Time to time I get people asking me about SSD drives if they made the right purchase or what they should buy etc, and it is clear people just don't understand the architecture or the hardware itself to fully make choices on purchases and so forth.
So here is a bit of info that may be helpful.
1. MLC vs SLC
One thing most manufacturers do is leave out information on the SSD's lifespan, they also sometimes try to hide what chipsets are used. Lets discus them here..
MLC - MLC (similar to NAND) chips are the worse type of chips used in terms of lifespan, but... they can be a bit faster than its SLC counterparts at times. But they are limited to about 1/10th of a SLC SSD lifespan, so you are talking approximately 5 years life time, or a possible 5 million data writes to the chips, whichever comes first.
SLC - SLC (Similar to DDR) chips are the longest lasting chips out there, they don't lose life on writes technically so can potentially live between 50-150 years. They can be a bit slower than MLC, but it does require a power source at all times, hence why SLC drives come with internal batteries that last a long time. They can be expensive though, so if you plan on outliving your SSD drive full of data then SLC is for you.
Don't worry though, some manufacturers give out software to limit the drives full use to give it more life. Windows 7 comes with software anyway to help with this. Its similar to RAID 0 builds that use various software to check the life of the drives is fine.
2. Write/Read speeds
Don't take an advertisements top speed range as gospel, find out about the drives real speeds through online reviews etc, like reviews on Tom's hardware or similar websites, if no review for that model look at something smaller and similar from the same manufacturer.
You will find that even when it says 500MB/s read and write, you will find thats for files with 100MB in size or over, smaller files will obviously read slower as they never get read at full speed. So depending on what you use the drive for, you may never get the full speed advertised.
3. What should I use the drive for?
So whats the best thing to use the drive for, well I would personally use one for the Operating System itself for quick start ups and restarts etc.
BUT WAIT.
There is a few things you will have to do to make sure you get the best out of this idea..
i) Never use the SSD drive as a source for Virtual Memory
SSD drives have one major con with them, they CANNOT overwrite data, data has to be deleted then written, so this makes using SSD drives for the pagefile system useless as it will be slower overall than a normal HDD. Also for MLC/Nand type SSDs this will kill its lifespan drastically.
ii) Don't use it for gaming on the same disc as your OS
Your OS and Games on the same disc has been a standard "not good" idea for many years now even back since IDE days, due to HDDs having to access data from different points on the hardware it will slow down things, and obviously with games they get updated... especially mostly on steam :P
iii) If using MLC/NAND SSD don't use the drive for system restore
Obviously don't use system restore on SSD drives, especially MLC/NAND types or watch it fill up and lose its lifespan quicker everytime you install something :P
iv) A 2nd SSD for games excellent, is it?
Yes indeed, a seperate SSD for gaming is great (just make sure you turn off System Restore and Virtual Memory on this one also), but try to use games that don't update so often, i.e. try to not install MMO's on them :P WoW would be great on a SSD I am sure, but it would force your CPU and GPU to work harder as you are constantly loading data quicker from the disc than the game is optimized for.. plus all those updates and hotfixes all add up, as does files that are saved with configurations all the time etc. So stick to non-MMOs.
[Edited by DABhand, 4/25/2012 4:32:03 AM]