2x60Gb ssd or 3x30Gb ssd ?

Gunda · 24 Feb 2010 at 12:45

Comes to roughly the same price, but i was thinking i would get more performance out of the 3 vertex's than i would the 2 Corsairs? what do people think? (going raid0 on a ich10 mb)

3x OCZ Vertex Series 30GB
- Capacity: 30GB
- Cache: 64MB
- Read: Up to 230MB/sec
- Write: Up to 135MB/sec
- NAND Flash: Multi-Level Cell (MLC)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-013-OC

2x Corsair Reactor 60GB
- Capacity: 60GB
- Cache: 128MB
- Maximum Read: 250MB/sec
- Maximum Write: 110MB/sec
- NAND Flash: Multi-Level Cell (MLC)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-008-CS

rhys216 · 24 Feb 2010 at 13:08

I think your better off with one big ssd. i.e. 1x 160gb x25-m
The reasons for this are too many to list.

Chris Beard · 24 Feb 2010 at 14:01

What are the reasons. I can only think of a few:

No TRIM support in RAID
Overhead from RAID steals CPU
Resale value

PhillyDee · 24 Feb 2010 at 14:08

Chris Beard said:
What are the reasons. I can only think of a few:

No TRIM support in RAID
Overhead from RAID steals CPU
Resale value

I will add:
Array failure kKills all data
Single drive failure kills all data

Even so, the OP wants to know what is faster!

Yes, you would get more performance from the 3 drives. Although, why?

Gunda · 24 Feb 2010 at 14:12

why? why not?

I've been running 2x ocz corev2 30Gb drives for a year or so now nice and quick but i wanted something faster for load times and gaming. Also i have a media pc i want to swap the corev2's into.

PhillyDee · 24 Feb 2010 at 14:44

Gunda said:
why? why not?

Good enough reason for me

Chris Beard · 24 Feb 2010 at 14:59

I think after a certain number of drives you won't see an improvement without moving to a good raid controller card.

Not really sure what that number is though, sorry.

VortexA1 · 24 Feb 2010 at 16:11

well because of no TRIM support on RAID I wouldn't do it.

You'll lose the speed of the drive.

One of my old SSD drives that I have atm with no TRIM support is now badly performing.

EDIT if you get intel SSDs and RAID them then you can TRIM them still manually.

shadowscotland · 24 Feb 2010 at 16:15

3 is the number - or that is what the few multi SSD reviews have said
a forth is where deminishing returns start to really bite.

Personally if it's a OS drive a single intel's is leaps ahead.
swap your two corev2 to an 80 or 120 intel

deus3x · 24 Feb 2010 at 16:16

I have the X25M and love it. Id choose it over both your options.

Zarf · 24 Feb 2010 at 16:52

you'll probably appreciate more capacity over outright speed.

Col_M · 24 Feb 2010 at 17:24

Isn't the only benefit of RAID SSDs improved sequential reads and writes which basically means moving files? If you want faster system/OS performance you're better off getting one good drive like the Intels with better performance in random reads and writes?

Am I on the right track?

rhys216 · 24 Feb 2010 at 18:00

Chris Beard said:
What are the reasons. I can only think of a few:

No TRIM support in RAID
Overhead from RAID steals CPU
Resale value

It doesn't just steal from CPU, it adds additional latency. It's the lack of latency that makes SSD's fast.

I had 3x Vertex and I would choose 160gb x25-m every day of the week.
Anyway you can choose to listen or not listen, guess you will find out for yourself.

rhys216 · 24 Feb 2010 at 18:06

Col_M said:
Isn't the only benefit of RAID SSDs improved sequential reads and writes which basically means moving files? If you want faster system/OS performance you're better off getting one good drive like the Intels with better performance in random reads and writes?

Am I on the right track?

IOPS is a bit of a myth, as deskop tasks don't get past a cue depth of 8 anyway.
The #1 factor is access time, which can help to increase IOPS which explains some of the confusion.
But Yes raid only improves sequentials.
With the x25-m to get getter OS performance than a single drive (loading apps etc) it takes 4 drives before ANY benefits are realised.

Gunda · 25 Feb 2010 at 14:11

so if i am looking for a fast os drive that i will also want to put warhammer online, onto i should stick with a fast single drive rather than going raid0 ?

looking for fastest read of files for gaming (loading maps / textures the like)

rhys216 · 25 Feb 2010 at 15:22

Gunda said:
looking for fastest read of files for gaming (loading maps / textures the like)

I have tested this personally with 3 Vertex's and a single x25-m. They were about the same with maybe the x25 VERY slightly edging out my 3x Vertex's.

I have since sold my Vertex's on for this reason.

Gunda · 25 Feb 2010 at 15:26

just a little worried about the 70mb/s write on the X25-M 80Gb drive... seems quite low compared to the other ssd's.

NutterzUK · 25 Feb 2010 at 21:50

looking for fastest read of files for gaming (loading maps / textures the like)

What are you wanting to write? I don't think you will see much difference, from all the reviews the Intels are much more suited to running your OS on and gaming than others, unless you're moving around large files... which you don't sound like you will be?

I'm looking at going for the Intel myself, just got to find a good price.

rhys216 · 26 Feb 2010 at 17:58

Gunda said:
just a little worried about the 70mb/s write on the X25-M 80Gb drive... seems quite low compared to the other ssd's.

The other option is a Vertex LE

Ducky Spud · 4 Mar 2010 at 21:26

Gunda said:
just a little worried about the 70mb/s write on the X25-M 80Gb drive... seems quite low compared to the other ssd's.

The majority of the time you will be reading from the drive, not writing to it, so its better to go for a drive with higher reads in my opinion.

Im running 2 Vertex's in RAID 0 and love them, I'd say definately faster than a single Vertex (loading games at least). For just messing with small programs and running the OS though, you probably are better with one of the faster reading drives. Would love to try out one of the Intels but really dont have the spare cash at the mo