The SSDs of CES

[mclaren777]

I figured it might be good to have a central thread to discuss all of the new third-gen SSDs that are announced this week. I'll do my best to keep this thread updated as CES rolls on.


Micron C400/Crucial m4
Anandtech
Hot Hardware
Prices: $425 for 256GB, $210 for 128GB, and perhaps $120 for 64GB
Release: February for C400 and Q1 for m4

OCZ Vertex 3 Pro, Vertex 3 EX, and Z-Drive R3
Engadget
Anandtech
Price: unknown
Release: Q2
"Transfer rate" listed as 550MB/s, 525MB/s, and 1GB/s respectively


Corsair Performance 3
Daily Tech
Anandtech
Price: unknown
Release: late January
256GB model: 480MB/s read and 320MB/s write
128GB model: 410MB/s read and 210MB/s write
64GB model: 365MB/s read and 110MB/s write

 

[Emulex]

not february so NDA - but maybe intel will give us some love early on the products released january 11

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Now the question becomes do I want to sell my Vertex 2 I got for xmas (still sealed), and get gen 3? I don't have SATA3, and only have SATA2, so the benefit aren't really worth it from what I can tell.

 

[God Mode]

I need some more drives soon and the wait is killing me. I don't want to pay current prices for older drives when the new release drives are supposedly similar in pricing but with increased speeds.

 

[Emulex]

dunno i just got a slightly used non-ES 160gb X25-m G2 for $160 - under warranty still - so you can wait or you can find a deal man.

 

[mclaren777]

not february so NDA - but maybe intel will give us some love early on the products released january 11

I don't understand what you're saying (perhaps I'm not meant to).

What product will be released on January 11th?

 

[FallenHero]

Now the question becomes do I want to sell my Vertex 2 I got for xmas (still sealed), and get gen 3? I don't have SATA3, and only have SATA2, so the benefit aren't really worth it from what I can tell.

I'm in the same boat. On one hand, you know the gen-3 drives will saturate and fully use your SATA2 connection but wont be near their max, on the other, you can have a current gen now that won't be nearly as fast but still provide a huge boost to a rig.

Any guru's out there got advice for those of us with Sata2 but no SSD yet.

 

[zerogear]

Unless you're constantly transferring files on and off the SSD, you really won't notice a difference between the two with day to day usage if you have SATA2, as for SATA3 interface w/ SATA3 drives, not sure, since I haven't tried those yet

I would say if you want one right now, just get one.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Unless you're constantly transferring files on and off the SSD, you really won't notice a difference between the two with day to day usage if you have SATA2, as for SATA3 interface w/ SATA3 drives, not sure, since I haven't tried those yet

I would say if you want one right now, just get one.

I have two actually at this moment, although I just sold one today (still in my system though and need to wipe it and send it). The other is still sealed, and before I used it to replace the SSD I just sold I was debating about going back to my 74 gb Raptor for a bit. I would sell the sealed SSD, and then get a gen 3 when they are released.

I don't think it would be too beneficial for me since I don't write to it much, and it's almost all reads off the drive now.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

I would say if you want one right now, just get one.

This.

I bought a 120GB Vertex 2 in July for >$400. They're $200 or less now. I've had 6 months of SSD goodness for $200, compared to not having it and buying one now. Well worth it.

 

[God Mode]

I have several SSD's right now and need more but if prices per gb are going to stay the same, I'm waiting for the new models.

 

[BBMW]

I'm wondering at what point do we hit the point of diminishing returns for the increased speed of SSDs? Looking at it from the standpoint of user experience on a home PC, going from nothing to a gen2 Intel is probably a revelation. Going from a Gen 2 intel to a Sandforce 1200, maybe you notice maybe you don't. Going from a Sandforce 1200 to a Sandforce 2000, even if it benchmarks much faster, would it give any benefit on the user interface?

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

I'm wondering at what point do we hit the point of diminishing returns for the increased speed of SSDs? Looking at it from the standpoint of user experience on a home PC, going from nothing to a gen2 Intel is probably a revelation. Going from a Gen 2 intel to a Sandforce 1200, maybe you notice maybe you don't. Going from a Sandforce 1200 to a Sandforce 2000, even if it benchmarks much faster, would it give any benefit on the user interface?

