SSD vs SSHD

[juretrn]

Hello!

 

Some time back I posted a thread about trying to make a build for my cousin. He's on a budget of 400-500 €, and I have a storage dilemma. 

While we all know how epic SSDs are, we also know they are expensive. And while my cousin says he'd be happy with a 100 GB SSD and nothing else in terms of storage, I think he would miss mass storage pretty soon. However, using a SSD+HDD solution with 2 separate disks is definitely too expensive for this budget. 

So I thought about using SSHDs, as they are a compromise between price, raw performance and SSD capacity.

 

Therefore, I appeal to LTT users - what are your personal experiences with SSHDs? Do they work as advertised? Is there enough storage for your favourite applications to benefit?

[WoodenMarker]

They work but are not as snappy as a standalone ssd. They're good if you can't afford a separate ssd + hdd combo but getting a standalone solution generally isn't much more expensive. 

[Ryan Leech]

What kind of mobo does he have?

[TheTechGenius]

Honestly, I don't think SSHD's are worth the price. It takes time for the SSHD to detect the programs you use most and put them on the SSD. And even then its nothing compared to a real SSD, in terms of Speed Performance. Actually, they are really not much faster then a regular HDD.

 

You can get a 120GB SSD (for the OS) for a decent price, then get a 1TB or 2TB HDD for mass storage.

 

If you cannot afford both, then I would just get a nice size HDD for now, then save up a bit for a SSD.

 

You can even get a smaller HDD for now, to have money for the SSD. Such as a 120GB SSD and a 500GB HDD. 500GB HDD's are really cheap these days, since most people go for 1TB HDD and bigger, when building a new system.

[juretrn]

What kind of mobo does he have?

None as of yet, there are other issues he has to solve before buying a PC. It was supposed to be an APU build with a MSI FM2-A55M-E33 mobo. 

 

[Ryan Leech]

 

None as of yet, there are other issues he has to solve before buying a PC. It was supposed to be an APU build with a MSI FM2-A55M-E33 mobo. 

 

 

If was to go with a Z77/87 he could use a 64gb ssd with srt

[juretrn]

If was to go with a Z77/87 he could use a 64gb ssd with srt

That platform is too expensive for his budget I think.

[Ryan Leech]

That platform is too expensive for his budget I think.

I would just stick with a 120GB SSD then

[BlackCrowSA]

You don't have to compromise anymore people. 

  WD Black² Dual Drive 2.5" 120 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236642

 

-edit-

 

Just realized now its on a smaller budget soz

[hojnikb]

You don't have to compromise anymore people. 

  WD Black² Dual Drive 2.5" 120 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236642

 

-edit-

 

Just realized now its on a smaller budget soz

 

This is the most pointless drive ever.

Crappy hdd and ssd fused together. nope nope nope..

[BlackCrowSA]

This is the most pointless drive ever.

Crappy hdd and ssd fused together. nope nope nope..

 

What makes you say that its a crappy drive? Pretty Freek'n awsome* its convenience all you will be doing with a hybrid is caching... For laptops its the only way that makes most sense without breaking the budget trying to get the same amount of storage in a SSD only. Dont forget mini pc's - Supporting it will only breath new life in the future.

[SkilledRebuilds]

I installed the 500Gb SSHD and while Windows is pretty responsive it is still night and day from SSD responsiveness. Great for lappy. I'd still get a 7200rpm mech for budget c:

[hojnikb]

What makes you say that its a crappy drive? Pretty Freek'n awsome* its convenience all you will be doing with a hybrid is caching... For laptops its the only way that makes most sense without breaking the budget trying to get the same amount of storage in a SSD only. Dont forget mini pc's - Supporting it will only breath new life in the future.

Benchmarks..

 and price

 

for 300$ you get a crappy ssd (jmicron controller) and crappy hdd.

For almost half u get 1TB hdd + 120GB ssd combo, that will be faster. And pretty much every laptop has either msata or second disk bay or dvd drive..

[BlackCrowSA]

Benchmarks..

 and price

 

for 300$ you get a crappy ssd (jmicron controller) and crappy hdd.

For almost half u get 1TB hdd + 120GB ssd combo, that will be faster. And pretty much every laptop has either msata or second disk bay or dvd drive..

 

Majority new Notebooks do have m-Sata sure, mind your warranty, but allot of them don't have that or optical bays, and most don't support two drives. Its one of those that if you don't have it you will hate it. Currently sitting @ $219. the write speeds might be allot lower than the traditional expectation of SSD's, how ever the read speeds are great, and that's what you want for a faster system. Until they stop milking the SSD market, this will still be a more cost effective performance and storage solution. The life expectancy of this drive will be allot better too. I agree to a point with allot of what your saying, and only to the point of what practical uses you would need to use this for. Not by a long shot would I say its crappy.

[hojnikb]

It's a known fact, that jmicron makes garbage controllers (anyone rembers first ssds, that stuttered like hell ?  yeah, that was jmicron). JMF667H is obviously better than that, but still one of the worst sata6g controllers on the market.

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7682/the-wd-black2-review/3

 

I was actually expecting far worse results, although the JMF667H is certainly one of the worst SATA 6Gbps controllers we've tested lately. The biggest issue is the inability to sustain performance because while the thickest line is at ~5,000 IOPS, the performance is constantly dropping below 1,000 IOPS and even to zero on occasion. Increasing the over-provisioning helps a bit, although no amount of over-provisioning can fix a design issue this deep.

 

 

Yeah, not exactly great, especially for something that has a price tag of 300$ and retails for 219$.

 

 

IMO this would be an ok drive for people that really can't get two drives in their sistems if it was like 100-120$. Anything more is just ridiculous, given how low high performing ssds are priced these days (u can get 240G m500 for >100€ here in EU)...

[BlackCrowSA]

Well looks like the pricing for SSD's here in South Africa suck compared. Be lucky to get a decent 60GB mSATA SSD for $80 can only just get a 120GB M500 for 100€ or $150 if I am lucky, and a 1TB Magnetic 2.5" looking at $80 and looking at about $700 for a 960GB SSD. So the costs a relatively the same not cheaper here.