Thinkpads Forum

Guys,

I ordered a x200 (2.40GHz, 4096MB, 3G, Docking station) with a 128 GB SSD from OCZ (OCZSSD2-1C128G) 4 weeks ago - it finally arrived last week. Since our systems all come with a german pre-install, the first thing we do is kill everything on the harddrive and do a clean english install of XP. After a day of installing OS, updates, drivers and programs, we were very disappointed with the performance. Every now and then (say every other minute or so), every click would be accompanied with a 3-4 second "thinking-processing" time. Upon consultation with our supplier, we decided to install Vista and see whether it has the same effect. After yet another day of installing, we figured out that we had the same problem, but in case of Vista, we figured it did a slightly better job, but probably becuse it caches more than XP. We have tested memory, and it looks like it may be the SSD. As I speak, we have now put in a 2,5" SATA HD to confirm that it is the SSD. Our guess: the SSD and the controller just don't get along.

Thought I would share this as an initial feedback. Will confirm things later.

I am sorry to tell you but what you are describing is a known shortcoming of the OCZ Core Series SSDs.

If you check the OCZ support forums, you will notice that there are many others who have the same problems as you.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum ... y.php?f=88

It would seem that the OCZ Core Series SSDs are extremely poor at small random write performance (about 4 IOs per second), which results in the symptoms you describe when you run Windows operating systems on the drive.

Anand described the problem in his review of the upcoming MLC-based Intel SSD.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/in ... i=3403&p=7

Reportedly, OSX and Linux run much better on the Core Series, than Windows. Also, some people with disk controllers with onboard cache (desktop systems) have reported good performance in Windows with the Core Series.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum ... y.php?f=88

Particularly:
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum ... hp?t=42487

Oh my god - what have i let myself into... I mean - all I did was order a x200 with a SSD. I never told my vendor to take the OCZ stuff - I was shipped/charged this combo

And it looks like there is no proper fix for it either - silly silly silly...

rsyed wrote:Oh my god - what have i let myself into... I mean - all I did was order a x200 with a SSD. I never told my vendor to take the OCZ stuff - I was shipped/charged this combo

And it looks like there is no proper fix for it either - silly silly silly...

Lenovo only ships systems with the Samsung SLC-based drives, so your vendor must have custom built your machine. In the US, the Core series are the least expensive SSD drives, where the 64GB version 1 of the Core series retailed for USD 100 at Newegg (after mail-in-rebate) before it was discontinued.

There seems to be no real fix but there are workarounds (some more useful than others).

It looks like you paid over 6 times the price of the Samsung 64GB SSD for the OCZ 128GB SSD peace of crap they never tested...

Your best bet now since you did buy it and pay for it is to contact OCZ and see if they are willing to give you some money back or credit for a future version which will or at least should fix the controller issues... That and contact your vendor letting him/her know about your problems.. If he/she wants you back as a customer, then he/she might be willing to help you...