also all easter weekend I've had rendering issues with the comments section. It doesn't load up correctly and it's like a text version instead of html. This has happened on 3 different PC's so I think its something with the site.Reply
What browser are you on? To the best of my knowledge we are not currently having any site issues, and at the moment the comments section is working fine for me.Reply
A similar thing happened for me too with several stores in the past few days. The comments section would show up without indentation (all comments lined up at the left) and comments would be separated by some weird looking title bar (looked a little like an Apple candy theme thing from the early 2000's, only clunkier). A reload of the page would bring it back to the normal view. My browser is Firefox on Linux.Reply
Actually the last page is there; it just isn't a conclusion page. We went with something a bit different this time and did an abridged review since it's using a controller & NAND we've already reviewed. The first page is the complete review from an editorial standpoint, while the following pages are all of the benchmarks and analysis.
tbh I missed that. I hadn't read the article and thought the end had been chopped off by this rendering issue. I have just uploaded a screenshot of what happens. This is the 4th PC in 3 different places it's happened on so it must be the site:
Humm, from that screenshot it looks like you're not getting part or all of the main style sheet. All I can really suggest is flushing your cache and disabling any add-ons. The style sheet is being served up correctly and hasn't changed in the better part of the last year.
I've had this issue across multiple platforms though. W7 with IE9 and FF11. XP with IE8, and now my work machine which is W7 with IE9. I regularly run CCleaner so I really don't think it's been my end, sorry.Reply
I'm not a web programmer, so I can't help much with why it's happening, but, for what it's worth, I had some extra time so I tried to reproduce your problem.
I tried every browser/os combination available to me at my house, which would be: Windows 8 CP x86 (to go) with IE10, Chrome 18, & FF 11 Windows 8 CP x64 with IE10, IE10x64, Chrome 18, FF11, FF Aurora 13, & Safari 5.1.5 Windows 7 x86 with IE9, Chrome 18, FF 11 Windows 7 x64 with IE9, Chrome 18, FF 11, Safari 5.1.5 Windows Vista x86 with IE9, Chrome 18, & FF 11 Windows XP x86 (Virtual Machine) with IE8 and FF11 Windows Thin PC x86 with IE9 & FF 11 Safari in iOS 4.2 and 5.1 The stock browser in Android 2.3.7 and 4.0.4
I couldn't reproduce the problem at all... So it's definitely not something inherent to the website, because it works for some people and doesn't work for others... but I'm at a loss as to what that could be. It also doesn't seem like it's unique to you though (as seen in the comment below yours. Very strange...Reply
It's an intermittent problem; just because you couldn't reproduce it the time or times that you tried, doesn't mean that it's not inherent in the site. Unless by inherent you mean "happens every time", but we already established that that is not the case.
The server(s) that serve up some part of the content of the site are occasionally generating something bad. Maybe there are multiple web servers behind a load balancer and one of them as a corrupted style sheet page or something that is occasionally being handed out?Reply
I'd suggest a small modification to alert readers that they've reach the end of the article. As it is, it definitely appears as though it's missing "something" when the article just ends with a chart.Reply
That's cool but if there was a,... and in overview and conclusion notation (at the beginning) with a read next few pages for results of testing, information and benchmarks,... noted somewhere it would make more sense, don't ya think?Reply
You state there are software tools that come with the drive. What OS platforms do they support? Windows? Mac OS X? Linux? BDS?
I'm tired of hardware that is only supported on Windows. And I grow tired of tests that do not even bother to mention where the software is actually available. I don't expect you to test all versions, although that would be much appreciated, but please give us the basic information.
On that page, I'd love to hear a comparison of the tool support for SSD drives on Linux as well as on Mac OS X. I think that would be worth an extra article with unique content. Fellow readers, am I alone in this desire?Reply
No you aren't alone. It's very frustrating that the ONLY platform supported for my OCZ Revodrive 3 is Win7. At least it also work in 2008R2. Tried 2003 - got blue screen.Reply
I did read on the comments of the Plextor review that they are going to start paying more article attention to the toolboxes which are offered with the drives.
Suprising to see that the next article after that comment also skips over the toolbox program with no further information or screenshots.Reply
"i agree wholeheartedly - Samsung's toolbox is definitely the new gold standard here. I've been pushing folks behind the scenes to ramp up the quality of their options as well. I want to start paying more attention to it as it's a huge part of the user experience.
