Posted on 04/17/2010 7:26:11 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Less than 24 hours ago I was called into a meeting with SandForce, the SSD controller manufacturer that has been on fire lately. The company makes two controllers: the SF-1200 and SF-1500. The meeting was initiated by SandForce to clear up any misconceptions I might have about the differences between the two controllers. No good deed goes unpunished, and the quick meeting turned into an hour long debate about responsibility and ethics. It turns out that while I finally know the difference between the SF-1200 and the more expensive SF-1500, not all drives based on the SF-1200 will offer the same performance. In fact, some drives that are currently on the market will actually drop in performance (in one metric) if you upgrade them to SF’s mass production firmware. Yep.
On SandForce’s site are two controller options: the SF-1500 intended for enterprise (server) customers, and the SF-1200 for client (desktop/notebook) SSDs. The first silicon ready was SF-1500, and a derivative version of that was used in the earliest drives (e.g. OCZ’s Vertex Limited Edition). More recently however we’ve seen SF-1200 based SSDs crop up, such as Corsair’s Force drive. In our recent review we found no performance difference between the Force drive and the Vertex LE, leading me to believe that there’s no tangible performance difference between the SF-1200 and SF-1500. However since then I’ve finally got a good handle on the differences directly from SandForce.
(Excerpt) Read more at anandtech.com ...
Those looking at Solid ‘State Storage Devices might want to understand how the controllers inside do their work.....some BIG differences.
I wonder if these would work in my G5 MAC?
They do.
I’m a Mac consultant ( Have been for about 17 years now) , and I’ve been putting these in everything at a consumer and Small busines level-
Fast. Quiet. Low heat and power draw.
G5’s will notice a performance uptick in a pretty big way. BUT, the drives are pricey for a consumer level machine if you want much capacity.
At the rate that the price for storage capacity is falling I can wait a year or so for the price to become reasonable.
Then do so. These drives are a whole different level of performance.
I’m fairly jaded to “Its faster than the last model “ As I have done this for a living for so long, but these made me take notice in a goooood way.
While your at it, watch for an intel imac- upgrade that G5-
:-)
I would love to. Just can’t afford to.
So you see the different brands as not much different?
I was going to reply but humantech did such a good job that I won’t so this reply doesn’t exist... just read what he said.
I have been a fan of the kingston upgrades and the intel branded ( the X-25m series is a fire breathing hot rod of an SSD ) - they offer a good price/ performance ratio - but, I’ve also had great luck with the OCZ lines.
but honestly, you are comparing them to a standard sata drive - anything SSD will perform MUCH much better than whats already in the machine, so my suggestion is to do a little soul searching over your needs- if the idea is a way to bump up performance in an old machine, anything will do- for bleeding edge types more homework is required to determine what you do, what your budget is and how we can get you the speed you need.
In that case, I’m a gun for hire ;-)
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