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Best SSD for <$300?

O

Omnigamer

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Nov 8, 2007
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Well, it's February. Another month and my Win 7 RC will start shutting down randomly. I'll be upgrading to the full version, of course, but rather than have to mess with a clean install twice, I'm looking into SSDs now so I can have everything working extra nice.

That said, I don't have the time to wait for the new batches of controllers and NAND flash to show up on the market and bring down prices in general. Performance (general desktop use) is preferred to capacity, but I'll need at least 60 GB. A lower cost is appreciated as well. I've been trying to do some research on my own, but it's difficult to find side-by-side benchmark comparisons of SSDs, especially across this size and price point.

It looks like the Intel drives (X25-M 80 GB, in this case) are the drives of choice for many users and reviewers, but I don't see any great deals on them for now. I'll probably bite on those if I can find one for <=$225.

OCZ also has my attention, but I'm not sure which line to go for. The Agility line is popular, and I did see a deal for a 60 GB model at $130 (expired). The Vertex and Summit series generally have prices comparable to the Intel, and from what I've seen trade off in testing metrics. I wasn't able to find anything on the Solid/Solid 2 series, however.

Any other worthy contenders I should be watching for? Let me know. Any insight on the performance differences in the above drives would be appreciated as well.
 
To briefly answer your question, the best SSD for <$300 is the Intel X25-M 80GB G2.
 
Yeah, the Agility is a great combination of price/performance, I bought mine 6 months back when it was $215 :)

The Agility uses slightly slower flash memory, but this only translates to small perormance difference versus the Vertex.
 
If this batch of OCZ Solid 2 drives truly does use 32ns Intel NAND then it's the best SSD for under $300... actually $262.62 after Bing Cashback and $30 rebate. The early benches posted on the OCZ forum look better than even some Vertexes and Agilitys produced within the last six months.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...ormance-review&p=485297&viewfull=1#post485297

Otherwise the only time I notice any difference between my 120GB Agility and Intel x25-m 80GB is during large sequential writes: moving files, loading and backing up the OS etc. In this case, I would say the Indilinx is considerably faster.
 
Looks like I'll go ahead with an Intel 80GB G2 as soon as I can find a good deal. Problem is that it looks like most stores are experiencing stock shortages, so anywhere it is in stock has a higher price. Hopefully this will change as new shipments come in over the course of the month.
 
Finding an 80GB X25-M G2 for $225-ish might be tough... That's actually the MSRP (or close to it) but due to the high demand I don't think they've ever been available at that price ('cept maybe for all of 2 hours back when they were released). Hell, until last week they were tough to find at anything under $280, but all of a sudden I started seeing it in stock at Amazon, NCIX, etc. I saw it for $250 w/free S&H at several places, so YMMV.

I'm very happy with mine, I'm also very happy with my 40GB X25-V (paid $120 for it). OCZ's 60GB Agility is going for $180 AR at Newegg IIRC, that's a pretty good price... The Intel drive is slightly faster at random read/writes, the OCZ drive (and any Indillix-based drive) is faster at sequential writes... Real-world you probably won't notice the difference either way.

You can get a 120GB Agility for around $330 AR as well, if you feel you really need the extra space...Vertex drives usually run $20-30 more than the Agility (they use slightly faster memory, same controller, tho some Agility drives actually have faster memory depending on the batch used). The 30GB was actually down to $95 a couple weeks ago, Newegg/OCZ run discounts on 'em ever so often.

I'd just get w/e size you're willing to spend the cash for... 80GB seems fine to me for an OS drive, all my apps fit just fine and I can even keep a couple of games on it. Keep in mind you can use symbolic links to dynamically move game directories on and off the SSD w/o breaking the installs (even individual games out of your Steam folder), so if you're thinking of going larger because of games... Don't.
 
Omnigamer said:
Looks like I'll go ahead with an Intel 80GB G2 as soon as I can find a good deal. Problem is that it looks like most stores are experiencing stock shortages, so anywhere it is in stock has a higher price. Hopefully this will change as new shipments come in over the course of the month.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't hold my breath for that... ALL stores have been experiencing stock shortages since August. I bought mine back then for $250 (at allstarshop.com), could probably have sold it at a profit since then, lol. I just noticed the price went back up to $270 on Amazon... Frankly, if you find it anywhere for $250 I'd just jump on it. Otherwise go w/an Indillix drive from OCZ or whomever. It's still $263 at NCIXUS. Allstarshop has it for $255 and they've got pretty good service. S&H ain't free tho (and they're based out of CA).
 
Impulse said:
I wouldn't hold my breath for that... ALL stores have been experiencing stock shortages since August. I bought mine back then for $250 (at allstarshop.com), could probably have sold it at a profit since then, lol. I just noticed the price went back up to $270 on Amazon... Frankly, if you find it anywhere for $250 I'd just jump on it. Otherwise go w/an Indillix drive from OCZ or whomever. It's still $263 at NCIXUS. Allstarshop has it for $255 and they've got pretty good service. S&H ain't free tho (and they're based out of CA).
Click to expand...

This is probably going to be my next purchase. And I'm going to get the 160GB for the price of an 80GB. :)
 
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I've seen several bulk/supply sellers that offer the retail 80 GB for around $240 with free shipping, and the OEM version for about $5 less than that. Granted, they're all out of stock right now, but just have to keep checking on them.
 
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Managed to snag a retail X25-M for 248 after shipping :)

Still not as low as I would have liked, but hey, they had it in stock, and I don't know if waiting will do me any good for the short amount of time I have left. So I figured it was worth it.

Can't wait to start playing with it next week.
 
80GB 25X-m. Last summer I paid $185 for mine shipped on eBay. I had a chance to pickup an agility 120 GB for $225 that same week.
 
PC_User said:
No trick. I'm fortunate enough to be able to get the 160GB for about that price. Otherwise I'd have to think about it. Honestly wouldn't want to otherwise spend $250+ for an 80GB SSD or $450 for 160GB.
Click to expand...

Wanna get me one for that price??? :D
 
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