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2011 Thunderbolt iMac SSD Discussion Thread (Parts Identified)

Are there someone that have bought the 21,5" with the only SSD? If yes, what are your HDD fan rpm (if there is the HDD's fan in the SSD only setup :D )?

thanks :)
 
May be a little bit off topic but I want to know if the SSD used in iMac getting slower and slower with time goes? I heard of cases that SSD getting slower after not a long time and that sounds terrible.
Considering whether to get a SSD+HDD iMac upon this point.
 
thisisanacc said:
May be a little bit off topic but I want to know if the SSD used in iMac getting slower and slower with time goes? I heard of cases that SSD getting slower after not a long time and that sounds terrible.
Considering whether to get a SSD+HDD iMac upon this point.
Click to expand...

The :apple: SSD (Toshiba) supports TRIM, so you should see minimal (if any) degredation in speed over time.

However if you DIY a SSD drive, TRIM support will usually not be there.
There are work arounds to this. Results tend to wary, :apple: doesn't make DIY for iMac easy.
 
Michael D. said:
The :apple: SSD (Toshiba) supports TRIM, so you should see minimal (if any) degredation in speed over time.

However if you DIY a SSD drive, TRIM support will usually not be there.
There are work arounds to this. Results tend to wary, :apple: doesn't make DIY for iMac easy.
Click to expand...

TRIM support can be enabled with TRIM Enabler for 3rd party SSDs. Most current SSDs also have aggressive garbage collection so the need for TRIM isn't that critical anymore.
 
Yes the SSD iMac is quite attractive but if there are a lot to do so as to maintain the daily performance of the SSD, the attractiveness is lowered then.

The 'a lot to do' means: should not fill the SSD too full
Utilities to maintain performance
not to write in large amount of data every day
accepting the fact that it gets slower sometime
moving the TEMP FILES away from the SSD
and so on. I dont know if all of the above are true. Just heard of them on the Internet.
 
thisisanacc said:
Yes the SSD iMac is quite attractive but if there are a lot to do so as to maintain the daily performance of the SSD, the attractiveness is lowered then.

The 'a lot to do' means: should not fill the SSD too full
Utilities to maintain performance
not to write in large amount of data every day
accepting the fact that it gets slower sometime
moving the TEMP FILES away from the SSD
and so on. I dont know if all of the above are true. Just heard of them on the Internet.
Click to expand...

Whilst I'm waiting for my 27" SSD/2TB to ship, I have been wondering how it will work too.

I really hope Apple have put something in place for this to be automatically managed to maximise the efficiency of the SSD?
 
thisisanacc said:
should not fill the SSD too full
Click to expand...

As long as you have something like 5GB of free space, it should be fine. The OS needs a few GBs for the swap file and stuff like that. Otherwise there is no need to keep the SSD as clean as possible.

Utilities to maintain performance
Click to expand...

Not needed with a good SSD.

not to write in large amount of data every day
Click to expand...

An SSD using 25nm NANDs has 3000 write cycles. For 128GB SSD, that means 384 000GB or 384TB of data (theoretically). An average user will not be able to kill the SSD by writing.

accepting the fact that it gets slower sometime
Click to expand...

A good SSD won't, especially if you enable TRIM.

moving the TEMP FILES away from the SSD
Click to expand...

Can be done but not required.

Seriously, people are way too concerned about these "issues".
 
Hellhammer said:
As long as you have something like 5GB of free space, it should be fine. The OS needs a few GBs for the swap file and stuff like that. Otherwise there is no need to keep the SSD as clean as possible.



Not needed with a good SSD.



An SSD using 25nm NANDs has 3000 write cycles. For 128GB SSD, that means 384 000GB or 384TB of data (theoretically). An average user will not be able to kill the SSD by writing.



A good SSD won't, especially if you enable TRIM.



Can be done but not required.

Seriously, people are way too concerned about these "issues".
Click to expand...

Thank you for answering all my concerns so clearly.:)

I agree with you that people concern too much.
The only thing I concern now, after your answers, is do I have to do the TRIM or something like that frequently? Forgive me for I am not quite familiar with SSD and my bad English.
 
thisisanacc said:
The only thing I concern now, after your answers, is do I have to do the TRIM or something like that frequently?
Click to expand...

TRIM works in the background. Once it has been enabled, there is nothing you need to do. Basically, TRIM lets your OS tell the SSD controller what file is no longer in use so the SSD controller can then get rid of the file.
 
Yorr said:
What cost a Vertex3 256GB?

