SSD roundup: Vertex 3 vs M4 vs C300 vs 510 vs 320 vs x25-M vs F120 vs Falcon II

[overthere]

The IDF 2011 presentation (SSDS002) that Ao1 mentioned in his post #115 is interesting. Thanks Ao1!

I haven't had the chance to look over the presentation carefully, but a number of questions immediately come to mind.

For instance regarding the "burst analysis" (slide 19), I am curious as to how many "burst" events were observed and when they were observed.

I would suggest that having such contextual, more-detailed information is important. Slide 17 indicates that the source trace was a "real" office laptop user running Windows 7; moreover, this trace was collected over a 10-day period.

I wonder then whether this laptop had gone into hibernation mode some number of times during this 10-day period (and if so, what correlation there might be between these hibernation events and the "burst" events).

Overall, I am curious as to the particulars of the specific activities being performed when these "burst" events were observed.

Another quick comment: The "Burst Analysis" slide 19 mentions that the "resulting collection of bursts" totaled 50GB of transfers (it does not say the read/write percentage of this total). Back on slide 17 it mentions that the 10-day trace showed about 70GB of writes and about 120GB of reads (for a total of about 190GB).

So it appears then that about 25% of the total data transferred was involved with these "burst" events over the course of the 10-day period.

Now looking at slide 18 there is a "time plot" versus "cumulative KB transferred" graph. This graph shows a "spike" in the middle of the graph where it appears that about 30GB of read data was transferred (if I am reading the graph correctly). If this is the case, then 30GB of the total 50GB "burst event" data transferred occurred around this particular point in time.

I am curious as to exactly what activities were occurring during this time (and the possible extent to which these activities might have skewed the "averages").

[Ao1]

As usual a tormenting glimpse through the smoke and mirrors from Intel.

I was surprised to see that SysMark/ PCMark/ CrystalDiskmark use the spare area.

@ alfaunits
I had to open 4 separate instances of [total commander] at the same and instigate each xfer as quickly as I could. Not easy. I've been messing about trying to get a bat file to run them simultaneously, but failed miserably. I'm sure the QD would start going up anyway.

[RCG_Bex]

Crucial M4's available in the UK for less than the C300
- http://www.overclockers.co.uk/produc...=14&subid=1427

OCZ Vertex 3's on offer in the UK as well though...
- http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/index.aspx

From my understanding, I'm guessing the M4 is the better choice for myself (although I may be wrong).

M4 256Gb @ £350 vs. Vertex 3 @ £400...

Really just want a good drive for my OS/Networking/Games... Debated getting a small SSD for my OS and a 2nd drive for games but since everything is backed up anyway seems fine to have it all on 1 location...

[ImportantAwareness89]

It's $229 for the 128gb at circuit City right now. I'd grab one ASAP

[SubZero.it]

So actually finding the C300 and the M4 at the same price the M4 is a winnner?
I'm not considering V3 seeing low random performance compared to the others. And costs more also

[Mech0z]

In the 120GB segment would you get the M4 or C300 over the Vertex 3?

Office use plus some gaming (SC2)

[alfaunits]

The question is rather - do you have ANY use of an SSD in an office rig for SC2?
I would go with the cheaper, though at this time probably with C300 - it's time proven, while m4 is still new (even though I reckon it's just C300 with different NAND).

[Mech0z]

The question is rather - do you have ANY use of an SSD in an office rig for SC2?
I would go with the cheaper, though at this time probably with C300 - it's time proven, while m4 is still new (even though I reckon it's just C300 with different NAND).

I am IT engineer student so my laptop is my only machine so office use is a lot of programming and browsing. Then when I need some entertainment I game some SC2

I have a very old Vertex 1 60Gb and I look forward to see if I can feel a difference.

[alfaunits]

Oh that's not what most would consider "office". I dare say programming gets a BIG boost from SSDs. Especially if you do Delphi programming.

But would you notice ANY difference from Vertex 1? I doubt it. I frankly saw barely measurable difference when I moved from SAS15K (8 drives though) to Intel X25-Es. Yes the system was more responsive, but measurable parts did not differ that much (except VMs).
With that in mind I doubt you would notice a difference going from V1 to V2 except in your wallet.

