I was going to buy an SSD, but then I didn't

[Growly]

I'd lined up several SSDs to purchase for a new build, all around 240GB. Namely, the Intel 520, Samsung 830, Corsair Force GT, etc.

But then I took to my usual dysfunction of browsing Grays Online for "bargains" on cool enterprise gear. I ended up buying two 15,000 RPM 600 GB Seagate Cheetahs (ST3600057SS, 15K.7) to run in RAID 0 for AUD$557.

I'm here to tell you that that's ok.

Everyone loves SSDs, there's no question about the performance dominance, I know, whatever. But questions over the long term reliability of (as yet unproven) SSDs aside, they're not as cool as my Cheetahs.



I already ran two 300 GB 15K.5s as my OS drive so the controller wasn't an additional cost (it's an IBM BR10i, which actually an LSI SAS3000 1068E). The new drives are negligibly faster despite being two generations further ahead. But they're still awesomely fast:



It's possible that the controller is impacting performance, so I might eventually try that Intel SAS controller I bought about 14 months ago. It'll be nice to make sure it actually works :/

[imdying]

What's the sound like? For a laptop at least, arguably the best benefit is a totally silent unit... I really hope mine has a cpu fan in it, cause I've never heard that either!

[Wibber]

SSD are cooler than Cheetah's, literally....

[Growly]

It sounds industrial.

Industrially loud.

And the fans I put in my case to keep them cool are also loud.

Shut up.

[LaB]

I'm using the kaka onboard intel raid 0 with two western digital 640gb black sata2 drives and thats all I get.

Thats mean random access times for only two drives

Loud and proud!

[Anarchy]

For comparison (and this is a crappy agility 3):



interesting graph... possibly peaks where the drive comes across compressible data?

I just love SSDs Their price has been steadily dropping - A year ago it was $300 for a 120GB, now its in the $160 range. Easily the best upgrade you can do to a PC, even more so for a laptop.

But yes, cheetahs in RAID are cool.

[dairyboy]

Respect for 15000 rpm drives.
Its a shame mainstream performance mechanical drives have been making do with 7200 rpm for so long. Ive been waiting for 10,000 consumer drives and 20,000 rpm enterprise drives, but fear it may never happen.

I rekon SSD's are overrated for otherwise balanced/fast systems. But they have their place in systems where their workload is bottlenecked by storage, and it certainly gives old laptops new life.

Having said that I love my new macbook air with SSD, which is good for just a hair under 500 MB/s. Boots in about 7 seconds including my applications (email, iTunes, calendar, Xcode, chrome etc.)

[varkk]

You should have got 2 SSDs and put them in RAID0

[riverred]

15Ks are too loud IMHO.
Have a pair striped in the office and everyone asks if they are dying.

[Wibber]

I was going to get an SSD for my netbook.

but I couldn't find one cheap enough

[Craig]

Originally Posted by Wibber

I was going to get an SSD for my netbook.

but I couldn't find one cheap enough

There has been some very good deals going lately. I thought this was quite good.

http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139...ctdetails.html

[farns]

Still pretty fast and you can hear the power working for you I guess lol, somewhat like the sweet roar of a V8 engine.

[BloodDonor]

SSD seek time ftw

[Growly]

To err'body who decided to re-convince themselves of how much they still want SSD:

Originally Posted by Growly

Everyone loves SSDs, there's no question about the performance dominance, I know, whatever. But questions over the long term reliability of (as yet unproven) SSDs aside, they're not as cool as my Cheetahs.

[Wibber]

Originally Posted by Craig

There has been some very good deals going lately. I thought this was quite good.

http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139...ctdetails.html

jesus that is more than the netbook is worth......