Intel X25-E drive

[MDme]

Does the X25-E SLC drive get affected by the write performance degradation? if so, how much would the loss in performance be? I am thinking of getting a X25-E vs X25-M. This will help my decision to buy now or wait for drives with the TRIM command maybe?

Thanks for any help.

 

[sxr7171]

I would wait. But honestly if you have the cash and don't mind taking a few hundred dollar hit in buying a new drive in 6 months, the $300 to $390 spent on either could be worth the nice speed increase in and of itself. So the question is: "Is $1.50 a day worth it to me for a nice fast laptop?" If not wait for Trim support.

Either way you can always find a use for it when you upgrade, I might use my current 32GB Samsung SLC in a HTPC or Home Server build as I replace it in my laptop with hopefully an Intel SLC with Trim support later this year. My WHS box doesn't have Trim support anyway, so I want to secure erase it and load WHS on it.

So, I think I would wait if you don't have in mind a secondary project to dump the drive you buy today into.

 

[alcoholbob]

Intel has yet to update the firmware on the X25-E. The X25-E I have has had some performance degradation although it's still significantly faster with writes than the M.

One thing to note is that 4K random write performance between the E and the M are identical. In fact the E and M are virtually mirror images of each other aside from sequential write performance.

 

[MDme]

Yeah I noticed that intel has not put out the firmware update for the X25-E drive. Don't understand why this would be the case. So are you saying that even "degraded" the E drive is better than the "updated" X25-M drive? Do you think the M drives would only need a firmware update for the TRIM command?

 

[alcoholbob]

X25E 64GB (8790 firmware) vs X25M 80GB (8810 firmware)...

> = ~5-10% max

Sequential Reads
clean X25M = X25E
used X25M > X25E

Sequential Writes
clean X25E > X25M
used X25E > X25M

Random Reads
clean X25E = X25M
used X25M > X25E

Random Writes
clean X25E = X25M
used X25M = X25E

Performance wise, it's dead close. I don't put much stock in sequential writes because application installation is more often than not CPU limited (typically unpacking or image expansion) and you aren't likely to transfer big files on such small drives.

Essentially the X25E vs the X25M boils down to SLC vs MLC. They are that close.

And I have no idea why they haven't updated the firmware.

 

[MDme]

Thanks for the info. That is very informative. What you are saying is that they are equal at reads and the M will out do the E with the firmware upgrade....(don't understand why this would be the case though) since the firmware addresses the random write issue if I understand things right. The E drive still will be equal to or outdo the M when it comes to writes because of the SLC vs MLC thing. But if performance is only 5-10% in favor of the E drive then the space of the M drive relative to the E drive / $$ would likely be the way to go since it'll be an OS / app drive anyway. Do you think TRIM can be done via a firmware update for these drives?

 

[alcoholbob]

Raw benchmark numbers the two drives are nearly identical for normal usage. The X25E's main draw is enterprise use--the SLC NAND has lower latency. If you run a benchmark like IOMeter which simulates server use with massive continuous pounding on the drive, the X25E will be substantially faster.

I don't know about TRIM support via firmware update, knowing Intel they may introduce a new SKU with TRIM just to milk people for their money.

 

[MDme]

Yeah, it would be nice to know when the new drive with TRIM command will come out. I'm itchin' for an upgrade.

 

[taltamir]

every day i stare at the prices on the good SSDs, and every day i barely force myself not to buy until i see which ones implement trim...