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OWC's PCIe SSD Card

lbeck

lbeck

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 5, 2009
381
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This looks really enticing. I thought it was suppose to be released by now. Anyone heard anything new?

http://eshop.macsales.com/NewsRoom/Framework.cfm?page=PR/ssdent_100710.html

Also, it says the top speeds are 4GB/s, there new SSD's are 6GB/s, why wouldn't the new card offer those speeds. Or am I misunderstanding the tech?

UPDATE: I received an email back from OWC about this product and have pasted that info in this thread and also below.

FROM OWC ...

Unfortunately Luke, that is one product we were too aggressive on announcing.

We're just so focused on our 2.5" SATA model line that I'm just very unsure when this product will be addressed during 2011.

If there is another option on the market...or announced to be, I suggest you pursue it as I wouldn't want you waiting unnecessarily for ours.

Thanks for your patience....and best regards!
 
Last edited:
lbeck said:
This looks really enticing. I thought it was suppose to be released by now. Anyone heard anything new?

http://eshop.macsales.com/NewsRoom/Framework.cfm?page=PR/ssdent_100710.html
Click to expand...
Nothing new AFAIAK (not seen it if it has, and not seen any posts to link new information if it does exist at any rate).

lbeck said:
Also, it says the top speeds are 4GB/s, there new SSD's are 6GB/s, why wouldn't the new card offer those speeds. Or am I misunderstanding the tech?
Click to expand...
Seems there's a misunderstanding on your part.

SSD's that attach to SATA ports come in either 3.0Gb/s or 6.0Gb/s (Gb = Gigabit; GB = GigaByte, which Byte is 8 bits = 8x faster than Gb).

So when OWC states 4GB/s, it's much faster than what a single 6.0Gb/s disk can do (real world throughputs on a 6.0Gb/s SATA port are ~540 - 550MB/s, which is ~14% of 4GB/s). Which means the OWC PCIe SSD Flash Drive is much faster (bit over 7x faster actually vs. a single 6.0Gb/s that could actually saturate a 6.0Gb/s SATA port for sustained transfers; more if it can't).
 
WOW! That's stinking fast! Incredibly fast. So it Will be able to be set up as various RAIDS, would you be able to partition the drives as well, using some space for X and other space for Y?
 
lbeck said:
So it Will be able to be set up as various RAIDS, would you be able to partition the drives as well, using some space for X and other space for Y?
Click to expand...
Yes.

Create the RAID first, then partition (presuming the level will be the same). Going the other way (different RAID levels) may also be possible, but I've never tested different levels via partitions on the same disks (can't recall another member doing this either, but there have been indications that partitioning first then RAIDing is rather slow on DU).

Another thing to keep in mind, as you partition, the increased partition count will slow down as it's getting closer and closer to the spindle (inner tracks). So partition 0 will be faster than partition 1, which will be faster than partition 2, ...
 
OWC is known to make baseless promises and estimations. They have been promising the OS X firmware updater for at least a year now. IMO they should stop making promises and announcements until they know the product is at a point where it can be released according to the schedule. I have lost my credibility towards OWC a long time ago but this sure doesn't help them to gain more customers.
 
Hellhammer said:
OWC is known to make baseless promises and estimations. They have been promising the OS X firmware updater for at least a year now. IMO they should stop making promises and announcements until they know the product is at a point where it can be released according to the schedule. I have lost my credibility towards OWC a long time ago but this sure doesn't help them to gain more customers.
Click to expand...
OWC is by no means the only company to do this.

In terms of a PCIe Flash drive and OS X support, Fusion-IO certainly comes to mind (gone longer than OWC in not delivering on their promise). :rolleyes: :(
 
nanofrog said:
...
Another thing to keep in mind, as you partition, the increased partition count will slow down as it's getting closer and closer to the spindle (inner tracks). So partition 0 will be faster than partition 1, which will be faster than partition 2, ...
Click to expand...

As far as I know there are no spindles in SSDs... ;)
 
I'm sure lots of companies makes promises, its unfortunate if they dont deliver. So far OWC seems to be behind schedule for this new product, maybe they're waiting for lion to be released to make sure it works with it?

Not sure, but I hope it comes soon. I was going to buy some 6G SSD's but think I will hold off for this new product.
 
lbeck said:
I'm sure lots of companies makes promises, its unfortunate if they dont deliver. So far OWC seems to be behind schedule for this new product, maybe they're waiting for lion to be released to make sure it works with it?

Not sure, but I hope it comes soon. I was going to buy some 6G SSD's but think I will hold off for this new product.
Click to expand...

take a look at OCZ's track record for pcie ssd's one word 'bad' this may be why OWC has delayed as no one can make them to a decent degree of reliability as of today. If that is the case I rather OWC wait and put a working one out then the ones that have come from OCZ.

