Looking at SSDs, Need Advice

Noxxville7

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Jun 6, 2011
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I might be picking up my first SSD in a week or two (have never even seen one used in person before) and I'm hoping for some advice. My budget is pretty low unfortunately (around $100) so I'm kind of limited.

Right now I'm looking at

OCZ Vertex 3 60GB

or

Corsair Force Series 3 90GB

I know that the Vertex uses a better NAND type (Synchronous vs Asynchronous) but I'm a little worried that 60GB won't give me space for anything else on the drive after I throw on Windows 7 64-bit. I don't necessarily need to store a bunch of things (or why would I even bother with looking at a 60GB drive), but would like to make sure I can at least fit whatever game I play most at the time (I tend to only play one at a time before switching to another, currently is SW:ToR).

Should I go for the larger drive to make sure I have space? Or is 60GB actually fine after cleaning up all the useless stuff like reducing page file size, hiberfil.sys, etc. that I'd be better off with the faster 60GB?

Also feel free to mention other drives if they're around $100 (120 probably max, not including shipping to Ontario)

Thanks
 
I think 60GB is too small, and I wouldn't get an OCZ in any case (their customer service has been terrible). Of those two, I'd get the Corsair.
 
I think 60GB is too small, and I wouldn't get an OCZ in any case (their customer service has been terrible). Of those two, I'd get the Corsair.

I agree.

I almost pulled the trigger on a 60 gig SSD. Then I decided I'd wait a while more before getting a graphics card, so I bought a 128. I'm glad I did.

After Windows, Office, and a few other utilities, I had ~70 gigs remaining. That's not a small number, but I personally would like more breathing room than 10 gigs.

I vote you save a few more pennies, and pick up a 120. Windows on a 60 gig is completely doable, and if you want to go that way, buy a 60 gig.

The general consensus around here is to avoid OCZ. I'm not going to buck the trend.
 
I just myself a Intel 320 128 Gig. Love the thing. It may not be the fastest SSD but its very reliable.
 
I agree.

I almost pulled the trigger on a 60 gig SSD. Then I decided I'd wait a while more before getting a graphics card, so I bought a 128. I'm glad I did.

After Windows, Office, and a few other utilities, I had ~70 gigs remaining. That's not a small number, but I personally would like more breathing room than 10 gigs.

I vote you save a few more pennies, and pick up a 120. Windows on a 60 gig is completely doable, and if you want to go that way, buy a 60 gig.

The general consensus around here is to avoid OCZ. I'm not going to buck the trend.

Didn't know OCZ was so disliked, but I can't say I've ever really looked into any of their products until now. Good to know before I bought it.

It's looking like the only 120GB that's anywhere near my price range right now is this ADATA S510

ADATA is another company I've never looked at before. Any thoughts, anyone?
 
Fresh install of Win 7 and all updates along with needed drivers etc. took a ~70GB footprint. Placing all programs and such on an additional separate SSD.

Used Corsair Force GT drives.
 
recently got a Crucial M4 60GB. it's pretty good, my WEI HD went from 5.3 (WD Raptor) to 7.6 w/ the M4.

Forceman is right, though. 60GB is small, but you can do a fresh install of Windows7 @ around 15GB (Delete hiberfil, trim winsxs, and manually manage the pagefile) and just use a secondary HD as Data and you should be fine.
 
I've been runnig off of a 64GB Crucial M4 with Windows 7 no prob. At first I was concerned that after having installed Windows, full Office Pro, drivers, photoshop, firefox, and some other core programs I only had 11 GB left. However, quite honestly unless a few seconds load time difference in huge games (think BF3 or Skyrim) really matters to you, there's honestly not much else you really need on the SSD. I was very tempted to get another 128GB SSD, but so far haven't been able to justify it.
 
Didn't know OCZ was so disliked, but I can't say I've ever really looked into any of their products until now. Good to know before I bought it.

It's looking like the only 120GB that's anywhere near my price range right now is this ADATA S510

ADATA is another company I've never looked at before. Any thoughts, anyone?

While ADATA themselves aren't a terrible company, that SSD is based on the SandForce SF-2281 controller (much like the Corsair drive you posted) and there is a known BSOD issue with Windows concerning drives that use that controller. If it were me, I'd avoid it. YMMV

I believe the OCZ uses a SF-2000 controller.

If it were me, I'd stick to either an Intel 320, Intel 510 or Crucial M4 series SSDs.
 
While ADATA themselves aren't a terrible company, that SSD is based on the SandForce SF-2281 controller (much like the Corsair drive you posted) and there is a known BSOD issue with Windows concerning drives that use that controller. If it were me, I'd avoid it. YMMV

I believe the OCZ uses a SF-2000 controller.

If it were me, I'd stick to either an Intel 320, Intel 510 or Crucial M4 series SSDs.

But don't the M4 SSDs go crazy after a certain number of hours?
 
But don't the M4 SSDs go crazy after a certain number of hours?

I have never seen/read any such thing. As far as I know, the M4s, 510s and 320s are the most reliable SSDs on the market right now.

Where did you read/hear those claims?
 
People all over the net are talking about it:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1663823

It's a major problem that will require all existing M4s to be re-flashed eventually apparently.

Very interesting, haven't been keeping up as much as I should I see. :eek:

Still 5000+ hours is a very long time, they also claim they have a fix for it with a FW update that'll be released in ~6 days. Guess we shall see what happens then.
 
I have been playing with SSD's for several years now, and here is what I know.

60 Gig is doable for a Standard Windows install. You just have to watch what else you install on the drive. I personally am lazy, so go with the bigger drive IMHO.

The only SSD I have had go bad was a 240 gig Vertex 2. I RMA'd it, but didn't trust it in my main rig at home anymore, so it lives in my old work laptop now from which I am making this post and is working fine since being replaced. The RMA went ok, nothing spectacular. Took a couple of weeks start to finish. They did REQUIRE proof of purchase for warranty coverage, so don't lose the receipt.

My main rig at home got changed over to 3 old 80 gig X18M dirves running in RAID 5. Plenty of room there, specially since I have a 3 TB NAS where all my data lives.

I am currently watching for a good deal on a 160 gig or larger drive to replace a 60 gig SSD on my wifes computer. If you are planning on keeping the drive for a while, spring for larger.

Don
 
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