yawnbox

This all started with my interest in the manufacturer of memory used in SSDs and the memory controllers used. Below is a chart of all the information that I could come up with via lots and lots of reviews-reading and specifications hunting. Not all the reviews cover the same information, and some reviews even provide different information from what is listed on the manufacturers website.

If you have resources to add, i'd be happy to update the chart.



Some interesting notes that I came across:

*Many of the lower cost SSDs on the market use a SATA-to-PATA bridge chip that slows performance, but the X25-M uses SATA 2.6

*single-level cell (SLC) memory chips that aren't plagued by poor write rates

*J-Micron disk controller sadly led to significant drive stuttering during the MP3 copy test, resulting is a copy time twice as long as the fastest mechanical drives

*NCQ was developed to reduce the performance impact of mechanical latency found in traditional hard drives, so it's might seem like an odd choice for a solid-state drive with no mechanical parts. According to Intel, its SSDs are so fast that NCQ helps to compensate for latency encountered in the host PC. Even today's fastest systems take some time (time is relative in the microsecond world of the SSD) between when a request is completed and another one is issued. Queuing up multiple requests can keep a solid-state drive busy during this downtime, and the X25-M is capable of stacking requests 32 deep.

*****The silicon power SATA SSD's have conflicting reviews. it is apparent that people have reviewed these as both SLC and MLC, while their current website lists them all as MLC.
*****This is why:
* 8.0GB SP008GBSSD750S25(SLC) SP008GBSSD650S25(MLC)
* 16.0GB SP016GBSSD750S25(SLC) SP016GBSSD650S25(MLC)
* 32.0GB SP032GBSSD750S25(SLC) SP032GBSSD650S25(MLC)
* 64.0GB SP064GBSSD750S25(SLC) SP064GBSSD650S25(MLC)
* 128.0GB SP128GBSSD650S25(MLC)
http://www.guru3d.com/article/silico...-disk-review/3

*Solid State Drives DO NOT require defragmentation. It may (will, haha) decrease the lifespan of the drive.

*"As for Micron's SSD, there's something they didn't highlight. The PC version (the [upcoming] P200) has an internal DRAM just like an Enterprise SSD does. It's just a smaller DRAM, so the drive can be cheaper. This is key to making an SSD that performs well in the PC," said Jim Handy, an analyst with Objective Analysis.

*With the "Samsung ###" listed under DRAM, this means, for instance, 840, were made in week 40 of 2008. This is an easy identified for how "new" the SSDs are. See the Samsung NAND Flash web site for further info:
http://www.samsung.com/global/busine...1M#component01

Some of the websites I pulled information from...

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1337guy

wow!good chart!
how long did it take you to compile that?!?!
just remember to keep updating it!
REP+

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DiHydrogenMonOxide

+ rep, Wow.

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yawnbox

two interesting and long nights

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pauldovi

I just purchased a Intel X25-M and it should be here Monday or Tuesday, I can't wait. Any SSD with a JMicron controller is one you want to steer clear of.

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yawnbox

with the upcoming OCZ Apex, 'Tony' from XtremeSystems.org (forums) who released the info about the drives, said the following:

I couldn't determine if he was talking about the Apex, but i'm interested in seeing if they can make a decent drive with the JMicron controller, especially since it's internal RAID-0.

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pauldovi

I think you mean Vertex?

They said the Vertex doesn't have a JMicron controller. I was considering waiting for it, but my new laptop is very fast save for the 5400RPM drive so I really didn't have the patients to wait for Vertex to launch and get reviewed.

OCZTony is a funny character. It's not just the benchmarks that say the JMicron controller is crap, it is also everyone who owns the SSDs. They will tell you all about the studdering.

Intel really has the most unique approach to the SSD and it have proven to be very successful thus far.

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yawnbox

no, i mean apex. apex doesn't have cache, vertex does.
i coudn't find any info on what controller the vertex would use.

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Hondacity

excellent compilation... wish you can add the read/write times

yeah i went ssd, hopefully it will a year..lol

supertalent ox is cheap!

PR1M3R

Thinking of getting an SSD, but I want one of the cheap ones, but not cheap performance

Any recommendations, for a good yet cheap SSD? If there is one?

And VERY nice info

EDIT: Where in WA do you live?

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Celeron D 352 @ 6167.77mhz