Best SSD? Which one?

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Zer0Cool

Limp Gawd
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Apr 4, 2008
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So I am building a brand new PC for my brother and I'm trying to select a great SSD for him. He would have 3TB of storage on different HDD's and the PC's main purpose is video editing.

from what I have seen so far Intel G2 or vertex2 from OCZ are these the top 2 choices right now? He will be using Win 7 64 bit.

Also I will be picking one up for my self as a method of payment for me building his PC, im also using win 7 64 bit and all my specs are in my sig.

With all the new firmwares...etc I'm in a loss, so if someone can help me select I would really appreciate it.

Thanks
 
I think you pretty much hit the nail right on the head. Almost everyone here is going to reccomend the Intel G2, and then the OCZ Vertex 2 right behind it.

Although I'm hearing some good things about one of the newer Corsair units which I can't for the life of me remember the name of now....
 
I just bought a Crucial C300. I just put this in my new laptop and from everything I've read.....and I've read a lot......it's taking all of the other SSD's and putting them to shame.
 
corge said:
I just bought a Crucial C300. I just put this in my new laptop and from everything I've read.....and I've read a lot......it's taking all of the other SSD's and putting them to shame.
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Except that it requires a SATA III/6G connection to do so. Not a lot of boards have that right now, and I'm not aware of any laptop that has built in SATA III.
 
I'm starting to look into buying a new SSD and I'm wondering why the vertex 2 and agility 2 are advertising 250+ mb write speeds?? this can't be accurate is it? then the Intel G2 that everyone is saying is the best only has an advertised write speed of 70 mb


could someone please elaborate why "Intel G2 without a doubt"


__
sent from my D.INC
 
nsx241 said:
Except that it requires a SATA III/6G connection to do so. Not a lot of boards have that right now, and I'm not aware of any laptop that has built in SATA III.
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10% faster when using SATA 6Gbps with this controller; so little difference you will never notice. It is a fast SSD with 3Gbps SATA controller though; real 6Gbps SSDs will come around Christmas this year.
 
Imaulle said:
I'm starting to look into buying a new SSD and I'm wondering why the vertex 2 and agility 2 are advertising 250+ mb write speeds?? this can't be accurate is it? then the Intel G2 that everyone is saying is the best only has an advertised write speed of 70 mb

could someone please elaborate why "Intel G2 without a doubt"
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The Intel just works. The algorithm is highly tweaked and you won't notice the 70Mb write speed. It also has a proven longevity.

If I didn't buy Intel, I'd give one of the Sandforce controllers a try, but it remains to be seen how well they hold up.
 
corge said:
I just bought a Crucial C300. I just put this in my new laptop and from everything I've read.....and I've read a lot......it's taking all of the other SSD's and putting them to shame.
Click to expand...

this is a really good alternative to the intel ssd
 
corge said:
I just bought a Crucial C300. I just put this in my new laptop and from everything I've read.....and I've read a lot......it's taking all of the other SSD's and putting them to shame.
Click to expand...

That's the Crucial one I couldn't remember, it's pretty new so not a lot of reviews on it quite yet but what I've seen puts it right up there with some of the best performers for the price.
 
Imaulle said:
could someone please elaborate why "Intel G2 without a doubt"
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Firstly reliability and longevity which is a huge concern for a drive that's probably going to be charged with running an OS and storing applications and games on.

Secondly that 70mb/s write figure doesn't mean all that much because you won't be writing to the drive nearly as often as you'll be reading from it. Read performance is much much more important and the Intel excels at it. With an SSD 99% of activity is read activity. Once you load your OS, apps, and games you're barely going to write to the drive if at all.
 
Yes, but when looking at price the Crucial offer does look a little bit less nice than Intel's pricing; Intel gets you a high quality controller with quite low pricing; making it the de facto choice at the moment. Assuming Intel holds up on their highly anticipated third generation coming end this year, this might not change for awhile.

At this moment i would still bet my money on Intel. But SandForce/Micron certainly deserve a closer look, especially if your data can be easily compressed which is how the Sandforce gains a lot of benefits.
 
Thanks for all the info guys, a nice read.

This is the MOBO that I would probably go with, "ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366"

It has 2 x SATA 6Gb/s and as far as I know only the Crucial RealSSD C300 can take the advantage of that. I had a pleasure of reading the anandtech review about that drive, and it seems to provide very nice speeds especially with the 6.0gb interface but, to truly feel the difference you would need the 256GB version of the SSD which is over my budged because I was planning on getting x2 about 100gb or 120GB versions.

This is anandtech final words on the review "If you’re running Windows 7, have a 6Gbps controller and want a 256GB drive, go Crucial. If you’re running any other OS, are using RAID or can only afford a 128GB drive, go SandForce."

To be honest for some reason im leaning towards the C300 128GB version, but OCZ Vertex 2 120GB is my second choice. C300 or Vertex 2?

Thanks.
 
Honestly, the original Vertex is by far the best bang for the buck at the moment. You will NOT notice a difference from the Intel G2 or Crucial RealSSD C300 - I have all three and I use 2 250GB Vertex's in my everyday machines.

You can get a 250gb vertex on ebay for the price of a new 120gb crucial or a 160gb intel.
 
Not sure why all the Intel recommendations myself because Sandforce is better. If not for the fact that Anand had reliability issues with the Crucial, I'd say:

Crucial > Sandforce > Intel > Indilinx

But I don't yet trust Crucial, so I'd cut that out of the list for now until they're proven reliable.

Edit to note: Intel is still awesome stuff and I would be completely happy with one even though I don't consider them the best.
 
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Speed is not the only factor, although that is certainly the easiest for a website to benchmark.

Brand reputation and reliability (so far) makes Intel tops. Considering the write algorithm is the *only* factor which constitutes endurance of an SSD, I'd put my money towards Intel.
 
OCZ has excellent support. I had some BSOD problems relating to my OCZ Agility 120 and I was able to get one on one help from an OCZ technician through email.
 
im looking to buy the intel x25-m g2 80gb....would u guys wait for the 25 nM or just settle with the 80gb now?
 
akwizeguy said:
im looking to buy the intel x25-m g2 80gb....would u guys wait for the 25 nM or just settle with the 80gb now?
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I'd get the 34nm while you can. The law of physics dictates it should be more reliable.
 
In terms of ranking (posted from anandtech forums):

Next Gen Controllers (due Q4 this year):
Intel G3
Indilinx 2

current gen controllers:
C300
Sandforce

Last Gen controllers:
Indilinx
Intel G2

-2 Gens old controllers:
Intel G1

Currently, crucial and the better sandforce controllers outperform intel in all aspects (sequential r/w, random r/w), except possibly under very high queue length situations (uncommon in desktop scenarios). Reliability however is more questionable, with both crucial and Sandforce having suffered substantial problems in the past. (Intel too, which speaks volumes about the state of the technology right now). Overall, any of these three drives would be suitable for your needs.
 
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