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SSD performance on iMac/RiMac?

theSeb said:
...I am curious what it is that you do...

I would consider multiple SSDs in RAID 0
Click to expand...

as I wrote already, I really don't like to stare at progress bars. installing/creating virtual machines all the time for instance is something that profits a lot from high throughput. currently I use a classic Mac Pro with an Apple/SAMSUNG 1.0 TB PCIe SSD (4 lanes) plus a RAID-0 (2 SSDs). I specifically store the ISOs of the operating systems to be installed on the RAID and the VMs on the PCIe SSD so read/write happens on two different drives. I don't like the idea to spend more than 4000 bucks on a machine that will give me inferior performance... I'm pretty sure that most people will be more than happy with the RiMac. it's definitely a fine computer, just not for me.
 
mikeboss said:
as I wrote already, I really don't like to stare at progress bars. installing/creating virtual machines all the time for instance is something that profits a lot from high throughput. currently I use a classic Mac Pro with an Apple/SAMSUNG 1.0 TB PCIe SSD (4 lanes) plus a RAID-0 (2 SSDs). I specifically store the ISOs of the operating systems to be installed on the RAID and the VMs on the PCIe SSD so read/write happens on two different drives. I don't like the idea to spend more than 4000 bucks on a machine that will give me inferior performance... I'm pretty sure that most people will be more than happy with the RiMac. it's definitely a fine computer, just not for me.
Click to expand...

I would not be touching virtualisation with 4 cores, hence why I bought a Mac Pro instead :)
 
Here is another confirmation: http://www.barefeats.com/imac5k1.html.

Is there any chance Apple is just shipping a 2-lane limited SSD with the Retina iMac, which itself still has an x4 interface?

OWC demonstrated just such a scenario with the smaller Mac Pro and rMBP drives:

The performance boost over the stock SSDs in the 13” and 15” rMBP – which achieved up to 759MB/s and 794MB/s respectively – is explained by the fact that the Mac Pro SSD negotiates a x4 PCIe connection versus the stock cards, which negotiate a x2 PCIe connection.
Click to expand...

I could see it making sense if they had concerns over the Retina iMac canadilizing Mac Pro sales for any reason.

I was thinking of getting the Retina iMac with one of the Fusion drive options, and then upgrading the SSD portion with a secondhand 1TB Mac Pro x4 PCIe SSD. Perhaps even create a 2TB all-SSD Fusion drive by also swapping out the spinner for a 1TB Samsung 850 Pro. The slower x2 speed for the PCIe side dampens my enthusiasm for that hack a bit.
 
ibrandt said:
Here is another confirmation: http://www.barefeats.com/imac5k1.html.

Is there any chance Apple is just shipping a 2-lane limited SSD with the Retina iMac, which itself still has an x4 interface?

OWC demonstrated just such a scenario with the smaller Mac Pro and rMBP drives:



I could see it making sense if they had concerns over the Retina iMac canadilizing Mac Pro sales for any reason.

I was thinking of getting the Retina iMac with one of the Fusion drive options, and then upgrading the SSD portion with a secondhand 1TB Mac Pro x4 PCIe SSD. Perhaps even create a 2TB all-SSD Fusion drive by also swapping out the spinner for a 1TB Samsung 850 Pro. The slower x2 speed for the PCIe side dampens my enthusiasm for that hack a bit.
Click to expand...

Most likely a cost, or lack of PCIe lanes issues. Businesses don't sit and there and worry about product x cannabilising product y's sales. Some of the biggest companies in the world have multiple brands and they "compete" against each other.
 
mikeboss said:
no, I don't think that cancelling my order was too harsh. first reason is because I now run an Apple PCIe SSD in my classic Mac Pro (4 lanes, gives about 1200 MB/Sec) and I do not want to go backwards performancewise. second reason: Apple charges premium dollars (800.00) for a 1.0 TB SSD while a standard SAMSUNG 1.0 TB SSD costs roughly half. for this kind of money I think I'm entitled to get cutting-edge hardware.
Click to expand...

So you want to get a 1TB Samsung SATA SSD because its half as expensive and it's some how cutting-edge hardware versus Apples 2xPCIe 1TB SSD that is nearly 50% faster than the Samsung SATA SSD. You are getting cutting-edge hardware, how many other PCs come with 1tb PCIe based flash drives? It may be 2 lane limited but still faster than SATA speeds.

Now if you had said you wanted the Lacie Little Big Disk 1tb thunderbolt-2 drive, that's a different story. The Lacie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2 has 2x 512GB Samsung xp941 m.2 PCIe flash drives in raid-0, which is state of the art with an associated price tag to match.
 
ibrandt said:
Here is another confirmation: http://www.barefeats.com/imac5k1.html.

Is there any chance Apple is just shipping a 2-lane limited SSD with the Retina iMac, which itself still has an x4 interface?
Click to expand...

OWC demonstrated just such a scenario with the smaller Mac Pro and rMBP drives:



I could see it making sense if they had concerns over the Retina iMac canadilizing Mac Pro sales for any reason.

I was thinking of getting the Retina iMac with one of the Fusion drive options, and then upgrading the SSD portion with a secondhand 1TB Mac Pro x4 PCIe SSD. Perhaps even create a 2TB all-SSD Fusion drive by also swapping out the spinner for a 1TB Samsung 850 Pro. The slower x2 speed for the PCIe side dampens my enthusiasm for that hack a bit.
Click to expand...

The X prefix shows x2 mean two-lane card instead
because it's changed via different card in this case
5.0 GT/s mean PCIe2.0 Data Transfer Rate per lane

So maybe Apple SSD Controler identify devices which is SSD card
than give out lanes
 
Is the SSD/HDD user replaceable on the Retina iMac?

I also heard the chip isn't soddered on, is that true?
 
mashinhead said:
Is the SSD/HDD user replaceable on the Retina iMac?

I also heard the chip isn't soddered on, is that true?
Click to expand...

Yes, it's replaceable. The CPU isn't soldered either.

Here's the performance of the Samsung 512GB SSD I have in my 5K iMac:

gvxRMiO.jpg


It's fast!
 
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