Take care, Anand"
Wasn't aimed at you Kristian, this was the comment I remember seeing. Would have been a perfect opportunity to see another toolbox beyond Intels and Samsungs.Reply
Stating the manufacturers information on OS support is something the reviewer can and probably should do. However, with Linux and other exotic OSes this information may be short lived and as a interested customer one would probably have to dig for current information anyway.
And support will always depend on the specific distribution.. then there will work-arounds / hacks to make it work elsewhere, which won't work for everyone. I hope you're not hoping to get this information from reviews ;) Otherwise I pledge it should be on a separate page in the appendix called "linux support issues", which the rest of us can ignore.Reply
Just out of interest, when you talk about filling the drive and then 'TRIMing the drive', how exactly do you do this? I thought TRIM was automatic (in the right OS), or is there some command that can be run to 'TRIM' a drive?Reply
In Windows 6, TRIM is triggered when a file is actually deleted, so a format, empty the recycle bin or shift+del a file. When AT test SSDs they are connected as a storage drive, so it is easy to torture the drive and then TRIM it by formatting it within disk management.Reply
fast is fast.. but not reliable..... i bough mine in Jan 2012... last week sent back for warranty, cannot detect..... all data gone.... yet replacement unit have to wait for 4-8 weeks time from Taiwan.... very bad backup service..... sadReply
I would love to see Anandtech review Sandisk Extreme SSD 240GB .
The word is that Sandisk managed to fix one of the biggest problems with Sandforce - the TRIM actually works 100% and the performance is back to the advertized one even after hours of torture tests with incompressible data.
In addition the Extreme series use a very fast SanDisk's own 24nm Toggle Mode NAND and a custom optimized firmware, which results in one of the fastest SSD on the market. The price is extremely competitive as well.
It would be interesting to see what it can do in AnandTech Storage Bench.Reply
Why have you assumed a write amplification of 10x ?
Looking at xtremesystems dot org forums for SSD-Write-Endurance-25nm-Vs-34nm, it appears that 1x seems more common (with only the Samsung 470 showing 5x).
Are these stress tests unrealistic and therefor somehow lowering write amplification?
Could you please provide some insight as to how you came up with this figure.
I thought that most SF and Micron based drives had write amp neer 1.0
Long time reader just signed up to comment as it appears you actually read them and do take into consideration the comment itself. First off thank you for the benchmarks and simplifying the results the best you can. I enjoyed the article showing the Kingston X that is on sale at Newegg for BFriday and was considering it. After reading I will pass. I am a video editor. I think a good percentage of us are in some way using our computers for more then gaming. After all the rigs people are putting together are ridiculous for gaming. I play games online and get kicked all the time for being too 'fast'. That is with a dinosaur of a pre-made Dell bucket. With that being stated I would like to see an area where you guys do shoot outs with the same sized/priced equipment doing renders with decent sized files. For instance the review did on the King x was terrific however where was Plextor @ ? It is in the price range and does compete with the Sammy 830/ 840pro IMO... This article just started to brief on that scenario. Again Thank you for your help, advice and time you put into these articles. You are one of my resource hubs of trusted information. Best, NetCommercialReply
41 Comments
Back to Article
Coup27 - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
the last page is missing ReplyCoup27 - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
also all easter weekend I've had rendering issues with the comments section. It doesn't load up correctly and it's like a text version instead of html. This has happened on 3 different PC's so I think its something with the site. ReplyRyan Smith - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
What browser are you on? To the best of my knowledge we are not currently having any site issues, and at the moment the comments section is working fine for me. Replybji - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
A similar thing happened for me too with several stores in the past few days. The comments section would show up without indentation (all comments lined up at the left) and comments would be separated by some weird looking title bar (looked a little like an Apple candy theme thing from the early 2000's, only clunkier). A reload of the page would bring it back to the normal view. My browser is Firefox on Linux. Replybji - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
stores -> stories ReplyHockster - Wednesday, April 11, 2012 - link
I'm using the latest Firefox and don't see the last page either. ReplyHockster - Wednesday, April 11, 2012 - link
Oops, didn't realize there wasn't a conclusion page. ReplyRyan Smith - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
