1TB Fusion vs 512GB SSD... any experience?

The SSD alone will be much faster than a Fusion Drive whenever the Fusion Drive must access the HDD. Otherwise, you would be comparing two SSDs. In general SSDs are more reliable than HDDs because they have no moving parts. On the other hand if a memory chip goes bad in an SSD, then the SSD is useless. But this same thing applies to the SSD of a Fusion Drive.

• Reliability - slight edge to SSD
• Performance - a wash.
• Cost - Fusion
• storage capacity - Fusion

Honestly I see no reason to go pure SSD on a desktop system now that Apple hss introduced the Fusion drive. A straight SSD option makes senses on a laptop where size, power, and resistance to shock and motion are important factors. But none of that applies to a desktop.

With a Fusion drive you're getting more storage for less cost. To me it would not even be a question.

regards

Frank,

From benchmarkings I've read a Fusion Drive is not equally fast as a sole SSD. Rather it's performance is just better than a sole HDD.

This is not my opinion, but only what I've read. If you disagree don't stomp on my foot, please. 🙂

Could you post the link to that. I be interested in seeing how the benchmark was run.

Even if there is a performance edge to the pure SSD I stand but what I wrote. The economics is just so strongly in favor of the Fusion drive for most users.

A 1tb SSD is $1000.00 a 1tb Fusion is $200.00. That SSD better be many, many orders of magnitude better then the Fusion. For that $800.00 I could upgrade the CPU and max out the memory (at Appple prices).

Again in a laptop environment an SSD makes a lot of sense but I just don't see it with a tabletop.

(there I think I left your toes intact 😉)

regards

256GB SSD and media filesn externals. the SSD on SATA3 (does Appke use PCIe SSD interface now on Haswell iAv?)

AnandTech | A Month with Apple's Fusion Drive

HDD, SSD, and Fusion benchmarks for 27" iMac 2012

We don't really know that. Apple doesn't release that detail publicly. The SSD uses flash media and plugs onto the motherboard. The interface may be proprietary.

If you are thinking you can get a PCIe based SSD and plug it in, then forget it.

For the best information of this sort contact the tech support people at OWC. If anyone knows they do.

"The new iMacs are Haswell but are they PCIe SSD?"

Yes, SATA will soon be a thing of the past!

Apple refreshes the iMac with new processors, PCIe-based SSDs ...

And straight from the horses mouth

Apple - Press Info - Apple Updates iMac

The updated iMac now features support for PCIe-based flash storage that makes Fusion Drive and all-flash storage options up to 50 percent faster than the previous generation.*

Kappy,

Thanks for the link. I just dont; see anything compelling enough there to make me change my mind.

regards

The tests clearly show that a Fusion Drive is slower than a straight SSD, but it's your decision not to accept the conclusions. 🙂

Well, it is clearly a cost vs befenefit question. I have on order a nMP, but just placed an order for the new iMac 27" i7 and will probably return the nMP and save about $2k (in my case). I will couple the 1TB internal drive of the iMac (or MP) with a Thunderbolt LaCie 8TB box, that I got yesterday, which provides 310MB/sec, and back them up to a NAS.

I think this will make a pretty awesome setup for photography and the occasional video.

The Fusion drive is more like a big buffer on a spinning drive. Better than not having it but no comparison to full SSD. It is best if you want max internal space and lower financial impact.

Just my 2 cents' worth...

The simplest way to think about this:

HDD: This costs less and gives a lot of storage, but it is a little slow.

SDD: This gives you comparatively less storage, costs a lot more, but it is really very fast!

Fusion: This doesn't cost less, but it doesn't even cost much, it gives a lot of storage and is quite fast!!

So,

If you use a lots and lots of heavy applications at once, or maybe you have a lots and lots of huge applications on your mac or even games, then you may go with SSD,

If you use your mac simply for watching a lots of videos, pictures, browsing the internet and all the other super basic stuff or let's say you have a huge collection of movies, then, HDD is the way to go, because it will store a lot of data and you really don't need heavy performance on all that...

And finally, if you are into stuff like video editing, or photos, then Fusion Drive is a great option, as all the apps that you will use for your editing and other stuff will use the SDD and give you a great performance, whereas all the videos, pictures etc. that you will actually be editing will be stored in the HDD!! Or even if you do all the three above i.e you watch a lot of movies, or you use a huge number of heavy applications, or if you are into editing then the fusion drive is excellent!! And if you still can't decide, then the fusion drive is an excellent option, I promise, this thing actually performs great!! This thing is technically for everyone!!

And don't worry about stability, as an iMac is a desktop, not a laptop, so it will not be exposed to very tough conditions too much and will most probably sit and shine on a beautiful desk at your house/workplace!!

...I hope this helps!!

~Cheers

-Priyaanshu

If I could afford a 512GB SSD with a new Mac I'd go there in a flash - pun intended. But the cost difference between the 512GB SSD and Fusion drive is quite significant. Really significant. I mean wow! So the question is, for your use is the extra speed for the SSD worth $300. If the Fusion drive were a little faster than a conventional drive I'd say go SSD but while slower, the Fusion drive is considerably faster.

After a year of use and with a 1TB drive that is now 2/3 full, my iMac's Fusion drive continues to compare favorably to my mini at work which has an SSD. Is the SSD faster? Yes. Signficantly faster? For real world use, no, it doesn't feel significantly faster. But the Fusion drive still functions way faster than the convential drive.

So, if the 512GB drive were $100 more expensive than the Fusion drive I'd probably go SSD but not $300.