Program erase cycle

[jamie0226]

Hi everyone, I'm New comer to this community

Today I want to increase my knowledge on SSD's, as I'm planing to get one.

I understand that every flash will have different program erase cycle, I want to know how the performance and ageing of that flash changes as it reaches its limit program erase cycle or even exceeds the limit.

Here is an example, I have heard that Kingston HyperX 3k SSDs have program erase cycle of 70 GB. If I download 100GB of film file from internet what will happen to the 30GB ??

 

[jamesriley94]

No idea what you've even asking...

But I've been using SSDs for the last 3/4 years and never actually noticed the SSD slowing down. Baring in mind that I've had a 64gb, 60gb and now 128gb drives that have basically always been filled around 90%.

They're never gunna slow down to hard drive speeds, and so I dont think it's worth even thinking about

 

[jamie0226]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=ivl93cf1Wkw&NR=1

after watching this video I got that question, as this said that 3K has 3 year warranty with 70GB write per day, the question was, what impact will it have on ssd if write exceed 70GB, for example, 100GB?

 

[jamesriley94]

Well I'm guessing by that it would decrease the life?

It's seriously not something to get bogged down by though. SSDs are more likely to fail due to other errors than reaching the end of their write cycle.

I'd be surprised if one person on these forums could say they've reached the end of theirs?

 

[jamie0226]

haha looks like I went too far, sometimes too much searching on product can increase worries

Thanks for you reply

 

[jamie0226]

May I also ask you what kinds of errors there are, that breaks SSDs?

 

[jamesriley94]

The controller's just seem to die, if that happens they're completely dead.

Otherwise, normally just a few bugs in firmware - which arent as bad as these can just be ironed out in updates. If you're booting the OS of one though - it can occasionally make you format the drive for you to install the update, which can be a bummer.

Basically - get a good one in the first place, and you wont have any issues.

 

[jamie0226]

which brand will you say you would go for, kingston, ocz or intel?? also is kingston 3k any good? I see a massive price drop on that ssd

 

[jamesriley94]

Never OCZ. ever.

From that list, Intel 520 series.

If you can, get a Crucial M4 though

 

[jamie0226]

Dont know why, In my mind crucial did not stand out at all, maybe they are not doing too much adverts, what advantage does M4 have over the intel and others, how about samsung, seems they made everything by them selves?

 

[jamesriley94]

Samsung, Intel or Crucial are the only companies I'd buy an SSD off.

And they stand out because of reliability. Just crucial's are generally the cheapest between those 3. IMO - anyone can advertise a product well, but adverts can never show how it performs. Look at reviews - not adverts, especially for PC parts.

 

[jamie0226]

just another question related to performance of ssds.

what difference there are between high IOPS drive and one low IOPS drive. if I compare corsair force GT 85k IOPS and M4's 35K IOPS.

what benefit will I get as a gamer, or on speed when its used as boot drive.

also when it comes to benchmarking stats which category of result should I keep in mind and which ones should I skip

 

[jamesriley94]

You should skip all the benchmarks.

IOPS is meant to be how fast the drive reacts etc...

But in my experience it doesnt really make a difference. Benefit from upgrading to an SSD from a HDD is massive. You'll be so surprised at boot times, and general load times.
As for the difference between the Corsair and the Crucial...you wont see any difference whatsoever.

We recommend the Crucials on these forums, because if SSDs go wrong, then you lose everything on them. There's no sending them off for data recovery like you can with HDDs, it's gone. Because of this, Crucials are the most reliable SSDs there are. Fact. They even beat Intel. This is so much more important than getting bogged down by IOPS and stuff, when realistically, you cant even tell any difference whatsoever.
I'm not trying to slag Corsair off or anything, because they are one of the best companies around, but the main part of the SSD is the controller, which isnt made by corsair.

Just get the Crucial M4. You honestly dont need anything else.

 

[jamie0226]

you helped me a lot on ssd questions, Thanks for that, I did learn a lot from you