bit-tech.net

Baz · 8th Jan 2013, 08:26

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/201...-ssd-catchup/1

We take a look at four of the latest SSDs, and their new drive controllers.

Tattysnuc · 8th Jan 2013, 08:38

Nice to see the newer models here, but I'd like to see the force3 series included please....

Baz · 8th Jan 2013, 08:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tattysnuc

Nice to see the newer models here, but I'd like to see the force3 series included please....

Its a Sandforce 2281 controller - simply use the Vertex 3 results.

Same applies for Kingston HyperX, and the large number of sandforce partner drives. They all run the same, Sandforce supplied firmware.

proxess · 8th Jan 2013, 08:44

More catch-up posts on more devices more frequently, please!
I oft come to Bit when I'm deciding what hardware to buy, but it can get difficult to figure out what's good or not comparatively to other bits of hardware previously released.

Baz · 8th Jan 2013, 08:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by proxess

More catch-up posts on more devices more frequently, please!
I oft come to Bit when I'm deciding what hardware to buy, but it can get difficult to figure out what's good or not comparatively to other bits of hardware previously released.

Will do! Due to time constraints, we weren't able to look at these drivers on their individual launches; hopefully bundling them all together will allow for easier comparisons.

Harlequin · 8th Jan 2013, 09:00

nice to see `regular` use going over sata 2 speeds (4k 16QD and above) - been a few years though

if I was to make a request - It would be to compare the Plextor M5 PRO with the new marvell 9187 controller ; as IMO its of `this` generation rather than the 830/vertex3/crucial M4 ones.

Krikkit · 8th Jan 2013, 09:05

Great roundup, thanks guys! Not sure which one I'd go for out of that lot, the limited write-life of the 840 non-Pro does give me pause though, as I tend to keep my drives forever.

Tangster · 8th Jan 2013, 09:24

Glad to see my M4 isn't antiquated yet.

phinix · 8th Jan 2013, 09:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krikkit

Great roundup, thanks guys! Not sure which one I'd go for out of that lot, the limited write-life of the 840 non-Pro does give me pause though, as I tend to keep my drives forever.

So PRO version look like better options then. On the other hand I wonder how long would they survive in ours home-users environments..

SchizoFrog · 8th Jan 2013, 09:32

Thanks very much for this... Much appreciated.

I did notice an error, on the graphs the 840 250GB is referred to as 840 256GB.

rollo · 8th Jan 2013, 10:02

where is intels drivers and there custom sandforce drivers would be nice to see how they perform vs the others.

Baz · 8th Jan 2013, 10:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tangster

Glad to see my M4 isn't antiquated yet.

Far from it. it's aged remarkably well considering its been on sale so long. Crucial and Micron clearly know what it's doing, and don't look to be in any hurry to replace it. I think a TLC version will be on the cards though.

r3loaded · 8th Jan 2013, 11:21

Wow the 840 Pro and the Vector are incredibly close. Even in terms of price, there's only 3 quid between them!

fingerbob69 · 8th Jan 2013, 12:17

Cache-ing SSDs ...have BT looked at them ...are you gonna look at them?

Any opinions?

Baz · 8th Jan 2013, 13:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by fingerbob69

Cache-ing SSDs ...have BT looked at them ...are you gonna look at them?

Any opinions?

2 years ago, they'd have been worth it, but now cost per GB has come down so much, what's the point? 256GB SSDs are less than £150. Hybrid HDDs typically just end up caching Windows files, so you dont get the benefit of game loads etc, just fast boot times.

Xir · 8th Jan 2013, 13:02

the Samsung 840 (non Pro) doesn't really distance itself from the 830 does it?
At least at the 128GB level there's the price difference to consider.

warriorpoet · 8th Jan 2013, 13:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tattysnuc

Nice to see the newer models here, but I'd like to see the force3 series included please....

The Force 3 is comparable to OCZ's Agility 3, and not in the same tier as the reviewed drives. Corsair Force GT/GS performance is in the same class as the Neutron GTX with markedly different strengths/ weaknesses, but are an inferior price/ performance/ reliability proposition at this point.

