SSD Longevity as OS Drive?

[doncote0]

HighPoint RocketRAID 620 PCIE x1 if you plan on striping them (but see below).
Otherwise the HighPoint Rocket 620 PCIE x1 will do for a single drive.

The most this interface (PCI2 and PCIE 2.1) will deliver is 512MB/s PER STREAM. If you need more bandwidth, you will next a higher multiplier for PCIE (more streams)

PCIE 2.0_____Bandwidth
Streams__(duplex per side)
1............512 MB/s
2...............1 GB/s
4...............2 GB/s
8...............4 GB/s
16..............8 GB/s

If you intend to use more than 1 OCZ SATA-3 device, you might want to use a different PCIE multiplier or get a different motherboard.

If you want to do multiple SATA-3 with the option for RAID, consider the HighPoint RocketRAID 640, but you will need PCIE x4 or greater.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I'm looking at the vertex 3. I'd need a sata III card, but my gaming rig is the one I'd get it for. The server won't get one for a while. Thanks for the input.

I wouldn't by thE vertex 3 over a 2 right now especially given the price the benefit is minimal. See anandtech they had a good write up on it.

[davephan]

I installed a Crucial 128 gig SSD on my general purpose home Windows 7 64-bit computer a few months ago. There was a huge performance improvement over the old 7200 rpm mechanical boot / programs drive. Reboots and program launches are much faster. VideoReDo Editing or QSF processing is much faster. To switch drives, I just took an image of the computer with the mechanical drive and recovered to the SSD. Then Windows 7 went through a 'repair' process to recognize the SSD. So far, the SSD is very reliable. Make sure that you use imaging for a quick recovery just in case you have any problems.

Originally Posted by doncote0

I am using SSD's on steriods for the OS drive, my extenders are all Hauppauge MVP based so the difference is huge (transcoding done on server).

For the current type of extenders (HD300 and the like), the overall improvement might not be as noticeable (but the UI is still rendered on the server as noted above).

For me, SageTV transcoding happens faster, comskip is faster, videoredo (including QSF) is faster, all Sage web apps are faster, Placeshifter (transcoding on server) is faster and Playon streaming is faster.

(Some of those would probably still be faster regardless of the extender used.)

I also recommend replacing the MVPs with HD-200 or HD-300 extenders. The video and audio quality is drastically better (especially the audio quality). The HD extenders are much more reliable and work with either SD or HD TVs. It's worth the upgrade and will eliminate the transcoding load on the SageTV computer. I still have one of my MVP hooked up to a tiny TV that is very rarely used.

In general, I would say that the improvement difference between the MVP and HD extenders is greater than the mechanical drive and the SSD (even though I'm not using an SSD on the SageTV computer yet). These are different products, but if you were considering spending the money on either upgrade, the greater return would be to replace MVPs with HD extenders first.


Dave

[SomeWhatLost]

Originally Posted by davephan

In general, I would say that the improvement difference between the MVP and HD extenders is greater than the mechanical drive and the SSD (even though I'm not using an SSD on the SageTV computer yet). These are different products, but if you were considering spending the money on either upgrade, the greater return would be to replace MVPs with HD extenders first.


Dave

I would have to agree... I was pleasantly surprised at just how good the HD300 looked hooked up through boring old composite...
probably a much better bang for the buck...
although, I haven't actually seen any MVP's in action, they could be wonderful and blazing fast for all I know...

[davephan]

Originally Posted by SomeWhatLost

I would have to agree... I was pleasantly surprised at just how good the HD300 looked hooked up through boring old composite...
probably a much better bang for the buck...
although, I haven't actually seen any MVP's in action, they could be wonderful and blazing fast for all I know...

The MVP video is poor compared to HD-200 or HD-300. The MVP audio is really lousy compared to the HD-200 or HD-300.

The MVP can only playback mpeg2 format, so if you playback anything else, the computer has to transcode the video file into mpeg2 on the fly. If the CPU doesn't have enough processing power, then you will have video and audio stuttering.

The MVP reliability is poor too. Sometimes the MVP has to be powered down for an hour or so to get it to work again. The HD-200 isn't free of problems either. Once in awhile I get the purpleish screen, requiring a HD-200 power cycle with the remote control to resolve it. But in general, the HD-200 and HD-300 are much more reliable.

I do recommend the SSD. I think they are worth the extra cost. I haven't put one in the SageTV computer yet, but I probably will in the future.


Dave

[SomeWhatLost]

oh I already have an SSD in my server... not convinced it adds any real performance though... at least not compared to the raptor that it replaced...
but it most definitely uses less power, and it should be much more reliable in the long run...

my HD200's have never needed a reboot... maybe you have a network issue or something?...
one of my HD200 extender.properties files got hosed once, but I doubt the HD200 had anything to do with that...

[Beefcake550]

Originally Posted by doncote0

HighPoint RocketRAID 620 PCIE x1 if you plan on striping them (but see below).
Otherwise the HighPoint Rocket 620 PCIE x1 will do for a single drive.

The most this interface (PCI2 and PCIE 2.1) will deliver is 512MB/s PER STREAM. If you need more bandwidth, you will next a higher multiplier for PCIE (more streams)

PCIE_____Bandwidth
Streams__(duplex )
1............512 MB/s
2...............1 GB/s
4...............2 GB/s
8...............4 GB/s
16..............8 GB/s

If you intend to use more than 1 OCZ SATA-3 device, you might want to use a different PCIE multiplier or get a different motherboard.

If you want to do multiple SATA-3 with the option for RAID, consider the HighPoint RocketRAID 640, but you will need PCIE x4 or greater.

Just to clarify this....
each PCIe "lane" can send and receive at the same time. Each lane is capable of 250MB/s in each direction. This is a little different than what is listed above in that just the totals are listed above.

[doncote0]

Just to clarify this....
each PCIe "lane" can send and receive at the same time. Each lane is capable of 250MB/s in each direction. This is a little different than what is listed above in that just the totals are listed above.

Okay since you wanted it clarified... I listed transfer rate from each side in a duplex communication (yes both side can send and receive at the same time).

250MB/s is not right -- I think you are thinking about PCIE 1.0

(I don't care about the power of 2 thing.)

PCIE 2.0 can do 512MB/sec per lane in both directions compared to PCIE 1.0 which can only do 256MB/sec in both directions (duplex) per lane.

Yes that means PCIE 2.0's total aggregate duplex speed is 1GB/sec and PCIE 1.0's total aggregate speed is 512MB/sec.

Sorry if I confused anyone, but the speeds I posted for communications per lane in a single direction are correct for PCIE 2.0

[Polypro]

I built the wife's computer in Dec '09 with a Vertex. I think she's even running 'The Sims' off it. SSDLife shows May of 2014 until it dies. WHS to the rescue when it comes time. It's a Core i5 and the thing flies. I put a Vertex 2 on a new box for my office, and just put a Kingston V100+ in my Asus 1215N.

P

[wayner]

I recently changed the system drive on my Sage server from a conventional HD to an SSD. Certainly Sage comes up much quicker on the extenders and I think navigation is a bit snappier as well. Given the falling price of SSDs I don't see myself ever using anything but SSDs as my system drives. I have now moved to a client server architecture where all of my media is on my Sage server and WHS.