what are some excellent SSD's?

The first thing I want to upgrade on my new M17r3 is the HD. Can anyone please give me some recommendations for a good one?

 

Most people here mostly reccomending for Crucial M4..... They suceeded convince me to replace my OCZ into a pair of M4. Still on the way tough.... Just make sure you put that item in Port1. Some of fellows here have problem with their SATA speed when they put it in port 0. Including me....

 

Some nice new drives coming out in the upcoming weeks. The Crucial M4 is definitely a safe bet. I recommend the Corsair Performance Pro. BEST. DRIVE. EVER. The Intel 520 is also good. The Plextor M3P is similar to the PerfPro.

OCZ has got it's new Vertex 4 coming out that isn't Sandforce anymore. New tech and the reviews definitely say good things about it. Kingston have their new HyperX 3K drive which is a cheaper version of their HyperX SSD.

 

uptown, you're gonna hear lots of names that will be thrown at you, most notably:

Samsung 830
Intel 520
Crucial M4
Plextor M3
OCZ Octane

I'll give you some hometown knowledge, pay attention to the NCIX.ca weekly sale....and see what's on sale at Canadacomputers.com who have a location at 50 Dundurn (near Chedoke Expy and Main)

The two drives i'd look at and which are easily found at really good prices here are:

Crucial M4
Plextor M3

The Samsung is a good choice too, but its hard to get here

 

Honestly, it depends on what your looking for. A great guide to get you started is here from Storage Reviews which also has recommendations based on criteria and is very recent: Leaderboard - Best Hard Drive, SSD and Storage Solutions

If your like me and looking for the best period, I believe the 256GB OCZ Vertex 3 Max Iops is still the top performer overall... But then again, the link I included has all the best SSD's classified by Performance, Value, etc...

 

I Have used the 256Gb Crucial M4 and it is an excellent SSD.

However I purchased the 256Gb Corsair Performance Pro SSD for my M17X R3 and it is insane!

 

I agree with SlickDude watch Canadacomputers.com. They usually have some pretty good deals.
I bought my HyperX SSD as well as my there and haven't had any issues with it so far.

 

Yeah I got a really good deal on my Crucial M4 on Amazon. So I agree look for the best price on the comparative drives and go that route.

 

My crucial M4 has been solid. Will definitely buy a crucial again when I need a new drive.

 

Can't go wrong with Intel. I have three Intel ssds and they have been solid. I RMAed one and it was a simple process. Intel is excellent to work with.

Sent from my Samsung Captivate/ICS using Tapatalk 2

 

Hey guys thanks for all the great feedback! I've read a few excellent reviews of the Sandisk Extreme 240GB,it's pretty new hasn't been out but a few weeks.

 

Meh, I wouldn't go with a SandDisk. It is SandForce and doesn't offer the best uncompressed performance plus reliability issues. The only SandForce drive I would consider is the Intel 520 but it is pricey.

If it is your first time, go with with M4, it is the safest option. It is speedy and consistent. I have two SSDs in my system and one of them is the Samsung 830 which is a great drive, performs slightly better than the M4 and equally reliable also it doesn't have foreign parts. All parts, controller, chip, PCB everything is made by Samsung therefore you have good peace of mind. If you can find it cheap, get it

 

They have the OCZ Vertex 4 at Amazon for $349 256GB. What do you think?

 

I have the Samsung 830 and it is for sure an excellent HD, some of the 3Gbs are coming down in price also right now. Newegg has a lot.

 

Keep hunting, I'm not sure about the V4. It will be speedy as hell but I want you to get the most out of your money. Surely their are cheaper M4 offers?

 

Not sure if you are set on the M4s...

Samsung 830 256gb for 310$ shipped on newegg....

I have the samsung 830 and very happy, it is my first and only SSD but very pleased with everything

 

Vertex 4 is too new...i wouldn't get it yet.

Uptown...get the M4.

 

M4 goes for $50 less

 

^^Yes jump on that now! Very good price for an SSD almost $1 per GB!

 

The 128gig M4 has been selling on and off for $1/gig

EDIT:
UPTOWN...this is as good as it gets in canada right now...Crucial m4 128gig...$139.99 cdn

Crucial M4 SSD Micron C400 128GB 2.5IN Solid State Disk Flash Drive SATA3 6Gbps - CRUCIAL TECHNOLOGY - CT128M4SSD2

 

Going to have to agree with widezu that the corsair Performance Pro is the Best SSD I've ever used even in my r2 best one ever!

If your still looking for one, this is a Corsair performance pro with fancycache enabled

 

holy hell..... I must get it one of those.....

Any idea how much the price for that item ? So expensive I think....

 

That isn't really the SSD speed you know. That is the speed of the RAM because of the features that fancycache offers. It puts stuff onto the ram for faster loading.

This is an actual CDM:

 

Samsung 830 is my pick. Their software/firmware update and drive maintenance tools are far better. I had a few Vertex 2 and 3s, the Corsair, and the Crucial M4.