If you want to compare SSDs, anandtech provides a useful tool here.

For more interesting SSD reading, see here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6489/playing-with-op

According to the latest TechReport podcast, Samsung is correcting dirty drive performance issues in the next firmware revision. It's apparently due to a new TRIM/ garbage collection algorithm that doesn't function as expected.

Adnoctum · 8th Jan 2013, 20:59

I'll never buy an OCZ SSD ever again, even if they can make it back to acceptable levels of QA.

Cheap can never make up for appalling quality and the time lost trying to get it to work, returning the defective product, purchasing the brand you should have the first time, and installing the replacement. Why bother when OCZ is little cheaper than the alternatives?

Corky42 · 8th Jan 2013, 22:27

@Adnoctum, never had a problem with my Vertex and always found they reply very quickly to problems on there forums. Always seem ok with issuing RMA if they think it maybe the drive.
I guess its like any company some people will always have bad experiences like i had once with Seagate.

KithKhan · 8th Jan 2013, 22:56

@Adnoctum; I've had at least two of each OCZ ssd in a RAID0 array. Updating firmware was a pain with older models, but I've never had a problem with them besides that.

I know positive anecdotes don't prove anything, but I'm not sure there's any substantial basis to the perception that OCZ has a quality issue either.

8th Jan 2013, 08:26	#1
Baz Post moar ponies. bit-tech Staff Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Reading Posts: 1,743	The SSD Catchup http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/201...-ssd-catchup/1 We take a look at four of the latest SSDs, and their new drive controllers.

8th Jan 2013, 08:44	#4
proxess Hypermodder Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: The town of Love, Funchal Posts: 945	More catch-up posts on more devices more frequently, please! I oft come to Bit when I'm deciding what hardware to buy, but it can get difficult to figure out what's good or not comparatively to other bits of hardware previously released. __________________ Laptop: i3 330M 2.13GHz; 2x 4GB 1066MHz; Radeon 5650 1GB @ 675/1020MHz; Crucial M4 256GB SSD; Ubuntu 12.04 x64 and Windows 7 x64. Ubuntu #8076 / Linux #429448

8th Jan 2013, 09:00	#6
Harlequin Mod Master Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Eastbourne ,East Sussex ,UK Posts: 2,971	nice to see `regular` use going over sata 2 speeds (4k 16QD and above) - been a few years though if I was to make a request - It would be to compare the Plextor M5 PRO with the new marvell 9187 controller ; as IMO its of `this` generation rather than the 830/vertex3/crucial M4 ones. __________________ i have a 3dfx voodoo5 6000

8th Jan 2013, 09:05	#7
Krikkit Super Moderator Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Lancs, UK Posts: 21,999	Great roundup, thanks guys! Not sure which one I'd go for out of that lot, the limited write-life of the 840 non-Pro does give me pause though, as I tend to keep my drives forever. __________________ The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, The Zlad!, The Wut?!, The Kempness

8th Jan 2013, 09:24	#8
Tangster Butt-kicking for goodness! Join Date: May 2009 Location: York, UK Posts: 2,630	Glad to see my M4 isn't antiquated yet. __________________ Uni Box:i5 2500K@5GHz\|EK Supreme LT+Coolstream XT 240\|16GB HyperX DDR3@1866MHz(in blue)\|EVGA GTX670SC 4GB+EK FC670\|MSI P67A-GD55\|\|M4 128GB\|BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 750W\|U3011\|Raven RV-02E\|KBT Pure+Sidewinder X5 + Intuos 4M Audio: PC->TosLink->TEAC UD-H01->Schiit Asgard-> Denon 5000\|PFE232\|Truth B2030A Monitors BT Feedback

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8th Jan 2013, 08:38	#2
Tattysnuc Thinking about which mod to do 1st. Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Liverpool Posts: 1,098	Nice to see the newer models here, but I'd like to see the force3 series included please....

