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    Best SSD for m17x r3.

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Brabostaan, Jun 2, 2011.

  1. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    I know there is a SSD forum but I want to hear from m17x r3 users if they had any problems with a particular drive.

    Searched alot and narrowed it down to these 4 drives:
    -Corsair CSSD-F120GB3-BK read/write 550/510. Price: 198 euro.
    -OCZ AGT3-25SAT3-120G read/write 525/500. Price: 188 euro.
    -OCZ VTX3-25SAT3-120G read/write 550/500. Price: 230 euro.
    -OCZ VTX3MI-25SAT3-120G read/write 550/500. Price 265 euro.

    Any suggestions? The Corsair looks like a good choice to me looking at price and speed, but the 4th one is slower looking at the speed but cost more, I really have no idea why that is.

    What does MLC and ECC mean and do they all have it? They al got Trim, not sure about MLC/ECC.

    Thanks in advance. :)
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 2, 2011
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  2. Disgustipated

    Disgustipated Notebook Consultant

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    MLC is the memory cell type.

    Go with the Corsair. The OCZ drives have firmware problems that cause issues on Port 0 with the M17x R3 when using Intel RST drivers, which means you won't get 100% of your potential performance. Plus, looks like the Corsair is much cheaper.
     
    Disgustipated, Jun 2, 2011
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  3. hawk1410

    hawk1410 Bird of Prey

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    Almost all of OCZs drives have issues with the m17x R3 . Also all of these are Sandforce based drives and i would recommend against them. I would recommend one of these SSDs instead, much much more reliable-
    1. Intel 320 Series
    2. Crucial C300
    3. Crucial M4
    4. Intel 510 series
     
    hawk1410, Jun 2, 2011
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  4. LVNeptune

    LVNeptune Notebook Virtuoso

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    I won't disagree with the above post except for "Almost all of OCZs drives have issues with the m17x R3" this is not accurate at all. I am running Vertex 3's in my machines as well as plenty of other people are as well.

    DO NOT TOUCH CORSAIR. They are JUNK. Every single desktop SSD they've sold has had some crazy defect they won't resolve.

    Vertex 3 is the fastest SSD currently, if you only need ONE and don't plan on raid-0 go for it. I have it in port 1 and it works flawlessly.
     
    LVNeptune, Jun 2, 2011
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  5. zergslayer69

    zergslayer69 Liquid Hz

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    I'm currently using the vertex 3 max iops but I'll be returning that. Just got my intel 510 250gb today and will be trying that out. The vertex 3 is pretty good minus some random quirks I have. Ultimately, after timing how fast windows loads on my vertex 3 vs my old gskill faclon 128gb, it's about the same in terms of real world performance.

    With that said, since the difference is negligible, I just decided to get something that is more on the reliable side, which most tend to agree goes to the intel ssds. Too bad I can't find any firmware updates for it.
     
    zergslayer69, Jun 2, 2011
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  6. shermantank92

    shermantank92 Notebook Geek

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    I got a crucial m4 and its been exceptional. No complaints at all.
     
    shermantank92, Jun 2, 2011
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  7. hawk1410

    hawk1410 Bird of Prey

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    I dont know about vertex 3s but i think vertex 2 and agility 2s did not work without some tweaking. I dont know if you got your vertex 3 to work without tweaking. Having said that i will say that yes, the vertex 3 is the fastest SSD but Sandforce based SSDs(like the Vertex 3) are also extremely unreliable. I would recommend you go for something reliable(like the ones mentioned in my previous post). The speed difference will only be noticed in benchmarks, not in real world performance. The M4 and Intel 510 are much better ssds.
     
    hawk1410, Jun 2, 2011
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  8. shermantank92

    shermantank92 Notebook Geek

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    The m4 is really solid. I've had it for around 2 weeks now and everything seems really snappy. Power to login screen is under 20 seconds :)
     
    shermantank92, Jun 2, 2011
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  9. hawk1410

    hawk1410 Bird of Prey

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    Right, currently the M4 is the best SSD out there. The Intel 510 is the 2nd best.
     
    hawk1410, Jun 2, 2011
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  10. godaiyuhsaku

    godaiyuhsaku Notebook Enthusiast

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    Why did you put the c300 over the m4? Price?

    Also I just got my m4 though i haven't gotten my 17 r3 yet :(
     
    godaiyuhsaku, Jun 2, 2011
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  11. hawk1410

    hawk1410 Bird of Prey

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    Yes price. I did that list according to cheapest first.
     
    hawk1410, Jun 2, 2011
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  12. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    How about this one: ADATA AS511S3-120GM-C read/write 550/520. Price 240 euro.
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 2, 2011
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  13. hawk1410

    hawk1410 Bird of Prey

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    Another Sandforce based SSd, same as the previous ones. Where are you buying from?? Are the ones i recommended not available there??
     
