..and more good stuff to come, both from LSI (makers of the controller chipset in many SSD's):
Improved longevity of the drives via the controller:
http://thessdreview.com/daily-news/late ... 13-update/
Capacity increases by virtue of the controller via improved compression (..NOT the NAND cells):
http://thessdreview.com/daily-news/late ... 13-update/
Solid State Drives
This is interesting:
http://techreport.com/review/24841/intr ... experiment
-wondering what the results will be like.
http://techreport.com/review/24841/intr ... experiment
-wondering what the results will be like.
Having a bad couple of financial months, what with moving to a new house, fixing that up, student loans, morgage.. sigh. I likely won't be able to get that new machine this year after all. At least the waiting for new tech part won't be a problem at this rate.
My main interest in technology right now is making sure what I [url='http://www.procomparison.info/notebook-laptop/packard-bell/easynote-me-35-me35-u-005.html']still have left[/url] isn't falling apart.. more than it already has. Nearly got a heart attack the other week when a screw fell on the powered mainboard and caused the fastest appearing black screen I have ever witnessed.
My main interest in technology right now is making sure what I [url='http://www.procomparison.info/notebook-laptop/packard-bell/easynote-me-35-me35-u-005.html']still have left[/url] isn't falling apart.. more than it already has. Nearly got a heart attack the other week when a screw fell on the powered mainboard and caused the fastest appearing black screen I have ever witnessed.
[INDENT]'..tolerance when fog rolls in clouds unfold your selfless wings feathers that float from arabesque pillows I sold to be consumed by the snow white cold if only the plaster could hold withstand the flam[url="http://bit.ly/foT0XQ"]e[/url] then this fountain torch would know no shame and be outstripped only by the sun that burns with the glory and honor of your..'[/INDENT]
Tricky wrote:
My main interest in technology right now is making sure what I [url='http://www.procomparison.info/notebook-laptop/packard-bell/easynote-me-35-me35-u-005.html']still have left[/url] isn't falling apart.. more than it already has. Nearly got a heart attack the other week when a screw fell on the powered mainboard and caused the fastest appearing black screen I have ever witnessed.
This is another pcie card that's out (or about to be) - similar to the Asus RAIDR Express:
http://www.thessdreview.com/daily-news/ ... 0000-iops/
http://www.mx-technology.com/en/product ... ragment-17
Performance overall is only about 25% better than the very best sata 3 drives overall. It's not as fast on large sequential writes or reads as something like the Mushkin Scorpion Deluxe (mentioned in post 51, page 3 of this thread) - where it's less than half the speed, but it's not that far behind on smaller writes and reads.
It is however:
*Bootable. AND it has RAISE for improved write longevity. It's only a PCIe x2 slot (as opposed to an x8 or x16).
On the other hand it doesn't have the capacitor bank for fault tolerance like the Scorpion Deluxe.
Like the Asus, I'd expect this to be surpassed within a year to a year and a half from a more conventional port.
*Note the requirements for a Bootable PCIe card (..AHCI motherboard with PCIe x2 slot and an OS capable of supporting the drive - apparently Windows 7, 8, and the latest Mac OSX).
http://www.thessdreview.com/daily-news/ ... 0000-iops/
http://www.mx-technology.com/en/product ... ragment-17
Performance overall is only about 25% better than the very best sata 3 drives overall. It's not as fast on large sequential writes or reads as something like the Mushkin Scorpion Deluxe (mentioned in post 51, page 3 of this thread) - where it's less than half the speed, but it's not that far behind on smaller writes and reads.
It is however:
*Bootable. AND it has RAISE for improved write longevity. It's only a PCIe x2 slot (as opposed to an x8 or x16).
On the other hand it doesn't have the capacitor bank for fault tolerance like the Scorpion Deluxe.
Like the Asus, I'd expect this to be surpassed within a year to a year and a half from a more conventional port.
