What SSD?

W

Wolfdale75

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
133
Hi Guys,

Wondering if you can offer some advice here.

I'm looking for a high-performance/fast, reliable SSD. It needs to be about 120 GB.
No hybrids, I'm looking for a pure hardware SSD.

Anyone have any tips on make and model?

Thanks! :)
 
PS - 2 things I forgot to mention:

I'm looking for a 3.5-inch one if possible, a 2.5-inch one will rattle around in my desktop.

If I buy a SATA III one, will it still work OK with a SATA II connection (that's what I have).

Thanks.
 
To answer the above questions:
Look at the Samsung 830 series, Crucial M4 line or the Corsair Force GT line. Mount the 2.5" drive in a 3.5" tray and move on. SATA 3 will back down to SATA 2.
 
There are very, very few consumer 3.5" drives. Old MTRONs in 16GB/32GB/64GB flavors and newer SF 1200 made by OCZ can be found in 3.5" varieties... but I'm assuming you want a newer one. Check out ICY DOCK's 2.5" to 3.5" adapters if you don't want to use the metal brackets that come with many SSDs.
 
tricky0502 said:
samsung 830, intel 520, crucial m4 (in that order).
Click to expand...

I don't know if I agree with "that order" per se, but I definitely will say that you can't go wrong with any of these three. I would be more likely to say, get whichever of these three you can buy for the least amount of money.

There was a great m4 deal not to long ago for a 256GB drive sub $200. That one was insane.
 
the 830 is the best ssd out right now. the only thing close to it is the 520. after that there is a drop off to other (non intel 520) sandforce and marvell drives.
 
I have a Plextor 128GB M3 in my HTPC and it is awesome. Just ordered a Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 240GB for my Desktop. I'm using a OCZ Synapse cache drive in there now but decided to go full SSD for my boot drive. Was less than $1 per GB shipped so I figured why not. When I bought the OCZ Synapse for $120 several months ago 240GB drives were over $400, they are dropping like crazy. Would have liked the 256GB Plextor M3 but they are expensive still.
 
Wolfdale75 said:
Hi Guys,

Wondering if you can offer some advice here.

I'm looking for a high-performance/fast, reliable SSD. It needs to be about 120 GB.
No hybrids, I'm looking for a pure hardware SSD.

Anyone have any tips on make and model?

Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

One of the few larger SSDs that are both speedy enough (supports SATA 6.0G/b speeds) and inexpensive enough to fit within both your capacity and price constraints is the Crucial m4 128GB SSD. (In fact, it's replaced the SAMSUNG 830 64GB SSD in my *build-optional* list due to having twice the capacity for the same price.)

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0364545

Don't let the 2.5" size be a roadblock - if your case has a floppy-drive bay, put the SSD in that.
 
Wolfdale75 said:
PS - 2 things I forgot to mention:

I'm looking for a 3.5-inch one if possible, a 2.5-inch one will rattle around in my desktop.

If I buy a SATA III one, will it still work OK with a SATA II connection (that's what I have).

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Do you shake your desktop around? :D

Many of the SSD's I've installed are just wedged in somewhere with no issues.
 
Wolfdale75 said:
I'm looking for a 3.5-inch one if possible, a 2.5-inch one will rattle around in my desktop.
Click to expand...

Why would it rattle around? You do know what SS in SSD stands for right? Mine just rests on top of a HDD, no adapters or mounts or anything.
 
There aren't any 3,5" SSD's around that perform just as well (for their price) as 2,5" SSD's.

Find one with an adapter, like the m4 or the 830, there are plenty of those around.
 
[LYL]Homer;1038733478 said:
Do you shake your desktop around? :D

Many of the SSD's I've installed are just wedged in somewhere with no issues.
Click to expand...

3.5" bays (and especially bays usually used for floppies) are ideal for SSDs - with or without adapters.

Because I can refit my Olde Reliable Lian Li ATX midtower case for BridgeWalker, I'm going with an insert adapter for the existing (and normally unusable) floppy bay:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0328852

My boot HDD currently is being kept (and goes in the completely separate 3.5" HDD bay-stack) - at most I need a cover/faceplate for the otherwise-uncovered floppy bay.

Unusable? Simple - neither MightyMouse (the motherboard I'm leaving) or BridgeWalker support floppy drives *at all*.
 
unimatrixzer0 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167086
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147164

So between these two drives would you folks recommend the Samsung over the Intel?

Is the price premium on the Intel based on the brand name (Intel) or because there's faster/better tech in their SSD?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I think it's six of one, half-dozen of the other. The two are not markedly different in practical terms. Intel does tend to mark up their price based on the concept of a trusted brand and a well-tested product, but IMO the premium isn't worth it.

Note that TigerDirect has the 256 GB Crucial m4 on sale today for $200.
 
The latest Newegg sale has the 128 gb Samsung 830 for $110(promo code: EMCNEJB27) +FS. I didn't see it listed in the hot deals section but I believe this the lowest price yet for that drive.
 
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