• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Need ssd asap ordering today.

B

bbbrad

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 30, 2009
Messages
96
Could someone be kind enough to help me find a good deal on a Sata 3 SSD between 120-160 gb. I news to order fast to get before Christmas!

Is a OCZ solid 3 120gb for 139$ a good price?

Help me find the deals :D

Thanks
 
I know they are good drives but I don't have an endless supply of money :eek:
 
The thing is the OCZ drives have had their share of firmware bugs. They think they fixed them all now but I still would not purchase any single product from their company at this moment. Too many bugs / quality issues in recent history.
 
In my experience, SF drives have been mostly fixed. The Solid 3 is a decent value at $139, but a synchronous NAND-equipped drive will be significantly faster. But right now, I don't see many other drives down in that price range. So I'd say do it.

I had constant and repeatable SF2281 problems. The latest FWs really did fix them, and I've not had a problem since. Some will always say that SF drives will have issues, but I was reassured by my experiences and have since purchased a couple more SF drives.
 
Actually, that 160GB Intel is a good idea. The Solid 3 isn't that much faster over all, and the Intel has a 5 year warranty. If you look at uncompressible/random data, the G3 Intel is actually as fast/faster. It's certainly the safer bet.
 
Hum that solid 3 120gb sold out on NCIX wonder if amazon will price match? .. think I should go for the Kingston hyperx 120 deal on NCIX Christmas sale for 169?
 
I'd personally still go ocz (agility 3+) or the new sandforce over the intel considering the pathetic writes on intel. As long as it's sure the issues have been resolved.
 
It looks like there aren't any sandforce deals for $1/GB atm. There have been quite a few deals in the past month.
 
i wouldnt touch an ocz drive with a 10 foot pole, i hear so many complaints and not just about the sandforce firmware bug. that intel 310 deal is really good deal and for your average user you probably wont be able to tell the difference between it and a sata III drive. that said id get the crucial m4, nothing quite like peace of mind.
 
Just my luck. No real deals when I want one :p

Idk 170$ just feels like a lot for 120gb.

Think that will be enough for os/gaming/browsing/word processing? I'm trying do away with my hdd.
 
If doesn't take many games @10GB+ to fill up... I have windows, office, a few games and my 120GB is just about full. It's sufficient for me but I have all my other stuff on a separate drive(s). If you don't install too many games at once or store large videos etc. you'll be fine.
 
bbbrad said:
Just my luck. No real deals when I want one :p

Idk 170$ just feels like a lot for 120gb.

Think that will be enough for os/gaming/browsing/word processing? I'm trying do away with my hdd.
Click to expand...

I have a 500 gig spinning drive in my laptop for os, games, word processing, and I have over 200 gigs. The other drive holds music, movies, etc.

I'd say 120 would be enough for OS, Office, and a game or two. Anything more than that and you'll be close to capacity.
 
That $164 G3 Intel 160GB is with MIR; its $254 without it.

The best value for 120GB drives where speed is concerned is the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120, Corsair Performance Pro, and the Plextor M2S, and the Samsung 830 120GB.
Where lower price/GB is more important, the Corsair Force 3, OCZ Solid 3, and whatever SATA II drives are on sale are the best way to go.
 
Last edited:
BigJayDogg3 said:
I have a 500 gig spinning drive in my laptop for os, games, word processing, and I have over 200 gigs. The other drive holds music, movies, etc.

I'd say 120 would be enough for OS, Office, and a game or two. Anything more than that and you'll be close to capacity.
Click to expand...

I have borderlands, BFBC2, BF3, civ 5, office 10, Windows 7. But it's about full as mentioned. That's without any pictures/videos/files on the ssd.
 
IMHO people who buy Sandforce drives are nuts. Data issues are a nightmare and why worry about it with a premium component like a SSD. Intel, Crucial M4, Crucial C300, and the original Indilinx Vertex all have a better reputation for reliability.
 
wand3r3r said:
I have borderlands, BFBC2, BF3, civ 5, office 10, Windows 7. But it's about full as mentioned. That's without any pictures/videos/files on the ssd.
Click to expand...

That doesn't sound too bad you had me scared for a sec. I should only have win7, office 10, sc2, Diablo 3, and prolly 1 mmo and maybe an fps.

I wish there was a 160gb Sata 3. The Intel may have a 5 year warentee but I've read some bad reviews.
 
bbbrad said:
That doesn't sound too bad you had me scared for a sec. I should only have win7, office 10, sc2, Diablo 3, and prolly 1 mmo and maybe an fps.

I wish there was a 160gb Sata 3. The Intel may have a 5 year warentee but I've read some bad reviews.
Click to expand...

Nah, there were some RARE problems with a firmware bug, but it was fixed. The Intel X25s and 320s are about as safe a bet as there is.

With regards to SandForce, the problems weren't user data disappearing, but rather stability problems. In my experience (which were pretty severe BTW) the newest SF firmware has fixed just about every problem. I have no problem with mine any more, and I felt confident enough to purchase a few more. Whether compression is really all that beneficial for a consumer workload is up for debate, but now there are faster drives based on the Marvel controller and Toshiba Toggle NAND.

I recommend that if you don't have an SSD to get one, but if you want to go with something like the Force 3 or Solid 3 for the price I don't have a problem with that. If you can get a synchronous model for not much more money, you're getting a better drive and a faster one as well.

