Vertex 4 - mini review

Damn... I see these have now dropped another £30 since I bought mine on "special offer" last week. Just the name of the game I suppose. Not complaining, just commenting.
 
dave_beast said:
£89 for a 128gb Vertex 4 makes it cheaper than a Crucial M4 128gb, so now it's faster, cheaper and with a longer warranty.
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Indeed :)

Win, win situation for anyone looking for a decent SSD at the moment. Though doubt if anyone would be disappointed by either the V4, 830, or the C4.

I'll be interested to see what (if any) effect this has with pricing over the next few weeks or so:
http://hexus.net/business/news/components/42893-toshiba-slash-nand-flash-production-third/
 
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Ive read that these drives slow down quite about after 50% capacity has been exceeded... is this still the case, or has this issue been resolved with the 1.5 update?

A 120gb for me would host a multi boot environment, so would likely exceed this threshold, id hate for the drive to slow down because of this...
 
DrMekon said:
Ive read that these drives slow down quite about after 50% capacity has been exceeded... is this still the case, or has this issue been resolved with the 1.5 update?

A 120gb for me would host a multi boot environment, so would likely exceed this threshold, id hate for the drive to slow down because of this...
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There is a "performance mode" yes. But the 1.5 firmware extended this to greater than 50% You'd need to do a bit more reading I suspect to get the full story.

From the way I understand it, all SSD's slow down to a certain extent (at least write wise) as they start to fill up. Certainly my experience with the 4 drives that I've got (3 in main PC and one in laptop). Though I do appreciate that the "performance mode" in these drives is a slightly different issue (IE. it's not a problem, it's how it's been designed to run). I'm sure there are plenty of folks that can give you are a more detailed explanation than me.

If I was considering a muliti-boot environment, I'd probably be looking at a bigger drive myself (only my personal opinion here). If only because no SSD is going to give it's best if almost full.
 
DrMekon said:
Ive read that these drives slow down quite about after 50% capacity has been exceeded... is this still the case.
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These don't slow down.

An explanation of the 2 types of storage mode

It has Performance/Storage mode because of the type of nand it uses, ie. MLC nand. Generally speaking, the MLC nand has 2 levels - level 1 being the fast nand (like SLC nand) and level 2 being the slow nand. So, at less than 50% full everything is written to the first level and that's why it's fast. Once over 50%, AGC (active garbage collection) kicks in to try to move everything on level 1 to level 2, in effect to free up fast nand for immediate writing. This is the storage mode. If the V4 uses SLC nand then it wouldn't need to have 2 modes. It would be on performance mode all the time.
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Thanks for the info guys.
Just plumped up, for 2x 256GB Vertex 4's today. :)
So having never own'd a SSD before, I have questions:

1. I understand that its best to install them as slave's an update the Firmware first to version 1.5.
Then how best to configure the motherboard, to benifit from there performance! (Asrock Z68 Extreme 4 Gen 3 + i5 2500K)

2. Which Sata3 Controller is advised for this motherboard?

3. Do they have to be put in Hdd securing craddle's?

4. What software is advised to maintain the HDD Performance + Defrag (If its needed)

5. Is much space lost in the Formatting process?

Thanks for any help.
Incase any one is cusious of my intented configuration;
SSD1 = C:/ (Windows, Origin, iTunes, an all other daily used programs)
SSD2 = D:/ (Steam + Steam Libary)
HDD3 (Samsung F4 2TB) = E:/ (Back up Drives)
HDD4 (Samsung F2 1TB) = E:/ (Back up Drives)
 
Seanoog

1) Just set the SATA controller to AHCI mode prior to Windows install.
Though if installing both drives as secondary to an existing OS installation, if SATA controller in IDE mode, then GOOGLE changing IDE to AHCI. As there's a registry edit that you would need to do prior to changing to AHCI, otherwise you will get a BSOD!

2) The first Intel SATA3 port.

3) No. You can fix them whatever orientation you want. Even attach them with double sided sticky tape, or zip tie etc. should you wish.

4) Simple answer... you don't need to do anything (EG. do NOT de-frag, full format etc.)
I recommend a good read of the OCZ SSD FAQ
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/content.php?306-SSD-ABC-Guide ... time well spent.
Their forums are top notch as well.

5. Not a lot. I get 238.47GB of usable space. That's for a data disk though.

Your drive configuration should work well. Similar to mine.
 
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Thank you mikeo.
Finally got them working at 2am last night.
After much confussion an difficulty, plugged them into Marvelle controller.
As a result the Firmware wouldnt update.


Windows an programs, are silly quick when loading.
Testing shows circa 500mb Load an 450mb wrighting...
2x 256GB VERTEX4 (FIRMWARE 1.5, No Raid)
 
Seanoog

Yep... don't want to be using that Marvell controller unless you have to (as you found out, the Toolbox doesn't like it!). You''ll almost certainly get inferior performance as well, best to use the Intel 6 Gbps ports.
 
Thats what took so long in setting it up.
Had both SSD's on the Marvel controller, installed windows, even had most of the updates done + drivers installed.
Then bench marked them, with Firmware 1.4, because ToolBox wouldn't update.
The bench marks weren't particularly fast: Read 250MB Wright 200MB. :eek:


The manual for my Asrock motheboard wasn't particularily clear which controller was Intel or Marvel. :rolleyes:

So late in the afternoon the harddrives had too come back out, an start the installation process again. :mad:
Still after much work, an teaching my PC French, its working wonderfully.
Windows is associated programs open soo quick it isn't funny, why I never made the jump sooner.
Thank you again, for your advice.
 
Got my Vertex 4 128GB setup today, here is the benchmark I got:

vertex4benchmark.jpg
 
Now that my Primary Hard Drive is my First Vertex4, do I need to disable the Page File within windows?
Or whats the story? I am sorry again, for such a silly question but I am a SSD noob.
 
Seanoog said:
Now that my Primary Hard Drive is my First Vertex4, do I need to disable the Page File within windows?
Or whats the story? I am sorry again, for such a silly question but I am a SSD noob.
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Leave the page file alone as it can cause problems with apps/games if turned off.

You can turn hibernation off though:-

Open CMD as admin, type powercfg -h off and press enter
 
I would agree with dave beast about switching hibernation off. I would personally go further and suggest (unless you require it) switching sleep off as well. If only because a lot of the earlier issues with SSD's have occurred when coming out of sleep. Though I'm sure (fingers crossed) that this should be sorted / OK on this drive. I'd also set the HD's never to power down (for the same reason). Only my personal and paranoid suggestion/s though (;)).

All the above can be done in the Windows Power Plan.
 
ShakeNBake said:
no idea, how can I find that out? ;)
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Have a look in Device Manager.

- Click and expand "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"
- If it says something like "Intel(R) ......... SATA AHCI Controller" then you are using the Intel RST AHCI drivers.
- If so, double click the above and select the "Driver" tab. This will tell you the driver version. In my case it's 10.5.0.1026

If you are getting those sort of 4k writes on the MS stock drivers that Windows 7 installs by default, I'll be well miffed :(

PS. Out of interest, what motherboard have you got?
 
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