    hawk1410, Jun 2, 2011
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  14. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    Brabostaan, Jun 2, 2011
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  15. hawk1410

    hawk1410 Bird of Prey

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    There you go - ALTERNATE - HARDWARE - Solid State Drives - SATA - 2,5 inch - Crucial CT128M4SSD2
    This is one of the best SSDs you can buy, this will be confirmed by everyone over at the SSD forum. Or you could grab this one, it is a close second - ALTERNATE - HARDWARE - Solid State Drives - SATA - 2,5 inch - Intel® SSDSC2MH120A2K5
    They are some of the fastest and much more importantly, most reliable SSDs out there. Reliability is a very important factor when considering an SSD since so many SSDs have issues and are known to fail.
     
    hawk1410, Jun 2, 2011
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  16. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    The write speed looks kinda low, read is actualy pretty good. Or should I not look at the speeds because the max speed will never be accomplished under normal use? Then indeed I dont have to bother to look at sandforce based SSD's.
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 2, 2011
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  17. LVNeptune

    LVNeptune Notebook Virtuoso

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    Vertex 2's have some weird BSOD problem with Intel drivers I think...There's a sticky on that I believe. But I think that's a generic problem.
     
    LVNeptune, Jun 2, 2011
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  18. hawk1410

    hawk1410 Bird of Prey

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    Dont look at speeds, you'll not notice any real world performance difference. The thing is that the only drives with high write speeds are Sandforce based drives and they have sketchy reliability and inconsistent performance. Those 2 SSDs i mentioned are the best in the market right now.
     
    hawk1410, Jun 2, 2011
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  19. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    I'm leaning towards Intel. Added the M4 and the 510 to my SSD list, will ask the guys at the shop, Intel isnt in stock damn. :mad:

    @LVNeptune: you got some Corsair an OCZ story's to tell?

    I never had an SSD before, want to make the right choice because the 320GB 7200k stock drive sucks in speed making me dislike the whole machine. :mad:
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 2, 2011
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  20. zergslayer69

    zergslayer69 Liquid Hz

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    So just installed my intel 510 250 gig ssd and everything went perfectly in ahci mode. No freezes or bsod. Benchmark numbers aren't as high (only behind by a little) as the vertex 3 but at least I have peace of mind knowing my hd should be pretty reliable out of the box without any modding on my part.
     
    zergslayer69, Jun 2, 2011
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  21. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    Good to hear that. :)
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 2, 2011
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  22. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    Brabostaan, Jun 2, 2011
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  23. zergslayer69

    zergslayer69 Liquid Hz

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    Well numbers dont lie. If you want the highest possible benchmark numbers then def go with the vertex. If you can get past numbers and graphs and and that real life performance is about on par, then I would go intel for reliability.

    Edit: pick it up from amazon
     
    zergslayer69, Jun 2, 2011
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  24. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    Will be at the shop in about 7 hours from now, still got 3 hours of graveyard shift. Will let you guys know what I bought. :) Thanks for all your help. ;)
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 2, 2011
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  25. hawk1410

    hawk1410 Bird of Prey

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    hawk1410, Jun 2, 2011
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  26. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    I see you have the Intel 120GB yourself, any strange things to report about it?
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 2, 2011
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  27. hawk1410

    hawk1410 Bird of Prey

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    No, the only issue i ever had was when a few days i installed the SSD i also changed my ram form 1333mhz to 1600mhz. After that all my games stopped working, I had to reinstall them. I thought it must have been caused due to me changing the ram but when asked on these forums people suggested that it might be a problem with the SSD.Though i highly doubt that it was a problem with the SSD but that was the only problem i ran into after i installed my SSD.
    Also just another point, the M4 and Intel 510 are practically the same, both use the same NAND flash and the same controller.
     
    hawk1410, Jun 2, 2011
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  28. zergslayer69

    zergslayer69 Liquid Hz

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    I guess at this point it comes down to which company and brand you prefer.
     
    zergslayer69, Jun 2, 2011
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  29. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    Well I still dont know. :eek: Want the speed of the Vertex3 and the realibility of the Intel/Crucial.

    Will discus it with the guys at the shop. At home from graveyard shift, shop opens in about 1.5hours.
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 3, 2011
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  30. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    Brabostaan, Jun 3, 2011
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  31. zergslayer69

    zergslayer69 Liquid Hz

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    In the end, whatever you get is going to be fast. Each level in the duke nukem forever demo takes like 5 seconds to load for me. Maybe 3 or 4.
     
    zergslayer69, Jun 3, 2011
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  32. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    Got the Vertex 3. Only problem I'm having is that I "lost" 40GB of space. I also cant find my stock 320GB HD. Did I do something wrong installing?

    Placed SSD in slot 0 and HDD in slot 1, AHCI mode, inserted windows 7 disk, deleted all partions and installes windows 7 on the SSD. Windows boots up and I lost space and the 2nd drive.

    Doing something wrong here. Any help please. :(
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 3, 2011
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  33. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    Brabostaan, Jun 3, 2011
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  34. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    Couple of blue screens caused by the SD card reader, disabled it and no problem. Updating windows now.
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 3, 2011
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  35. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    Looking good, still updating. Got RST installed and is showing 3BG/s. Strange, thought it would be 6GB/s.
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 3, 2011
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  36. Cloudfire

    Cloudfire (Really odd person)

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    I think it got something to do with the Alienware since people here had SSDs only getting SATA 2 when they connected the SSD to the SATA 3 interface...
     
