new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

[profJim]

I don't know if "sharing" the same swap file between both OSes (is that a word?) would cause any problems.
For best performance when booting from your ssd, "moved" ssd folders to the hard drive should be as close as possible to the beginning of the hard drive, that is, using the C: or D: partitions. Hopefully the hard drive activity level would be high enough that the WD green drive would never go into its low power energy saving mode.

[Darkje]

The ram disk thing Ill check out.. hah I thought they were dead like 10 years ago ..there is allways the problem of data wipe if u get a pc lockup or power outage.

Yeah but with this one you can set it up to save an image like every hour or so and at shutdown, so you won't loose everything, only your last hour of browser history is gone in case of a lockup. At reboot the image can be loaded again so you don't have to move data to it again or sync time and again. Ofcourse there is always a trade-off (security, ram being even more expensive, load-save time of image), but if you want to spare the ssd without sacrificing speed, this is it, if you have the ram for it.

[profJim]

I think it's time for me to push my system a bit.
I'm going to try to install my unused 2 x 1GB Ballistix (2.2 volt) PC2-6400 memory and have a shot-gun marriage with my 2 x 2GB Mushkin XP2-8500 memory.

I doubt that I'll be able to keep my current 1080MHz memory speed with 6GB of ram, so I might have to run it at 900MHz using cas5 (for the Mushkins) or lower FSB to about 425MHz and try for 4-4-4-12 memory timings at 850MHz.

It's all your fault Darkje, thanks!!

[Darkje]

off-topic, but on the odd mem config:

I was amazed it worked too, but from what I've read p55 is quite flexible regarding the mem. It can also do unmatched dual channel configs, ie. ch1=4g, ch2=2g. I also noticed my 1333 mems clocked like mad up to 1700 at default settings, indicating either a strong controller or a extremely lucky pick of mem, esp. since it was budget mem. As they clocked so well, I thought let's try what happens with all sticks when I upgraded to what was planned as 8gb, and it worked like a charm :) even when hammering it with linx and 10g problem-size.

As the memcontroller is on the cpu, I suppose mine being K0 stepping it's a 32nm one, but it could also be the 45nm ironlake (as aida reports).

I skipped p45, but on my p35 using 4 sticks was difficult, ie. had to lower clocks. With 2x 1g ballistix 16FD5's I could go up to 1200 easy, but 4x 1g of the same mem there was just no way to get anything over 1100. With 4x2g OCZ-gold pc6400's I got up to 1000. My guess was that it was northbrige related, but I was happy where I was, running the 8g at 950ddr (cpu 8.5x 475m)

[profJim]

My P35 E6300 is now running 6GB of mixed memory at 3.519GHz, 828MHz memory speed using 4-4-4-12 with tRD = 7.
tRD = 6 might be stable on my P35 with 6GB and FSB = 414MHz.
I'm not going to try 4-4-4-10 settings with 6GB of ram.

Memory voltage set to +0.30 volts giving 2.05 - 2.06 in windows. The Mushkin ram is rated for 2.0 - 2.1 volts with tight memory timings.
Dram voltage = +0.40 runs the memory at 2.17 volts.
The Ballistix SPD programming calls for dram voltage = 2.20 volts with 4-4-4-12 memory timings at 800MHz.

Memtest86+ --> test #5: passed 10 loops, full test loops: 3 loops completed okie dokie.
LinX 1024MB 10 loop test passed.
LinX using all available memory ran for 10 minutes but didn't generate any test summaries.
HCI Memtest, 4 instances ran for 55 minutes, no errors!!

Dataram ramdisk, I'm ready for ya!!

My early P35-DSL setup with Balllistix PC2-6400 (2.2 volt) memory had virtually identical results as Darkje's setup, using 2GB (2 modules), 3GB (4 modules), and 4GB (4 modules).

I still have a bit more stress/stability testing to perform before I set up a 4GB ramdisk.

[kick]

6gb physical with 4gb for a ram disk.
Would that be good?
That would leave u with 2gb (2x1) as totally free physical memory for win.
I would have thought the 2x1 would be ideal for the ram disc? if the mixed mem speed drop isnt too bad.
Im waiting to see how it goes.
Im running 4x 2gb mixed mem since i put in the ssd at best speed of 400mhz ref so cpu is down at 3.2ghz.
This was to cut down swapfile size.

If I was to go for a ram disc I think i would have to use 2 sticks. 1 stick of a channel for a ram disc and one stick left working in ddr mode doesnt sound so good.

I think I may just pull out the 2 crap 5300 memory sticks and go back closer to whats in my sig.

[Lsdmeasap]

On memory,

P55/X58 and P67 can do different timings per channel too.

[profJim]

Attempts to tighten memory timings and/or using Static tRead Value = 6 failed stress/stability testing. The system is rock solid with the current settings.

I got a bit carried away with my thoughts of a 4GB ram disk on my 6GB system.
Going to the opposite extreme, the ram disk size will be set to "only" 1GB.
I plan to move my TEMP folders and browser cache to the ramdisk. I don't intend to set the ram disk to auto-save the temporary ram disk data. I will probably set the ram disk to save all file data when the system is shut down. This should save the load time for FireFox because I usually have 50 - 60 open tabs at all times. Pagefile usage on my system is minimal, so the swap file will remain on the HDD D: drive.

Enclosed is the Crystal Disk Mark test for my 4K aligned WD640 hdd.


I've included Darkje's CDM ssd and ram disk benchmarks for a quick comparison.

[Darkje]

At the moment I would advice everyone who wants to get a OCZ vertex2 drive, to read up very well on it and perhaps reconsider because the current drives seem to be shipped with slower nand chips on them.
Technical Discussion Drives Shipping With 25nm NAND. Q & A

[profJim]

Thanks for the link Darkje.
It looks like the move to 25nm NAND from the current 34nm Nand memory is going to be a mixed bag where the newer 25nm drives have some drawbacks when it comes to ssd performance, capacity and possibly ssd life span. The worst part of it is that OCZ is using the same model names and model numbers for the older 34nm drives and the newer 25nm drives.

I never PWPO (post while pissed off) so I'm withholding any editorial comment.



***EDIT*** It looks like I lucked out, my first drive came with 1.25 firmware and my 2nd ssd came with 1.24 firmware.