Intel X-25M 80GB SSD Performance after 45 days of use: Time ain’t on my side, no it’s not.

A member of Overclock.Net going by the handle Kiggold just posted two screen shots from HD Tune Pro 3.00 showing the throughput of an Intel X-25M 80GB SSD when new and after 45 days. When new, the drive took a little time to come up to speed and then stabilized at an average transfer rate of 233 Mbytes/sec. After 45 days, HD Tune Pro shows that the SSD’s average transfer rate has dropped to 226 Mbytes/sec, which is a negligible reduction in average transfer rate. However, HD Tune Pro’s performance traces show that after 45 days, the SSD’s transfer rate drops periodically. Looks like garbage collection to me. In any case, as long as average throughput is all you need, you’re OK. If your application can’t stand large latency swings, then you should look a little deeper into the drive’s behavior.