[UltimateBMW]

This post is more of for the technical guys that have built and maintain their own rigs. On Weds. Nov. 11, Newegg.com's AM shellshocker deal will be a 40gb Kingston SSD. People are expecting this to be a Intel G2 SSD drive, and the price should be somewhere around $85.

For a boot drive, this would be a great thing to get. And with the lower price, this would be a great time to get into the SSD scene. Depending on what the price actually is, I'll probably pick one up as I've been looking for a decent sub $100 solution. But we will see.

Source:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1467472

[.:bHd:.]

Sorry to sound like a noob.. but are these the ones that don't have a disk inside? And how's the speed compared to a regular HDD

[UltimateBMW]

SSD = Solid State Disk

Yes, they are the platter-less hard drives. Here is a brief pro/con from wikipedia. I'll post up some numbers when I find a decent comparison, or decide to make one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive

• Advantages
• Faster start-up because no spin-up is required.
• Fast random access because there is no read/write head[23]
• Low read latency times for RAM drives.[24] In applications where hard disk seeks are the limiting factor, this results in faster boot and application launch times (see Amdahl's law).[25]
• Consistent read performance because physical location of data is irrelevant for SSDs.[26]
• File fragmentation has negligible effect.
• Silent operation due to the lack of moving parts.
• Low capacity flash SSDs have a low power consumption and generate little heat when in use.
• High mechanical reliability, as the lack of moving parts almost eliminates the risk of "mechanical" failure.
• Ability to endure extreme shock, high altitude, vibration and extremes of temperature.[27][28] This makes SSDs useful for laptops, mobile computers, and devices that operate in extreme conditions (flash).[25]
• For low-capacity SSDs, lower weight and size: although size and weight per unit storage are still better for traditional hard drives, and microdrives allow up to 20 GB storage in a CompactFlash form-factor. As of 2008 SSDs up to 256 GB are lighter than hard drives of the same capacity.[27]
• Failures occur less frequently whilst writing/erasing data, which means there is a lower chance of irrecoverable data damage.[29]
• [edit]
  
  Disadvantages
• As of mid-2008, SSDs are still more expensive per gigabyte than hard drives. Whereas a normal flash drive is between US$1.50-3.45 per gigabyte, hard drives are around US$0.38 per gigabyte.[18][30]
• The capacity of SSDs is currently lower than that of hard drives. However, flash SSD capacity is predicted to increase rapidly, with drives of 1 TB already released for enterprise and industrial applications.[31][32][33][34][35]
• Asymmetric read vs. write performance can cause problems with certain functions where the read and write operations are expected to be completed in a similar timeframe. SSDs currently have a much slower write performance compared to their read performance.[36]
• Similarly, SSD write performance is significantly impacted by the availability of free, programmable blocks. Previously written data blocks that are no longer in use can be reclaimed by TRIM; however, even with TRIM, fewer free, programmable blocks translates into reduced performance.[37]
• Due to the low storage density of SSDs, hard disks can store more data per unit volume than DRAM or flash SSDs, except for very low capacity/small devices.
• Flash-memory cells have limited lifetimes and will often wear out after 1,000 to 10,000 write cycles for MLC, and up to 100,000 write cycles for SLC.[38][39][40][41] Special file systems or firmware designs can mitigate this problem by spreading writes over the entire device, called wear leveling.[42]
• As a result of wear leveling and write combining, the performance of SSDs degrades with use.[43][44]
• SATA-based SSDs generally exhibit much slower write speeds. As erase blocks on flash-based SSDs generally are quite large (e.g. 0.5 - 1 megabyte),[18] they are far slower than conventional disks during small writes (write amplification effect) and can suffer from write fragmentation.[45] Modern PCIe SSDs however have much faster write speeds than previously available.
• DRAM-based SSDs (but not flash-based SSDs) require more power than hard disks, when operating; they still use power when the computer is turned off, while hard disks do not.[46]

[UltimateBMW]

For the record, the 10,000rpm VelociRaptor HDD reads at about 105MB/sec.

SSD drives are generally clocking in at least double that. Reading at rates of 250mb/sec is about average. But they write at around 180mb/sec. So there is a bit of a difference there.

Also, most poeple use them as boot drives. Which means you only put your OS and primary applications on them. Applications you use often and will keep for a long time. There are some SSD's that seem to have issues with re-writing sometimes. However, the Intel G2 series is the top of the line right now in SSD technology. So if that kingston has one in it, that is what will make or break this deal.

Here is a small Anandtech review comparing the new and old Intel SSDs.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=3607&p=1

[.:bHd:.]

I think i'll pick one up once they're a little more advanced and can hold more data. HD editing should be a breeze with these.

Thanks man

[jopa489]

That's only around 15% off MSRP. Not an amazing deal, but decent. 40GB is just a bit too small though, even for a dedicated boot drive. If this was a 60 or 80, I'd be all over it.

[.:bHd:.]

Originally Posted by jopa489

That's only around 15% off MSRP. Not an amazing deal, but decent. 40GB is just a bit too small though, even for a dedicated boot drive. If this was a 60 or 80, I'd be all over it.

I put a 10,000RPM drive in my pc as a boot drive and honestly I don't really feel the difference. And ya even 80 is too small. There are 1TB external drives out there for $250 and they're extremely fast for being hooked up with a wire. Either way I have hope for this technology and hopefully it'll be better than disk drives.

[jopa489]

Maybe I'm missing it, but Newegg doesn't say whether the drive is MLC or SLC. My guess is that it's MLC (slower, shorter lifespan compared to SLC).

[Prowess Symphony]

Im upgrading to a SSD soon. 40gb is fine for a dedicated gaming rig. I only have one or two games on their at a time besides the os. I hope this newegg is slc and I might get it. Thanks for the heads up!

[jopa489]

It's MLC. Unless you're putting it in a netbook, pass.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

[vgame64]

Thanks!

[Zirenz2006]

I want a SSD as my system drive.

[GreenPlease]

I just put in a Corsair P.. something. 64gb SSD with a Samsung controller. Thing absolutely FLIES. We're talking zero load times for programs. Really awesome. Windows 7 is a huge improvement as well IMO.