C300 256GB for around 4 months now. They don't appear to degrade over time in RAID 0. The native GC is the best I've seen so far.

+1, can't wait for the C400's with supercap.

[deathman20]

Nice to see there GC work very well in RAID. Makes me really consider looking into a C300/C400 drive to replace my current drives. I know im to the point where im considering breaking my drives from raid to help improve the write performance since its degraded because of my raid.

[Mungri]

I recently tested my C300, and its still working as fast as it should be:

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2/crystaldisk.png

My raid 0 is slowing down now that its half full. The C300's write speeds seem lower than the 70 Mb/s that they should be, but thats still completely meaningless when it only took 7 minutes to install Windows onto it. All it has on it is windows, drivers and apps so I only need it for the read speeds.

Hopefully the prices on the larger drives will drop soon, and then I'll get a 128 Gb or higher for games.

[Mitchb]

Five C300s, the first of which was among the first shipped by Micron. Drives have been in various PCs, in different arrays and in various configs. I have not seen any performance degradation at all.

Mitch

[Mungri]

I thought I would quote the post I read regarding what Crucial said about the C300s in Raid 0:


I spoke with a Crucial Technician today 3/09/2010 and he said running C300's in Raid 0 should never be done. He said it will work very well and very fast for the first few months but then it will become slower and slower until the C300 becomes unrepairable after about one year of use. He said there is nothing that could be done to maintain the C300's in Raid 0. An Intel X25-M technician told me the same thing about there generation II X25-M SSD. It appears no manufacturer has the ability to reliably run SSD's in Raid 0. Am I missing something? I hope I am, I really wanted to see Raid 0 C300 SSD's in action.

Just full of bananas I suppose.

[zalbard]

Full of bananas, indeed...

[Sam_oslo]

Full of bull :banana::banana::banana::banana: , actually, LOL.

[theseeker]

Thats good to hear.

[mbreslin]

I remember that quote, it scared me a little (though by that point I'd already bought my 8 drives so nothing much I could do). I forgot to mention in previous posts I also have been doing wcg stuff for team xs the last couple of months, this is probably taunting the ssd gods a bit but so far still same bench scores for my array now as I got a year ago. I've secure erased twice in a year.

[Johnny87au]

I had the vertex 2 and intel x25m 160gb in raid 0 for months, No issues at all, i do notice things get slower when starting to fill up but a reimage using acronis does the trick :D

[WangChung]

It seems like what they (manufacturers) might quote is within their supported/warranty guidelines, not necessarily what's theoretically possible. Cool to see it works though!