    Cloudfire, Jun 3, 2011
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  37. sdcalbchguy

    sdcalbchguy Notebook Geek

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    Brabostaan, there seems to be an issue with using an SSD in port 0. It doesn't matter what brand is used but the port doesn't seem to fully support Sata 3. I'm pretty sure everyone is using port 1 to reach sata 3.

    Hopefully, you put the latest firmware onto the Vertex 3. It did seem to clear some of the stalling I was having. I also seemed to have random points where the system would boot up and not recognize the Vertex 3 at all. These problems are not gone but have been significantly reduced.

    There are several threads that point to a problem with the Vertex 3 and RST. Uninstalling the RST seemed to help my drive stall less frequently as well.

    This is a bit late since you have already purchased your drive. I wouldn't compromise on the fastest speed and was willing to take the reliability hit. However, I'm at a point where I'm regretting not getting a 510 or m4. I still stall occassionally. My computer still boots up sometimes and doesn't see the Vertex 3. Most of the time, I can step away from the computer and the stall will have ended when I get back. Sometimes, I have to hard reboot it. The amount of frustration and time lost to this makes up for the negligible speed difference between the drives. From reading around various forums, the solution that's being suggested is to secure erase the drive to see if that helps things. However, after completing my installation of software, I'm hesitant to sink a couple of days into doing this again. OCZ's poor reputation seems to be well earned from everything I'm reading. I think both Intel and Micron have more reliable product and would be much more expedient in fixing major issues that come up. Just my 2 cents.
     
    sdcalbchguy, Jun 3, 2011
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  38. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    Placed it in port 1 now, shows 6GB/s. I can always return it, not a problem.

    Updating again.
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 3, 2011
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  39. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    I'm HAPPY. Got everything installed, Dell drivers and windows update did not give me any problems. No errors so far. Looks good. :)
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 3, 2011
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  40. zergslayer69

    zergslayer69 Liquid Hz

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    Have fun with it! Laugh at your friends while they wait for levels to load.
     
    zergslayer69, Jun 3, 2011
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  41. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    My WEI went up from 5.9 to 7.9. What else do I need to do with the SSD?? Some finetuning?

    Strange thing is my memory dropped from 7.7 to 7.6, I added 8GB today. Very strange. :confused:
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 3, 2011
    #41
  42. hawk1410

    hawk1410 Bird of Prey

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    WEI is not very accurate, for eg on my dekstop i used to get 7.5 on gaming graphics on a 3870 but now i updated to the much more powerful GTX460 and i get 7.4. Even though other benchmarks show a performance improvement. WEI is for those who do not know the difference between GPU and CPU(ie total noobs). As for what you need to with your SSD - The SSD Optimization Guide | The SSD Review
     
    hawk1410, Jun 3, 2011
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  43. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    I know WEI is for noobs but 2 whole points increase is a good gain.

    will read that topic. I already got the latest firmware for the SSD.
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 3, 2011
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  44. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    The only problem I'm having is the system sometimes freezes, you can still move the mouse cursor around but cant click on anything. After about 15 sec all is good again.

    Editing registry settings to make it work doenst really satisfy me.

    At least I tried. Cleanded the drive this morning and now its sitting here to be returned. Will be at the shop today to have a look at the M4, see that the Intel is also causing some problems. M4 is based on same controller which concerns me.

    Begining to wonder IF there is a SSD out there that works as it should in our R3's.
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 4, 2011
    #44
  45. hawk1410

    hawk1410 Bird of Prey

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    Intel 510 and the M4 perhaps. I warned you about the Vertex 3(or Sandforce based drives in general, they dont really have good reliability)
     
    hawk1410, Jun 4, 2011
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  46. zergslayer69

    zergslayer69 Liquid Hz

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    Yea the freezing is why I returned mine.
     
    zergslayer69, Jun 4, 2011
    #46
  47. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    Topics about the 510 and M4 arent as promising as I hoped regarding issues to get it to work.

    I will exchange the Vertex 3 for a M4 today and play with it all weekend.
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 4, 2011
    #47
  48. zergslayer69

    zergslayer69 Liquid Hz

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    I don't know much about the m4 but if it's identical to the 510 it should work out of the box without modding or drivers that need to be installed to function properly.
     
    zergslayer69, Jun 4, 2011
    #48
  49. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

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    M4 is installed, starting the whole instal procces all over again. Hope this one doesnt have issues.
     
    Brabostaan, Jun 4, 2011
    #49
  50. gull_s_777

    gull_s_777 Notebook Consultant

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    guess sandforce should be out of SSD market... as their controller based SSDs are only good for benchmarks.....(had some horrible time with Vertex 3 as well)
     
    gull_s_777, Jun 4, 2011
    #50
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