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Recommendation on SSD

A

Aleks

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 30, 2005
Messages
217
I'm getting ready to upgrade my computer this holiday, but I kind of want to start early. Long story short I've been having some drive problems and have to RMA 2 of my storage drives, so I figure this is a sign to overhaul.

Currently I run like this 1x 640gb WD drive for OS/games/misc
1x 1.5TB storage.

The main OS drive is totally disorganized/etc and is in a real need of a reformat since it's been a solid 2 years since I've done so, and I figure why not upgrade to ssd.

I've wanted to switch to SSD and am debating doing it a bit early. What I'm looking for is something with 120gb, since all I would want on there would be operating system, some steam games, BF3 and Adobe programs. I plan on adding some more optical storage later in addition to my other drives.

I had a few questions though, since I'll be upgrading my cpu/mobo/ram later, I'd like to get something future proof, as my mobo only has SATA II, and many drives I see are SATA III. Can I get a SATA III now and just use it on my current mobo with reduced speeds, or will it only work with a newer motherboard. I will be doing a fresh install, I don't really transfer files, I mainly work in Photoshop Illustrator and After Effects, and aside from that this is my gaming PC. Is SATA II vs. III a huge real world difference? Or will I not really care?

I'd like to hover around the 200 dollar mark since I've seen some 120gb ones that were in the $175 range after rebate on newegg and the like.

Thanks guys!
 
You probably won't notice much of a difference from SATA 3 to 2 in casual use, but like you said, it's not a bad idea to future proof. SATA 3 drives are backwards compatible with SATA 2 controllers and since the prices aren't much different, might as well go SATA 3 if you can.

If you want a balance of speed and reliability, stick with a modern Intel drive (sans 320 series), the Crucial m4 (get the firmware update for MOAR speed), or the Samsung 470 series.

If you want a bias towards speed and are feeling bold, you can grab any of the myriad of SandForce based drives out there. One thing to consider is synchronous vs. asynchronous NAND. Synchronous NAND drives will be faster, but asynchronous will be cheaper. IMO, if you're going to put out the money, you might as well do it right and get a synchronous NAND drive, but that's JMO. Generally SF-2200 controllers are SATA 3 and SF-1200 controllers are SATA 2. There are A LOT of SF vendors out there.

I have four SF-1200-based drives myself from four different vendors: OCZ Vertex 2, MicroCenter G2 (a rebadged ADATA S599), Zalman N Series and a Patriot Inferno.

If you're concerned about reliability, set up regular filesystem backups to your storage HDD. I think you can automate this in Windows.

Keep checking for rebates... or if you love the thrill of risk you can roll like I do, and find a new/opened or used SSD on eBay for about $1 / GB or a bit more.
 
I'm debating buying a crucial m225 256gb one on craigslist, for around 240. I can get a faster one later when they settle a bit more in price and take this one and drop it into my macbook pro.

Does anyone know about these crucial drives? If I can get it for 200 I think thatd be a pretty damn good deal, even if its not the fastest thing out there right now.
 
I have two Crucial M4s (120GB and 256GB), and I'm pretty happy so far. They simply worked right out of the box, and they're fast.
 
So looks like Sunday I'll be picking up an intel 320 series 160gb SSD, I'll end up getting it for 160 bucks, so I figure $1/gb is a decent price. Same idea that later on I may get another one and stick this one in another computer.
 
I think I mentioned it in another thread but the Intel 320s had a major bug that bricked the drive. It seems to be unclear whether that bug has actually been fixed with Intel's firmware patch, as even post-patch people are reporting problems. You'll probably be okay, but I just bring it up in case you'd be interested in knowing that kind of thing before making a purchase.
 
jwcalla said:
It seems to be unclear whether that bug has actually been fixed with Intel's firmware patch, as even post-patch people are reporting problems. You'll probably be okay, but I just bring it up in case you'd be interested in knowing that kind of thing before making a purchase.
Click to expand...

Where did you read that? Intel still has the lowest return rates anyway, despite the extremely rare bug that some people had before the firmware update.

Their reliability still seems to be unmatched. http://www.hardware.fr/articles/843-7/ssd.html
 
Any thoughts on the new Samsung SSDs? I'm looking at the 830 series, 256GB SSD.
 
So ended up getting the intel drive, it was almost brand new with only 160 power on hours. I ran a slew of benchmarks to check health and it came out clean. Fresh install of windows 7, and definitely digging the pro's of the drive. Nothing really to complain about except the small size, but a few years from now, I'll look back at it and be amazed i paid that much for that little :)

I ended up ordering a bunch of stuff including 4 new fans to keep things cooler in the HD bay so hopefully it'll squeeze out the life of the drives a bit longer.

Also on a side note, I tracked down when i built this Q6600 rig, and it was almost 4 years ago. Didn't realize how well things stood over the years.
 
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