Geek Corner - SSD choices

I'm going to upgrade my HDD on my PC to an SSD. I'm really looking forward to the silence of it and the increased speed.

I'd ideally like a 120gb version and people say Intel is the best. I only need 120gb as all my media etc is kept on the NAS storage which is located elsewhere. I'm not shelling out for a E model intel as they are soo expensive but looking at the normal M range.

Specifically this one which is around the £180 mark:

http://www.intel.com/design/flash/nand/mainstream/index.htm

I did however read on a UK forum people saying don't bother buying an OCZ one as they weren't any good such as this one which is around the same price:

http://dropship.weareelectricals.com/products/OCZ-2.5%22-Agility-2-Series-SATA-II-Solid-State-Drive-%28SSD%29-%252d-120-GB.html

What gets me is that the read write speed which it is all about is this:

Intel: Read - 250mbs

Write - 100mbs

OCZ: Read - 285mbs

Write - 275mbs

So the apparently lesser OCZ brand has a significantly faster write speed than the Intel. But as we all know brand stats can be misleading, perhaps measured in some different way between the brands.

I want the best for my money and normally stick to big brands so whats the deal WATMM? What am I missing? Please to gives me some SSD advice!

wait for February, new 25nm drives are coming that will make all the old ones obsolete.

http://gizmodo.com/5657487/intels-leaked-25nm-ssd-600gb-storage-with-four-times-the-lifespan

Ah thanks for that Chaos, I was going to buy in March as its my bday and a present from me to me!

these drives really give you the most boost as your C drive (obviously!) and i've had a lot of grief getting one set up as such.... make sure the bios in your box + the OS you have will support it, if that's your plan -- to install windows on it, and to boot off it.

  On 1/26/2011 at 12:48 AM, El_Chemso said:

Ah thanks for that Chaos, I was going to buy in March as its my bday and a present from me to me!

  On 1/25/2011 at 11:47 PM, chaosmachine said:

wait for February, new 25nm drives are coming that will make all the old ones obsolete.

 

http://gizmodo.com/5657487/intels-leaked-25nm-ssd-600gb-storage-with-four-times-the-lifespan

Good to know but god damn I bet they are going to be so expensive. I have been planning on stepping up my ultimate aircraft carrier music performance rig game with an SSD in late February.

This thread is interesting but yeah I don't want to spend a grip on my first SSD. Any SSD should be a massive upgrade.

SSDs are still too expensive for my taste. Better to wait for the technology to get better and cheaper.

i bought one, along with another gig of ram and a proper, not-onboard video card to bring my web stuff 'n' shit desktop up to snuff. staved off buying another box for another three years i reckon, at about half the price.

  On 1/26/2011 at 5:57 AM, hahathhat said:

these drives really give you the most boost as your C drive (obviously!) and i've had a lot of grief getting one set up as such.... make sure the bios in your box + the OS you have will support it, if that's your plan -- to install windows on it, and to boot off it.

Well running windows 7, not sure how to check my BIOS will do it, should do its not an old computer less than a year or so.

  On 1/26/2011 at 6:01 AM, THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON said:

  On 1/26/2011 at 12:48 AM, El_Chemso said:

Ah thanks for that Chaos, I was going to buy in March as its my bday and a present from me to me!

I lol'ed.

  On 1/26/2011 at 5:27 PM, El_Chemso said:

  On 1/26/2011 at 5:57 AM, hahathhat said:

these drives really give you the most boost as your C drive (obviously!) and i've had a lot of grief getting one set up as such.... make sure the bios in your box + the OS you have will support it, if that's your plan -- to install windows on it, and to boot off it.

 

Well running windows 7, not sure how to check my BIOS will do it, should do its not an old computer less than a year or so.

it's probably fine, then. like i said, i got one to let me get another couple years out of an older comp. i'd still google around to see if anyone else had problems.

Been looking at newegg for the last hour looking @ hardware. Gonna have a lot of money in February to build that PC for reasons I stated above. Pretty sure I will wait for the new generation of SSDs. So excited with some of the projections I've seen 7 seconds! to boot up windows with similar hardware to what I would be building. With the new intel i7s people are saying shit doesn't even sweat them. Could do really intense HD editing easy breezey, run soo many VSTs for live stuff without problems I'm sure. I can't wait to have a machine that even most demanding software needs doesn't even stress.

So fellow Geeks, what the latest on SSD's! Nearing march, haven't seen any news about the new intel drives so much?

http://www.storagereview.com/ssds_shifting_25nm_nand_what_you_need_know

some are out, some are coming, some have problems.

supposedly march 1st for intel.