The asynchronous SF2281s aren't all that much faster than a SF1200 SATA II drive (it depends on the capacity; an Agility 3 is pretty damn fast overall at 240GB).

At Newegg, the Vertex 3 120 is actually cheaper right now than the Agility 3 and Solid 3 ($189 - $10 promo - $20 = $159). It's certainly worth the $20 over the Solid 3.

//
I've got a Samsung 830, and it's fast, but I'm actually having some kind of FW problem with it at the moment. No SE, low-level format, or anything similar will restore performance from a highly degradated state. I think it's a very rare problem, but the 830's not bullet proof either. I'm still way more confident in SSDs than HDDs, but that doesn't mean you won't ever experience a problem. But that's why you get a warranty.
 
I have seen the 240GB Agility3/Force3 models for around $250, but I don't see them at the moment. The 80/90GB and 180GB SF2281 models are kinda in a shitty position in terms of price, but the post-Thanksgiving sales are over on the 120/240s.
 
Ugh sigh doesn't look like I'm going to be able to finish my build before Christmas :( I guess I can hope for a good deal to come up tonight or tomorrow.
 
Stay the f@ck away from the Vertex Plus.

Original Indilinx is fine, Vertex Plus is not. And they're not even priced all that well for what they are. I picked up a 128GB Vertex Turbo for $130, a Vertex LE100 (28% OP, 128GB NAND on board) for $109, and a variety of 60GB drives for much, much less. There are some good deals out there without resorting to the Vertex Plus. Toms Hardware used one in their $1200 SBM build which irritated me to no end.
 
I think OCZ had trouble adapting the lower-cost NAND and arrowana FW into the Vertex Plus. The best case scenario is that the drive works, but is just slow. The worst case scenario is, well, worse.

The 120GB Vertex Plus is like a 60GB Vertex or Agility with slightly better random performance. I like buying older drives cheap when possible, but the Vertex Plus is a dumpster fire. It's the worst of both worlds.
 
Nearby just released a sale on all Kingston ssds. I know hyperx's are good drives and the v200s run slow. I have 2 options run two 120gb drives side by side or one 240.

120s = 121$ after rebate
240 = 305$ after rebate
 
Last edited:
What is the normal way to utilize 2 drives? Just install OS and Office on one drive and use other for games and storage?

Should I do the caching thing I have been reading about. Which I'm still unclear of?:confused:
 
Went with the 2 120gb hyperx's will prolly use one for OS/ office10 / and important stuff. And the other for games/music music :D

Thanks for all the feedback
 
bbbrad said:
What is the normal way to utilize 2 drives? Just install OS and Office on one drive and use other for games and storage?

Should I do the caching thing I have been reading about. Which I'm still unclear of?:confused:
Click to expand...

Just install anything you want to be fast on C:/ (the ssd, 1 partition)
I have many different partitions on several drives so I just store stuff in e.g. D:/ or E:/ etc.

Also I moved all of my personal documents to D:/ so when I reinstall or if the OS gets in a bind, I can just format C:/ and copy my backup back to C:/, which I took immediately after installing a fresh copy of windows. Then you have a really quick back to clean slate if you get a virus.

e.g. Username/My Documents, */Downloads, etc. are all on D:/ or E:/ but you get there by going to user/documents like normal. This is just personal preference as I don't like to lose any temporary stuff I have stored in my documents if I reinstall.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...p/thread/91aa8b26-2b09-4e56-955c-679b297832e1
 
bbbrad said:
Went with the 2 120gb hyperx's will prolly use one for OS/ office10 / and important stuff. And the other for games/music music :D

Thanks for all the feedback
Click to expand...

You bought 2 ssd's? Are you going to use raid?

Did you get in on this?
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1660725

I would definitely raid 0 them for extreme speed (if 1 fails you lose all data) and get a normal HDD for storage, or back it up on an external drive.

http://www.futurelooks.com/a-quick-look-at-the-kingston-hyperx-120gb-sata3-sf-2281-ssd-in-raid-0/
 
Yes I.did get two at that deal price :). But I'm just going to sell my Hdd and after I format it and just use the ssds not in a raid. In a SG05 there isn't the much space ;) So I probably just single partition them both.
 
You need to raid them and post the benchmarks before you start using them. :D
 
ochadd said:
IMHO people who buy Sandforce drives are nuts. Data issues are a nightmare and why worry about it with a premium component like a SSD. Intel, Crucial M4, Crucial C300, and the original Indilinx Vertex all have a better reputation for reliability.
Click to expand...

It's hit and miss...I've been running an OCZ Vertex 2 for a year straight now...lots of read/writing/bench/reformatting, never an issue. As I said, hit and miss - I'm lucky I guess. When it works it's great LOL
 
ziggo0 said:
It's hit and miss...I've been running an OCZ Vertex 2 for a year straight now...lots of read/writing/bench/reformatting, never an issue. As I said, hit and miss - I'm lucky I guess. When it works it's great LOL
Click to expand...

I feel the same... I have four SF drives (all SF-1200) and haven't had any issues yet, so I'm kinda hoping the streak stays alive.

I'm not gutsy enough to not do regular backups though. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top