Quote:
Originally Posted by red-beard
Scott,
The 4GB of RAM is 1333 and it is $49 and only uses 2 of the 4 slots. He could go to 8GB for $98.
I can see using a SSD drive for a fast boot, but the price still is very high. 64GB isn't a lot and they are $120 for a good one. Kingston has a 128MB unit for $170 (including rebates). Again, still very pricey. Any idea on the life of the SSD drives? I know they are only good for a certain number of read/writes before the sectors start to die.
As far as QC is concerned, knock on wood, I've built 4 machines recently and haven't sent anything back yet.
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I meant the Mac mini that I posted the link to. It uses 1066Mhz / DDR3 / 204-pin SDRAM. The Mac Mini has only two slots, but you can get 2x4GB=8GB in there.
Here is the link to what I meant:
NewerTech® NuRAM Memory PC8500
Re SSDs: Boot time is insane; turning on my computer is like turning on a microwave. Yes, the price is VERY high, I do admit. BUT, I am saying money spent on a hard drive is WAY better than money spent on RAM or CPU upgrades; I did all the upgrades with my last computer (PC) and honestly couldn't say it was worthwhile. The SSD blows me away because there is NO LAG anymore when selecting new software instruments in Logic, for example (loading a large plug-in). Ultimately for ~$1,100 I would rather have a basic computer (Mac Mini) with a top-shelf hard drive (Intel SLC SSD Extreme line) than a $1,100 computer with a HDD drive and better CPU, RAM, etc. You may not realize how time your computer has to seek to find some data you are requesting. Until your computer reads your mind and puts your next intention into RAM, the SSD is your next best option. It really is a must-have, I don't think you will bother with quad-core processors or 12GB of RAM once you've used it...
More on SSDs: there are two types, MLC and SLC (Multi/Single Layer Core). There are also all different brands and ranges of quality of the memory controller. Besides the memory controller, an SSD is simply an array of flash memory chips (they look like a board of RAM all connected).
MLC drives are probably not worth it. Lots of issues, time spent reloading your data is not time well spent. The performance degrades quickly, and ultimately they last about 1/3 the time of a nice SLC drive.
SLC drives: generally better memory controllers and memory management. Performance stays high (only minor degradation over time). Mean lifetime is something like 230 years for the Intel drive I bought (simply off the charts).
The problem is not that the memory blocks themselves become corrupted, it's that the memory controller "thinks" there is an entire block occupied, when in fact it is only partially occupied. The drive ends up with a bunch of partially filled blocks and the memory controller thinks the drive is completely full. You deal with this by reformatting the drive and then it should be OK again. SLC drives don't really have this problem; the memory controllers are much better