Actually the last page is there; it just isn't a conclusion page. We went with something a bit different this time and did an abridged review since it's using a controller & NAND we've already reviewed. The first page is the complete review from an editorial standpoint, while the following pages are all of the benchmarks and analysis.-Thanks
Ryan Smith Reply
Coup27 - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
tbh I missed that. I hadn't read the article and thought the end had been chopped off by this rendering issue. I have just uploaded a screenshot of what happens. This is the 4th PC in 3 different places it's happened on so it must be the site:http://www.elmleigh.co.uk/Paul/ATissue.jpg Reply
Ryan Smith - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
Humm, from that screenshot it looks like you're not getting part or all of the main style sheet. All I can really suggest is flushing your cache and disabling any add-ons. The style sheet is being served up correctly and hasn't changed in the better part of the last year.http://www.anandtech.com/content/main.css Reply
Coup27 - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
I've had this issue across multiple platforms though. W7 with IE9 and FF11. XP with IE8, and now my work machine which is W7 with IE9. I regularly run CCleaner so I really don't think it's been my end, sorry. ReplyInsaneScientist - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
I'm not a web programmer, so I can't help much with why it's happening, but, for what it's worth, I had some extra time so I tried to reproduce your problem.I tried every browser/os combination available to me at my house, which would be:
Windows 8 CP x86 (to go) with IE10, Chrome 18, & FF 11
Windows 8 CP x64 with IE10, IE10x64, Chrome 18, FF11, FF Aurora 13, & Safari 5.1.5
Windows 7 x86 with IE9, Chrome 18, FF 11
Windows 7 x64 with IE9, Chrome 18, FF 11, Safari 5.1.5
Windows Vista x86 with IE9, Chrome 18, & FF 11
Windows XP x86 (Virtual Machine) with IE8 and FF11
Windows Thin PC x86 with IE9 & FF 11
Safari in iOS 4.2 and 5.1
The stock browser in Android 2.3.7 and 4.0.4
I couldn't reproduce the problem at all... So it's definitely not something inherent to the website, because it works for some people and doesn't work for others... but I'm at a loss as to what that could be. It also doesn't seem like it's unique to you though (as seen in the comment below yours. Very strange... Reply
bji - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
It's an intermittent problem; just because you couldn't reproduce it the time or times that you tried, doesn't mean that it's not inherent in the site. Unless by inherent you mean "happens every time", but we already established that that is not the case.The server(s) that serve up some part of the content of the site are occasionally generating something bad. Maybe there are multiple web servers behind a load balancer and one of them as a corrupted style sheet page or something that is occasionally being handed out? Reply
bji - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
That's EXACTLY what I was seeing occasionally.Something is busted on your site; don't blame it on our browsers. Reply
AssBall - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
An intermittent problem that you have and can't reproduce or analyze. I blame the user, not Anandtech or your browser. ReplyCoup27 - Wednesday, April 11, 2012 - link
So I turn on my machine, load AT, and it does that? And thats somehow "the user"?Well done. Reply
bji - Wednesday, April 11, 2012 - link
If it were just me, maybe that would be true. But multiple people have reported the exact same symptoms. ReplyJaraxal - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
I'd suggest a small modification to alert readers that they've reach the end of the article. As it is, it definitely appears as though it's missing "something" when the article just ends with a chart. ReplyKZ0 - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
I love it. Keep up the good work! Replyaguilpa1 - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
That's cool but if there was a,... and in overview and conclusion notation (at the beginning) with a read next few pages for results of testing, information and benchmarks,... noted somewhere it would make more sense, don't ya think? Replyvandalizmo - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
As far as I remember in US dot "." is decimal separator, not thousands separator, which makesTotal Estimated Lifespan 8.219 years 13.698 years 27.397 years 82.191 years
look pretty small. Or is it actually ~8, ~13, ~27, ~82 years? Reply
Ryan Smith - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
8 years, 13 years, etc is correct. A 1 write cycle a day, you'll go through 3000 cycles in a little over 8 years. ReplyConficio - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
You state there are software tools that come with the drive. What OS platforms do they support? Windows? Mac OS X? Linux? BDS?I'm tired of hardware that is only supported on Windows. And I grow tired of tests that do not even bother to mention where the software is actually available. I don't expect you to test all versions, although that would be much appreciated, but please give us the basic information.
