Sager P8170 / Malibal Satori P170HM and SSD's

Hi, I want to order the Malibal Satori P170HM and have following options:

80GB Intel® (320) SATA II 3Gb/s SSD2 Drive (185$)
120GB Intel® (510) SATA III 6Gb/s SSD2 Drive (260$)

Now according to the internet they should have the following speeds:

80GB Intel® (320) SATA II 3Gb/s SSD2 Drive (185$):
Read 270MB/s, Write 90MB/s
120GB Intel® (510) SATA III 6Gb/s SSD2 Drive (260$):
Read 400MB/s, Write 256MB/s

But then I googled for some other SSD's and found:

Corsair Force Series GT 90GB, 2.5", SATA 6Gb/s (203$):
Read 555MB/s, Write 505MB/s
Crucial m4 SSD 128GB, 2.5", SATA 6Gb/s (219$):
Read 415 MB/s, Write 175MB/s
OCZ Agility 3 120GB, 2.5", SATA 6Gb/s (180$):
Read 525 MB/s, Write 500MB/s

I won't need more than 80GB so the 90GB Corsair would be just fine for me.. and with its awesome speeds it has a really good price/performance ratio? The OCZ would be even better.. 120 GB, pretty much the same speeds and a lower price. So I think the OCZ would be the best choice? Or should I take smth completely different?

thanks

 

The Intel 510 Series is the best you can get.

The SF (SandForce) based systems, while faster on synthetic benchmarks, have a real world performance as the Intel. However, that is only when they are working (especially the OCZ offerings, but all SF products in general are to be avoided at this time with the SF2xxx controller, imo).

The Intel 510 Series, along with the Intel SSD ToolBox and a Win7 system is all you need to experience SSD 'greatness'.

The M4 is also a contender, but for only $40 more, I would still choose the Intel. (The write speeds are worse on the M4 than on the Intel).

Good luck.

 

Opps there was smth wrong with the converting of € to $.

The Intel 510 = 305$
The Crucial m4 = 219$

So its ~90$ difference which is a lot :/ Which is why I already thought about getting the Crucial m4. Do I have to run the toolbox all the time as some kind of backround process?

thanks

@edit: Since I would have to order the Crucial m4 from some other shop I would also have to pay shipping again.. which makes it 10-20$ more expensive. I could order the Intel already with the notebook.

 

No, the Intel SSD ToolBox runs (recommended) once a week (less than a second in my systems).

For ~$65 difference:

You will get a better 'balanced' SSD.

Have warranty on the complete system (and not parts here and part there...).

Have the use of the Intel SSD ToolBox (you are using/getting an Intel chipset, right?) which is worth something, to me.

An M4 is the best 'bang for the buck' - but it is not a 'balanced' bang for the buck in my opinion. Especially taking into account the smaller capacities that you are considering.

~$65 (additional) well spent - on the Intel 510 Series.

 

Mhh I will order the malibal p170hm with an intel core i7.

Hmm okay thanks for your opinion.. just have to think a bit more myself if its worth the money. The Intel SSD toolbox is quite nice.. for updating firmware easily and doing some diagnostic tests. But the m4 will do "optimate" itself as well ? without some toolbox ?

 

To me, what the Intel SSD Toolbox represents is a company that totally believes in and knows it's product. It not only manages the SSD (firmware, manual (weekly) TRIM, SSD specific information via S.M.A.R.T. attributes, etc.), it also checks the Windows 7 system it's installed in and makes recommendations on how that should be setup optimally too.

As I said: the M4 is the best bang for the buck. But offers unbalanced storage subsystem performance. $65 is a small incremental price to pay for something that you will be using every day for the next few years.

 

Alright.. a few more questions:

Wouldn't win7 already TRIM by itself & setup everything right for the SSD?
What about kingston ssd's ?

Kingston HyperX SSD 120GB, 2.5", SATA 6Gb/s
and
Kingston SSDNow V100 128GB, 2.5", SATA II

@edit: after reading some reviews/tests/comparison I wonder.. will I even see an performance improvement when replacing my Intel Postville x-25m G2 80gb?

 

Not in the systems I've installed SSD's to (50+...).

Kingston HyperX = SF controller = ugh! (in terms of reliabilty).

Kingston SSDNow V100 - JMicron controller - higher power consumption - higher WA (but better GC at the same time too...) and lower quality nand. As you mention; SATA2 also - not a good match for your new platform.

I know: I have a one track mind... but Intel is the only one that is offering a real SSD storage solution today ('real' as in consistently higher than HDD performance, a 'balanced' storage subsystem and at the required reliability (at least to HDD standards!) for a fair (market) price).

Hope this helps.

 

you seem to know a lot about SSD's .. lucky me !

I'm still reading comparisons.. the 510 seems to be faster at writing but slower at readin (compared to the crucial m4).. and at random read & writes the m4 totally wins.. I wonder how random read & writes matter at "real-life" working?

About the win7 configuration: I was sure that some guide in this forum stated that windows 7 will turn off / on some features when using a SSD (e.g. defragment,superfetch,...).

 

A storage subsystem (HDD and/or SSD) does not excel at one single/specific thing: it needs to do everything at a decent level. When you consider that even the lowliest SSD's are 10x the speed (Random R/W's) of HDD's, yet fail to perform (in real world use) 10x faster than those same HDD's, you can appreciate that Random R/W's are not that important for a workstation users workflow.

Forget about 'wins' of 'scores' in synthetic benchmarks - in real world scenarios an SSD is simply/mostly all about the 'snappiness' of a system. A few seconds here and there (boot/shutdown and program startup times...) do not make or break a modern system (or a semi-current system with a current/modern HDD...).

What you want to avoid is an SSD that can sometimes dip to at or below HDD speeds (I feel that the M4 does in my use...) - when you're still paying SSD prices for the priviledge.

An Intel 510 Series SSD is a noteable upgrade to a system - in all areas (not just synthetic 'scores'), even real world scenarios, over a HDD.

As to Win7's automatic SSD optimation/configuration - that is exactly what I've seen that is not so automatic: the Intel SSD ToolBox has almost invariably noted that one thing or another wasn't 'optimal' and offered to fix it (automatically!).

 

Alright, thanks for the help ! I will go for the Intel 510 with my new malibal (well first I need to sell my Asus g50vt-a1 with its Intel Postville x-25m g2).

 

You're welcome!

Try to sell high enough (or save even more until then...) so that you can buy the bigger 250GB 510 model though (the system you're considering is worth it).

I bet that if you sell the G50VT-A1 (along with a $40 mechanical HDD - unless you have a spare 2.5" drive lying around...) and the Intel X25-M G2 seperately, you'll get more money, overall (unless you find a G50 buyer that knows and appreciates what the X25-M is really worth).

Either way, glad to have helped a little.

Good luck with your sale and your new system.