Need Help Choosing Intel SSD

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Badgercat

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 24, 2005
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124
Hi,

I am about to get my first SSD. I have more or less decided to go with Intel, unless anyone can reasonably talk me out of it. From all the reading I have done, they seem to be the most reliable and dependable overall.

I live in Canada, and I am trying to decide between the following three drives on Newegg.ca (or my local store if they have one). I am not really 100 percent sure which one to go with and why. They all seem very similar to me. Need to decide which one and why.

If you can make a justified claim as to why I should get another brand/model please tell, but I would like to try and avoid this thread becoming a war of SSD manufacturers.

Also is it worth waiting for SATA III drives? I don't want to pay over $200 right now.

Here are the choices. I'm not sure if the first two are the same or not:

Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH080G2K5 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Intel X25-M SSDSA2MJ080G201 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM

Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW080G310 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM
 
First two are indeed identical, just the more expensive one is the OEM one that comes without a box (no idea why that makes it cost 10 bucks more...). There haven't really been any reviews on the 80gb 320 series but intel's speed claims have been shown to be fairly accurate if not slightly conservative by benchmarks so no reason to really doubt those numbers. So lets ignore #2 since it's the same as #1

Reasons to get #1:
Proven drive, performance is well known at this point and reliability is higher than most other SSDs
$10 cheaper

Reasons to get #2
While not proven by time yet intel has added several features to improve reliability such as better ECC and capacitor bank to ensure data writes in the event of a power loss
Appears to have about 10% better read/write performance (and IOPS)
AES-128 disk encryption if you're so inclined

With intels track record for silicon quality over the last 20 or so years personally I wouldn't be too concerned about these drives not being proven yet and would go with the 320 for the caps and extra ECC
 
I'd go with the 320.

You may want to shop around from more stores, because the prices for Intel SSDs, especially on newegg, are often erratic. The wholesale price for 1000 units of the 80GB Intel 320 is $159 USD, so I'd try to find it for $180 USD or less retail.
 
They're the same, no clue why the price difference or why the OEM one would be more expensive, supposed to be the other way around
 
So they change the model # for OEM do they? I was wondering why one is a G310 and one is a G3K5. I might as well just go ahead with the G3K5 since it is retail and cheaper. Also the cheapest I can get that same drive where I live is 189.99, so it is worth the shipping to get it at 169.99 for sure
 
The last 2 digits in the model number is a shipping code, K5 indicates retail (5 pack), 10 is some sort of oem code
 
OK, well thanks for all your help guys, I think I should go with the 320 SATAII

My final question, and I hate to even ask, is what about SATA III. Is it even worth looking into at this point, and I going to regret going with SATA II in a year? Because that is kinda what happened with my current HDD and I should have just waited.
 
I would only spend my money on Gen. 3 SATA III SSDs at this point in time but thats mr personally. They cost a lot more.
 
I was just doing a lot of reading on the Intel 320 vs the 510. The 320 is still really competitive in Random read times, which is pretty practical. The 510 has a far superior sequential read, but from what I can tell people feel like intel is going to drop a 520 with the new 25 Nand technology that the 320's have. Given that the 510 seems a bit rushed, the 320 can compete with even the 6 GB/s drives in random read, and the looming higher cost of a possible 520 drive...I would say the 320 is probably the best bang for your buck at the moment as far as Intel goes.

I will probably hold onto the 320 until I upgrade my mobo and cpu, which I will do when the next big shift in cpu technology comes. At that point in time I will get whatever SSD is on the market, which I am sure will have surpassed even SATA III capabilities.

Thanks for all the help fellas
 
Sorry I got one final question. I waited, like a tool. The drive went back up in price. Now I have to decide on the 80GB or the 120GB:


Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW080G310 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM

or

Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G310 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM

According to this article, the 120GB drive not only has more space, but increased random and sequential write performance. However, the random and sequential reads are exactly the same.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4244/intel-ssd-320-review

Space wise I can probably make due with 80GB. It is ONLY for windows and installed programs. Question is, do I want to pay the extra for the 120GB and get the improved write performance. Being a windows drive, should I throw a lot of weight behind write, when it mostly does reading?
 
Spin point F4 for the time being. I say hold off 1 more year for SSD. I have one at work its not all that great. Especially after 5 months :) While the Spin point, will still be fast an reliable until the SSDs get better and cheaper. (and bigger... even at 128gb... sucks)

Gen2 intel, T3500, Win7, RHEL dual boot.
 
$250 shipped is way too much for the 120GB Intel 320. At that point, you're better off with an SF-1200 drive unless you plan to store lots of incompressible data (videos/music).

The problem with 80GB SSDs is the ever-growing winSxS folder. With every update/installed driver, it gets substantially bigger. Then there's system restore and the hibernate file. I would need at least 120GB to feel comfortable. I've still got an 80GB G2 in my tablet, and while it's adequate, it definitely feels cramped.

Being a windows drive, should I throw a lot of weight behind write, when it mostly does reading?
Click to expand...
On your OS drive, the most common file operation will be 8k write as long as you have 4GB+ RAM.
 
thefreeaccount said:
$250 shipped is way too much for the 120GB Intel 320. At that point, you're better off with an SF-1200 drive unless you plan to store lots of incompressible data (videos/music).

The problem with 80GB SSDs is the ever-growing winSxS folder. With every update/installed driver, it gets substantially bigger. Then there's system restore and the hibernate file. I would need at least 120GB to feel comfortable. I've still got an 80GB G2 in my tablet, and while it's adequate, it definitely feels cramped..
Click to expand...

Yea but all off that stuff can and should be taken care of right after the OS build.
 
I got the 320 SSD this morning. Works great, and it is fast as hell, I couldn't imagine how a SATA III can be faster. Happy I got the 320.

After Windows 7 pro install, all my programs, and a 5GB game, I still have about 30GB of the avail 74.5 Left.

Boot times and shutdown times put even my previous velociraptor to shame. Things just open instantly, and there is no wait time for anything I have encountered yet.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions,

Cheers
 
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