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.
Which would you recommend and why? As far as I can see, pro for the Intel is backing of a big company which should mean a higher quality products and the con is it is more expensive. Is there anything else to this decision?
Depends on which capacity we're talking about. But if you really want SandForce, I like the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe, and the 240GB is only $280 right now. The 180GB 520 is almost $400. The Vertex 3 is okay I guess, but there are better options.