-------- the setup ----------
I work with print media daily, with resolutions of 450dpi to 1200dpi and file sizes between 500MB to 2GB. I currently have 4GB of RAM, but my scratch disk usage can range from 6GB to 18GB (so far). Currently, I use my 4-Disk RAID 0 array for scratch space, but the performance is quite slow when you compare it to how fast everything works when it is only stored in RAM.
Upgrading beyond 4GB RAM is not really an option. The motherboard only has 4 slots... and there is a 6GB RAM limit for my software anyway... so I will always need to cache data on a logical drive eventually.
Products like the Gigabyte i-RAM (4GB) or HyperOS Hyperdrive (16GB) allow you to create logical drives from RAM connected through a SATA interface. They offer great speeds, but their cost is prohibitive. (over $2000 to get a 16GB HyperDrive up and running).
So I began looking into some cheap SSD's as an alternative... Yeah, I know, SSD's aren't really cheap. But compared to regular system RAM or the above mentioned RAM-drives, you can get 4GB to 32GB drives for under $1000 now. And I think that's pretty good. My budget is about $1000.
----- the questions -------
Would a SSD offer performance comprable to RAM when used only for scratch space? What should I look for in an SSD to get the best possible performance? What are current limitations of SSDs that I should be aware of? Are there any SATA SSDs currently on the market?
My initial thoughts would be to put 4 x 4GB SSD drives in a RAID-0 array. The SSD drives would each have to offer between 30MBps to 60MBps... for combined transfer rates of over 100MBps. Can IDE SSD drives be put in a RAID?
I realize that SSD will never reach the transfer speeds of RAM (GBps), but I do not require large chunks of data all at once. The chunks would probably be between 1MB to 50MB in size...
So, would SSDs be a good choice for scratch space? Or am I fooling myself that the performance would be any better than regular hard drives in a RAID-0?
I work with print media daily, with resolutions of 450dpi to 1200dpi and file sizes between 500MB to 2GB. I currently have 4GB of RAM, but my scratch disk usage can range from 6GB to 18GB (so far). Currently, I use my 4-Disk RAID 0 array for scratch space, but the performance is quite slow when you compare it to how fast everything works when it is only stored in RAM.
Upgrading beyond 4GB RAM is not really an option. The motherboard only has 4 slots... and there is a 6GB RAM limit for my software anyway... so I will always need to cache data on a logical drive eventually.
Products like the Gigabyte i-RAM (4GB) or HyperOS Hyperdrive (16GB) allow you to create logical drives from RAM connected through a SATA interface. They offer great speeds, but their cost is prohibitive. (over $2000 to get a 16GB HyperDrive up and running).
So I began looking into some cheap SSD's as an alternative... Yeah, I know, SSD's aren't really cheap. But compared to regular system RAM or the above mentioned RAM-drives, you can get 4GB to 32GB drives for under $1000 now. And I think that's pretty good. My budget is about $1000.
----- the questions -------
Would a SSD offer performance comprable to RAM when used only for scratch space? What should I look for in an SSD to get the best possible performance? What are current limitations of SSDs that I should be aware of? Are there any SATA SSDs currently on the market?
My initial thoughts would be to put 4 x 4GB SSD drives in a RAID-0 array. The SSD drives would each have to offer between 30MBps to 60MBps... for combined transfer rates of over 100MBps. Can IDE SSD drives be put in a RAID?
I realize that SSD will never reach the transfer speeds of RAM (GBps), but I do not require large chunks of data all at once. The chunks would probably be between 1MB to 50MB in size...
So, would SSDs be a good choice for scratch space? Or am I fooling myself that the performance would be any better than regular hard drives in a RAID-0?