 

When you install an SSD it's the middle bay right?Also I have a backup I made of my entire system on an external HD. Is it better to do a clean install?

 

Best bet to get SATA 3 speeds out of either bay like me and widezu69, is do a clean install, and install the m18x intel hm67 cougar point chipset drivers and m18x intel management engine interface. Also use the unlocked A08 bios. DO NOT INSTALL the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver.

Also you can install most m18x drivers on your m17xr3 including Command Center as the m18x drivers are just newer versions of the m17xr3 drivers.

 

Went for a Samsung 830 here, speed and reliability. Read lots of reviews and yea u can get faster but nothing noticeable, Samsung's previous drive was rated as the most reliable and the 830 should follow, partly due to all components produced in house. I've read Apple have Samsung SSDs in there laptops.
Anyway just some reasons to choose the 830. If i didnt it would have been intel 520 or the M4.

 

I already installed both of the chipset driver for M18x above and still in SATA 2 speed..... by you mean clean install, it's for the entire OS windows or only the chipset driver ?

And I just downloaded the unlocked A08 bios from the link above. It's the first time I used a modded BIOS and it's a bit scary for me.... any special way for Install it ? or just click the file twice and let the process take over....? and what's the difference between the A08 Bios that I using now ?

I'm sorry for so many question...

 

clean install the windows OS, and install those two drivers first then restart and confirm SATA 3 speeds. As for the unlocked A08 bios just open and run. Its the easiest thing ever

 

The Unlocked BIOS should not be affected by Clean Install the windows right ? I will install the BIOS first, Fresh Install the windows, Install both of M18x chipset driver without intelRST, Restart and do the SSD benchmark..... doing it now....

anyway, I canceled my Crucial M4 pre order and go to corsair performance pro. Read another review from another forum also and say that it's incredible....

 

^^Good choice. And whichever order you do bios or windows install shouldn't make any difference

 

ahahahaha...... it's not working on my system..... Still got SATA 2 speed. Seems like my only option is switch my SSD into another port, like our friend's here.he's made it with Samsung 830.....

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/656892-my-ssd-samsung-83-running-half-speed.html

I give up try to run SATA 3 speed on my port 0..... anyway, the unlocked BIOS seems working good..... even there's some option (I mean a lot ) that i'm not fully understand.....

 

I had to place the SSD in bay 1. Bay 0 would not work. Also, I changed the boot drive to "secondary drive" in the BIOS. Now my bay 1 runs at SATA III speeds.

 

I am not sure how intel perfected the sandforce controller on 520, we already have a ton of complaints on the web about it..

When it comes to SSD I think reliability is the most important, Crucial/Intel(not SF)/Samsung are the best imho

 

*sigh* people always forget Plextor and Corsair. Both use Marvell like the M4 and have minimal complaints

 

Plextor M3S.. But I think Corsair uses a different Marvel controller, no?

 

The Plextor M3 would be my drive of choice right now actually...it uses a Server Class Marvell Controller and its faster than the M4.

We tested 2 x M3's in Raid0 and it was stinking fast

Also the indulinx controller found in the OCZ Octane and upcoming vertex4 should be quite good too

 

Nah mate the Plextor M3 Pman! The Corsair Performance Pro uses the same controller as the M4 as far as I know but with tweaked firmware to eek some more performance out of it.

The Vertex 4 does look amazing but it's a shame that one needs to splash out and get the 512GB model for get the fastest speeds. Also OCZ released a statement mentioning the Indilinx Everest 2 controller is just an over tweaked Marvel controller:
OCZ Vertex 4 Indilinx Infused SSD Controller Confirmed To Be Marvell Silicon - The SSD Review

What I am very interested about is this new Novachip NVS3600A controller:
Novachip Releases NVS3600A SSD Controller Propelling SSD Competition Forward - The SSD Review

It does 530MB/s and 520MB/s read and write respectively and although that may not seem like a step up from SandForce, those speeds are for both compressed and uncompressed. So in benchmarks like CrystalDisk and AS SSD where Sandforce drives fall short due to uncompressed data usage, drives equipped with this new controller will absolutely scream. As reference SandForce drives can only manage around 300MB/s write on CDM whereas drives such as the PM830 or Performance Pro can hit well over 400MB/s.

 

yup, I would do the same Just wait until my corsair pro arrive in about 2 week and definetely put it in bay 0. But why in secondary drive ? did you still found sata 2 speed when you set on primary drives setting ?

hahaha.... man, in my country it's really hard to get a decent SSD. it's like rare item in here, even for crucial..... Need pre order on everything. I stick my mind now for corsair pro. But damn, we have competitive for SATA speed in each brand, but not in price. The price seems going higher and higher....

 

I'm saving for the Plextor 256GB right now. After reading a lot about them and knowing that it uses the server class controller instead of the consumer grade only makes me feel better about saving for it. Granted, by the time I get the cash together for it, there might be something better, but that's ok.