Fusion io ioDrrive now US$2400 for 640GB at 800MB/s read and 50us access

[Patanjali Sokaris]

Pricing for this card is now realistic for use as a replacement for HDDs, but having 800MB/s read speed and 50us access time.

This begs the question of how suitable is it for DAW work, especially since there is a enough space to put just about every EWQL library on one card.

The access time and read speed look like they could enable reducing the Play buffer sizes and thus fit more concurrent samples at low latency.

Has EW any intention of testing the Fusion io ioDrive as a platform for the Play libraries so that we can know what we can get away with? Perhaps there are others who are willing to make the plunge?

In fact the drive looks like it may be able to be the sole drive in a system. That would make it very quiet without HDD chatter, especially with no Raptors! If this is so, the net cost (sans fast HDDs) is not that great at all.

[Pietro]

Wow, that's a drive!

A bit pricey for me (a bit... ), but certainly, an interesting solution for power users. Impressive specification.

- Piotr

[Patanjali Sokaris]

Actually, I just received the correct pricing from them. The web site where I had recently seen the $2400 figure had ascribed it to the wrong sized ioDrive.

They are US$30/GB, so that their 80GB version is the one that is US$2400, $4,800 for 160GB and $8,995 for 320GB.

This makes them VERY expensive. Though if money were no object, they would beat HDDs, no contest.

They will get cheaper, along with all the other SSDs about to hit the market.

I predict that in 12 months time, most serious DAW operators will be using SSDs. HDDs just cannot match the transfer rates and access times of the newer HDD form factor SSDs, let alone PCIe cards like the ioDRive. In two years time, discussions about HDD configurations will be no more.

SSDs look to be pushing the limits of the SATA II interface. The coming Samsung 256GB SSD is touted to have 200MB/s read speed. That's equivalent to about 1.8-2Gb/s vs 3Gb/s for SATA II. While HDDs are running out of puff, SSDs look to be getting closer to RAM speeds. I don't think the HDD/SATA format will endure very long as a storage format because of this. The PCIe ioDrive perhaps hints at a radical overhaul of the PC innards, so that the everything (IO cards, storage, etc) just plugs into a unified bus.
Of course, if Flash devices can begin to attain RAM speeds, there is the potential to just have non-voloatile RAM. That would make for quick starts!!

Whatever happens, I would expect PC cases to go through quite radical transformations as the space previously taken by multiple 3.5" HDDs disappears, allowing for more compact designs for even the power users.

[MUSE]

Well I was going to buy that 640gb io drive if it was $2,400 but everywhere I looked it wasnt the case like you've mentioned so I guess I'll wait or try to experiment with some SDD drives, now are they going to work with samples for sure? Just want to confirm before I plunge my money into one of those bad boys.

[Patanjali Sokaris]

I have just spotted the OCZ Core Series SATA II 2.5" SSD 128GB for US$480.
While this is twice the price of the Raptor equivalent, it has better performance (120+MB/s read, 80+MB/s write. Coupled with no noise and no head travel time, it is probably a no brainer for those who are serious DAW users needing drives in the immediate future.

However, the soon to be released Samsung 256GB SSD touts 200MB/s read, 140MB/s write and 100us access time. This is a substantial improvement and is starting to challenge the SATA II interface to keep up. The ioDrive already shows the speeds of which Flash technology is capable if the interface is not hobbling it.

Whatever is put in a DAW now, it is only likely to remain for as long as it takes for the owner to resist upgrading. My four Raptors are probably sensing divorce is on the horizon!


As for guarenteeing that they will work with samples, they will have a much beeter chance than with HDDs. Remember, that the achiles heel of SSDs is:

a. their write cycle time (they are a read block, write out the updated block) which is why there is a substantial difference between the read and write transfer rates. Even the the write access time of the ioDrive is 200-300us compared to the 50us read access time. Buffers enable the write throughput speed.

b. number of write per cell is limited. Wear levelling (shifting around where oft written data is physically located on the drive, while making it appear logically as if nothing has changed, as is done to map out bad sectors on a HDD) mitigates thes.

HOWEVER, NEITHER OF THESE HAVE ANY EFFECT UPON USE FOR SAMPLES AS ONCE WRITTEN/INSTALLED, THEY ARE ONLY EVER READ, WHICH IS WHERE SSDs SHINE.

[Pietro]

Some news about ioExtreme, to be released early 2009:
http://www.electronista.com/articles...700mb.sec.ssd/

$1000/80GB is not $2400 anymore.

- Piotr

[persentio]

Pure luxury; these things...

[Patanjali Sokaris]

That makes it US$12.5/GB, which is less than half the $30/GB for the ioDrives.

Wonder what the other sizes being offered will be. 640GB would just about do for sample libraries, dual boot OSs and applications, though it would probably have to be split accross two machine to get the required CPU horsepower.