GIGABYTE "IRAM": Affordable "solid-state" storage

Alec§taar · May 22, 2006, 12:01 PM

GIGABYTE GC-RAMDISK i-RAM review @ HEXUS.NET

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=6200

* Here are more reviews of these Solid-State Drives for your comparison references:

================================================== ==============

Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ techreport.com

http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q1...m/index.x?pg=1

Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ pcper.com

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=224&type=expert

Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ overclockers.com

http://www.overclockers.com/tips00788/index02.asp

Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ Tom's Hardware

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2005/1...uk/page18.html

Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ PCWorld

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121105,00.asp

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OUR OTHER DISCUSSION HERE @ TECHPOWERUP.COM FORUMS REGARDING SSD's (for your reference):

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showth...highlight=IRAM

================================================== ==============

A listing of creative uses of RAMDRIVES is here:

http://www.avatar.demon.nl/cenatek.html

(That is a review of these units featured on CENATEK's front page in "An independent user's review" linkage there I did back in 2003 of the older/slower PCI 2.2 bus & PC-133 SDRAM based Solid-State Ramdisk drive I have seen in my signature below - that review lists diff. ways these can be used to gain performance, as does my signature for some examples on the quick).

The CENATEK unit is a PCI slot based one, & PCI 2.2 133mb/sec max transfer rate IDE/EIDE limit (which this IRAM has beaten, in theory @ least, using SATA 150mb/sec rates no less) that costs more than this model does from GIGABYTE!

APK

P.S.=> The DDRDrive x1 PCI-e based unit, pictured next below:

Will be even the Gigabyte IRAM GC-Ramdisk's superior once it releases later this year, imo @ least (because of the bustype it uses in PCI-Express & its superior bandwidth, see table below)

Common bustypes & their bandwidth ceilings:

PCI 132 MB/s (What the CENATEK "RocketDrive" Uses)
AGP 8X 2,100 MB/s
PCI Express 1x 250 [500]* MB/s (What the DDRDrive x1 Uses)
PCI Express 2x 500 [1000]* MB/s
PCI Express 4x 1000 [2000]* MB/s
PCI Express 8x 2000 [4000]* MB/s
PCI Express 16x 4000 [8000]* MB/s
PCI Express 32x 8000 [16000]* MB/s
IDE (ATA100) 100 MB/s
IDE (ATA133) 133 MB/s
SATA 1 150 MB/s (What the Gigabyte IRAM GC-RamDisk Uses)
SATA 2 300 MB/s
Gigabit Ethernet 125 MB/s
IEEE1394B [firewire] 100 MB/s

but for now, this Gigabyte IRAM-GC is the 'ticket to ride' though...

LASTLY/PLUS:

You can even BOOT your system/OS from the GIGABYTE one!

(But not the CENATEK)... apk

cieje · May 22, 2006, 01:35 PM

depending on how reliable it is... putting your os on there would be awesome for system performance. and your swap file :-x

Or... get 2 of them, raid 0 them together.... that might have some interesting performance advantages...

Alec§taar · May 22, 2006, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cieje

depending on how reliable it is... putting your os on there would be awesome for system performance. and your swap file :-x

Or... get 2 of them, raid 0 them together.... that might have some interesting performance advantages...

Well, I have a competing & older product, the CENATEK "rocketdrive" & it has a backing power supply, so it maintains state (and I have a UPS here to back that).

You get THAT part straight (power reliability) & you find that they are as reliable as any storage media really, & FAR faster performers on many levels. For more on that, see those reviews above as to applications & gains possible.

Above all - for $60 U.S. Dollars (cost of board itself, only), how can you go wrong?

The cost of the RAM adds more, but who says you need 4gb? I do FINE here on a CENATEK "RocketDrive" w/ 2gb on it...

As far as going FARTHER/LARGER than 4gb (per board, because spanning them exceeds this)?

That's PROBABLY due to the OS & device drivers used... 32-bit limit memory addresseability = 4gb, & that's probably the driver holding THAT part down!

64-bit OS & drivers can probably change that, no problem imo, but, here I could be wrong!

APK

P.S.=> RAID'ing these things (speaking from the CENATEK viewpoint @ least)? You can go up to 4 of them, @4gb each, into 1 large 16gb spanned disk...

Probably SAME on GIGABYTE IRAM (w/ the added bennies of SATA 150gb bus speeds & DDR RAM as well, of which the PCI cenatek unit only uses SDRAM older/slower speed types)...