[Mech0z]

Well the main reason for upgrade atm is space, 60GB and Win7 + a few games is just too little, but thought about getting http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/ren...sata-pci-e-ssd so I can use that in X201 with the adapter until I get a Thinkpad W520 and then I can use the mSata + the original drive

[Aedubber]

Im happy with the 3 60gb c300 drives i have running in RAID0 , they do the job , good price, and i got enough storage.

[Mech0z]

Im happy with the 3 60gb c300 drives i have running in RAID0 , they do the job , good price, and i got enough storage.

I have a laptop so raid is a no go

[Ao1]

The Intel 310 comes in mSATA format and there is an 80GB version. 200MB's read/ 70MB's write. 35K IOPS read/ 6.6K IOPS write

[mbreslin]

A couple of my 256gb c300s are on fleabay, used drives are going for around 320$, pretty good deal I think. There is breslin in the seller name. Get excellent drives at an excellent price.

[Brahmzy]

So actually finding the C300 and the M4 at the same price the M4 is a winnner?
I'm not considering V3 seeing low random performance compared to the others. And costs more also

The M4's random performance isn't anything stellar - in some reviews it's worse than the V3's. The C300's are in a class of their own when it comes to random reads - that's it. None of the new drives come close to the C300 random read performance. Now you have to ask yourself if you're going to actually notice the difference in random 4K read performance in real life. Very highly doubt it.

[INFRNL]

A couple of my 256gb c300s are on fleabay, used drives are going for around 320$, pretty good deal I think. There is breslin in the seller name. Get excellent drives at an excellent price.

I'm keeping an eye out; just not sure if I have the cash for a 256gb drive right now.

I could get a 128gb drive for $230 M4, but not sure if its worth it for me. I can also get another new C300 128 for $195 through ewiz.

[mbreslin]

No worries, someone will grab them!

My 9260+Fastpath shot up to over 300$ like 10 minutes after listing, I don't think I've ever bid on any auction that wasn't in the last hour, don't see the point.

[pythonse]

bottom line..if u use ur pc for gaming what is the ssd of choice? also is it really worth it or would a good 6gb hard drive be sufficient?

[Ao1]

SSD game loading will be faster compared to HDD, but I doubt you will see any difference in game play once the level has loaded. Maybe certain games that load during game play may run smoother, but other than that no real benefit once the level has loaded.

What SSD? You will be hard pushed to notice any difference between different SSD's in real life. Go for reliability/ price. If I was buying now it would be between the C300, M4 or 320 Intel.

[pythonse]

ok thx for the reply

[hieuhef]

I'm looking at the c300 on ewiz for $195. I've read through, and if I'm understanding correctly, the higher seq. reads and writes of the newer drives are pretty negligible in an OS environment if it's just used to launch applications and keep them running, correct? It's if we were to use, say the V3 as a scratch disk to retrieve large files constantly, then the higher speed comes into play and become more noticeable to its performance.

[Mech0z]

Just ordered a Vertex 3 128GB Max IOPS , its not in stock though so might take a while before the shop gets a new shipment, but then my Vertex 1 can finally retire^^

[Ian[Frozen]]

I saw an unmistakably noticeable performance increase swapping an Agility 120GB for a Vertex3 240GB in my 3year old gaming notebook with SATAII
like Night and Day

I think how a game responds depends entirely on the game and how frequently it loads a new map.

Agility 120GB - Notebook


Vertex3 - Notebook

[lowfat]

SSD game loading will be faster compared to HDD, but I doubt you will see any difference in game play once the level has loaded. Maybe certain games that load during game play may run smoother, but other than that no real benefit once the level has loaded.

Agreed. I can hardly tell the difference between an X25-M G1, an X25-E, or an ioXtreme. Difference in load times is like 5% faster if that.

[Computurd]

Agreed. I can hardly tell the difference between an X25-M G1, an X25-E, or an ioXtreme. Difference in load times is like 5% faster if that.

he is actually saying between an HDD and a SSD. not between different versions of the ssds themselves.