

Review of Intel's New X25M SSD (same one Torvalds has) in a new MacBook Pro - PStamatiou
http://paulstamatiou.com/2008/10/29/review-intel-x25-m-80gb-ssd

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LogicHoleFlaw
The new controller on this drive from Intel is fantastic. I look forward to
seeing this technology become ubiquitous. With filesystems designed for
random-access persistent drives and good controllers, well... rotational disks
are going to look extremely antiquated extremely quickly.

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Xichekolas
Yeah, from my reading on this drive the biggest gains were made in the
controller, which is orders of magnitude more efficient at wear leveling and
small-file performance.

For a really good read on why the Intel drive is way better than the
competition:
[http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=34...](http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3403)

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pmjordan
_NCQ was first introduced in SATA disk drives to prioritize disk read/write
operations based on the current location of the head, and therefore eliminate
superfluous revolutions and head movement._

Actually, SCSI (and SAS) had it first, and still beats SATA's implementation
in terms of queue length. (256 entries vs 32 I think)

EDIT: It's called Tagged Command Queueing (TCQ) on SCSI, and the 256 entries
are a limitation by most SCSI disks/controllers, the system can handle way
more.

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13ren
An exciting effect is the possibility of new algorithms to take advantage of
this different set of performance characteristics (and vindication of
neglected, maligned crackpot schemes). There are avenues that intelligent
people simply don't explore, because they wouldn't help solve the problems
they face, given the fundamental nature of hardware.

For example "So disks are not random access any more?" asked of Jim Gray in
the fascinating "A Conversation with Jim Gray" ACM, June 2003
[http://www.acmqueue.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=show...](http://www.acmqueue.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=43)

But when fundamental nature of hardware changes...

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markessien
SSDs are the future. This is where the next big computer upgrade is going to
be. The result, I think is that when rotational parts get completely removed
from computers, we will see desktop software programmed for _instant_
reaction. Using SSDs, most programs could be rearranged in a way that almost
every standard usage happens in less than 1 second.

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timtrueman
I would imagine the blazing random reads and writes of this drive would
drastically help database performance (and possibly allow operations too
expensive in time or number of IOs to become more feasible). Remember you can
always push the limit of what's possible technically because hardware becomes
cheaper, faster and more reliable over time.

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aston
Database systems are already optimized for disk i/o that has blazing fast
sequential reads and a high penalty for seeking. SSD's put the seeking penalty
to zero, but with worse sequential read speed compared to your typical raided
disks.

Which is the long way of saying, it's an expensive option that is unlikely (at
least right now) to improve database performance that much.

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neilc
Plenty of database workloads involve a lot of random I/O (e.g. anything that
does an index lookup is typically doing random I/O). In theory, you should be
able to tell the query optimizer about the relative costs of random vs.
sequential I/O on your hardware, and have it adjust the costing of query plans
accordingly (e.g. PG allows this, at any rate -- it might even be possible to
infer that automatically, although not easy).

Aside from the query workload, WAL is designed under the assumption that
sequential writes are much cheaper than random writes, so you could imagine
changing that when using SSDs...

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tocomment
They should sell a small, maybe 8GB version to use for swap or for installing
a DB. What do you think?

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jrockway
_They should sell a small, maybe 8GB version to use for swap_

It's called RAM. If you want 8G of RAM, get 8G of RAM. It's cheap.

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neilc
RAM is volatile, SSDs are not. Obviously not relevant in the case of swap,
though.

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timtrueman
Before and after benchmarks of "unibody" MacBook 2GHz/4GB upgraded to an Intel
X25-M 80GB SSD: <http://tinyurl.com/5g2afd>

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PStamatiou
While not technically hacker related, I figured it would be relevant since
most hackers have MBPs and would like to hear about the benefits of the
~fastest SSD on the market.

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raganwald
This drive is faster and lower power than a typical hard drive. Assuming that
purchase price is not a factor, what does this do for building out
supercomputer clusters on commodity hardware? Could this change the way
companies like GOOG and AMZN build their computing utilities?

p.s. And what part of an 80GB drive that consumes way less power than the
drive it replaces and is way faster than the drive it replaces is not hacker-
related? Techno-fetishism is _always_ hacker-related.

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LogicHoleFlaw
SSDs in the data center are definitely coming up. CCP, the creators of Eve
Online, use SSD drives for their unsharded persistent game world.

<http://www.superssd.com/success/ccpgames.htm> has a testimonial about their
SSD experiences.

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pstinnett
Didn't know that. Interesting!!

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markbao
That's awesome, but:

How fast does it start Word 2008?

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PStamatiou
I'm encrypting the SSD at the moment so I wont get accurate results if I do it
now, but I'll do it later today and report back.

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tortilla
A little off topic but how do you like the glossy screen on your MBP?

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PStamatiou
It is a pretty big pain in the ass most of the time, but I don't have as much
a problem with it as most people do. The glare is only troublesome if you
focus on it, I just "filter it out" and I don't really have an issue with it.
Granted, a lot of my MBP coding is done on a couch in my batcave-like living
room so I don't have much glare to begin with.

While on campus and in class though, the fluorescent lights do make the glare
an issue and I was able to see the kid behind me staring at me through my
screen the whole class. But on the upside, now I will never get stabbed from
behind.

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elai
Why didn't you get a refurb 2.6Ghz MBP with a matte screen instead?

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maximilian
Because, I assume, he, like me, wanted the new hotness. I cheaped out and
bought the macbook, but I could've gotten a faster matte MBP.

I haven't minded the glossy yet. Its waaay brighter than my old matte screen
and I usually forget its there. I still feel a bit torn about it
though...lotsa pluses and minuses. Matte screens don't have such noticeable
minuses unless you switch back.

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PStamatiou
agreed. why would i get an _old_ mbp? Most of the time I'm hooked up to my
24-inch dell anyways

