New Intel SSD drives are in!!!

[looper]

I have a WD Raptor HD currently. If you had to generalize more than you wanted to, what APPROXIMATE, ballpark percentage increase in real-world performance could I expect with the Intel X25G2 160gig SSD in a Win 7-64bit OS...?

 

[ilkhan]

Depends on the app.
Dual raptors would be unnoticeable different on sequential reads, they're damn fast. But just like any mechanical HDD, throw a single random R/W at it and they'll keel over and die with latency.

 

[Owls]

160GB G2 drives are available at costcentral at a not so cool $467. I am tempted but it's still far too much at the moment.

 

[Breezie]

I had a couple of noobie questions if you guys can help. I havn't looked into computer hardware for about a year or two and was thinking about upping my harddrive to an Intel SSD for Windows 7.

1) I have a q6600 (@3.0ghz) on a Abit IP35 mobo with 6gb of ram, standard 7200 hd's and an 8800gt (512) video card. Would the 80gb intel SSD be a smart choice for an upgrade or would the $200-250 be better spent elsewhere?

2) With the above system, is it "up to date" enough to get the best performance from the SSD? Do I need a better mobo/chipset? This is a major concern for me.

3) We all know the prices are inflated (much like the 8800gt's were if I remember) - So prices probably won't drop till early 2010, is this a good assumption?

 

[mhouck]

Originally posted by: Breezie
I had a couple of noobie questions if you guys can help. I havn't looked into computer hardware for about a year or two and was thinking about upping my harddrive to an Intel SSD for Windows 7.

1) I have a q6600 (@3.0ghz) on a Abit IP35 mobo with 6gb of ram, standard 7200 hd's and an 8800gt (512) video card. Would the 80gb intel SSD be a smart choice for an upgrade or would the $200-250 be better spent elsewhere?

2) With the above system, is it "up to date" enough to get the best performance from the SSD? Do I need a better mobo/chipset? This is a major concern for me.

3) We all know the prices are inflated (much like the 8800gt's were if I remember) - So prices probably won't drop till early 2010, is this a good assumption?

1) As far as load times, it is probably the best upgrade. If you are talking about gaming, you might want to wait until October and look at a 5850 for $269, if I'm not mistaken.

3) It's not that over priced right now if you can find it in stock at some retailers excluding Newegg. I think MSRP was supposed to be $225 and it's already been posted in the thread at $233. If you want to get it and can find it w/in $10 of that I would think it's still ago.

 

[Owls]

Originally posted by: Breezie
I had a couple of noobie questions if you guys can help. I havn't looked into computer hardware for about a year or two and was thinking about upping my harddrive to an Intel SSD for Windows 7.

1) I have a q6600 (@3.0ghz) on a Abit IP35 mobo with 6gb of ram, standard 7200 hd's and an 8800gt (512) video card. Would the 80gb intel SSD be a smart choice for an upgrade or would the $200-250 be better spent elsewhere?

2) With the above system, is it "up to date" enough to get the best performance from the SSD? Do I need a better mobo/chipset? This is a major concern for me.

3) We all know the prices are inflated (much like the 8800gt's were if I remember) - So prices probably won't drop till early 2010, is this a good assumption?

1. Yes, you could probably get more bang for your buck by upgrading the video card.

2. Yes, it's fine.

3. No one knows for sure but as production ramps up I wouldn't mind paying $250 for the 160GB G2 by Christmas. The price level is for enthusiasts only and the only thing holding me back is the lack of space, even 160GB is far too small for my needs.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Breezie
I had a couple of noobie questions if you guys can help. I havn't looked into computer hardware for about a year or two and was thinking about upping my harddrive to an Intel SSD for Windows 7.

1) I have a q6600 (@3.0ghz) on a Abit IP35 mobo with 6gb of ram, standard 7200 hd's and an 8800gt (512) video card. Would the 80gb intel SSD be a smart choice for an upgrade or would the $200-250 be better spent elsewhere?

2) With the above system, is it "up to date" enough to get the best performance from the SSD? Do I need a better mobo/chipset? This is a major concern for me.

3) We all know the prices are inflated (much like the 8800gt's were if I remember) - So prices probably won't drop till early 2010, is this a good assumption?

1. for overall system speed (and game loading time) it is your best bet, for game FPS a video card upgrade will work better (but that assumes you are having FPS problems)

2. Yes

3. As mhouck said, prices went down already. Just be aware that it will lose its value (as in, resale value, because there is something faster) as fast as a video card or faster, unlike spindle drives which used to last many years.

 

[DukeN]

Originally posted by: Breezie
I had a couple of noobie questions if you guys can help. I havn't looked into computer hardware for about a year or two and was thinking about upping my harddrive to an Intel SSD for Windows 7.

1) I have a q6600 (@3.0ghz) on a Abit IP35 mobo with 6gb of ram, standard 7200 hd's and an 8800gt (512) video card. Would the 80gb intel SSD be a smart choice for an upgrade or would the $200-250 be better spent elsewhere?

2) With the above system, is it "up to date" enough to get the best performance from the SSD? Do I need a better mobo/chipset? This is a major concern for me.

3) We all know the prices are inflated (much like the 8800gt's were if I remember) - So prices probably won't drop till early 2010, is this a good assumption?

1. That will be the best $250 or so you'll spend, unless you're looking for gaming frame rates only.

2. Yes, it is up to date - the only thing you can do better is use Windows 7 and apply the upcoming TRIM firmware.

3. Prices are inflated, and won't dip for a while but if you are looking to spend $200-250, see point 1.

Good luck!

