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OCZ Vertex vs Intel X25-M

VirtualRain

VirtualRain

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 1, 2008
6,304
118
Vancouver, BC
I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a pair of SSD's.

Looking at the OCZ forums, it seems like there are a still a number of outstanding issues... random lockups out of sleep, no trim support, (therefore worse write performance on a loaded drive), and on and on...
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54859

Yet there's very little noise around the Intel drives (besides the late bootcamp issue). Is that because I'm just not looking in the right place or there simply is no outstanding issues with Intel's X-25M now?

Does anyone here have any more insights?
 
I have the X25-M as my boot and applications drive in the 09 MP 2.26 octa. It's been flawless, and performance is great :D
 
VirtualRain said:
I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a pair of SSD's.

Looking at the OCZ forums, it seems like there are a still a number of outstanding issues... random lockups out of sleep, no trim support, (therefore worse write performance on a loaded drive), and on and on...
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54859

Yet there's very little noise around the Intel drives (besides the late bootcamp issue). Is that because I'm just not looking in the right place or there simply is no outstanding issues with Intel's X-25M now?

Does anyone here have any more insights?
Click to expand...

There's little noise because there are no Intel public forums. If you cut off OCZ forums, there would be little noise as well.

Intel is at the moment the best SSD in the market, especially with the latest firmware update. It did have performance degradation issue but that is fixed right now with yesterday's firmware update. Bootcamp is fixed only in late models of Intel X25-M 80GB but fixed in all 160GB flavors.

No trim support? Considering the fact that there is NO official OS support for it, it doesn't matter right now. Vertex has Trim support in the firmware already, it is in the 1.10 (revision 1370) and it mostly works with 32bit OS only with OCZ tool. Intel might add trim support later in a firmware update but as of right now only Vertex have trim support. As for OS support, Windows 7 is slated to support it but it is nowhere in betas and pre-RC builds. Linux has very experimental support for it. Forget about Macs, we have no idea if even SL will have it.

As for right now, Intel is your best shot for best MAC OS X support. Vertex does have some issues but over time with firmware updates may get rid of all of those issues just like Intel did. Remember OCZ/Indilinx is very small compared to Intel, they need more resources and time to figure out all the issues with Macs and thus all the 3-4 firmware updates so far in a matter of month, at least they are trying to get it fixed.

I use vertex 120Gb in my early 2008 MBP. I frigging love it. It is fast as hell.
 
I also opted for the 120gb Vertex. I bought it and that next day firmware v1.1 came out. Got it installed, and boy is it fast. No hiccups thus far, just really stinking fast.
 
Every test I've seen shows the Intel head and shoulders above the competition. If there is any competition, it appears the Samsung units are a distant second.
 
mlankton said:
Every test I've seen shows the Intel head and shoulders above the competition. If there is any competition, it appears the Samsung units are a distant second.
Click to expand...

Not head and shoulders above Vertex for sure and probably not the latest MLC Samsungs either. Vertex is faster than Intels in seq writes, almost close in reads. Intel is head and shoulders above in random IOPS, it is a monster in that area.
 
sboerup said:
I also opted for the 120gb Vertex. I bought it and that next day firmware v1.1 came out.
Click to expand...

Can you easily update the firmware of the Vertex and Intel SSDs when they are installed in a MPB or MP and you're running OS X from it? I read somewhere that you may need to boot from a flash drive or connect it to a PC etc.
 
Doc69 said:
Can you easily update the firmware of the Vertex and Intel SSDs when they are installed in a MPB or MP and you're running OS X from it? I read somewhere that you may need to boot from a flash drive or connect it to a PC etc.
Click to expand...

OCZ is working on a freedos CD flasher now which will allow you to flash without taking the drive out of MB/P AND without a jumper. They are beta testing internally at the moment.

Intel SSD is very easy in the same way, use a cd to flash it and you won't lose any data (hopefully without anything going wrong). Vertex flasher will at the moment still wipe your drive.
 
Doc69 said:
Can you easily update the firmware of the Vertex and Intel SSDs when they are installed in a MPB or MP and you're running OS X from it? I read somewhere that you may need to boot from a flash drive or connect it to a PC etc.
Click to expand...

The Intel SSD firmware update requires you boot off a CD (you download the ISO) then run the firmware update from the prompt. It only takes a few seconds. Not sure on the Vertex procedure.

MikhailT said:
Not head and shoulders above Vertex for sure and probably not the latest MLC Samsungs either. Vertex is faster than Intels in seq writes, almost close in random. Intel is head and shoulders above in random IOPS, it is a monster in that area.
Click to expand...

Vertex isn't close to the X25-M in random writes.. not even after the most recent firmware update.

