Hardware G.Skill Falcon 2 128GB SSD Review

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2010/03/15/g-skill-falcon-2-128gb-ssd-review/1

G.Skill has taken a new version of the Indilinx Barefoot drive controller and paired it with Intel 32nm NAND flash to make the Falcon 2. Boasting claimed speeds of 220/110MB/s read/write, we've found its performance is surprising!

 

That's one hell of a drive. Good job G.Skill!

But I think it's wiser at this point to hold off for SATA 3 drives/boards, newer controllers (Micron, Intel, Indilinx, Sandforce and 25nm flash

 

You'll always be waiting for a new SSD then - the product cycles are only 1-2 quarters before an update is out.

 

thanks bindi, looks like my pay this month is already spent AGAIN -.-

seriously though, its good that were getting almost-Intel performance at a Kingston price.

 

But the changes coming up are arguably much greater/better than before.

 

Potentially true, but at what cost? That's not to say that this isn't a fast, quite reasonably priced drive already and the firmware for Indilinx is nice and mature, unlike Marvell or Sandforce which will also require some time for firmware development Not to mention the mobo upgrade for SATA 6G etc

DRAM/NAND manuf. are not going to increase capacity until 2011 at the earliest, so who is to say that NAND prices won't spike again over the next year?

 

True, I guess. I was speaking from the point of view of someone who's about to invest in a whole new rig. Would makes sense for me to hold off, and maybe a few others if they're willing to be patient.

You're right on one thing though - Indilinx has the market by the throat.

 

Greetings!

Will jump into one that has ~128+GB+, costs ~200-€- and has ~100+MB/sec.

 

still £2per gb effectively

i own the intel version and never regreted it ( x25m )

still a long way before your avr joe has one in there pc though

 

i'll jump on it when there's a ~100Gb costs around $150, at any speed. as long as its an SSD.

 

Yea if you don't need to buy now wait it out and see what's available when the time comes Goes for all PC hardware tbh considering Fermi is out soon etc

 

Id love to try a SSD on my PC to see if it would actually make a difference in anything.
Ill wait till they drop in price and raise the capacity though. So maybe 5 years? lol

 

Uhhmmm... cough, cough... Samsung F3 the fast regular harddisk... Meh thinks not...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hard-Ultrastar-15k600-600gb-3-5in/dp/B002Z9HLZQ/ref=sr_1_3

 

* fastest

 

That's not a regular hard drive, it's a server drive.

 

m225 256gb got the last of the stock when it was at £400 (£512 now)

the Corsair S128 was to small and had issues with high Write latency only really happened when Decrypting Steam preloaded games so its read and Write a lot, makes the system slow down an little when there is lots of Writes, but i only found steam is the only thing that could tax my old SSD any thing els it was good

 

I'll buy one once it's economically viable.

And when NAND prices take a dive.

 

I'm having this discussion in my head at the moment but I may pump for one now, mainly because I need a new HDD for the GF's PC and as I keep my drive pretty empty (OS a few apps and a game or two at a time) a 64/80Gb SSD will do me fine, so giving her my current HDD effectively whacks £60 off the price for me which makes it more palatable at £1.5/Gb.

See, I'm still trying to convince myself.

 

Hey, I've a general question regarding SSDs - is there a performance difference between high and low capacity versions of the same drive?

For example, do the Intel 80 and 160GB drives, or the Vertex 60 and 120GB drives or Crucial 64 and 128GB drives show any performance difference?

I've found that most places test the 128 or 256GB variants of SSDs, but it's the 60-80GB versions that make most sense as an OS drive (seriously, 60GB should be enough space for ANYONE ). Plus, they're a little over half the price of the double-capacity drives, so it's an easier entry into the world of SSDs.

 

With Intel Chipsets you can get TRIM support for RAIDed drives with this update: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/detail_desc.aspx?agr=N&ProductID=&DwnldID=15251