Hence, why I am truly considering buying one of these & putting the CENATEK back to my first machine where it came from, replacing it with this GIGABYTE IRAM offering, which would suit my latest system better, imo...

Thought I'd turn you guys onto a potentially VERY cool part for performance, and cost-effective to invest in as well... apk

noneed4me2 · May 22, 2006, 09:09 PM

I read somewhere that with the saturation of the SATA bus it would cause issues with anything else connected to it, but i definately like the idea but I feel it needs further development, and definately larger than 4gb capacity. Running an operating system would be cool if it was proven to be reliable on a 24/7 basis.

Aevum · May 22, 2006, 11:14 PM

it is reliable to somepoint, it has a battery on the card that keeps it from erasing for 8 hours i belive if power is gone, the issue is that it takes a max of 1gb modules,

a normal 1g Kingston value ram /Geil Value/OCZ value (i wouldnt use generic for this purpose, but i wouldnt use muskin redlines either) stick is around 80 bucks,
80x4=320 bucks for 4gb, now, with 4gb, its good if you do alot of photoshop or maya work, that way you can gain fast access to the files you´re working on,

if your a fanatic gamer, installing Quake4 or Oblivion on the memory drive will improve loading time, but the frames per second are still GPU and CPU dependent,

you could even fit windows inside, but are you willing to pay 320 bucks for the ram plus the 60 to 100 the card costs you and run the constant danger that a power outage longer then 8 hours could leave you reinstalling windows just to reduce boottime from 40 secs to 4 ?

KennyT772 · May 22, 2006, 11:29 PM

it sould be used as a current files drive. so photoshop files, pagefile, temp files for windows/firefox. maby using it as a secondary install of your favorite game is good but you want to have a backup of everything you have on the iram.

infrared · May 22, 2006, 11:36 PM

I suppose if you've got a lot of old ddr dimms lying around, you could buy 2 or more of these, and set them up in RAID-0. I'd like to see some benchmarks with that

Would give a total of 8gb, and roughly 300mb/s. This is some crazy bandwidth we're talking about here tho!!

Alec§taar · May 23, 2006, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KennyT772

it sould be used as a current files drive. so photoshop files, pagefile, temp files for windows/firefox. maby using it as a secondary install of your favorite game is good but you want to have a backup of everything you have on the iram.

Pretty much EXACTLY how I use SSD's here myself (CENATEK "RocketDrive" user since 2003 here)...

1.) Place your pagefile.sys onto these (faster seek/access/read by far vs. HDD's)

2.) Place your system environment variables of %TMP%/%TEMP% (current user & system-wide) onto SSD's also (for the same reasons as #1)...

3.) Place your EventLogs, via registry hack to their FILE value (for the same reasons as #1)...

4.) Place your Web-Browser('s) webpage caches onto it (for the same reasons as #1)...

5.) Place your logging + temp ops (like WinRar & WinZip can do for instance from their config screens) from other apps onto it (for the same reasons as #1)...

6.) Placing your %comspec% environment var location & actual command interpreter, e.g.-> cmd.exe (for the same reasons as #1)...

7.) Lastly, putting your print spooler location onto it (for the same reasons as #1)...

Quote:

Originally Posted by infrared

I suppose if you've got a lot of old ddr dimms lying around, you could buy 2 or more of these, and set them up in RAID-0. I'd like to see some benchmarks with that

Would give a total of 8gb, and roughly 300mb/s. This is some crazy bandwidth we're talking about here tho!!

I think this GIGABYTE "IRAM", due to the bus type it uses in SATA2, "maxes-out" @ 150gb/sec. rates of SATA (not SATA II = 300gb/sec) though!

This is SORT of where I was leading above about how a "spanning" of these SSD's into 1 large disk MAY do better than the one I use today in the CENATEK "RocketDrive"!

(By getting 4 of these boards & using their max-ram capacity of 4gb each into 1 large 16gb solid-state disk drive viewed as a single logical drive by the OS)

The SSD I use (cenatek rocketdrive) is viewed by the OS as a RAID controller, & is PCI (not PCI-e) & maxes-out @ 133mb/sec. of PCI 2.2... whereas this GIGABYTE IRAM is on SATA 1, & hits 150gb/sec., afaik, plus uses faster RAM than what mine does.

APK

P.S.=> I have begun to start taking advantage of this myself, & will fully in time, but not with solid-state disks!

