Test Setup
In this roundup, we look at the 10 new SSDs discussed in the previous pages, but we also add some competing, important products for a more rounded comparison. Please note that we didn't have a Samsung SSD for this roundup, owing to the company preparing for its next product generation.
All drives are tested for performance, power consumption, and efficiency. We cycle our performance testing to stress the drives with varying workloads. The results of the last test run can be found in the charts marked as "used." In this case, you’re looking at the performance level with write amplification and wear leveling algorithms having kicked in.
| System Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Hardware | Details |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-920 (45 nm, 2.66 GHz, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache) |
| Motherboard (LGA 1366) | Supermicro X8SAX, Revision: 1.0, Chipset Intel X58 + ICH10R, BIOS: 1.0B |
| RAM | 3 x 1 GB DDR3-1333 Corsair CM3X1024-1333C9DHX |
| HDD | Seagate NL35 400 GB, ST3400832NS, 7200 RPM, SATA 1.5Gb/s, 8 MB Cache |
| Power Supply | OCZ EliteXstream 800W, OCZ800EXS-EU |
| Benchmarks | |
| Performance Measurements | h2benchw 3.13 PCMark Vantage 1.0.2.0 |
| I/O Performance | IOMeter 2008.08.18 File server-Benchmark Web server-Benchmark Database-Benchmark Workstation-Benchmark Streaming Reads Streaming Writes 4k Random Reads 4k Random Writes |
| System Software & Drivers | |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Ultimate 6.1.7600 |
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Good, before I saw this my decision on getting an Intel would have been fine.
Have (2) 30GB OCZ Vertex in RAID 0. They are pretty darn quick.
You can get the Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB for $240. Only problem is the sketchy firmware (read about at anandtech) and poor performance in RAID.
SSD's I have (I always look for deals and buy when I think it's the lowest):
1. (2) Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB ($240) - Fast, great price, used for video editing and programming.
2. Intel x-25m 160GB ($380) - Fast, expensive, used on my server.
3. (2) Corsair P128 ($260, $290)- Decently fast, very low power consumption, decent price but now expensive, used for my HTPC and laptop.
4. Kingston SSDNow V-series 64GB ($110) - Fast enough, somewhat cheap, used for my gf's computer.
Luckily none have gone bad on me, and would buy them again. Glad to see other SSD's in the mix, though. More reviews and benchmarks never hurt, and THG's always used when I need more information to make a decision.
Nice piece very informative.
G-Skill Phoenix 100GB looks like a good all rounder.
OWC a good 2nd choice for me.
Western digital would have been my 1st choice but seems to lack a lot.
The rest is too all over the place with it's performances for me.
I just used 2 120 GB Phoenix Pros in RAID 0 for a friend's build. It's freakin FAST! I got one for my parents as their HDD just crashed. They love it.
"reads and whites" is that supposed to be some sort of play on words? Just kidding. Good article, much appreciated.
I got 2 intel 80 G2s in RAID0 and they haul. sure under heavy 4K scenarios they do fall behind, but for most use its no problem. you can also purchase 2 intel 160G drives for slightly more than a C300 and you'll get far better results per dollar per GB in a RAID0 setup.
I get 525MB reads and 175MB writes. For an OS drive that doesn't do a whole lot of writing I'm ok with the performance.
For my dollar I'll do a smaller OCZ Vertex 2 for a boot drive...they have great performance and come in under $150.
I'm still rocking a Intel X25-M G1, no probs at all. I see no point to change.
I just picked up the kingston SSDNow-now SNV-425, Im happy with it but am thinking about picking up another for raid 0. Does anybody have this setup?Im curious to know your read/write numbers as I cant find anybody with this setup on the net. Please Post.
Two corrections to the graph titles (other SSD articles have the same problems):
- it says "[t in ms]" (should be "t in us")
- it says "including rotational latency"; which parts of the SSD are rotating and have latency? ;-)
I like how you did the price/performance index. People don't usually buy SSD's for storage but for performance so it makes much more sense to show the performance vs dollar metric than gigabyte vs dollar. This way, people can pick what capacity will suffice for them then decide which drive will give them the most performance for the money. Kudos!
Interesting.
Guess I'm still waiting for the Gen3 Intel drives.
I have been saying that for a while now...
Though I will avoid RAID for a boot drive, and RAID 1/5 only for storage.
I've had enough headaches from RAID.
I just ordered an OCZ vertex 2 60GB for ~155 USD, excluding shipping and other costs, if the performance is close to the 120GB version then I'm in good shape, but I highly doubt that. Any one got a good comparison between the 2 drives?
Great stuff ... thanks guys.
Sorry I came across so rude in your other article P & A.
I have a soft spot for core2.
Maybe I missed this in the tables, but was the Crucial drive tested on a 6 Gb/s interface only? For those of us with only 3Gb/s boards, it'd be interesting to see how the performance compares. I seem to recall from Anand's review that throughput was somewhat less than saturated.
Patrick and Achim, great to see you included price in your performance ratios! The previous articles focused on power consumption, which is less relevant for SSD (a 1W difference when your laptop CPU consumes anywhere between 13 and 35W, and your GPU anywhere between 7 and 50W?)
128GB C300 SSD's are already barely above $2 per GB. I can't wait for the next generation of intel SSD and the widely predicted price drops at the end of the year.
Raid does NOTHING to improve SSD speed....
Western Digital should hang their head in shame. Pathetic SSD offering and I cant see anyone actually buying one.