Agility 3 or 4 for my firend's audio rack.

[Schmide]

I built this clunker for my buddy who runs sound and plays in a Reggae band.

It's basically old parts but it way way out preforms what he had before. Without detail the old computer was named "The Last 98" because he had to run a motu 324 which has issues with new computers and OSs. Basically a pIII system.

The build as it is now.
Biostar TPower i45
q8200 at 2.8 (tuniq tower 120)
4gigs ddr2
1tb drive
evga gtx 260
Rocketfish modular 700w psu (I know, but this is budget based)
motu 424 pci and 24i

So I decided to move him to a rack mount case. So I got a

Norco RPC-430 Black 4U Super Short Depth 15.25" (hoping everything will fit)

So I'm going to have to replace the video card, no way that 260 is going to fit. It might be 15" alone. (kidding) I'll find something. My buddy keeps asking if he can game on it. I have a old 4870 with a custom HS that may work. I digress.

So thinking about the extra heat that will happen in a short 4u case with only 2 80mm exhaust fans. (I'll put in extra fans and a controller)

I'm going to move his OS drive to a SSD. Hoping they will survive better and with the heat and such. The 1tb drive is going to stay as extra storage, I will set it to power down in the field. This is certainly the case where power down is warranted.

I have both an Agility 3 and 4 120gb that I bought in sales. ($65-$75 each AR)

The Agility 3 has better raw IO ~500mb vs the 4's 400mb(300mb read). They seemed to have gimped the Agility 4 more vs the Vertex 4 as they did in the 3s.

The Agility 4 has better IOP 58k-72k vs the 3s 20k-50k.

All in all it really won't matter, he's doing sound on a sata2 interface. Even 24 channels with effects is barely going to hurt the system.

I get to keep the one he doesn't get. It may go to a nephew or niece or I may replace a Corsair Force 120 I have in another computer.

I'm having a hard time making the choice.

Edit: Please NO OCZ SUCKS posts in this thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit2: Agility 4 is actually a 128gb.

Edit3: I did this all out of my pocket, so cost/savings for him is not an issue.

 

[Coup27]

I will set it to power down in the field. This is certainly the case where power down is warranted.

I do not believe there is a way to independently power down (without using 3rd party software maybe) one drive in a system but not the other. So if you using Windows 7 and you have "turn drive off after x minutes" enabled, I believe it will (try at least) to power down the SSD also.

If that is the case then the answer is the Agility 4. The second generation of SandForce controllers which the Agility 3 uses have massive problems in general with power management. Putting these drives to sleep or doing anything at all regarding power management is a shortcut to BSOD and was muted by many who had an inside knowledge to be the main culprit behind the SF famous BSOD.

While I am not an OCZ fan personally, their 4 series of drives seem to have faired an awful lot better than their 3 series of drives. If I was setting an SSD system up for someone else, you need the most reliable of the two.

 

[Schmide]

Humm. From my experience only non OS drives will spin down, which is what I'm expecting from this system. I will instruct him to use the SSD for recording and the HD for data backups and such. My biggest thought is if he's doing an outdoor show, I don't want the HD running (spinning) in a 35c environment. The rest of the stuff should hold up with some extra fans and heatsinks.

OCZ claims that the bugs with the sanforce have been fixed with the latest firmware.

The more I think about it, the Agility 4 is prob the drive for the system. Its r/w numbers are much closer to the sata2 data rate. I personally believe the Agility 3 should be a better performing drive based on its figures. I kind of wanted the Agility 4 because of the large IOP writes, but in reality, I should care less.

 

[WiseUp216]

Since the Agility 4 is shaping up to be more reliable than the Agility 3, and you'll likely never notice the speed difference outside of benchmarks, I think that is the way to go.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Be careful of SSDs overheating. My Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 240GB overheats and then cannot be found until it cools off, in my Acer Aspire One 722 netbook.

 

[Coup27]

OCZ claims that the bugs with the sanforce have been fixed with the latest firmware.

OCZ claim a lot of things, often with no evidence or supporting information. The latest firmware for the 3 series was released in April 2012. See this article on AT wrote in June 2012, specifically:

Moving on to storage options, the reader will have to take a stance on the HDD vs. SSD debate. While a cheap SSD might sound very tempting (and may even prove excitingly fast in the initial days), the choice must be made only after careful consideration. At AnandTech, most of the SSDs that get reviewed go into production machines. I have been using an OCZ Agility 3 240GB SSD in my personal laptop. It is based on the SandForce SF-2281 controller. Unfortunately, I have experienced annoying random BSODs whenever I try to hibernate or put the laptop to sleep even with the latest firmware. A quick search on the various SSD forums indicates that SandForce-based SSDs usually don't like hibernation or sleep mode. This is just something to keep in consideration, because it is quite common to put HTPCs in sleep mode when not in operation.