(ONLY partially so far, the WD 'raptor x' disks cost TOO much to go out & nail 2 more of them to test this theory out here):

E.G. -> I "raid'd" 2 WD 10k rpm 16mb buffered (each) "Raptor X"'s via a Promise EX8350 128mb ECC RAM Caching Controller here, which is on a PCI-e x4 slot!

(It also has an Intel Super I/O cpu-chip on it to offload processing from your system CPU, to it instead, a benny of it ontop of the onboard RAM cache)

Because it is PCI-e x4 slot-type/bus based, it actually CAN get a higher bandwidth top-end than PCI 2.2 slot-based RAID 0 setups (or, even SATA 1/2, afaik)... so, if each SATA 2 WD "Raptor X" hits 300mb/sec. rates, it can keep scaling up to the PCI-e x4 slot bandwidth max of 10gb/sec. (theoretical limit) with MANY disks in RAID 0.

ALL simply because it uses PCI-e (x4 slot type) which has far more available bandwidth to it, than PCI 2.2 can manage!

I.E.-> PCI-e supports x1, x2, x4, x8, x12, x16, and x32 link bandwidths.

PCIe's bandwidth gains over PCI 2.2 (std.) are noticeable!

A single x1 lane can transmit 2.5Gbps in each direction, concurrently (compare & constrast that with PCI 2.2 133mb/sec).

Thus, when you "add" two lanes together to do the x2 slot type linkage, you have 5 Gbps available to that slot (each link bandwidth increases according/linearly in this manner, afaik).

That means the x4 PCI-e bus my caching controller has equates to 10Gbps!

Common Buses and their Max Bandwidth

PCI 132 MB/s
AGP 8X 2,100 MB/s
PCI Express 1x 250 [500]* MB/s
PCI Express 2x 500 [1000]* MB/s
PCI Express 4x 1000 [2000]* MB/s
PCI Express 8x 2000 [4000]* MB/s
PCI Express 16x 4000 [8000]* MB/s
PCI Express 32x 8000 [16000]* MB/s
IDE (ATA100) 100 MB/s
IDE (ATA133) 133 MB/s
SATA 1 150 MB/s
SATA 2 300 MB/s
Gigabit Ethernet 125 MB/s
IEEE1394B [firewire] 100 MB/s

PCI Express is a serial based technology (transmitting data in packets over the first four layers of the OSI model in fact afaik & even does packet retranmission retries if any are dropped - couple that with SATA 1/2 crc32 checks (iirc, it does that) & you get better reliability as well & even packet reprioritization (QoS) so that streaming media like video get priority over other data types for smoother/faster processing).

Thus, data can be sent over the bus in two directions at once.

Normal PCI is Parallel, and as such all data goes in one direction around the loop.

A 1x lane in PCI Express transmits in both directions at once serially, simultaneously.

In the table above, the first number is the bandwidth in one direction and the second number is the combined bandwidth in both directions.

Note that in PCI Express bandwidth is not shared the same way as in PCI, so there is less congestion on the bus.

(Theoretically @ least, that means I can exceed the typical RAID 0 "3 disks limit" before no more performance increases occur (due to PCI 2.2 bus saturation which most tests showed as 127mb/sec transferral rates on PCI 2.2 bus types via 3 drives in RAID)... this is simply because PCI-e x4 slots have a much higher bandwidth rate than PCI 2.2 does!)

Afaik? The slot type & bus matter, & SATA 1 has a top-end bandwidth spec of 150mb/sec in theory, practice is another matter (as we all know)...

If I am "off" here on ANY accounts? Please, do correct me, because I learn new things everyday that way & it helps... TIA! apk

infrared · May 23, 2006, 05:25 PM

so even running two in raid, you'd still be limited by 150mb/s? It wouldn't add up?

Nice explanations

Thanks

Alec§taar · May 23, 2006, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by infrared

so even running two in raid, you'd still be limited by 150mb/s? It wouldn't add up?

Well, my Promise SATA 2 caching controller IS x4 PCI-e & runs SATA 2 disks (300mb/sec, throughput on burst iirc)... but, see the chart above on PCI-e transferral rates:

WAY over 300mb/sec... way over!

(Probably could take a STACK of SATA2 disks in RAID 0, not only up to 3 like SATA1 & PCI 2.2 (normal PCI) had limits on of 127mb of 133mb possible in theory doing RAID 0).

