Intel X25-V G2 40GB SSD

Eunos · Post by **Eunos** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 5:33 pm

Launched very quietly, the smaller G2 supports TRIM unlike the Kingston equivalent, but appears to have slightly slower writes. Reads remain 170 MB/s. Price is around $130 or $125 at Newegg or Mwave respectively.

Dailytech link

Manufacturer's link

Newegg

adikt · Post by **adikt** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 6:11 pm

SSDs just keep looking more affordable. I was seriously considering the Kingston 40GB drive, because it's $20-$30 cheaper but I've been waiting for TRIM support through a firmware upgrade (which sounds it could come along even sooner thanks to competition from this).

DAve_M · Post by **DAve_M** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 8:19 am

It is not so much competition as it is an identical drive. Firmware has to come from Kingston though. You can't flash it with X-25V firmware.

adikt · Post by **adikt** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 3:14 pm

Hmm, I know it's identical, but the competition comes from only being slightly more expensive (you can find the kingston drive cheaper - even on amazon) and supporting TRIM. I'm trying to find now any retailers that stock the SSD and also ship to Australia.

adikt · Post by **adikt** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 3:41 pm

DAve_M wrote:Firmware has to come from Kingston though. You can't flash it with X-25V firmware.

Are you sure about this?

SilentMig · Post by **SilentMig** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 7:54 pm

filler post

[Edit: Just posted this because when I was going to post the post that I made below, it said I needed 3 posts before I could include URLs in a post, so hence this post..]

SilentMig · Post by **SilentMig** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 7:54 pm

http://www.kingston.com/support/ssdnow/m_firmware.asp

Solid-State Drives
SSDNow M-Series Part Number: SNM125-S2/xxGB Firmware update

Description:
The URL below will redirect you to the Intel website where you will download the X25-M Solid-State Drive Firmware update. Prior to running the update, review the update instructions for a successful user experience.

http://www.intel.com/support/ssdc/index_update.htm

Please note:
This firmware update is not hosted by Kingston!
Kingston is not responsible for damages or data loss arising from the download and/or installation of the SSD firmware.

I'm looking into this exact issue right now trying to find out for the Kingston SSDNow 80 GB version and the page on Kingston's site under support for these drives seems to say you get the firmware from Intel. Just Googling around now trying to confirm if that's worked successfully for people because I would've got an Intel 80 GB drive but they're out of stock where I want to buy it/pricematch it and apparently the Kingston SSDNow M series (and E series, correspondingly with Intel) are -exactly- the same drives as the Intel ones just rebranded, some sort of licensing I guess.

Edit: Hmm, sorry, I guess I forgot the 40 GB version is the "V" (value) series not considered an M series, as my link was for, and from what I can see there doesn't seem to be any driver support for that right now.

Here is the link to just the Kingston SSD products support page -

http://www.kingston.com/support/ssdnow/default.asp

dhanson865 · Post by **dhanson865** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 8:08 pm

The Kingston 40Gb is not an M series drive it is a V series.

snv125-s2/40gb (kit)
snv125/40gb (drive only)

You got me with the Ninja Edit.

SilentMig · Post by **SilentMig** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 8:12 pm

http://newsblaze.com/story/201001060808 ... story.html

Seems this drive is coming with TRIM support built in though sometime soon I guess.

And ah, yes dh I'm quick like that (except when I'm not.. of course).

ThAz · Post by **ThAz** » Thu Jan 07, 2010 8:26 am

A guy at www.sweclockers.com have done some testing on a x25-v

Link to thread (Swedish):
http://www.sweclockers.com/forum/showth ... did=901793

So it seems pretty good, i have one on order

bgiddins · Post by **bgiddins** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 7:48 pm

Apparently the Kingston version of this drive is no more - Intel stopped shipping them to Kingston, cutting them off. So anyone wanting a 40GB SSD, get the Intel one, unless you don't mind a possible inability to provide support by Kingston.

adikt · Post by **adikt** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 7:43 am

Yeah I have the kingston 40gb drive, and as my first SSD, I'm loving it. It's a shame about TRIM, but I don't mind the write speeds considering the majority of what I use the drive for is read orientated. It cost me $130 AUD all up to buy it from amazon, which is about $50 cheaper and two weeks ealier than the Intel drives.

Post by **CA_Steve** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 7:58 am

Kingston announceda 30GB version at a lower price point when the Intel 40GB was announced.

Eunos · Post by **Eunos** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:01 pm

This is an interesting development, as the 30G Kingston supports TRIM and is well-priced at $80-after-rebate. Performance will still be snappy (180MB/sec. read, 50MB/sec. write). Some effort is required to run Windows 7 on a drive of this size, but it is at least possible.

However, the former TRIM-less Kingston 40G, at $85-after-rebate, would have been great value too. In reality, it was barely available in stock for that price, despite being heavily promoted. Currently Newegg has it for $130 USD.

I hope this sort of price-gouging does not continue, as these products have the potential to bring SSDs to the average PC enthusiast at last.

Tom's Hardware Link

Post by **CA_Steve** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:36 pm

I think 2010 is going to be the year of the SSD. New generation of controllers + higher density RAM in smaller processes by more mfgrs = lower prices for more mainstream PCs/users.

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 12:58 pm

Hope to see a review for this soon!

Iron_Dreamer · Post by **Iron_Dreamer** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 3:49 pm

Eunos wrote:Some effort is required to run Windows 7 on a drive of this size, but it is at least possible.

I really don't think it requires effort to run Win7 on a 30GB drive. I have one system running Win7 off a 16GB CF card. Installed, with page file and hibernation files turned off, Win7 x64 is only about 8-9GB.