*Note the requirements for a Bootable PCIe card (..AHCI motherboard with PCIe x2 slot and an OS capable of supporting the drive - apparently Windows 7, 8, and the latest Mac OSX).
Generally avoid Samsung's RAPID system RAM caching software (at least for now):
http://techreport.com/review/25282/a-cl ... 40-evo-ssd
http://techreport.com/review/25282/a-cl ... 40-evo-ssd
Scottg wrote:
And what is the performance increase for Ivy Bridge "e"? Almost nothing (perhaps a 5% increase). What's the drop in power use for gamers? Almost nothing (unless it's in a near idle state). That's waiting 2 freak'in years for nothing.
Oh well, screwed if you do.. screwed if you don't.
Yup, nothing really new to see here:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/08/ ... iDrBtKshcZ
On the other hand power draw is better than I was expecting:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/08/ ... iDrBtKshcZ
127 watts vs. 174 watts on full power.. BUT it's unlikely that most games would take full power - especially not for this CPU.
EDIT:
Ugggg, things are far worse than I thought (on the processor development-end of things):
http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/32524-broadwell-won’t-make-it-to-desktop
It means that Haswell will make it to "E" (allowing for more than 32 gig of system memory) in one-to-two years and the late 2015 Skylake won't have its "E" version for another 1-2 years after that. So it might be as late as 2017 before there is any significant improvement in a high-mem. system.
We *might* get lucky with Haswell "E" in relation to SATA 3.2 (being on those new motherboards), but that seems to be about the best an enthusiast system builder can hope for in any reasonable time-frame. (..and if SATA 3.2 is positioned to be on those motherboards, then there should be new SSD's capable of using the added bandwidth that are available around that introduction.)
Update time!
Here is a *potentially* interesting little product for not much money:
http://www.thessdreview.com/hardware/su ... sk-review/
Oddly the hardware itself isn't interesting..
This is your classic 8-64 gig SSD with a USB 3.0 connection - "yawn".
No,
-what's really interesting is the software behind this design that nearly "transparently" creates a RAM disk associated with that "USB stick's" own on-board memory.
(Caveat: you've got to have some system memory available for any performance gain, other wise you've just got another "USB memory stick".)
Assuming you DO have some system memory to spare then you have what amounts to a "blazing" performance drive even if it is limited in capacity on a "static" basis (..or rather it's ability to keep all info that's "passed" its way). I believe 64 gig is the max here.
As mentioned in the link's review article: the latest REVO SSD's from Samsung have this via RAPID, BUT as noted a few posts up (post 66), Samsung's RAPID isn't particularly "rapid" - and some might argue slower. That's NOT the case here!
Caution: a performance improvement like this WILL entail compromises - specifically to write "stability". In other words - if your system crashes while using this and the system RAM drive for this "stick" has NOT fully written to the stick, then you are going to loose that data.
Still, this leaves the product with some particularly great uses - most involving caching where you want some measure of "static" memory but can afford to loose it if a "disaster" occurs.
Ex.s:
1. Browser "Web-page" cache. On a FIFO-basis (first in, first out) - that webpage data that isn't "refreshed" is going to be almost instantly "pulled" from system memory. (..imagine nearly every part of a webpage you've visited before "filling" almost instantly.) PLUS it's not going to be lost every time you power-down your computer (..like it would with just a software system RAM drive). BTW, just the less expensive 16 gig stick with 1 gig system memory should "do the trick" for most people in this example.
2. Game file folders for "Saves". For the most part it's not absolutely critical that you have up-to-date saves actually saved. Most games do an auto-save on a continuing basis (plus you should also be saving games as you can), so even if disaster occurs - you've still got that prior save. Of course the limitation here is your capacity, 64 gig maybe fine for most games - but it might not cut-it for some other games that tend to create huge game-save files.