If you're going to be playing with any form of power configuration, avoid the Agility 3, especially if it is for someone else.

 

[Schmide]

OCZ claim a lot of things, often with no evidence or supporting information. The latest firmware for the 3 series was released in April 2012. See this article on AT wrote in June 2012, specifically:

So one bad drive proves the converse? It is premature to make a conclusion either way. That's a sample of 1!. When I did the search the first thread (3rd on list for "SandForce SF-2281 ") that popped up was one where people were proclaiming the latest firmware fixed the hibernation issue.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1112136/are-there-still-issues-with-sandforce-sf2281/70

I'm personally running a vertex 3 in this machine I'm typing on, PS I just hibernated and came back. Another counter example?

You can't prove either way till much more time passes.

BTW the bug fix was announced in October 2011.

If you're going to be playing with any form of power configuration, avoid the Agility 3, especially if it is for someone else.

I disagree. See above.

 

[richaron]

I'm personally running a vertex 3 in this machine I'm typing on, PS I just hibernated and came back. Another counter example?

Just did the same on agility 3 machine. There are many hipsters who bitch about OCZ. They must think they know an inside secret. People with actual experience with modern drives talk differently.

OP: I would put #3 in the sound machine, which I guess would be using more large transfers & require less small snappy reads than a regular PC.

 

[Coup27]

So one bad drive proves the converse? It is premature to make a conclusion either way. That's a sample of 1!. When I did the search the first thread (3rd on list for "SandForce SF-2281 ") that popped up was one where people were proclaiming the latest firmware fixed the hibernation issue.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1112136/are-there-still-issues-with-sandforce-sf2281/70

I'm personally running a vertex 3 in this machine I'm typing on, PS I just hibernated and came back. Another counter example?

You can't prove either way till much more time passes.

BTW the bug fix was announced in October 2011.



I disagree. See above.

If you think that there has only been one "bad" drive to exhibit this issue then you are very much mistaken.

Either way, I have given you my recommendation, whether you choose to go with that or the Agility 3 is your decision.

 

[Schmide]

If you think that there has only been one "bad" drive to exhibit this issue then you are very much mistaken.

Did I say there was one bad drive? NO! That is a straw man. I said this one example is not enough to determine if the firmware was a fix or not. Unless you show me more than average failures past October 2011 with the new firmware, you are doing no justice to this thread.

Either way, I have given you my recommendation, whether you choose to go with that or the Agility 3 is your decision.

I think I'm going to give him the Agility 3 just because of the above.

 

[Coup27]

I think I'm going to give him the Agility 3 just because of the above.

I couldn't give a flying fuck what drive you give him. You have asked on a public forum for peoples opinions and I have given you mine. Whether you agree with my opinion or choose to totally ignore it is your prerogative, but to try and shoot down my opinion which has enough supporting evidence on the internet if you choose to find it, is actually rude considering you asked for input.

I'm done with this thread.

 

[Schmide]

I couldn't give a flying fuck what drive you give him. You have asked on a public forum for peoples opinions and I have given you mine. Whether you agree with my opinion or choose to totally ignore it is your prerogative, but to try and shoot down my opinion which has enough supporting evidence on the internet if you choose to find it, is actually rude considering you asked for input.

I'm done with this thread.

You took an aggressive stance against the new firmware and only backed it up with anecdotal evidence including

OCZ claim a lot of things, often with no evidence or supporting information...

Then expect this

which has enough supporting evidence on the internet if you choose to find it

to justify it?

I can see why you wish to exit this thread.

 

[kbp]

Im with coup....
I'll just leave this thread alone. And yes I've owned an OCZ.

 

[Schmide]

Im with coup....

You are saying you agree with him? Or maybe...

I'll just leave this thread alone. And yes I've owned an OCZ.

So you posted to say you're leaving the thread alone?

 

[OlafSicky]

I think you should get intel 330 because of the toolbox. I wouldn't invest in an old system perhaps a cheap c2d celeron they are like $30 + $50 for the board with integrated gfx. Less head problems quieter and more stable. I don't think PIII had SATA boards.

 

[Schmide]

It's a yorkfield quad at 2.8ghz with a tuniq tower 120. All old parts. The only investment was the case, the special audio card, and the ssd.

I don't sell parts I make homes for them.

Edit: That being said. I looked up the 330 and it looks like a good deal for $90 considering its performance.