AMD and SSDs

[Borg]

Just inquiring out of curiosity.... If you go with an AMD chipset, 800 or coming 900 series and you get a SSD that uses Garbage Collection, you're ok, right?

I guess most of those use that now, not TRIM? TRIM drives are mostly the older ones?

Which SSD(s) are best to combine with AMD chipsets?

Edit: I read that you should just get a Sandforce-based drive...so, OCZ Vertex 2 Extended or Crucial C300 series.

Edit 2: the OCZ drives have a new architecture that is less performance.... 25nm is slower than 34nm or something?

Anyway, I only care about 80 to 12xGB drives or those under $250-ish...

I was wondering if I should wait for bulldozer and future AMD motherboards/chipsets/processors before I upgrade (if I upgrade). It doesn't mean I'll immediately go to a SSD but I like to keep the option open and get the best or most convenient situation.

[AkG]

If you go for 8 series or later AMD rigs, you will get TRIM. Its only older systems that are a problem.

IF you have a rig with SATA 6Gb/s ports...get the C300. In that gen its my fav "best bang for your buck" ssd. Killer speeds, killer price, great ITGC and trim support.

34nm NAND is EOL...so finding SSDs with it is a crap shoot now. Basically its only older stock that will have it. The rest is 25nm. This goes double for companies like OCZ who sell an insane amount of SSDs as their stockpiles get depleted faster. IF you got SF 12xx look for a "16 chip solution" if its advertised as 25nm NAND.

Honestly, if you are looking at the older gens the C300 is simply the one I would reach for regardless of what AMD rig you have. If you dont have Sata 6gb/s ports you will indeed get a performance hit...but its not like it will be slow or anything .... and when you upgrade you will get an instant performance boost.

[terrybear]

I would shoot for a bulldozer build once the platform launches & the 8xx or 9xx based boards. As Akg, said 8xx & newer will have full trim support, but not in raid configurations. But when your talking about sandforce 2xxx based SSD's its not much of a issue to worry about running more then 1 in raid.

I have to say IF your looking to build a system with a SSD when you do a bulldozer my recomendation to match with it is the new Corsair Force 3 120. It's on pre-order from ncix for around $239 & so far it's the only sandforce 2xxx based SSD out there with max IOPS rates (85000 apparently) next would be the vertex 3's. As all the reviews have sugested the ONLY thing close to touching Vertex 3's sandforce preformance is only a product from another company based on the same sandforce chips.

[MARSTG]

ITGC means you are using something else than just Windows 7, XP , Vista or whatever else, otherwise you have TRIM and you are set. Seems like a large enterprise/corporate environment

[AkG]

Sorry mate...but to get TRIM requires 5 requirements be met. 1) Win 7. XP and Vista do not work. Period. 2) AHCI mode. If you are not in AHCI you dont get trim even on Win 7. Period. 3) Controller that can pass the trim command on. Intel is safe AMD is safe since 8 series. That is all. None others (that I am aware of) can pass on Trim. 4) Drivers that can send the trim command. MS AHCI, AMD's latest and Intel RST that is it. 5) SSD can not be part of a RAID array. Period.

IF any of these 5 requirements is not meant you donna get TRIM. Without TRIM command being sent and received the SSD would get into a degraded state. Thus self maintenacne routines or "ITGC" are needed. Luckily all modern ones have some form of proprietary "ITGC" some are mild (and take longer) some are aggressive (work faster but eat nand faster). BUT for many with anything other than a modern rig, "ITGC" is the only saving grace. It aint for enterprise envrios only ;)

[MARSTG]

Originally Posted by AkG

Intel is safe

any idea since what generation/chipset?

[AkG]

Since 10 at the very least and probably ICH 9 (though it has been awhile since I ran ich 9).

[MARSTG]

Ok, so where do we get a list of compatible chipsets that work with TRIM the way they are supposed to for SSDs? Is the Marvel chipset for SATA III allowing for that? meaning the Marvell 9128 chipset? would be easier to add a card than change all the platform.

[AkG]

To the best of my knowledge Marvel will neither confirm nor deny that any of their controllers support TRIM. There is SOME anecdotal evidence that the MS AHCI driver + 9128 will give you Trim support...but I put little faith in that. IMHO if a company wont come out and say it...it is because it doesnt work. I have also seen peeps claim older 7 series AMD chips + MS AHCI would pass the trim command too...and that is highly unlikely. In most cases it is aggressive ITGC that is covering for lack of TRIM.

The only ones that I KNOW to be GUARANTEED to pass the TRIM command are AMD 8 (or later) series, Intel ICH 10 and later (though IIRC 9 also works). Thats its. Anything else by 3rd party makers and previous gens is a crap shoot.

[Borg]

Originally Posted by AkG

To the best of my knowledge Marvel will neither confirm nor deny that any of their controllers support TRIM. There is SOME anecdotal evidence that the MS AHCI driver + 9128 will give you Trim support...but I put little faith in that. IMHO if a company wont come out and say it...it is because it doesnt work. I have also seen peeps claim older 7 series AMD chips + MS AHCI would pass the trim command too...and that is highly unlikely. In most cases it is aggressive ITGC that is covering for lack of TRIM.

The only ones that I KNOW to be GUARANTEED to pass the TRIM command are AMD 8 (or later) series, Intel ICH 10 and later (though IIRC 9 also works). Thats its. Anything else by 3rd party makers and previous gens is a crap shoot.

I don't trust Marvel. Their SATA ports are usually because the manufacturer cheapened out and went for someone cheaper. Also, there's a lot of posts on forums about problems from the past inclusions of Marvel hardware. Anyway, this is my impression. I'm not basing it on anything other than what I perceived whenever I came across a discussion about Marvel hardware.

Imho, since they are included on a number of higher end 1155 motherboards, it's probably best to reserve those ports to your data drives. That's what I would do, anyway.