[edit]

nm, almost the same as the Apple SSD. Only 2x faster :p
Click to expand...

and 4 times the failure rate. 2.5 percent failure rate for the vertex 2

.6 percent for toshiba. one year failure rates.

for many people that is too much. For myself if I get an iMac I am putting in a

600gb intel ssd. also a .49 percent failure rate.
 
Hellhammer said:
TRIM works in the background. Once it has been enabled, there is nothing you need to do. Basically, TRIM lets your OS tell the SSD controller what file is no longer in use so the SSD controller can then get rid of the file.
Click to expand...

Is TRIM already available in SL or will be only available in Lion?
 
New data

SSD drive attached to motherboard with two cables

#539-1295 (SATA DATA)
#539-1296 (SATA POWER)
Foxconn Rev.A

Still uses Toshiba SSD drives :(

Picture taken from 21" iMac i7 2.8 Ghz
 
Last edited:
qap said:
Are there someone that have bought the 21,5" with the only SSD? If yes, what are your HDD fan rpm (if there is the HDD's fan in the SSD only setup :D )?

thanks :)
Click to expand...


A bit bump to my question :D
 
We had the first 27.0" SSD iMac reach someone's hands today. Please see the first post in this thread. There was a firmware revision which is the only differentiation from the 21.5".
 
mrfoof82, The 27" SSD seems to be NOT the same as the 21,5", but a "new" revision (check the number '2' at the code end) :confused:

9kHdU.jpg

Cfs6j.png


What do you think?
 
I think I already posted that information in the first post in the thread, and the post above yours... which is exactly why this thread was necro'd.

That explains the "part shortage" is what I think. They had to produce enough with the new firmware to make a new shipment. Also, new verification testing, which takes time.

Be interesting to see if/when the 21.5's show up with the newer firmware.
 
mrfoof82 said:
I think I already posted that information in the first post in the thread, and the post above yours... which is exactly why this thread was necro'd.
.
Click to expand...

wuuoops I'm sorry, I haven't read well :eek:

That explains the "part shortage" is what I think. They had to produce enough with the new firmware to make a new shipment. Also, new verification testing, which takes time.

Be interesting to see if/when the 21.5's show up with the newer firmware
Click to expand...

and why Apple has put a new firmware/rev for the 27" SSD if the SSD/SATA/CHIP/etc… are the same? :confused: maybe there is/are differences between the two Toshiba SSDrive? :confused:
 
qap said:
Are there someone that have bought the 21,5" with the only SSD? If yes, what are your HDD fan rpm (if there is the HDD's fan in the SSD only setup :D )?

thanks :)
Click to expand...

I have, and these are the minimum fan speeds:

ODD: 1400 rpm
HDD: 1100 rpm
CPU: 1200 rpm

It is the i7 and I got it last week. The default fan speeds are faster than what people were publishing at the beginning of May. Maybe Apple changed the EFI on the latest SSD 21.5 inch iMacs.

It is not noisy at all, but I wouldn't call it silent either. There is a low, permanent hum, but it is very hard to rev it up from the default speed.
 
Hellhammer said:
TRIM support can be enabled with TRIM Enabler for 3rd party SSDs. Most current SSDs also have aggressive garbage collection so the need for TRIM isn't that critical anymore.
Click to expand...

I used the TRIM enabler with my Vertex2, but it resulted in major stalls and slowdowns occasionally. I had to revert the change and now the SSD is working fine. Bottom-line: I do not recommend the TRIM enabler...
 
leman said:
I used the TRIM enabler with my Vertex2, but it resulted in major stalls and slowdowns occasionally. I had to revert the change and now the SSD is working fine. Bottom-line: I do not recommend the TRIM enabler...
Click to expand...

Depends on the SSD. SandForce based SSDs seem to have problems with TRIM in OS X but most of the other SSD do fine, for instance Intels. SF based SSDs don't even need TRIM due to their aggressive GC but most SSDs don't have as aggressive GC (e.g. Intels have very poor one).
 
dawser said:
I have, and these are the minimum fan speeds:

ODD: 1400 rpm
HDD: 1100 rpm
CPU: 1200 rpm

It is the i7 and I got it last week. The default fan speeds are faster than what people were publishing at the beginning of May. Maybe Apple changed the EFI on the latest SSD 21.5 inch iMacs.

It is not noisy at all, but I wouldn't call it silent either. There is a low, permanent hum, but it is very hard to rev it up from the default speed.
Click to expand...

I got the exact same speeds and I have the 21.5 i7 2.8 with SSD and 1TB HD. And yes the low hum is there.
 
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