OCZ Vertex Plus 60gb?

[limitedaccess]

So this thing is on sale for $74 -> $64 after rebate, any thoughts on it?

For comparison, prices available to me -

Kingston SSDnow V100 64gb - $80
OCZ Vertex 2 Extended 60gb - $90 -> $80 AR
OCZ Agility 3 60gb - $110 -> $90 AR
Crucial M4 64gb - $116
Crucial C300 64gb - $122

Looking for a starter/entry level SSD to use with Win 7. Mainly thinking about fitting some 2d/3d graphics programs and 1-3 commonly played games on it.

On another note it seems to be really hard to get information on the smaller SSDs, since only the 120gb+ versions are talked about and reviewed. This is kind of problematic since from what I understand the half size versions perform differently.

 

[TheBlueChanell]

Old Barefoot + New Firmware. I hope my old Agility is compatible when it hits for end users.

Not a bad price at all for the drive.

 

[gjs278]

the half sizes generally have half the write performance. the read is pretty much the same.

 

[af22]

IMO, it's not worth it. You can find the Crucial C300/M4, or the Kingston V100+ often on sale for only +20-30 more, and you will get more then double the performance and IOPS. Unless you are using this on a laptop that is limited to SATA150 then the old vertex would be enough to saturate the controller.

The barefoot is around 2-3 generations old now.

 

[EarthwormJim]

IMO, it's not worth it. You can find the Crucial C300/M4, or the Kingston V100+ often on sale for only +20-30 more, and you will get more then double the performance and IOPS. Unless you are using this on a laptop that is limited to SATA150 then the old vertex would be enough to saturate the controller.

The barefoot is around 2-3 generations old now.

The new firmware significantly increases IOPS (up to 10k for random write in the bigger drives), that's almost ten times more than the original barefoot drives. Random write performance is 5 times that of older barefoot drives. It's a good drive, and at almost $1/gb, I'd consider buying it.

I'm pretty sure even the old Indilinx drives without the new firmware are about the same speed as the V100+. With the new firmware, it's significantly faster than the Kingston drive, and competitive with modern SSDs.


However, out of the drives on your list I'd go with the Vertex 2. The write amplification on barefoot drives is still pretty bad compared to other controller designs.

 

[limitedaccess]

I think I'm going to end up dragging my heels on this until something that really wows me in terms of a deal comes along. At the same time, really want a SSD to try out and play around with soon haha...

Regarding the performance difference due to drive sizes, why is it the write speed is the most affected (I've noticed this as well)? I've heard something about the smaller drives having less channels, but if this is true, shouldn't this affect read speeds as well?

 

[EarthwormJim]

I think I'm going to end up dragging my heels on this until something that really wows me in terms of a deal comes along. At the same time, really want a SSD to try out and play around with soon haha...

Regarding the performance difference due to drive sizes, why is it the write speed is the most affected (I've noticed this as well)? I've heard something about the smaller drives having less channels, but if this is true, shouldn't this affect read speeds as well?

No. Read speeds are faster for NAND than write speeds. So potentially, one IC can saturate one channel when reading.