HOWEVER - the GIGABYTE IRAM, @ 300mb/sec SATA2? Would hit that wall in spanning them possibly... it rides in a std. PCI 2.2 slot (133mb/sec upwards limit).

Quote:

Originally Posted by infrared

Nice explanations

Thanks

You're welcome!

Hey, I am learning more as I write them after study online, & discuss hardware issues with folks here...

I need to "catch up" nowadays (only buy & research once every 3-5 years or so, & that's a CENTURY in PC-time, imo & experience - tons changes in that time, especially performance-wise!).

APK

P.S.=> I'll tell you 1 thing that PCI-Express reminds me of: PCI vs. VLB (Vesa Local Bus)!

The VLB was MORE of a "True" local bus than PCI was imo... & PCI-e seems to have caught up on that end of it now, making it VERY LIKE what I recall VLB being! apk

Alec§taar · Jul 28, 2006, 12:07 AM

See my subject-line/title above, & this latest review URL below next:

GIGABYTE GC-RAMDISK i-RAM review @ HEXUS.NET

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=6200

* Here are more reviews of these Solid-State Drives for your comparison references:

================================================== ==============

Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ techreport.com

http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q1...m/index.x?pg=1

Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ pcper.com

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=224&type=expert

Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ overclockers.com

http://www.overclockers.com/tips00788/index02.asp

Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ Tom's Hardware

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2005/1...uk/page18.html

Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ PCWorld

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121105,00.asp

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OUR OTHER DISCUSSION HERE @ TECHPOWERUP.COM FORUMS REGARDING SSD's (for your reference):

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showth...highlight=IRAM

================================================== ==============

A listing of creative uses of RAMDRIVES is here:

http://www.avatar.demon.nl/cenatek.html

(That is a review of these units featured on CENATEK's front page in "An independent user's review" linkage there I did back in 2003 of the older/slower PCI 2.2 bus & PC-133 SDRAM based Solid-State Ramdisk drive I have seen in my signature below - that review lists diff. ways these can be used to gain performance, as does my signature for some examples on the quick).

APK

P.S.=> The DDRDrive x1 PCI-e based unit, pictured next below:

Will be even the Gigabyte IRAM GC-Ramdisk's superior once it releases later this year, imo @ least (because of the bustype it uses in PCI-Express & its superior bandwidth, see table below)

Common bustypes & their bandwidth ceilings:

PCI 132 MB/s (What the CENATEK "RocketDrive" Uses)
AGP 8X 2,100 MB/s
PCI Express 1x 250 [500]* MB/s (What the DDRDrive x1 Uses)
PCI Express 2x 500 [1000]* MB/s
PCI Express 4x 1000 [2000]* MB/s
PCI Express 8x 2000 [4000]* MB/s
PCI Express 16x 4000 [8000]* MB/s
PCI Express 32x 8000 [16000]* MB/s
IDE (ATA100) 100 MB/s
IDE (ATA133) 133 MB/s
SATA 1 150 MB/s (What the Gigabyte IRAM GC-RamDisk Uses)
SATA 2 300 MB/s
Gigabit Ethernet 125 MB/s
IEEE1394B [firewire] 100 MB/s

but for now, this Gigabyte IRAM-GC is the 'ticket to ride' though... apk

warhammer · Feb 8, 2008, 02:40 AM

It is only SATS 1 shame its not SATA2

driver66 · Feb 8, 2008, 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by warhammer

It is only SATS 1 shame its not SATA2

lol zombie thread ,,,,,look at the date

erocker · Feb 8, 2008, 03:09 AM

I haven't seen Kenny for a while!

intel igent · Feb 8, 2008, 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by erocker

I haven't seen Kenny for a while!

OMG! tehy killed KENNY!

BASTARDS!

