Best performing/value SSD or duo, at 40-100GB?

[Ao1]

The problem with PCIe cards (excluding the ioXtreme, which can’t boot) is that they are not true PCIe solutions. They use dated SATA 2.0 controllers, which then convert data to PCI-X, which is then converted to PCIe x4.

There are countless reports of compatibility and data integrity issues and performance drops like a stone as there is no TRIM support and it’s very doubtful that there ever will be on the current models.

Personally I would not touch one with a 10ft barge pole, but each to his own

If you want to go to raid 0 what are you trying to achieve?

[jalyst]

Still haven't had time to read through much of those threads yet, will do soon though hopefully.

The problem with PCIe cards (excluding the ioXtreme, which can’t boot) is that they are not true PCIe solutions. They use dated SATA 2.0 controllers, which then convert data to PCI-X, which is then converted to PCIe x4.

So this results in worse performance compared to a 2R0 of similarly specced SSD's going via ICH10R?

There are countless reports of compatibility and data integrity issues and performance drops like a stone as there is no TRIM support and it’s very doubtful that there ever will be on the current models.
Personally I would not touch one with a 10ft barge pole, but each to his own

A colleague recently got one and is quite happy, granted he's only had it for a few days.
And I think he may be only using it as a scratch-disk...

Night.

[F@32]

So this results in worse performance compared to a 2R0 of similarly specced SSD's going via ICH10R?
Night.

You'd be very surprised to learn that ICH10R outperforms most HW RAID controllers especially with SSD R0 set-ups. In my opion it ranks very close to

1. Arc 1880, 1231ml, 1680
2. LSI 9260, 9211
3. ICH10R
4. SB850

With current crop of SSD PCIe you're paying penalty in terms of higher latency in SATA2-PCIX-PCI chain, plus manufacturing/marketing cost. Getting two C300 or SF1200 based drives is more sound idea at the moment.

[jalyst]

You'd be very surprised to learn that ICH10R outperforms most HW RAID controllers especially with SSD R0 set-ups. In my opion it ranks very close to

1. Arc 1880, 1231ml, 1680
2. LSI 9260, 9211
3. ICH10R
4. SB850

I'm not surprised by that, as RAID-0 doesn't require much in the way of parity calculations etc.
So a "hw" controller is kind of redundant...
I'd imagine there's not much between all 7 of these controllers.
I guess other factors do come into play though.

With current crop of SSD PCIe you're paying penalty in terms of higher latency in SATA2-PCIX-PCI chain, plus manufacturing/marketing cost.

So I've heard, yet to see actual perf. & cost/GB for myself yet.

Thanks.

[jalyst]

Thank god for Anandtech!
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3997/o...rive-x2-review
This paints a pretty clear picture why one shouldn't bother with PCI SSD RAID-0 just yet, over multiple discrete SATA SSD's.
Looks pretty "cut & dry", doesn't seem to be any compelling reason to go for the former?!

[zalbard]

Thank god for Anandtech!
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3997/o...rive-x2-review
This paints a pretty clear picture why one wouldn't bother with a PCI SSD just yet, over multiple discrete SATA SSD's for RAID-0.

Good find, thanks for linking!

The RevoDrive x2 features idle garbage collection, which for most users should be sufficient to keep the drive running at full speed. There is a problem however. Current SandForce drives have a bug that impacts TRIM (and idle garbage collection). If you fill all available NAND on a SandForce drive by writing incompressible data to all user accessible LBAs and all spare area, the drive will no longer be able to restore itself to full performance via TRIM or any idle garbage collection. This impacts the RevoDrive x2 as well as standard SandForce SSDs.

Hm, didn't know that. It is not very rational to fill any SSD completely, though.

[jalyst]

Meh I'm happy with 2R0 X25-V, waiting till early Q2 for next-gen Indilinx/SF/Intel/PCIe SSD's etc.
Just for posterity's sake, post #179 querying Metroid was eventually clarified via PM.

Thanks for clarifying, I don't recall any of your posts saying exactly this.

Hopefully there'll be an 40GB SATA3 X25-V...
I won't be happy if I'm forced to jump to a higher capacity, just for the privilege of SATA3!

Thanks again.

Hi jalyst,

I already answered your question on that post, the C300 64GB version and the X25-V G3 80GB will be a close call, the X25-V will have greater write speeds but it will be limited in read speeds due to SATA 2.0. There will be two G3 versions, one with SATA 2.0 and one later with SATA 3.0 support.

For me read speeds are more important than write speeds but the Intel controller is much better than the Micron's Marvel controller. It will be a tough choice. That is all I can say for now.

Regards,

[SteveRo]

ich10 for raid 0 is great up to about 3, maybe 4 SSD drives in raid 0 - this performance level is generally more than enough for most folks.
if you need faster - you want to look at some of the better h/w raid controllers - lsi 9260, 9211, areca 12xx, 1880.
the cost climbs quickly when moving to h/w raid.

For my 24/7 machine I use 2xR0 x25m80g1's on ich10 with wbc enabled - been going strong for a year or so.

[jalyst]

Yeah 2x SSD is plenty good, i doubt I'll ever add more than that.

As newer NAND+controller with the best perf/cost ratio come out, I'll of course upgrade to them.
But I doubt I'll ever bother with more than two.....

[mbreslin]

Yeah 2x SSD is plenty good, i doubt I'll ever add more than that.

As newer NAND+controller with the best perf/cost ratio come out, I'll of course upgrade to them.
But I doubt I'll ever bother with more than two.....

Advice: If going > 1 drive on ich10r, go 3 drives, at least max out the controller. If you're going away from trim (which everyone is always so nervous about on these forums), may as well get the full benefit.

[jalyst]

^ That's a good point I guess...
If there's any bargain basement prices for the x25-v in post Xmas sales here in Oz or overseas, then I'll consider a third.
Thanks for offering your thoughts.

[mbreslin]

Also the added benefit of 40 more gigs is nice.

[jalyst]

Got a 3rd the other day, couldn't resist the temptation with the cheaper prices
Will no doubt be upgrading in approx. 4mth with all the next-gen stuff coming out, but can always sell all 3 to finance that.