 

[Breezie]

Thanks for the advice guys. It does sound like something fun to spend my $$$ on but I'm still a little on the fence about if I really want it or not. Did you guys see the deal on the OCZ vertex (60gb) on newegg? Its around $150 after rebate. How's it compare?

 

[Majic 7]

Finally got my hands on a 160. It's been said before but until you have it in your hands nothing prepares you for how small it is. It's barely larger than a credit card! Now I have too decide whether to go through reinstalling my OS and apps twice or just wait until 7 comes out. And what if Lucid's Hydra is as amazing as they are saying it is. That will probably be another reinstall. I see a i860 or a i920 in my future no matter what but now I have to wait see if the hype is true or not. Decisions, decisions.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Ya, hydra has got me thinking of my latest mobo purchase but the question is whether or not on how good the particular board they are on overclocks.

 

[ilkhan]

majic: you know you can install 7 without a key for up to 120 days, right? install now, buy later.

 

[chrisf6969]

Originally posted by: ilkhan
majic: you know you can install 7 without a key for up to 120 days, right? install now, buy later.

Yeah, but the version out now (RC1. etc), isn't activatable right?

So he will be reinstalling anyway.

Unless you know where to get a RTM / final version.

 

[nbuubu]

Installed the 160GB G2 in my Macbook Pro, thing just screams now.

Divided it into a 100GB OS X 10.6 partition, and a 50GB Windows 7 Pro partition mainly for games and the Zune software. Wouldn't even mess around with Bootcamp on a platter drive, just took too long to restart between operating systems.

The majority of the bootup time is just the laptop doing the hardware checks. Once the systems actually start to load off the ssd it's kind of unreal. Though it's a shame Apple only activated AHCI for their own OS. Windows 7 still runs fine in IDE mode. Not that I'd really notice.

Photoshop and Illustrator load in under 2 seconds each. Kind of impossible to time it accurately. Good stuff.

 

[ilkhan]

Originally posted by: chrisf6969

Originally posted by: ilkhan
majic: you know you can install 7 without a key for up to 120 days, right? install now, buy later.

Yeah, but the version out now (RC1. etc), isn't activatable right?
So he will be reinstalling anyway.
Unless you know where to get a RTM / final version.

Ive been running final since the end of july (IIRC), already at 2 months. So don't tell me whats available.

 

[chrisf6969]

That version, the release candidate, you can run for a full year. I had it installed too since July. I recently deleted it though. That version won't be "activateable".

 

[taltamir]

the release candidate can be run for a year. the FINAL VERSION (RTM = release to manufacturer) can be ran up to 120 days in trial mode. just a matter of getting it from someone who has the right connections for it...

 

[ilkhan]

or getting it from technet, MSDN, MSDAA...etc.
RC is good until may, as taltamir said, RTM is good for 120 days.
Im on the RTM, not the RC.

 

[Owls]

Originally posted by: taltamir
the release candidate can be run for a year. the FINAL VERSION (RTM = release to manufacturer) can be ran up to 120 days in trial mode. just a matter of getting it from someone who has the right connections for it...

diamond member advocating piracy? nawwww..

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Owls

Originally posted by: taltamir
the release candidate can be run for a year. the FINAL VERSION (RTM = release to manufacturer) can be ran up to 120 days in trial mode. just a matter of getting it from someone who has the right connections for it...

diamond member advocating piracy? nawwww..

piracy?
1. using TRIAL SOFTWARE is not piracy, it is TRIAL
2. there are plenty of legal ways to get the RTM version right now. You can work for the right company, be volunteered to test configuration for a certain company (thats why they release it to manufacturer, to test out their various systems with it), or be a member of certain groups (technet, MSDN, MSDAA, etc)
3. there ARE ways to just get it cracked right now... but I was not suggesting that. In fact I did not even mention HOW one would go about cracking it.
4. No connections are needed for piracy, you just get online and download.

Also, as for the trial version.. it is 30 days with the ability to "reset" 3 times.

 

[zuffy]

I have 2 of the 80GB X25-M G2 and 1 80GB X25-M G1. The SSD is very snappy in my i7-975 system. In my QX6700 system, it replaced a VelociRaptor in RAID 0. While the performance did improved, it's not very noticable over the RAID 0 in the real world. I guess it would have been more obvious if I was using an average 5400 or 7200rpm drive as baseline.

In my work PC, experience is similar to my QX6700. It's not day and night difference. I guess it has to do with my VelociRaptor as a baseline drive again. I believe the CPU and the SATA are the bottleneck. It's a Penitum 4 3.06ghz with HT and generation 1 SATA. While it's still one of the best hardware upgrade you can have in term of performance, you still need a good CPU and bandwidth for the SSD to run at its full potential imo.

 

[taltamir]

yes, SATA is not fast enough for these drives. They come very very close to saturating gen2 SATA actually.

 

[ilkhan]

I need to stop updating my server. Ordered a second WD20EADS (currently 1xWD20EADS + 3xWD7500AAKS), it'll replace one of the 750s which will get moved to be the storage drive backing up the 080G2. Probably format on the first just to make sure its all squeeky clean with the new drive setup.

 

[chrisf6969]

Bastards, I want the RTM. I would have installed that last week on my new 80Gb G2, instead of WinXP Sp3 and waiting until 10-22-09 for Win7 then having to reformat/reinstall.

 

[taltamir]

repartition too, XP does not align the partitions correctly.