Price per gigabyte is, by far, the biggest factor preventing SSDs from replacing hard drives. If SSDs weren't so darn expensive, we wouln't have any trouble getting past their capacity limitations, because we would be using multiple SSDs in the same machine. In order to get a sense of how expensive SSDs really are (even in the light of the ongoing transition from 3x nm to 2x nm NAND flash), let’s peruse Newegg's virtual aisles.
Say you want to upgrade your notebook hard drive. Here are your choices with a hard drive.
| Hard Drive Selection | Brand | Model | Capacity | Price | Cost per GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | Western Digital | WD1600BEVT | 160 GB | $39.99 | $0.25 |
| Midpoint | Samsung | Spinpoint HM640JJ | 640 GB | $79.99 | $0.12 |
| High | Western Digital | WD10TPVT | 1 TB | $119.99 | $0.12 |
And here’s a similar selection you get with a solid state drive.
| SSD Selection | Brand | Model | Capacity | Price | Cost per GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | Kingston | SSDNow S100 (SS100S2/8G) | 8 GB | $39.99 | $5.00 |
| - | Corsair | Nova (CSD-V32GB2-BRKT) | 32 GB | $78.99 | $2.47 |
| - | Patriot | Torqx TRB (PT54GS25SSDR) | 64 GB | $119.99 | $1.87 |
| Midpoint | OCZ | Agility 2 | 320 GB | $659.99 | $2.06 |
| High | Kingston | SSDNow V+ 100 (SVP100S2/512G) | 512 GB | $1299.99 | $2.54 |
Even enthusiasts willing to give up capacity for performance are going to find those prices hard to stomach. That is what makes a Vertex 3 Pro an unrealistic choice for the average desktop user. But last week’s 2nd-generation SandForce preview made me excited about SSDs in a way I haven’t been excited about storage in a long time. We learned two things.
- SandForce is bringing the heat. There is a world of difference between what we see in SSDs now and what SandForce is going to deliver in the next few months.
- Prices are being cut aggressively. With the new generation of SSDs about to be released, we are going to see more price drops, especially as drive makers unwilling to pay spot market prices on 3x nm NAND make the move to 25 nm. This hasn’t been without some problems on previous-generation drives (check out The OCZ Vertex 2 Conspiracy: Lost Space, Lost Speed?). But OCZ tells us it won't affect the upcoming generation at all.
Vertex 3: Still 2nd-Gen SandForce, But Cheaper
Today, SandForce and OCZ are demonstrating performance they say is on par with what we saw from Vertex 3 Pro, but at a price more palatable for mainstream adoption. Our point about prices being too high can't be ignored. It is a theme we see brought up over and over in our feedback section whenever we write about SSDs. Everyone wants one, but a privileged few can afford them.
| Drive | Vertex 3 | Vertex 3 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Controller | SF-2281 | SF-2582 |
| Interface | SATA 6Gb/s | SATA 6Gb/s |
| Sequential Read Performance (max.) | 550 MB/s | 550 MB/s |
| Sequential Write Performance (max.) | 525 MB/s | 500 MB/s |
| Random 4KB Write | 60 000 IOPs | 70 000 IOPs |
| Price (MSRP) | 240 GB: $499.99 | 200 GB: $775 |
The Vertex 3's specifications are very similar to the Vertex 3 Pro. Like the Pro version, it still claims 550 MB/s sequential read and slightly lower IOPS throughput, at 60 000 for 4 KB random writes. Oddly, we're seeing slightly higher sequential write performance, specified at 525 MB/s. This isn’t a typo. OCZ claims it was more conservative with its own performance evaluation of the Vertex 3 Pro, and has since revised its expectation upward a bit.
| Market Price | MSRP | Cost/GB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vertex 2 (E Series) 90 GB | $199.99 | - | $2.22 |
| Vertex 2 (E Series) 120 GB | $229.99 | - | $1.92 |
| Vertex 2 (E Series) 240 GB | $449.99 | - | $1.87 |
| Vertex 3 120 GB | - | $249.99 | $2.08 |
| Vertex 3 240 GB | - | $499.99 | $2.08 |
At a little over $2/GB, the price of the OCZ’s newest drive is better than the Vertex 2 when it launched. But you're going to pay more for a Vertex 3 drive. Remember, Vertex 2 isn’t going anywhere. There is still a lot of life in that drive. The premium you pay for a Vertex 3 is entirely attributable to its more aggressive performance.