TY Chaos, I think I caught a bit of that article through one of my pulse feeds.

On that note, recommend any good feeds, got the major ones, gizmodo, android central etc. Whats your fav?

I don't really use RSS, I just google when I want news on a specific subject.

Also, HN.

TY I'll add that.

I've never used RSS until I got an android phone an got a app. Nothing beats cues or waiting when you can read your fav feeds on your phone. Also really passes the time in dull lectures.

I've heard some bad things about the 25nm cells. Apparently the new OCZ Vertex 2 SSD's with 25nm memory perform worse (some people even claim dramatically worse) than the older 34nm version. There are also people worried about the reduced writes on the 25nm. They might be cheaper to produce, allowing for larger storage for less money, but if it isn't the fastest and most durable tech, I'm not convinced at all.

I bought myself a Vertex 2 a couple of months ago and am quite satisfied. Just had to make sure all my filesystems supported TRIM and I reduced writes to the SSD a bit. All seems well, super snappy.

I heard that the new ones weren't actually coming with 25nm as they weren't fully ready yet. I'll be buying mid march so they best make their minds up!

1st of March, good to their word the new "Elm Crest" SSD has turned up. Not any cheaper as such, but the price of other SSD's seems to have dropped.

Only place I've seen it:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-009-IN

Dunno if anyone cares, but I don't care if you don't care.

Apparently the 510 Intel SSD I'd been waiting for is actually not great (Its good but not the best). So I'm going to get the Vertex 3 from OCD on the 21st:

http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-071-OC

HTH someone else shopping for an SSD.

http://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148443

$180 for 256 gigabytes (promo code = MEMKMYTEN). Just ordered mine ;)

  On 3/8/2011 at 4:36 AM, El_Chemso said:

Dunno if anyone cares, but I don't care if you don't care.

 

Apparently the 510 Intel SSD I'd been waiting for is actually not great (Its good but not the best). So I'm going to get the Vertex 3 from OCD on the 21st:

 

http://overclockers....rodid=HD-071-OC

 

HTH someone else shopping for an SSD.

Dunno if you know or not, but overclockers tend to overprice their stock. I've been looking at components to build up my dream machine, and it's much much cheaper at ebuyer.com and scan.co.uk.

unrelated thought/experience: i got a 32 gig ocz onyx and i had nothing but trouble from it. apparently you're supposed to format it and install new firmware (or something) to get the advertised read/write speeds... too bad that's where my os is installed! it'd be a bitch to install a new one on my seagate barracuda, format & update the firmware, install on the onyx, uninstall on the seagate. i am not going through that song and dance. ocz totally lost a customer with that.

on the other hand, my mom bought the crucial m4 a couple of weeks ago for her mac pro and the set-up was super easy and it's very fast. i can vouch for them.

  On 6/1/2012 at 10:58 PM, Hoodie said:

unrelated thought/experience: i got a 32 gig ocz onyx and i had nothing but trouble from it. apparently you're supposed to format it and install new firmware (or something) to get the advertised read/write speeds... too bad that's where my os is installed! it'd be a bitch to install a new one on my seagate barracuda, format & update the firmware, install on the onyx, uninstall on the seagate. i am not going through that song and dance. ocz totally lost a customer with that.

 

on the other hand, my mom bought the crucial m4 a couple of weeks ago for her mac pro and the set-up was super easy and it's very fast. i can vouch for them.

why not just use clonezilla to make a clone of your current install, format and flash firmware, and then restore your cloned disk image?

  On 6/1/2012 at 11:00 PM, oscillik said:

  On 6/1/2012 at 10:58 PM, Hoodie said:

unrelated thought/experience: i got a 32 gig ocz onyx and i had nothing but trouble from it. apparently you're supposed to format it and install new firmware (or something) to get the advertised read/write speeds... too bad that's where my os is installed! it'd be a bitch to install a new one on my seagate barracuda, format & update the firmware, install on the onyx, uninstall on the seagate. i am not going through that song and dance. ocz totally lost a customer with that.

 

on the other hand, my mom bought the crucial m4 a couple of weeks ago for her mac pro and the set-up was super easy and it's very fast. i can vouch for them.

 

why not just use clonezilla to make a clone of your current install, format and flash firmware, and then restore your cloned disk image?

because i didn't think of that. i'm not going to do it now, though, since i've got a nice 256gb on the way.