Hardware OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD

I can't really see how they're (and by they I mean all SSD manufacturers) going to fix the performance degradation issue. It's a problem that is inherent to the flash technology.


The problem is that of data pages. Every time you want to change even 1 bit you have to read the page that bit is stored in, erase that page and then write it back. At first, when the disk is fresh and unused data can simply be written to the disk. However, as more and more of the disk's space gets filled you'll have to perform the routine mentioned above. A way to alleviate the problem a bit is to have a huge DRAM cache on the disk. Intel's X25 series has 16MB on-board and I believe the Vertex has 64MB, which is the main, if not the only, reason it's faster than the X25 at writing.

Oh, and by the way, any SSD using the JMicron JMF602 controller is a pure hands-off product. Avoid at all cost! They'll never run fast, even if a "new" design is advertised. They also consume way too much power.

 

IBM... Im pretty sure its IBM, I read the info A LONG time ago is developing what they call nano wire race tracks, which should eliminate ALL the known issues with current SSD and take that technology to the next level but who knows how long that could take.

 

windows 7 supports an SSD command called TRIM (the SSD it self needs to support this command)
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531&p=10 (i recommend reading all pages press the print button, but do not go full screen keep it about 6in wide so its more readable) page 10 explanes then TRIM command it alows it to wipe an block so its ready to receve data and for the most part all SSD companys need to do is bring an update out for the SSD

http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/05/05/support-and-q-a-for-solid-state-drives-and.aspx


JMicron is slow any way be it fresh format or not (small writes)

 

Sounds interesting. I hope they get it to work. Soon.

The "trim" command doesn't solve the performance problem, but it alleviates it. Only if there's a fair bit of empty space on the drive, though. Also, the "trim" command has only been proposed to be part of the ATA specification, although it'll probably be accepted. Actually, Microsoft proposes further changes to the ATA specification, but they're pushing "trim" especially. It all helps, though.

QFT!

 

The trim command is performed after the write so does fix the writeing issues (unless its JMicron as you see from the line below very disapointing jmicron ssds was sold in this way)

On that last link from anandtech it has the speed issues that what happes when trim is not used and shows how poor jmicron is new vs filled page 12-14 http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531&p=13 is where trim command would of keeped the hdd at good free state as the the ssd blocks are all ready free to use going to get the corsair s128 ssd see how it perfomes see if it has trim as well

Allso he does keep on pointing out that thay get slower the older thay get thay do not, thay just go 20% slow that's all once thay have been filled thay willnot go slower then that (and the trim command is not used) it goes an little slower but still 2x faster then an norm hdd (baring jmicron)

 

A 7/10 on value? Haha! A 128gb SSD for $380 is not a good value. Access speeds, read/write speeds aside cost per GB is insane. Sitting at over $2.96 a GB, that is insanity. Considering I just bought a 1TB mech drive for $.08 per GB.

I honestly dont see the attraction to these drives (other then no moving parts). Being a solid memory architecture, does not the memory integrity start to get compromised over use? (something like 250k read/writes starts to get corrupt?)

I would throw the rating down to a 2/10 for value, as nearly $3 a GB is simply to much, no matter how they try to "spin it".

 

well Im not sure on this SSD but there are some SSD designed to last over 100 years so that explains their high price tag compared to a typical mechanic drive that has a span of 5 years on average. So if this SSD can last even just 3 times that would mean its a good value if not then ya I agree still to pricey

 

got the S128 now and it works very well, using windows 7 and it has turned off superfetch and readyboost {once the windows experience index has been performed } you can see if the SSD performs well or not plug an pendrive in and look for the readyboost and it says that the speed of the hard disk you are using is unlikely to benefit from readyboost so it has been disabled , i am guessing it may not say that on JMicron drives but not sure (any one got windows 7 with an SSD thats JMicron drive? chekc the above)

one note you Need to do an windows experience index before it sets the options (its set when it does the disk performance check) and has compleated it
cpu 7.3
ram 7.3
aero 6.0
3d 6.0
HDD 7.1

i guess to get an higher score then 6.0 on video needs an DX11 card,

on windows 7, GDI+ has been turnd back on and moved to the video card, this has done wunders for programs i have used in the past that have used masive CPU (maxing an core out as thay are norm single threaded GDI) and slow programs no longer happen (vista has 0 GDI+ support all CPU rendering)

only bug now is nividia the right click on desktop has added an 2 sec delay Nvidia need to fix that as there right click option thats in there is delaying it, and i get some times messed up video on second display (but that may have been due to power saveing options on the PCI-e in power options, i set it to none and USB to no, on power save, not seen it happen agane yet)

and yay thay fixed the network bug when haveing sound card open (teamspeak or any audio program thats got the sound card open) my network goes at 60-80MB/s from my server (depends what disk its comming from)

i have not filled the drive yet but the atto benchmark at 128KB is maxing out at 95MB/s read 75MB/s write so the drive must be prefilled, there was all ready an NTFS partition (had name corsair as lable) so thay must do an full format test i guess before sending them out,

 

Excellent review. Very thorough and comprehensive.

Bit-tech has been a most valuable resource for following the rise of SSD drives. Keep up the good work.

 

I'd guess it's a combination of DX11 and dialing it back in expectation for future GPU releases considering the large performance advancements.