Processor:	DualCore AMD Athlon 64x2 4800+ (o/c 2801mhz STABLE (Ketxxx, POGE, Tatty One, ME))
Motherboard:	ASUS A8N-SLI Premium (PCIe x16, x4, x1)
Cooling:	PhaseChange Coolermaster CM754/939 (fan/heatsink), Thermalright heatspreaders + fan built on (RAM)
Memory:	512mb PC-3200 DDR400 (set DDR-33 for o/c) by Corsair (matched pair, 2x256mb) 200.1/200mhz
Video Card:	BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC 512mb GDDR3 ram (o/c manually to 686 core/865 memory) - PhaseChange cooled
Hard Disk:	Dual "Raptor X" 16mb 10krpm/RAID 0 Promise EX8350 x4 PCIe 128mb & Intel IO chip/CENATEK RocketDrive
Optical Drive:	SONY DRU-810a Double-Sided DvD burner
CRT/LCD Model:	SONY 19" Trinitron MultiScan 400ps 1600x1200 75hz refresh 32-bit color
Case:	Antec Super-LanBoy (aluminum baby-tower w/ lower front & upper rear cooling exhaust fans)
Sound Card:	RealTek AC97 onboard mobo stereo sound (Altec Lansing ACS-45 speakers - 10 yrs. still running!)
PSU:	Antec 500w ATX 2.0 "SmartPower" powersupply
Software:	Windows Server 2003 SP #1 fully patched, & massively tuned/tweaked to-the-max (plus latest drivers)

Processor:	Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Motherboard:	MSI K8NGM2-FID
Cooling:	Evercool EC-WC-202 + Air (Installed soooon)
Memory:	2x512 Geil Value
Video Card:	Sapphire X1800XL 256mb
Hard Disk:	160GB WD IDE - 250GB Hitachi Sata
Optical Drive:	Lite-On DVDRW SHW-160P6S
CRT/LCD Model:	ViewSonic VA1912wb
Case:	ASPIRE X-QPACK - Black/Silver w/ 3 Windows
PSU:	XClio 450BL
Software:	WinXP Pro Sp2

Processor:	DualCore AMD Athlon 64x2 4800+ (o/c 2801mhz STABLE (Ketxxx, POGE, Tatty One, ME))
Motherboard:	ASUS A8N-SLI Premium (PCIe x16, x4, x1)
Cooling:	PhaseChange Coolermaster CM754/939 (fan/heatsink), Thermalright heatspreaders + fan built on (RAM)
Memory:	512mb PC-3200 DDR400 (set DDR-33 for o/c) by Corsair (matched pair, 2x256mb) 200.1/200mhz
Video Card:	BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC 512mb GDDR3 ram (o/c manually to 686 core/865 memory) - PhaseChange cooled
Hard Disk:	Dual "Raptor X" 16mb 10krpm/RAID 0 Promise EX8350 x4 PCIe 128mb & Intel IO chip/CENATEK RocketDrive
Optical Drive:	SONY DRU-810a Double-Sided DvD burner
CRT/LCD Model:	SONY 19" Trinitron MultiScan 400ps 1600x1200 75hz refresh 32-bit color
Case:	Antec Super-LanBoy (aluminum baby-tower w/ lower front & upper rear cooling exhaust fans)
Sound Card:	RealTek AC97 onboard mobo stereo sound (Altec Lansing ACS-45 speakers - 10 yrs. still running!)
PSU:	Antec 500w ATX 2.0 "SmartPower" powersupply
Software:	Windows Server 2003 SP #1 fully patched, & massively tuned/tweaked to-the-max (plus latest drivers)

May 22, 2006, 09:09 PM	#4
noneed4me2 Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: San Bernardino CA Posts: 611 (0.22/day) Thanks: 5 Thanked 9 Times in 8 Posts System Specs	I read somewhere that with the saturation of the SATA bus it would cause issues with anything else connected to it, but i definately like the idea but I feel it needs further development, and definately larger than 4gb capacity. Running an operating system would be cool if it was proven to be reliable on a 24/7 basis. __________________ To be yourself in a way world which does its best night and day to make you like everyone else, means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. ee cummings "Hile, Gunslingers to me!" Roland Deschain, Gunslinger Novel

System Name:	TheloneFrakker..;)
Processor:	Q6600 GO FSB333@3.04ghz
Motherboard:	Asus P5E3 Deluxe Wifi
Cooling:	Stock for now
Memory:	2x1gb/Gskill DDR3 1333@9,9,9,24 1t
Video Card:	Sapphire HD2900XT
Hard Disk:	Seagate Barrucuda 7200.11 500gb SATAII 32mb cache
Optical Drive:	20x DVD+- burner Samsung w/ Lightscribe
CRT/LCD Model:	Sceptre xw20g Naga 20.1"
Case:	Thermaltake Bach VX w/Side window
Sound Card:	Onboard
PSU:	Hiper 580w Modular
Software:	XP Pro/Vista Home Premium 64bit
Benchmarks:	None yet, coming soon...