Note: as an added measure of capacity and fault-tolerance, you could have the USB drive's game save files backed-up to a larger drive. Sort of a "Tiered" effect: say 1 gig system RAM drive, 32 gig USB stick, and 240 gig of Hard Disk for all of your saved games. Open-Source app: "DropIt" - looks like it should work well for this sort of use:
http://www.dropitproject.com/
Understand that this really isn't different than using something like Fancycache for ANY drive (..not just limited to a USB stick drive), BUT Fancycache is still in Beta - and it's not really of the "plug-and-play" variety when it comes to ease of use. This product is pretty much "plug-and-play", at least to the extent of setting-up the software RAM drive that accompanies it. (..you'll still need to take other actions relating to what resides on the drive, and how this drive might be backed-up.)
Also, remember that (as any software RAM drive), you cannot use the caching ram portion for a "System" drive (..or the drive the Operating System resides on). You *might* be able to use the drive itself as a system drive (..if your bios allows that option), BUT the caching portion won't initiate until after the OS is loaded sufficiently.
Here is a *potentially* interesting little product for not much money:
http://www.thessdreview.com/hardware/su ... sk-review/
Oddly the hardware itself isn't interesting..
This is your classic 8-64 gig SSD with a USB 3.0 connection - "yawn".
No,
-what's really interesting is the software behind this design that nearly "transparently" creates a RAM disk associated with that "USB stick's" own on-board memory.
(Caveat: you've got to have some system memory available for any performance gain, other wise you've just got another "USB memory stick".)
Assuming you DO have some system memory to spare then you have what amounts to a "blazing" performance drive even if it is limited in capacity on a "static" basis (..or rather it's ability to keep all info that's "passed" its way). I believe 64 gig is the max here.
As mentioned in the link's review article: the latest REVO SSD's from Samsung have this via RAPID, BUT as noted a few posts up (post 66), Samsung's RAPID isn't particularly "rapid" - and some might argue slower. That's NOT the case here!
Caution: a performance improvement like this WILL entail compromises - specifically to write "stability". In other words - if your system crashes while using this and the system RAM drive for this "stick" has NOT fully written to the stick, then you are going to loose that data.
Still, this leaves the product with some particularly great uses - most involving caching where you want some measure of "static" memory but can afford to loose it if a "disaster" occurs.
Ex.s:
1. Browser "Web-page" cache. On a FIFO-basis (first in, first out) - that webpage data that isn't "refreshed" is going to be almost instantly "pulled" from system memory. (..imagine nearly every part of a webpage you've visited before "filling" almost instantly.) PLUS it's not going to be lost every time you power-down your computer (..like it would with just a software system RAM drive). BTW, just the less expensive 16 gig stick with 1 gig system memory should "do the trick" for most people in this example.
2. Game file folders for "Saves". For the most part it's not absolutely critical that you have up-to-date saves actually saved. Most games do an auto-save on a continuing basis (plus you should also be saving games as you can), so even if disaster occurs - you've still got that prior save. Of course the limitation here is your capacity, 64 gig maybe fine for most games - but it might not cut-it for some other games that tend to create huge game-save files.
Note: as an added measure of capacity and fault-tolerance, you could have the USB drive's game save files backed-up to a larger drive. Sort of a "Tiered" effect: say 1 gig system RAM drive, 32 gig USB stick, and 240 gig of Hard Disk for all of your saved games. Open-Source app: "DropIt" - looks like it should work well for this sort of use:
http://www.dropitproject.com/
Understand that this really isn't different than using something like Fancycache for ANY drive (..not just limited to a USB stick drive), BUT Fancycache is still in Beta - and it's not really of the "plug-and-play" variety when it comes to ease of use. This product is pretty much "plug-and-play", at least to the extent of setting-up the software RAM drive that accompanies it. (..you'll still need to take other actions relating to what resides on the drive, and how this drive might be backed-up.)
Also, remember that (as any software RAM drive), you cannot use the caching ram portion for a "System" drive (..or the drive the Operating System resides on). You *might* be able to use the drive itself as a system drive (..if your bios allows that option), BUT the caching portion won't initiate until after the OS is loaded sufficiently.