Depends on workloads.

Would a grandparent see the benefit of a Core i7, 12 gb ram, SSD, GTX 480's in SLI powered beast of a machine compared to the hardware you find in a $400 Dell (I say hardware only as the bloatware on a predone system is crazy)? She might notice, she might not. SSD's are no different where you may notice an increase depending on what you do with it.

The main apps which will see benefits are things like databases/SQL stuff and things that have lots of writes to disks (as the write performance is the big gain from gen 2->3).

 

[techs]

I'm wondering at what point do we hit the point of diminishing returns for the increased speed of SSDs? Looking at it from the standpoint of user experience on a home PC, going from nothing to a gen2 Intel is probably a revelation. Going from a Gen 2 intel to a Sandforce 1200, maybe you notice maybe you don't. Going from a Sandforce 1200 to a Sandforce 2000, even if it benchmarks much faster, would it give any benefit on the user interface?

From what I have read, and my real world experience with my 80 Gb. Intel x25-m G2 you're not going to see much, if any, difference at all in everday use. For power users that want to load large files into memory, say, you might be able to notice the difference.

But your point is well taken. The experience of going from a spindle to a SSD is a huge leap. From a G2 to a G3 is going to be a completely different step. Much, much smaller.

 

[FlasHBurN]

So torn on whether or not to buy the Vertex 2 120GB for $198 at NewEgg now, or wait. I really do need to replace my aging Raptor 74GB drive, especially since I found that a bunch of sectors were reallocated.

 

[mclaren777]

I'm trying to decide between buying a Patriot Inferno 60GB/G.Skill Phoenix 60GB right now for $130 or waiting until next month for the Micron C400.

I really wish we knew the price point and release date for the C400.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

Price points for the C400 were included in Anand's article, I believe. They were in at least one of the articles I read about them.

 

[Infrnl]

I'm trying to decide between buying a Patriot Inferno 60GB/G.Skill Phoenix 60GB right now for $130 or waiting until next month for the Micron C400.

I really wish we knew the price point and release date for the C400.

Price should be very similar to current pricing; release I thought was in about a month.

go through ewiz and you can get a pretty good deal on C300's.

No matter what the new specs are; I really do not see a substantial increase in real world performance.

If yopu want sandforce; I would say G Skill over patriot, but thats just my personal preference

 

[sygyzy]

I thought Gen 3 promised improved performance and better pricing. Now I am hearing both of those are not true?

 

[Emulex]

supply versus demand. Enterprise wants all the mlc it can get. stat. what do you think (think economics dude) that leaves the consumers with?

 

[LokutusofBorg]

I thought Gen 3 promised improved performance and better pricing. Now I am hearing both of those are not true?

A lot of people seem to be under the wrong assumption that Intel is coming out with a new controller. There has been no news of a new Intel controller. Their gen3 drives are just going to be using their new smaller NAND, which *will* have performance benefits of its own. But not the revolutionary improvements that the new SandForce controller is bringing. Intel may drop a bomb announcement, but they haven't yet.

 

[Emulex]

intel is coming out with a new controller. for consumer? you shall see. for enterprise - yes. for slc - yes

 

[aceO07]

I wonder if Intel will make an announcement today.

 

[vol7ron]

Now the question becomes do I want to sell my Vertex 2 I got for xmas (still sealed), and get gen 3? I don't have SATA3, and only have SATA2, so the benefit aren't really worth it from what I can tell.

I say wait. If you haven't jumped on the SSD train yet, you might as well sell what you got and wait for the new. Even though you still have SATA2 now, you will probably have SATA3 (maybe SATA4 at rate things are going) at some point in the future.

In the hardware world, it seems that it's best to wait until you can't do w/o and are forced to buy because new products always carry the wow-factor that they should. The question I would have, if I were you, is "do I wait for the C400... or for the other products in Q2?"

 

[poohbear]

Unless you're constantly transferring files on and off the SSD, you really won't notice a difference between the two with day to day usage if you have SATA2, as for SATA3 interface w/ SATA3 drives, not sure, since I haven't tried those yet

I would say if you want one right now, just get one.

This. +1

Since most of us use a 64gb version as OS, those insane write/read speeds wont mean much.