May 22, 2006, 12:01 PM	#1
Alec§taar Banned Join Date: May 2006 Location: Someone who's going to find NewTekie1 and teach him a lesson Posts: 3,380 (1.30/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 102 Times in 101 Posts System Specs	GIGABYTE "IRAM": UPDATED w/ HEXUS.NET 07/27/2006 review (& others) GIGABYTE GC-RAMDISK i-RAM review @ HEXUS.NET http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=6200 * Here are more reviews of these Solid-State Drives for your comparison references: ================================================== ============== Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ techreport.com http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q1...m/index.x?pg=1 Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ pcper.com http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=224&type=expert Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ overclockers.com http://www.overclockers.com/tips00788/index02.asp Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ Tom's Hardware http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2005/1...uk/page18.html Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ PCWorld http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121105,00.asp ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUR OTHER DISCUSSION HERE @ TECHPOWERUP.COM FORUMS REGARDING SSD's (for your reference): http://forums.techpowerup.com/showth...highlight=IRAM ================================================== ============== A listing of creative uses of RAMDRIVES is here: http://www.avatar.demon.nl/cenatek.html (That is a review of these units featured on CENATEK's front page in "An independent user's review" linkage there I did back in 2003 of the older/slower PCI 2.2 bus & PC-133 SDRAM based Solid-State Ramdisk drive I have seen in my signature below - that review lists diff. ways these can be used to gain performance, as does my signature for some examples on the quick). The CENATEK unit is a PCI slot based one, & PCI 2.2 133mb/sec max transfer rate IDE/EIDE limit (which this IRAM has beaten, in theory @ least, using SATA 150mb/sec rates no less) that costs more than this model does from GIGABYTE! APK P.S.=> The DDRDrive x1 PCI-e based unit, pictured next below: Will be even the Gigabyte IRAM GC-Ramdisk's superior once it releases later this year, imo @ least (because of the bustype it uses in PCI-Express & its superior bandwidth, see table below) Common bustypes & their bandwidth ceilings: PCI 132 MB/s (What the CENATEK "RocketDrive" Uses) AGP 8X 2,100 MB/s PCI Express 1x 250 [500]* MB/s (What the DDRDrive x1 Uses) PCI Express 2x 500 [1000]* MB/s PCI Express 4x 1000 [2000]* MB/s PCI Express 8x 2000 [4000]* MB/s PCI Express 16x 4000 [8000]* MB/s PCI Express 32x 8000 [16000]* MB/s IDE (ATA100) 100 MB/s IDE (ATA133) 133 MB/s SATA 1 150 MB/s (What the Gigabyte IRAM GC-RamDisk Uses) SATA 2 300 MB/s Gigabit Ethernet 125 MB/s IEEE1394B [firewire] 100 MB/s but for now, this Gigabyte IRAM-GC is the 'ticket to ride' though... LASTLY/PLUS: You can even BOOT your system/OS from the GIGABYTE one! (But not the CENATEK)... apk Last edited by Alec§taar; Jul 29, 2006 at 04:26 AM. Reason: Details/thoughts/links to reviews added for reader reference

May 22, 2006, 01:35 PM	#2
cieje Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 22 (0.01/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts System Specs	depending on how reliable it is... putting your os on there would be awesome for system performance. and your swap file :-x Or... get 2 of them, raid 0 them together.... that might have some interesting performance advantages...

May 22, 2006, 11:14 PM	#5
Aevum Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Madrid, Spain Posts: 562 (0.20/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 12 Times in 12 Posts System Specs	it is reliable to somepoint, it has a battery on the card that keeps it from erasing for 8 hours i belive if power is gone, the issue is that it takes a max of 1gb modules, a normal 1g Kingston value ram /Geil Value/OCZ value (i wouldnt use generic for this purpose, but i wouldnt use muskin redlines either) stick is around 80 bucks, 80x4=320 bucks for 4gb, now, with 4gb, its good if you do alot of photoshop or maya work, that way you can gain fast access to the files you´re working on, if your a fanatic gamer, installing Quake4 or Oblivion on the memory drive will improve loading time, but the frames per second are still GPU and CPU dependent, you could even fit windows inside, but are you willing to pay 320 bucks for the ram plus the 60 to 100 the card costs you and run the constant danger that a power outage longer then 8 hours could leave you reinstalling windows just to reduce boottime from 40 secs to 4 ?