BTW OWC did put out a nice case that I have been testing with samsung ssd's.


http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/EliteALmini/RAID/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB

this is a nice piece of gear. boots and is stable . an empty one with 2 samsung 64gb ssd in raid0 is a nice piece of gear for under 300.
 
lbeck said:
I didn't realize OCZ made one, here is the size I'd like. But it's only for windows. Plus, u said they don't have a good track record. That's disappointing

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...480_RevoDrive_X2_PCI_Express_Solid_State.html
Click to expand...

yeah the concept of these cards is great but they are not ready for primetime. I have been settling for good reliable ssds at medium speed.

I am hoping that lacies little big disk with intel ssds will be a nice t-bolt step up for ssd speed and still work well. If so I would keep the mac pro but get a new 2011 iMac with t-bolt (maybe a 2011 mac mini with t-bolt).

Seems to me that the new promise t-bolt would be at 1000MB/s if filled with ssds.


http://store.apple.com/us/product/H5184VC/A/Thunderbolt

I would love to see this with 4 intel ssds or 4 samsung ssds. I would buy an empty one today but promise is forcing it to be with 4 hdds for now.



lacies 2 bay little big disk boots and runs over 800MB/s

http://news.softpedia.com/news/LaCi...ted-Read-Speed-Surpasses-800MB-s-207970.shtml
 
TB is tempting, I'd like to keep it all internal though. Do you think TB will be internal one day?
 
Battlefield Fan said:
Don't buy OCZ. My vertex gave out 3 times.

We just bought 25 vertex 2's at work and 3 gave out within the first month. Poor customer support also.
Click to expand...

Thanks for info, I wasn't planning on buying the OCZ though, I dont think they even make a PCIe one thats compatible with OSX anyway.
 
lbeck said:
TB is tempting, I'd like to keep it all internal though. Do you think TB will be internal one day?
Click to expand...

it would be nice it is a wait and see deal. sonnttech has a piece of gear coming


http://www.sonnettech.com/news/nab2011/

the fusion f2tbr

If the new mac pros come out this can fit inside the case. could be crazy fast boot drive. this could also lay on the back of an iMac and be a killer bootdrive.
 
This whole "All OCZ ssd's are crap' meme is getting out of hand!
Yes, the Vertex line has become a morass of crap. I agree. I would not recommend or buy one at this point.
But, the Revo x2 is not a Vertex, and does not appear to have any of the issues we've all seen with the recent Vertexes.
I've been using one as my windows boot drive in my mac for nearly a year now and have had no issues. YMMV.
 
Received this from OWC ... not good.


Unfortunately Luke, that is one product we were too aggressive on announcing.

We're just so focused on our 2.5" SATA model line that I'm just very unsure when this product will be addressed during 2011.

If there is another option on the market...or announced to be, I suggest you pursue it as I wouldn't want you waiting unnecessarily for ours.

Thanks for your patience....and best regards!
 
This is the the OCZ PCIe p88 and RevoDrive cards that have promised Mac support "coming soon" for over a year now. They offer 512GB - 2TB solutions of SSD memory on a PCIe card.

4GB/sec is 4 gigabytes/sec, not gigabits. SATA III/6G is 6 gigabits/sec which is considerably less, and under 1 gigabyte a second. The PCIe solutions in the works from OWC would deliver multiple SSDs on one PCIe card, like the OCZ p88. These solutions are very expensive ($4400 for 1TB and $9200 for 2TB), which would basically buy a whole new machine for the cost of one card. For most people, a single 6G SSD is more than fast enough to serve as a boot disk. For high bandwidth network servers and such that have hundreds of hits per second, and thousands of downloads concurrently, these super-high transfer speeds would eliminate bottlenecks. Most end-users would not need a solution like this. Price per gigabyte is about 10 times that of a standard SSD.

For more information on a product like this, check out the OCZ p88 here:

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-z-drive-r2-p88-pci-express-ssd.html
 
elvisizer said:
This whole "All OCZ ssd's are crap' meme is getting out of hand!
Yes, the Vertex line has become a morass of crap. I agree. I would not recommend or buy one at this point.
But, the Revo x2 is not a Vertex, and does not appear to have any of the issues we've all seen with the recent Vertexes.
I've been using one as my windows boot drive in my mac for nearly a year now and have had no issues. YMMV.
Click to expand...

how is 3 Vertex drives out of 25 failing in the first month not getting out of hand?
 
Battlefield Fan said:
how is 3 Vertex drives out of 25 failing in the first month not getting out of hand?
Click to expand...

battlefield, read my post again.

I agree, avoid the vertex like the plague.
However, the revo x2 is nothing like a vertex and should not be lumped in with them as far as reliability problems. That's what I was saying.
 
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