[waldojim]

Is it just me or are hard drives (the spinners) making MASSIVE strides in increasing performance in some sort of desperate attempt at staying viable?

I seem to remember 7200Rpm drives sort of plateauing around 110MB/sec read 90MB/sec write speeds for the longest time.

Yet hear I am with a brand new WD Blue 5400RPM drive WRITING at 110MB/sec, and I have a CHEAP Seagate drive writing at over 200MBsec. When did this massive shift happen? At this point, with the Seagates performing this well, I have a hard time justifying a move to SSD's on my future gaming machines.

[coastie65]

Interesting. I haven't seen anything about that until you mentioned it. If that is the case, then you may be right in that they are trying to stay viable.

[Rommel]

One great plus going with a SSD is the sound.
There is none.

The smaller size is a clean look.
It really is close to having nothing in the internal bay.

Boot times.

These are some of the things I like about my SSD upgrade setting performance aside.

[compnovo]

waldojim, on 01 September 2012 - 10:30 PM, said:

...I have a hard time justifying a move to SSD's on my future gaming machines.

This is where SSDs shine due to their exceptional read times. Also, like Rommel said, they're quiet (not so noticeable in the desktop, really noticeable in the netbook). And they're much more shock resistant.

I've been swapping back and forth with my media center and my netbook while I've been testing Win8, and the difference in performance and boot times is painfully evident. I think once you've tried one you can never go back.

This post has been edited by compnovo: 02 September 2012 - 07:04 AM

[waldojim]

compnovo, on 02 September 2012 - 07:03 AM, said:

waldojim, on 01 September 2012 - 10:30 PM, said:

...I have a hard time justifying a move to SSD's on my future gaming machines.

This is where SSDs shine due to their exceptional read times. Also, like Rommel said, they're quiet (not so noticeable in the desktop, really noticeable in the netbook). And they're much more shock resistant.

I've been swapping back and forth with my media center and my netbook while I've been testing Win8, and the difference in performance and boot times is painfully evident. I think once you've tried one you can never go back.

I have two right now, the Plextor and the Patriot. SO I know what you guys mean. At the same time though, with 200MB/sec read/write speeds, it is hard to argue against the new spinners. I will have to test more later on, but I suspect that new Seagate results in some impressive boot times as well. It certainly did result in impressive backup/restore times.

[LiveBrianD]

I don't know if you got lucky with that or what. In my netbook, I'll probably be switching to an SSD simply for the durability. In the desktop, yeah, it's about performance.

[Rommel]

waldojim, on 02 September 2012 - 07:44 AM, said:

I have two right now, the Plextor and the Patriot. SO I know what you guys mean. At the same time though, with 200MB/sec read/write speeds, it is hard to argue against the new spinners. I will have to test more later on, but I suspect that new Seagate results in some impressive boot times as well. It certainly did result in impressive backup/restore times.

I forgot about your purchases.

I'm glad you are getting good performance from a 54 drive.
It is surprising.

They could improve the competition by lowering their prices.
My last spinner purchase was two WD blue, Sata 3, 500 GB for $40 each.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136769

It has dropped some in price after the stupid price spike.
It was around $100.
That effected my point some.
LOL

But at $40, great deal.

[waldojim]

Rommel, on 02 September 2012 - 09:22 AM, said:

waldojim, on 02 September 2012 - 07:44 AM, said:

I have two right now, the Plextor and the Patriot. SO I know what you guys mean. At the same time though, with 200MB/sec read/write speeds, it is hard to argue against the new spinners. I will have to test more later on, but I suspect that new Seagate results in some impressive boot times as well. It certainly did result in impressive backup/restore times.

I forgot about your purchases.

I'm glad you are getting good performance from a 54 drive.
It is surprising.

They could improve the competition by lowering their prices.
My last spinner purchase was two WD blue, Sata 3, 500 GB for $40 each.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136769

It has dropped some in price after the stupid price spike.
It was around $100.
That effected my point some.
LOL

But at $40, great deal.

The 5400 is hitting about 110 - the 7200 is what is nailing 200MB... still quite impressive.

The SSD's though, they worked out to be extraordinary purchases. Though the P100 isn't quite working out as planned. At first it seemed ok, then after about a week, it corrupted everything. I found out it is running a much older firmware (3.002 - current is 3.011) so am trying to update it. Problem is - it isn't "detected" by any of my machines... which is odd, as they will all use it.

The Plextor though, is still rock solid.

[LiveBrianD]

Hmm... are the machines set to IDE mode while you update the firmware? I've read that you need to with a LOT of drives.

The corruption, though is what I'm worried about with cheap drives.

[crazy4laptops]

waldojim, on 01 September 2012 - 10:30 PM, said:

Is it just me or are hard drives (the spinners) making MASSIVE strides in increasing performance in some sort of desperate attempt at staying viable?

I seem to remember 7200Rpm drives sort of plateauing around 110MB/sec read 90MB/sec write speeds for the longest time.

Yet hear I am with a brand new WD Blue 5400RPM drive WRITING at 110MB/sec, and I have a CHEAP Seagate drive writing at over 200MBsec. When did this massive shift happen? At this point, with the Seagates performing this well, I have a hard time justifying a move to SSD's on my future gaming machines.

This is news to me as well... I'm on SSD's (and loving it)

Personally, if was building a PC, I would keep the O/S on a JBOD/Raid 0 or 1 SSD for mind-melting speed! Everything else/program data in a Raid5 array.

Toshiba drives are still really slow, but that's what makes up 40% of the PC population on campus.

[waldojim]

For the sake of mentioning it guys, Patriot delivered! Customer service there is top notch. Rather than just flash the drive, they sent me a BRAND NEW Torqx 2 drive! Needless to say, very happy. It now powers my server, and people couldn't be happier.