System Name:	Sample light
Processor:	AMD Phenom II 965
Motherboard:	MSI DKA790GX
Cooling:	Zalman 9500LED
Memory:	2x 2GB G-skill PC8500
Video Card:	Asus built AMD/ATI HD4850
Hard Disk:	500GB Wesern Digital green
Optical Drive:	Plextor 16x DVD burner
CRT/LCD Model:	too ashamed to tell, but its an acer
Case:	Lian Li V2000
Sound Card:	Echo Audiofire 2
PSU:	Corsair VX550
Software:	Windows XP pro SP3

May 22, 2006, 11:29 PM	#6
KennyT772 Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 2,933 (1.07/day) Thanks: 19 Thanked 103 Times in 98 Posts System Specs	it sould be used as a current files drive. so photoshop files, pagefile, temp files for windows/firefox. maby using it as a secondary install of your favorite game is good but you want to have a backup of everything you have on the iram. __________________ Xfire Heatware

System Name:	Raptor
Processor:	Intel E8400 Wolfdale @3600
Motherboard:	Asus P5Q-Pro LGA775
Cooling:	Zalman CNPS9700
Memory:	1024mbx2 Crucial Ballistix DDR800
Video Card:	XFX 9600GT
Hard Disk:	Seagate 7200.11 500GB
Optical Drive:	Samsung DVD-RW
CRT/LCD Model:	Acer AL2216Wbd and Acer AL1717
Case:	Gigabyte 3DAurora Black
Sound Card:	Creative X-Fi Extreme Gamer Faitality
PSU:	OCZ GameXStream 500w

May 22, 2006, 11:36 PM	#7
infrared Join Date: May 2005 Location: Southampton, UK Posts: 2,878 (0.98/day) Thanks: 233 Thanked 185 Times in 156 Posts System Specs	I suppose if you've got a lot of old ddr dimms lying around, you could buy 2 or more of these, and set them up in RAID-0. I'd like to see some benchmarks with that Would give a total of 8gb, and roughly 300mb/s. This is some crazy bandwidth we're talking about here tho!! __________________ I don't suffer from insanity - I enjoy every minute of it!

Processor:	E8400 E0 @ 4.5GHz 1.43v (563x8)
Motherboard:	Asus P5Q Deluxe
Cooling:	AC Freezer 7 Pro; ThermalRight HR-03 Plus (both lapped)
Memory:	4GB G.Skill PI pc2-8800 @ 1126MHz 1:1 5-5-5-12 1.8v
Video Card:	XFX GTX280 :)
Hard Disk:	2x 750GB WD Caviar SE16's in RAID 0
Optical Drive:	LG 8x Blu-ray RW
Case:	Antec 900
PSU:	Tt Purepower 680w
Software:	Windows 7 Ultimate
Benchmarks:	9.281s superpi 1M @ 5ghz 15300 vantage

May 23, 2006, 05:25 PM	#9
infrared Join Date: May 2005 Location: Southampton, UK Posts: 2,878 (0.98/day) Thanks: 233 Thanked 185 Times in 156 Posts System Specs	so even running two in raid, you'd still be limited by 150mb/s? It wouldn't add up? Nice explanations Thanks __________________ I don't suffer from insanity - I enjoy every minute of it!

