NVIDIA Ion Blu-ray Investigation: Not a problem?

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• crimson117 - Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - link

  quote:
  

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  And I recently saw an OCZ post in their forum on the care and feeding of SSDs. It turns out these things are really touchy, with all kinds of arcane issues you never think of with HDDs.

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  Care to link, or are you content to just spread FUD?

• mindless1 - Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - link

  It's not FUD just because you're too lazy to find it yourself. The post was correct, some OCZ SSD with JMicron controllers need a few tweaks to get rid of long lags or pauses in use.
  
  Here's their forum if you were having trouble finding it, there are multiple threads on this topic.
  http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/forumdispl...">http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/forumdispl...

• crimson117 - Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - link

  I took issue with the blanket statement "It turns out these things are really touchy, with all kinds of arcane issues you never think of with HDDs."
  
  But taken in context with the rest of the post, I agree it's not so much FUD as just lacking in detail.

• Arbie - Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - link

  I notice that there is very little discussion of LIFETIME of these devices. This has the appearance of an unpleasant truth that no one wants to get into. Sort of like the fact that the new low energy "long-lifetime" compact flourescent bulbs actually burn out very quickly in normal use, where they're switched on and off.
  
  And I recently saw an OCZ post in their forum on the care and feeding of SSDs. It turns out these things are really touchy, with all kinds of arcane issues you never think of with HDDs.
  
  So, while I too would love to see all those moving parts replaced with solid state, I would be very, very careful about getting in now. It may be years before you can buy a robust SSD that's price-competitive with HDD and faster in all regards.

• garydale - Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - link

  I have to disagree on this one. While there is a lot of variability in SSD performance, I want one now. I'm not going to replace my 1TB RAID5 array with SSDs anytime soon, but I can see them as very useful for containing the system files that get read a lot more than they are written.
  
  On Linux or other Unix-type OSs, I'd put everything except /home, /tmp and /var on a relatively small SSD. Because I'm mostly concerned with read performance and power usage, I have a lot of choice.
  
  So why haven't I done this yet? There are a few reasons.
  1) SSDs are advancing rapidly in performance while prices are dropping rapidly. I want, but don't need, the performance increase I can get from the SSD so I'm willing to wait.
  2) In my current systems, I've used up all the onboard SATA connectors for the RAID drives. Adding in a SATA card would increase the cost and power usage.
  3) The amount of disk space it actually takes to hold the OS and all the program files is minor compared to the total disk space available on the RAID arrays, so space on the RAID array is essentially free. The space needed for OS and program files isn't a consideration when sizing the RAID arrays.
  4) My notebook computer also could really benefit from a good SSD with reasonable write performance. However, it only has a PATA HD interface, so I'm out of luck there.
  
  In short, my reasons for not currently using an SSD have nothing to do with any supposed problems with the devices. If I was getting a new workstation or notebook, I'd look very seriously at SSDs.

• sprockkets - Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - link

  That depends, those CFLs. I have the original ones that came out, ones from Phillips that are the straight kind and the large spiral or helix ones from Lights of America. They last for 7 years plus, and I still have a few going now. They costed $12-17 each when they came out. You can still find on the internet those Phillips bulbs, and they still command those high prices.
  
  Nowadays, they are all made in China and last on average 2-3 years, if that, brands like Feit, GE, Home Depot Brand, and others. All they are interested in is bulk and cheapness, not quality. It give's CFLs a bad reputation.
  
  Good LED bulbs are $50. And I'm sure once they become popular, they also will go down in quality once the Chinese start making them.
  
  Don't get me wrong, they can make good quality stuff if you want them to, but most of the time they are used for cheapness, and the companies employing them will try to extract every cent out of them.

• mindless1 - Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - link

  First, how much discussion of lifetime is there with mechanical hard drives? To focus on this now, when an SSD is expected to last longer than a mechanical HDD, wouldn't make much sense.
  
  The OCZ drives have quirks because of the poor controller they use. Benchmarks will help us determine which makes and models of drive do have these issues and which do not, though keeping a small database of the controllers used could be a good predictor in the future.
  
  SSD are already more robust, price is the only thing left as once the flash chip prices are low enough and density high enough, you'll also see rising capacity.

• strikeback03 - Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - link

  I've had CFL lights in a bedroom last years of daily use. And the OCZ guidelines are ways to get around the craptastic JMicron controller, I'm doubting users with Intel SSDs have to bother aligning boundaries and disabling cache writes. The rated lifetime is very long for the SSDs, but obviously few have actually been around all that long in consumer hands.

• someonesomewhere - Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - link

  I have had at least nine CFLs die within one or two weeks of use (most of them Wal-Mart brand). Some of the bulbs from the same box work and others died quickly.

• FITCamaro - Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - link

  Yeah that's why I'm not willing to jump on the SSD band wagon yet. Not to mention the fact that I get way less space for the same or more money.
  
  Personally I'd be interested in the Ion platform as a carputer.