Questions Regarding Intel X25-E 64GB

[roadtonowhere08]

I have a few questions regarding Intel's 64GB X25-E. I understand that it uses SLC flash, which is much better for longevity than MLC. I also understand that it has better write speeds than the X25-M series that use MLC flash. I am considering one as an OS/Application drive, but I need to know a few things about it.

There are two things I care about most:
1. Reliability/Longevity
2. Consistent speed after weeks/months of use

Here is my plan:
1. Use an X25-E as an OS/Application drive and turn off any prefetch/caching/indexing services while offloading the page file to my Velociraptor. All music editing and encoding will take place on the Velociraptor to cut down on writes to the SSD.
2. All games, music, and movies go on WD Black drives

Here are my questions:
1. Is the X25-E series affected by declining performance over time as the X25-M series has been reported to be?
2. Even though the SLC flash can theoretically be re-written over 100,000 times typically, would using one as an OS/Application drive give me as long of a lifespan as say a 15k RPM SAS drive?
3. SLC does not need to be prepped to have the same consistent write speed over time, and using the TRIM command only applies to MLC flash, correct?


Another option is to get a 15k.2 Savvio with a SAS controller to bring me to the same price as the Intel SSD. I would lose the snappy speed but I could not worry about the finite writes issue and encode and edit all I want. SAS is a proven reliable technology that one could beat on every day and not worry about longevity, but apparently SLC flash is pretty reliable as well.

Keeping in mind that reliability/longevity as well as consistent speed over time is of utmost importance to me, which path would you choose and why? Each path is expensive, so I want it to last at least 5 years of heavy use...

 

[astrallite]

There are two things I care about most:
1. Reliability/Longevity

Assuming there's nothing wrong with the drive, an SLC drive for mainstream use, based on our best knowledge, will statistically, outlast the common mechanical hard drive. You also will operate with the knowledge that, all things equal, you should be seeing 10x the lifespan of other mainstream MLC hard drives, so longevity (barring a defective product) should not be a problem.

2. Consistent speed after weeks/months of use

SSDs should have consistent read speeds over time. The write speeds will deteriorate once all the cells have been written over (this will happen eventually even if 90% of your hard drive is "free space" due to temporary disc writes).

Once the all the cells have been written over it will be at a "steady state"; theoretically it should not deteriorate any further. X25-E is sufficiently faster than anything out there that even if you lost 80% if your random write speeds you'd still be as fast as the second fastest SSD out there (the OCZ Vertex).

1. Use an X25-E as an OS/Application drive and turn off any prefetch/caching/indexing services while offloading the page file to my Velociraptor.

Probably not worth the effort to turn those off. Remember, you have 10x the lifespan of a normal SSD.

As far as the page file, if you have ~$120 to spare you could always pick up a 30GB Vertex drive for page file/scratch file. You will eventually have to read from the pagefile, and your read performance will take a dive. A Vertex is going to be much better in this regard (since this is basically the 2nd best SSD right now).

All music editing and encoding will take place on the Velociraptor to cut down on writes to the SSD.

Well I think you'd have to be fairly insane to be able to kill an Intel Extreme before you burn out a Velociraptor. The X25-M is rated at 5 years at 100GB/day; the X25-E's theoretical lifespan is 10 times as much. Although music editing and encoding are really CPU limited applications and disc write performance is typically has a relatively negligible performance impact. If anything, I would get rid of the Raptor and pick up a bigger HD, say a WD 2TB.

2. All games, music, and movies go on WD Black drives

If you play any demanding games, I'd recommend sticking those on the Intel. Now game loading today is pretty CPU intensive since its primarily an extraction operation, so a SSD is not going to have a huge impact on "level" loads. However in a sandbox style game, where there are no level borders and you are constantly loading textures from the hard disk, an SSD will have a noticeable impact on performance. If you are playing a single player, environmental shooter, or an RPG, I would say SSD should have a significant performance improvement.

1. Is the X25-E series affected by declining performance over time as the X25-M series has been reported to be?

It's impossible to tell if they have same firmware, although if the problem was really due to load level algorithm, leaving the drive an appropriate amount of space (say 1/3) seems like a fairly simple way to avoid file fragmentation. But, again, the X25-E has over 5 times the random write performance of an OCZ Vertex 120GB (the fastest variant of the line). Even with extreme degradation you'd still be better than the next fastest alternative. And remember you are a mainstream user, not an enterprise server being hit with writes from tons of data sources simultaneously.

2. Even though the SLC flash can theoretically be re-written over 100,000 times typically, would using one as an OS/Application drive give me as long of a lifespan as say a 15k RPM SAS drive?

It's not directly comparable, since a mechanical hard drive's data will last a long, long time, its simply a matter of mechanical failure with the read-write heads. The only hard drive I've had that failed was a 1GB from 1996 that just recently failed on me, and I still have IDE hard drives going strong...while others experience failure.

3. SLC does not need to be prepped to have the same consistent write speed over time, and using the TRIM command only applies to MLC flash, correct?

TRIM simple deletes data blocks during inactive user cycles so when you start using the drive, you aren't wasting time deleting data, and then writing over it. Basically what it does is improve steady state performance in an attempt to maintain (new drive) performance. SLC will benefit from TRIM just as much as MLC.

Another option is to get a 15k.2 Savvio with a SAS controller to bring me to the same price as the Intel SSD. I would lose the snappy speed but I could not worry about the finite writes issue and encode and edit all I want. SAS is a proven reliable technology that one could beat on every day and not worry about longevity, but apparently SLC flash is pretty reliable as well.

Keeping in mind that reliability/longevity as well as consistent speed over time is of utmost importance to me, which path would you choose and why? Each path is expensive, so I want it to last at least 5 years of heavy use...

I doubt you can burn out a (non-defective) SSD by yourself in 5 years--based on assumptions of what we know of SLC technology. In fact, it will probably outlast all the other components in your system. The Intel will degrade in performance like any SSD until it reaches steady state. Now assuming the E has the same firmware as the old Ms, then yes, performance will degrade with fragmentation, but the random read/write performance will still beat a 15k SAS drive. As far as sequential writes, I don't know, but all your work is pretty CPU intensive and overclocking your CPU will have bigger affects on encoding/extracting than a faster HD, since all its really doing is just a sequential write operation after it gets flushed out from RAM.