8th Jan 2013, 09:32	#10
SchizoFrog Ghost In The Machine Join Date: May 2009 Location: East London Posts: 450	Thanks very much for this... Much appreciated. I did notice an error, on the graphs the 840 250GB is referred to as 840 256GB. __________________ Motherboard - ASUS P5K Premium CPU - Q6600 @ 3GHz - Arctic Freezer 13 GPU - Palit 9600GT @ Clock 750MHz - Mem 1100MHz - Shader 1850MHz RAM - 6GB Corsair PC2-6400 DHX @ 960MHz OS - Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit)

8th Jan 2013, 10:02	#11
rollo I Mod, Therefore I Own Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 3,534	where is intels drivers and there custom sandforce drivers would be nice to see how they perform vs the others.

8th Jan 2013, 11:21	#13
r3loaded Hypermodder Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 979	Wow the 840 Pro and the Vector are incredibly close. Even in terms of price, there's only 3 quid between them! __________________ Main: Silverstone FT03 \| Asus P8P67-M Pro \| i5 2500K @ 4.6Ghz \| CM 212+ \| 16GB Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz \| MSI Radeon 7970 \| 128GB Crucial C300 + 1TB Samsung F3 \| CM Silent Pro Gold 600W \| Samsung XL2270HD Server: Asus M3N78-AM \| Athlon II X3 400e \| 4GB Corsair XMS2 \| 4x 2TB Samsung F4EG (RAID-5) \| LSI MegaRAID 8708EM2 \| Corsair CX400

8th Jan 2013, 12:17	#14
fingerbob69 Hypermodder Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: East of Ipswich Posts: 724	Cache-ing SSDs ...have BT looked at them ...are you gonna look at them? Any opinions? __________________ Antec 902, Asus P6T se, i7-920 D0 oc@3.6ghz, Asaka Nero S, 6gb Corsair, Thermaltake 750w Evo Blue, XFX 4890 + Artic Twin Turbo Pro, Asus Xonar DS, BFG Ageia PhysX, 2x 500gb Seagate HDD, Win7 hp, NEC ea231wmi, MS X4, Cordless Mouseman optical(deceased)..now a Roccat Kova+

8th Jan 2013, 13:02	#16
Xir I Mod, Therefore I Own Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Saxony / Germany Posts: 3,520	the Samsung 840 (non Pro) doesn't really distance itself from the 830 does it? At least at the 128GB level there's the price difference to consider. __________________ SN25P A64 3700+ (San Diego) 2 GB DDR400 OCZ Platinum EL 2-3-2-5 1T X1800XT 512mb Sapphire 200GB Samsung SP2004C 24" Asus something 1920x1080

8th Jan 2013, 20:59	#18
Adnoctum Kill_All_Humans Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 460	I'll never buy an OCZ SSD ever again, even if they can make it back to acceptable levels of QA. Cheap can never make up for appalling quality and the time lost trying to get it to work, returning the defective product, purchasing the brand you should have the first time, and installing the replacement. Why bother when OCZ is little cheaper than the alternatives? __________________ Main Rig: Amiga A1200 - Motorola 68EC020@14.2MHz + 68030@50MHz Acc. Card - Lisa Graphics - 2+8MB RAM - 80MB HDD LAN Rig: Amiga A500 - Motorola 68000@8MHz - Denise Graphics - 512+512KB RAM

8th Jan 2013, 22:27	#19
Corky42 Multimodder Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 244	@Adnoctum, never had a problem with my Vertex and always found they reply very quickly to problems on there forums. Always seem ok with issuing RMA if they think it maybe the drive. I guess its like any company some people will always have bad experiences like i had once with Seagate.

8th Jan 2013, 22:56	#20
KithKhan A dremel is all you need. Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 14	@Adnoctum; I've had at least two of each OCZ ssd in a RAID0 array. Updating firmware was a pain with older models, but I've never had a problem with them besides that. I know positive anecdotes don't prove anything, but I'm not sure there's any substantial basis to the perception that OCZ has a quality issue either.