Intel X-25M SSD Drive a Worthwhile Investment

renowilliams
renowilliams Posts: 920
edited May 2010 in Electronics
I decided to buy a new toy for my computer this week and thought I would pass along some impressions.

Firstly, getting this hard drive, significantly improves performance when doing every day things on your computer. Programs just pop open. I just replaced my Western Digital Raptor drive, which was no slouch. I also noticed a big speed increase while encoding video. It now takes 7:50 minutes to encode a 700 meg avi to dvd on my computer and I can encode a 6.5 gig mkv blueray rip to a 4.3 gig dvd in 38 minutes.

Not everyone is going to part with the money ($200-$300) for an 80 gig drive, but that said I am very pleased with the performance of this product.

Here is a link showing it perform http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_Jz7IMwBt4
"They're always talking about my drinking, but never mention my thirst" Oscar Wilde


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Post edited by renowilliams on
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Comments

  • Hillbilly61
    Hillbilly61 Posts: 702
    edited March 2010
    Thanks for the impressions. I wonder if the emerging SS drives represents a death rattle for the magnetic drive technology that has been so successful over the past 40 years or so.
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  • Sherardp
    Sherardp Posts: 8,038
    edited March 2010
    I have one, and it is awesome in every way one could imagine. Even when I installed Windows 7 it was amazingly fast. I'm only using 33 gigs of the it though, everything else goes on my secondary WD 750gb black.
    Shoot the jumper.....................BALLIN.............!!!!!

    Home Theater Pics in the Showcase :cool:

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showcase/view.php?userid=73580
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  • tboo72
    tboo72 Posts: 225
    edited March 2010
    Ive been running a 160gb version now for the past few months & love it! Definitely worth the extra scratch.
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  • AudioGenics
    AudioGenics Posts: 2,567
    edited March 2010
    Here another SSD...
    The 40GB Intel X25-V, which is priced at $125

    (...in 1000 lot quantities OUCH LOL )
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  • ryanjoachim
    ryanjoachim Posts: 2,046
    edited March 2010
    Just remember that not all SSD drives have TRIM support right now.

    It's TRIM support that saves the hard drive from early death. Without it, SSD's would slowly start to lag behind in read/write speeds and eventually become unusable.

    Also, remember NOT to defrag your SSD. That's bad.
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  • Sherardp
    Sherardp Posts: 8,038
    edited March 2010
    Hey Las,

    Suggest you flash mobo bios as it could be an update needed. If you have the latest bios revision then you should be able to see it. I know with Windows 7 I had to actually go into computer management for it to see the SSD once the OS was installed.
    Shoot the jumper.....................BALLIN.............!!!!!

    Home Theater Pics in the Showcase :cool:

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showcase/view.php?userid=73580
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  • Sherardp
    Sherardp Posts: 8,038
    edited April 2010
    Lasareath wrote: »
    I received my Intel yesterday, I bought the 80GB version and I cannot clone my Raptor to it. I tried Acronis & Norton ghost. Both lock up

    So I removed my Raptor and installed the SSD and started to install Win7

    Before doing that I ran a benchmark software to rate my PC (please note my PC is OLD!!!, it's like 4 years old) and it came out with a 543.7 rating.

    http://www.4u2me.com/Benchmark%20Results%20with%20Raptor.htm

    Here's the software I used if you want to rate your system: http://www.4u2me.com/petst.exe

    After I installed Win7 I ran it again and it only came out with a 553, not much difference it made.

    I wish I could get my XP set up on the new SSD drive so I really can test how much faster it is.

    What clone softwares do you guys use?

    Sal

    Las,

    I did a fresh install of Win 7 when I installed. I was going to do a clone but opted to start fresh as you did. Also take note that there is a firmware update on the Intel website to flash the controller on the SSD which will also improvement performance. My drive averages 226mb/s reads which is pretty fast. I use HDtune or Crystaldiskmark for benching.

    I think the 80gb version is a very good purchase. I have everything I need on it and still have 45gb left. I run my 750gb Caviar black for all other programs. Also ensure you have mobo bios updated and flash your SSD.
    Shoot the jumper.....................BALLIN.............!!!!!

    Home Theater Pics in the Showcase :cool:

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showcase/view.php?userid=73580
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,728
    edited May 2010
    Anyone who has this drive, what scores are you getting in Crystaldiskmark?

    My write speeds seem a little low, curious what you guys are getting
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  • renowilliams
    renowilliams Posts: 920
    edited May 2010
    AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »
    Anyone who has this drive, what scores are you getting in Crystaldiskmark?

    My write speeds seem a little low, curious what you guys are getting


    Your results seem about right to me. The intel x25-m drives do write a little slower than other ssd drives but they are generally considered the fastest for read speeds. In my opinion its better to have the faster read speeds as most of the time in real world use, reading the drive is what your doing.

    I now have mine set up in a raid 0 and you see a significant overall performance increase. Here is a link to some screenshots I did on performance testing I did on my rig.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/renowilliams/
    "They're always talking about my drinking, but never mention my thirst" Oscar Wilde


    Pre-Amp: Anthem AVM 20
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    Amp: Rotel RB-870BX
    Fronts : SDA 1B w/ RDO-194s
    T.V.:Plasma TC-P54G25
    Bluray: Oppo BDP-93
    Speaker Cables: MIT Terminater
    Interconnect Cables:DH Labs Silver Sonic BL-1isonic
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  • Sherardp
    Sherardp Posts: 8,038
    edited May 2010
    Think mine are somewhere close maybe a little higher. Have you enable ACHI in the bios of your mobo?
    Shoot the jumper.....................BALLIN.............!!!!!

    Home Theater Pics in the Showcase :cool:

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showcase/view.php?userid=73580
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,728
    edited May 2010
    is TRIM on by default in Windows 7, or do I need to enable that somewhere?
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  • renowilliams
    renowilliams Posts: 920
    edited May 2010
    AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »
    is TRIM on by default in Windows 7, or do I need to enable that somewhere?

    Its already part of windows 7 but you may need to do a firmware update depending on the drive itself.
    "They're always talking about my drinking, but never mention my thirst" Oscar Wilde


    Pre-Amp: Anthem AVM 20
    Amp: Carver TFM-35
    Amp: Rotel RB-870BX
    Fronts : SDA 1B w/ RDO-194s
    T.V.:Plasma TC-P54G25
    Bluray: Oppo BDP-93
    Speaker Cables: MIT Terminater
    Interconnect Cables:DH Labs Silver Sonic BL-1isonic
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