Shoot, even with Office Professional 2007, Adobe CS4 Design Premium, and some other miscellaneous software installed, I still have over 10GB free on my laptop's 30GB OCZ Vertex.

Perhaps all the "effort" that is required is not installing every game and app under the sun on one's 30GB SSD.

adikt · Post by **adikt** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:58 pm

Firmware updates are now possible on the Kingston-rebradge of this drive:
http://www.overclock.net/ssd/656984-how ... b-ssd.html

Done it myself and it's working great, you can even get the Intel SSD toolbox working: http://www.overclock.net/ssd/660723-usi ... intel.html

corrion · Post by **corrion** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:16 pm

adikt wrote:Firmware updates are now possible on the Kingston-rebradge of this drive:
http://www.overclock.net/ssd/656984-how ... b-ssd.html

Done it myself and it's working great, you can even get the Intel SSD toolbox working: http://www.overclock.net/ssd/660723-usi ... intel.html

Interesting... I have the Kingston drive myself, so this piques my interest. Does that mean after I go through these steps, in the future I am able to use Intel's firmware updates instead of Kingston's, or is this a one-time-only deal?

adikt · Post by **adikt** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 10:12 pm

I'm not sure about future updates - not sure what another firmware update could provide as the drive seems completely functional already.

Oh and by the way, Kingston will not be releasing their own firmware updates for this drive.

corrion · Post by **corrion** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 2:09 am

Thanks for the heads up! I just flashed the drive tonight, and the drive has TRIM now!

dhanson865 · Post by **dhanson865** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 12:45 pm

I went ahead and did it on two drives here at work.

This is easier to do from the cover your bases sense if you bought the version of the drive that comes with Acronis Trueimage so you can backup the drive before you risk anything with an unsupported firmware update.

Both drives I updated did so without losing data but I sure wouldn't bet on that.

Backup before you do it, it's scary enough thinking about bricking a drive without having to worry about losing data.

FWIW one drive says it has had 225GB written to it and the wear indication says 99% left.

The second drive says it has had 8GB written to it and also 99% remaining.

The third drive is on a server with system management (SMB) so the only way I can check that drive is to down the server hand pull the drive. Intel SSD toolbox, Crystal Disk Info, HDtune, etc are useless on server grade hardware.

adikt · Post by **adikt** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:58 pm

dhanson865 wrote:FWIW one drive says it has had 225GB written to it and the wear indication says 99% left.

The second drive says it has had 8GB written to it and also 99% remaining.

Hey where did you find this information? I backed up my drive too before the firmware upgrade but thankfully didn't need to use it.

EDIT: I just found it in the SMART information. My drive has had 138.56 GB written to it with 99% on the wearout media indicator.

dhanson865 · Post by **dhanson865** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 2:44 pm

I'd also mention on the cost issue the Kingston SSD kit with Acronis, drive rail kit, and molex to sata power adapter is still $20 less after S&H according to the search I just did on the spcr pricegrabber.

Before today I thought maybe the trim made it worth paying extra but now that I've turned trim support on my attitude has taken a 180 and I'm thinking its better to get the cheaper drive and take the 15 mins to take care of trim...

corrion · Post by **corrion** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:07 pm

It's just all depends. I snagged the 40GB Kingston drive for $95 after shipping and tax, so it was definitely more worth it for me than paying Intel's $130.

maalitehdas · Post by **maalitehdas** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:32 pm

From the high end department:
512Gb ExpressCARD SSD Flash, sold here in Finland for 8837.90 â‚¬
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/s ... xpress_ssd

That 40Gb Intel is sold with 105 â‚¬ here.

_MarcoM_ · Post by **_MarcoM_** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:15 am

What's the formatted capacity of the X25-V? Is it lower than 40GB?

maalitehdas · Post by **maalitehdas** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 9:38 am

Most of them loose 5% after formatting, i suppose that's quite close to it again. Not seen thou.

dhanson865 · Post by **dhanson865** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:12 am

_MarcoM_ wrote:What's the formatted capacity of the X25-V? Is it lower than 40GB?

Disk Management shows a 40GB SSD as 37.25GB. I formatted mine at just over 25GB but you could get the full 37GB if you care about the capacity.

Just remember SSDs just as hard drives get slower if they are full. The reasons why differ drastically but the rule of thumb is you don't want a full drive no matter if it is a rotating disk or a SSD.

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdo ... i=3702&p=5 gives you some thoughts on "overprovisioning"

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdo ... i=3667&p=3 discusses free space effecting speed on Trim enabled drives:

Performance in a TRIM enabled system is now determined not by the number of invalid blocks on your SSD, but rather the amount of free space you have. I went into a deep explanation of the relationship between free space and the performance of some SSDs here.

TRIM will make sure that you donâ€™t have to worry about your drive filling up with invalid data, but it doesnâ€™t skirt the bigger issue: dynamic controllers see their performance improve with more free space.

My rule of thumb is to keep at least 20% free space on your drive, you can get by with less but performance tends to suffer. It doesnâ€™t degrade by the same amount for all drives either. Some controllers are more opportunistic with free space (e.g. Intel), while others donâ€™t seem to rely as much on free space for improved performance.

presumably this issue is even worse if you don't use Trim (say an XP machine on the Kingston drive without using the Intel toolkit).

dhanson865 · Post by **dhanson865** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:21 am

maalitehdas wrote:Most of them loose 5% after formatting, i suppose that's quite close to it again. Not seen thou.

Make that 7% and it's pretty close when talking about GB drives.

Move that up to 10% when talking about TB drives.

And both of those percentages are just the conversion from decimal to binary. No formatting overhead involved.

Marketing types just don't understand or care about math.