- Meet OCZ’s Vertex 3
- Inside OCZ's Vertex 3
- Second-Generation SandForce: It's All About Compression
- MTTF? MTBF? "My Drive Lasts Longer"
- Test Setup
- Benchmark Results: I/O Performance
- Benchmark Results: Iometer Streaming
- Benchmark Results: CrystalDiskMark Streaming Performance
- Benchmark Results: 4 KB And 512 KB Random Reads
- Benchmark Results: 4 KB And 512 KB Random Writes
- Benchmark Results: PCMark Vantage Storage Test
- Benchmark Results: Power Consumption
- Final Words
Well what I didn't mention in the review is that the benchmark starts as ~20% across all cores during the first 10 seconds, which is from PCMark setting up the disk trace. After that, the IO activity throttles a single core up to 100% for almost all SSDs. For the hard drives, we see ~60-80% utilization of a single core.
Cheers,
Andrew Ku
TomsHardware.com
Overall a good article. Anyone into MTBF's will find that one page uninforming and anyone not into it is likely lost.
I would disagree with that statement only in the sense that a $1000 PC is not going to be filled with high-end superior performing parts. So I dont see a reason to apologize for its price. The person who can afford a $3000+ PC isnt going to blink buying the 240G model and will likely see it as entirely reasonable.
Me? I think I have found my next ex-drive.....
and what about power saving enabled?
None of our tests were executed in an environment that allowed any idling. Furthermore, we disabled CPU throttling. Power saving was enabled in the sense that the display was allowed to turn off, which is part of the default profile in Windows.
OCing may increase performance, but only to the extent that the bandwidth will support it. As I mentioned, PCMark throttles a single core up to 100%. It isn't a sustained trend.
Sorry about that. Fixed!
I completely understand that sentiment. Keep in mind that 460 prices dropped after our December System Builder Marathon. The fact remains that a decent CPU along with a SLI or CrossFire config will likely put the kibosh on any SSD choice. With a gaming rig, you are going to want a performance SSD, which means those lower end options almost go out the door. In any case, if you end up choosing a graphics card that runs at least $200, you'll hard to fit a SSD into the budget. It isn't impossible the way prices are falling, but you will likely be relying heavily on rebates or special deals.
thanks for the clarification.
No problem! We're here to answer any question.
Forgot to mention: Thank you for the article!
I love SSD info I used to have 4 of the gigabyte I-RAM cards that were bootable in RAID 0 to get some similar results (two I-RAM were double stick taped to my case wall with pci flexible riser cards to make them all fit. I was hooked long before that obviously. Silence is also a golden feature that you do not realize until you have an already quiet system and remove the HDD.
also to quote myself: "I hate Rebate" as probably everyone else does.
Even the Vertex 2 60GB is down to $105 so for $35 more (which now you'd probably save more than $35 getting same components) You get a good ssd, later (if immediate budget did not permit) you can drop in a 1-3 TB hdd for storage. Since you already have 60GB it can wait a paycheck or two. replacing main drive later with SSD requires imaging which doesn't always work well, well at least it didn't used to. I had to try three different imaging programs before it came across properly (acronis, ghost, active disk image) I have an idea also for a fun article. Build an extremely small pc. Possibly with a 1.8" SSD to go in a car. with mii itx it would be doable and with ssd you'd not have to worry about the HDD crashing over speed bumps. Or do an article of a mini itx that lan party gamers could stick on the back of their monitor. I've replaced a case door on a silverstone with a 24" samsung before (wiring it in and all) like an Imac.
- A superfast SSD
- Thunderbolt(Lightpeak)
- 4-8 cores Ivy Bridge CPUs
And I just hope that Bulldozer will come out w/ a BANG so prices will be lower!
Probably not, but so far, you're the only person that seems to be impressed enough with themselves to post about it...
http://eprint.iacr.org/2009/317