Jul 28, 2006, 12:07 AM	#11
Alec§taar Banned Join Date: May 2006 Location: Someone who's going to find NewTekie1 and teach him a lesson Posts: 3,380 (1.30/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 102 Times in 101 Posts System Specs	Bringing it "back from the dead" w/ a review by HEXUS.NET 07/27/2006 See my subject-line/title above, & this latest review URL below next: GIGABYTE GC-RAMDISK i-RAM review @ HEXUS.NET http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=6200 * Here are more reviews of these Solid-State Drives for your comparison references: ================================================== ============== Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ techreport.com http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q1...m/index.x?pg=1 Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ pcper.com http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=224&type=expert Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ overclockers.com http://www.overclockers.com/tips00788/index02.asp Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ Tom's Hardware http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2005/1...uk/page18.html Gigabyte iRAM Solid State SATA Storage Review @ PCWorld http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121105,00.asp ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUR OTHER DISCUSSION HERE @ TECHPOWERUP.COM FORUMS REGARDING SSD's (for your reference): http://forums.techpowerup.com/showth...highlight=IRAM ================================================== ============== A listing of creative uses of RAMDRIVES is here: http://www.avatar.demon.nl/cenatek.html (That is a review of these units featured on CENATEK's front page in "An independent user's review" linkage there I did back in 2003 of the older/slower PCI 2.2 bus & PC-133 SDRAM based Solid-State Ramdisk drive I have seen in my signature below - that review lists diff. ways these can be used to gain performance, as does my signature for some examples on the quick). APK P.S.=> The DDRDrive x1 PCI-e based unit, pictured next below: Will be even the Gigabyte IRAM GC-Ramdisk's superior once it releases later this year, imo @ least (because of the bustype it uses in PCI-Express & its superior bandwidth, see table below) Common bustypes & their bandwidth ceilings: PCI 132 MB/s (What the CENATEK "RocketDrive" Uses) AGP 8X 2,100 MB/s PCI Express 1x 250 [500]* MB/s (What the DDRDrive x1 Uses) PCI Express 2x 500 [1000]* MB/s PCI Express 4x 1000 [2000]* MB/s PCI Express 8x 2000 [4000]* MB/s PCI Express 16x 4000 [8000]* MB/s PCI Express 32x 8000 [16000]* MB/s IDE (ATA100) 100 MB/s IDE (ATA133) 133 MB/s SATA 1 150 MB/s (What the Gigabyte IRAM GC-RamDisk Uses) SATA 2 300 MB/s Gigabit Ethernet 125 MB/s IEEE1394B [firewire] 100 MB/s but for now, this Gigabyte IRAM-GC is the 'ticket to ride' though... apk Last edited by Alec§taar; Jul 29, 2006 at 04:26 AM.

Feb 8, 2008, 02:40 AM	#12
warhammer Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 204 (0.10/day) Thanks: 2 Thanked 25 Times in 20 Posts System Specs	It is only SATS 1 shame its not SATA2

Processor:	Q6600@3.6
Motherboard:	Evga 680i
Cooling:	H20
Memory:	2GB DDR2
Video Card:	8800GTS 512 SLI
Hard Disk:	4x320gig
Optical Drive:	2x Liteon DVD burners
CRT/LCD Model:	21CRT
Case:	ARMOR
Sound Card:	SB
PSU:	750W
Software:	VISTA ULTIMATE

Processor:	c2d e8400@ 3.8ghz 24/7
Motherboard:	Abit IP-35e 80$ lol
Cooling:	zalman cnps9700 led
Memory:	2 x 2 gig patriot viper
Video Card:	evga Gtx 285 oc
Hard Disk:	2 x 300gig sata seagate 7200.10 in raid 0/ 1.5TB for backup
Optical Drive:	samsung writemaster sata dual layer 16x dvd lightscribe
CRT/LCD Model:	acer 24" TFT LCD AL2416WBSD
Case:	Antec 902
Sound Card:	XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro series
PSU:	ocz gamextreme 700w
Software:	windows 7 ultimate

Feb 8, 2008, 03:09 AM	#14
erocker Senior Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Milwaukee, WI. Posts: 32,296 (12.78/day) Thanks: 2,818 Thanked 12,454 Times in 7,920 Posts System Specs	I haven't seen Kenny for a while! __________________

Processor:	Intel i7 3770K @ 4.6ghz 1.256v
Motherboard:	Asus Maximus V Formula
Cooling:	Water
Memory:	2x4gb Patriot Viper 2133mhz 10-11-10-25 2T 1.55v
Video Card:	Sapphire HD 7970 1125/1575 1.14v
Hard Disk:	Crucial M4 128Gb / Corsair Force 3 120Gb / Samsung 240Gb / 2Tb Seagate
Optical Drive:	None
CRT/LCD Model:	Acheiva Shimian 27" IPS 2560x1440
Case:	Corsair 500R White
Sound Card:	Onboard
PSU:	NZXT Hale90 1Kw
Software:	Windows 8 x64

System Name:	old school / new school
Processor:	3.0e C0 @ 3.6 / e5200
Motherboard:	p4p800e-dlx / p5q-DLX
Cooling:	custom water see sig / air
Memory:	2x1g oczPC4000EbPl / 2x2g ocz2rpr1066
Video Card:	3850AGP / 4890vaporX
Hard Disk:	36g raptor+120g wd / wd 1001fals 1tb
Optical Drive:	LG x 2 / LG BluRay
CRT/LCD Model:	BenQ / sharpAQUOS LC-37D64U
Case:	modded antec plusview / generic
Sound Card:	audigy 2zs / ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3
PSU:	fan/cable modded powerstream 520 / OCZ 700mxsp
Software:	Xp pro SP2 / VISTA ultimate OEM

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