On that page, I'd love to hear a comparison of the tool support for SSD drives on Linux as well as on Mac OS X. I think that would be worth an extra article with unique content. Fellow readers, am I alone in this desire? Reply
Senti - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
No you aren't alone. It's very frustrating that the ONLY platform supported for my OCZ Revodrive 3 is Win7. At least it also work in 2008R2. Tried 2003 - got blue screen. ReplyCoup27 - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
I did read on the comments of the Plextor review that they are going to start paying more article attention to the toolboxes which are offered with the drives.Suprising to see that the next article after that comment also skips over the toolbox program with no further information or screenshots. Reply
Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
I can only talk on behalf of my reviews, remember that. ReplyCoup27 - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
"i agree wholeheartedly - Samsung's toolbox is definitely the new gold standard here. I've been pushing folks behind the scenes to ramp up the quality of their options as well. I want to start paying more attention to it as it's a huge part of the user experience.Take care,
Anand"
Wasn't aimed at you Kristian, this was the comment I remember seeing. Would have been a perfect opportunity to see another toolbox beyond Intels and Samsungs. Reply
MrSpadge - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
Stating the manufacturers information on OS support is something the reviewer can and probably should do. However, with Linux and other exotic OSes this information may be short lived and as a interested customer one would probably have to dig for current information anyway.And support will always depend on the specific distribution.. then there will work-arounds / hacks to make it work elsewhere, which won't work for everyone. I hope you're not hoping to get this information from reviews ;)
Otherwise I pledge it should be on a separate page in the appendix called "linux support issues", which the rest of us can ignore. Reply
Jaraxal - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
I also do not see links for or entries in the drop down box for the last part of the review (conclusion, etc). ReplyMrSpadge - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
Take a look at the 1st page, there's nothing more to say. Replycolonelclaw - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
Just out of interest, when you talk about filling the drive and then 'TRIMing the drive', how exactly do you do this? I thought TRIM was automatic (in the right OS), or is there some command that can be run to 'TRIM' a drive? ReplyCoup27 - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
In Windows 6, TRIM is triggered when a file is actually deleted, so a format, empty the recycle bin or shift+del a file. When AT test SSDs they are connected as a storage drive, so it is easy to torture the drive and then TRIM it by formatting it within disk management. ReplyCoup27 - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
^ Windows 7.Aside from that, Intel and Samsung have toolbox programs which allow you to manually force a TRIM and GC pass. Reply
colonelclaw - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
Thanks Coup! Replyhrrmph - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
BIG THANKS for including the information that it has a toolbox and that the toolbox doesn't support secure erase! Replyhechacker1 - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
What's Kingston's warranty on this? That lets me know about what they expect in terms of support. Replyitsmepj - Monday, May 28, 2012 - link
fast is fast.. but not reliable..... i bough mine in Jan 2012... last week sent back for warranty, cannot detect..... all data gone.... yet replacement unit have to wait for 4-8 weeks time from Taiwan.... very bad backup service..... sad Replykillabee_me - Saturday, June 02, 2012 - link
I would love to see Anandtech review Sandisk Extreme SSD 240GB .The word is that Sandisk managed to fix one of the biggest problems with Sandforce - the TRIM actually works 100% and the performance is back to the advertized one even after hours of torture tests with incompressible data.
In addition the Extreme series use a very fast SanDisk's own 24nm Toggle Mode NAND and a custom optimized firmware, which results in one of the fastest SSD on the market. The price is extremely competitive as well.
It would be interesting to see what it can do in AnandTech Storage Bench. Reply
phillyry - Tuesday, August 07, 2012 - link
Anand,Why have you assumed a write amplification of 10x ?
Looking at xtremesystems dot org forums for SSD-Write-Endurance-25nm-Vs-34nm, it appears that 1x seems more common (with only the Samsung 470 showing 5x).
Are these stress tests unrealistic and therefor somehow lowering write amplification?
Could you please provide some insight as to how you came up with this figure.
I thought that most SF and Micron based drives had write amp neer 1.0
RSVP,
phillyry Reply
starcom - Tuesday, November 20, 2012 - link
In the end, I buy the HyperX or HyperX 3K? ReplyNetCommercial - Thursday, November 22, 2012 - link
Long time reader just signed up to comment as it appears you actually read them and do take into consideration the comment itself.First off thank you for the benchmarks and simplifying the results the best you can. I enjoyed the article showing the Kingston X that is on sale at Newegg for BFriday and was considering it.
After reading I will pass. I am a video editor. I think a good percentage of us are in some way using our computers for more then gaming. After all the rigs people are putting together are ridiculous for gaming. I play games online and get kicked all the time for being too 'fast'. That is with a dinosaur of a pre-made Dell bucket.
With that being stated I would like to see an area where you guys do shoot outs with the same sized/priced equipment doing renders with decent sized files. For instance the review did on the King x was terrific however where was Plextor @ ? It is in the price range and does compete with the Sammy 830/ 840pro IMO... This article just started to brief on that scenario.
Again Thank you for your help, advice and time you put into these articles. You are one of my resource hubs of trusted information.
Best,
NetCommercial Reply