18688.png


full tests here
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3535&p=3
 
aibo said:
The Intel SSD firmware update requires you boot off a CD (you download the ISO) then run the firmware update from the prompt. It only takes a few seconds. Not sure on the Vertex procedure.



Vertex isn't close to the X25-M in random writes.. not even after the most recent firmware update.

18688.png


full tests here
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3535&p=3
Click to expand...

Blah I meant to say almost close in reads. Thus the next sentence where I did say Intel is a monster in random IOPS.
 
Info on fragmentation / bootcamp

Some good info here : slashdot article

The short of it is that they've fixed fragmentation issues with a new firmware version, and new shipping drives shouldn't have the bootcamp issue.
 
MikhailT said:
There's little noise because there are no Intel public forums. If you cut off OCZ forums, there would be little noise as well.
Click to expand...

This is what concerns me... the lack of a forum on the drives ensures that information and problems are not being shared in large enough volume to draw any real conclusions from. Sure they test great, and there are a couple of happy users on here, but it's impossible to know whether it's just amazing right out of the gate with virtually no flaws or it's just as plagued with issues as other drives, but there's no forum for people to highlight them. I hope I'm just being skeptical... I guess I should just buy a pair.
 
VirtualRain said:
This is what concerns me... the lack of a forum on the drives ensures that information and problems are not being shared in large enough volume to draw any real conclusions from. Sure they test great, and there are a couple of happy users on here, but it's impossible to know whether it's just amazing right out of the gate with virtually no flaws or it's just as plagued with issues as other drives, but there's no forum for people to highlight them. I hope I'm just being skeptical... I guess I should just buy a pair.
Click to expand...

Most of the time consumers won't complain (or post as much) when something works perfectly out of the box.

The silence is deafening.

However, how many posts were there on the 7200.11 Seagate issue?
 
aibo said:
The Intel SSD firmware update requires you boot off a CD (you download the ISO) then run the firmware update from the prompt. It only takes a few seconds. Not sure on the Vertex procedure.



Vertex isn't close to the X25-M in random writes.. not even after the most recent firmware update.

18688.png


full tests here
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3535&p=3
Click to expand...
I wanted to update my firmware for my Intel X25-M. I burned the ISO and booted from my CD drive, but the program states Intel SSD is not attached or disabled. Any ideas?
 
drew0020 said:
I wanted to update my firmware for my Intel X25-M. I burned the ISO and booted from my CD drive, but the program states no Intel SSD identified. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

I tried on my 09 MP, but the update failed. It found the SSD, but complained about BIOS settings. I don't have any more time to mess with the update now...
 
drew0020 said:
I wanted to update my firmware for my Intel X25-M. I burned the ISO and booted from my CD drive, but the program states Intel SSD is not attached or disabled. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

What Mac are you using? Worked ok on my 2008. I think the poster above me is the 2nd time I'm reading about it not working on the 2009.
 
Do the new X25-M's Intel sells already come with the latest firmware installed? I'd prefer not to have to do firmware updates so I want to wait until the shipping units come with a firmware version that has no issues. Did anyone buy their drive very recently?
 
aibo said:
What Mac are you using? Worked ok on my 2008. I think the poster above me is the 2nd time I'm reading about it not working on the 2009.
Click to expand...
I tried to install it on a 2.4ghz Unibody MacBook.
 
drew0020 said:
I tried to install it on a 2.4ghz Unibody MacBook.
Click to expand...

sorry think you're out of luck. this is from the firmware faq:

Will the Intel SATA SSD Firmware Update Tool work on Apple (*) Macinstosh (*) systems?

Yes, except for Macintosh (*) systems that have an Nvidia (*) chipset with an Intel SSD containing 8610 firmware. In this specific case, the Intel SATA SSD Firmware Update Tool will not find your Intel SATA SSD and will report that there are no drives found on the system. To complete your firmware update, please take your CD and remove the SSD from your system and perform the update on a non-Nvidia (*) based Macintosh (*) or Windows (*) system. After successfully completing the firmware update, install your Intel SSD back into your Macintosh (*) system and reboot.
Click to expand...
 
drew0020 said:
I am out of luck because I do not have another non-NVIDIA system in my home. I wonder why NVIDIA is a dealbreaker?
Click to expand...

The firmware upgrade fixes what causes the NVIDIA problem. The FreeDos OS that the firmware is running from cant see the drive, because of the bug in the 8610 firmware.
 
Is this confirmed if it is then it's good news. Is that from Javier then?

I had to update from non-NVidia but I'm please that going forward I won't have to. Still cannot do the SECURE_ERASE on a MAC though which is a pain.

TechViking said:
The firmware upgrade fixes what causes the NVIDIA problem. The FreeDos OS that the firmware is running from cant see the drive, because of the bug in the 8610 firmware.
Click to expand...
 
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