Best SSD within the 120~160GB range?

I'm having a hard time choosing between the OCZ Vertex 3 vs. the Intel 510 SSD, and I was wondering if I could get some feedback on which SSD currently is the most beneficial. I'm putting it on the sager 8150 once it gets here but don't know which SSD would be best for it.

 

probably a question better suited for the ssd section of nbr

 

I'm thinking of getting the intel 510, or Vertex 3 but I'll take whichever SSD is just as efficient and cheap. This is also for a notebook so does anyone know of one within that range of space, cheap and long lasting without consuming too much power?

 

Well, I'm just wondering what the users were using in terms of SSD's and how effective it was on their notebooks :/.

 

As Hiz said, check out the ssd forum, it has all the threads and opinions, as well as benchmarks and personal experience in it. You will enjoy it, and learn a lot.

 

The Intel 510 is supposed to be very good, but the Vertex 3's speed cannot be topped. I read that Intel has better reliability, but I think that depends what you will be doing. I'm curious about what SATA 3 SSD is good too. I was looking at the OCZ, Corsair c400/m4, and the Intel drives.

 

Please do not crosspost in the future, as it is against forum rules. If you would like your thread moved, please use the "Report Post" feature. Thank you.

 

OCZ has the highest failure rate of SSDs and Intel is the most reliable with the lowest failure rate. You're right about the Vertex 3 being fast. I personally would prefer a more secure investment over extra bursts of speed that might fail on me.

 

This reviews shows the real world differences exactly:
Crucial m4 256GB SSD (C400) Review - Introduction

The C400 costs $455 for 256GB at superbiiz.com. It may be the best buy.

 

Sorry about that, I didn't exactly know how to and I'll be sure to in the future.

Read wrong, found it. Now I'm stuck on whether I should go over my budget for more memory or just stick with the 120gb Vertex 3 for speed :/

Also wow, the Vertex 3 and intel edge out only in certain situations :/

 

It's called Micron C400.

MTFDDAC256MAM-1K1 Micron 2.5 inch 256GB RealSSD C400 SATA3 Solid State Drive(MLC) - SSD Solid State Drives - SuperBiiz.com

 

I was opting to spending a tad more to get the C400... but I live in Canada and the shipping costs (from the lowest) start at $41 So I'm looking at around $500+ Tax, and my budgets more like $340~360.

Now I'm having a dilema between the Intel 320 160GB / Intel 520 120GB and the OCZ Vertex 3 120GB.

Does anyone know which is the more reliable and best in real world situation? For ex. boot speed, loading games, installations, virus checks, etc.

 

The Intel is more reliable. I don't think in everyday use, you will notice the difference between the higher speed OCZ and the Intel. Unless you do a lot of data transfer in your everyday use.

 

I see myself using the first 60~90GB in the first week lol after that It'll most likely be a stable 10~30 GBs weekly. Would the OCZ be worn out with that use?

Edit: Also if I were to choose the Intel series, is how much of a difference would there be between the Intel 320 160GB vs the Intel 510 120GB?

 

No one knows yet how reliable Intel 510 and Vertex 3 are. Some assume Intel is more reliable based on their track record with the X25m but that uses Intel's own controller with 34nm flash. The Intel 510 uses a Marvell controller, that Intel uses for the first time, with 25nm flash.

For what it's worth, in the Newegg customer ratings the Intel 510 isn't as reliable as the Intel x25m (counting failures).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rue&Keywords=(keywords)&Page=1#scrollFullInfo

Writing 100GB per week will not be any problem on any modern SSD.

 

Hey Phil just wondering if you had to choose between the three (intel 510 120gb, Vertex3 120gb, and intel 320 160gb) which would you choose?

 

I would suggest also to consider Crucial C300, since its widely available, with the M4 being released this upcoming week (Same as C400), probably will draw prices down from retailers since they might want to clear stock, also Crucial is suppose to be releasing new firmware at the end of april, so might be a good option.

 

What a tough question. Each of those drives has downsides.

How about C300? I'm a light user and want maxing bang for the buck. Crucial C300 can be good value for money, depending on the price.

Abula is right, prices should go down, theoretically.

 

Just as i was loading i saw the C300 come down in price (at least in the US),

Amazon Crucial Technology 128 GB Crucial RealSSD C300 Series Solid State Drive CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 $199.99
Newegg Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $199.99

IMO is good deal to grab on, not sure if its going to go lower than that. In canada there is amazon n newegg, probably keep checking you might see a similar price soon.

 

Thanks Alot!

I think I'll take yours + phil's words and take this to save myself the $120. Hopefully its just as good or better then the intel ssd I had.

Edit: *Facepalm. The Canadian Newegg doesn't have the discount. I'll have to wait and hopefully the 256 or 128 drops in price.

 

Obviously, it's cheaper buying it separately, but you can have Xotic put in another SSD that isn't listed for an extra $60 (USD). So you can have them put a c300 in, instead of the Intel and it might come out cheaper, I'm not sure.

 

So,

I've boiled down to Intel 510 120GB Vs. OCZ Vertex 3.

Could anyone input on which would be best on real life performances? Ex. Gaming Boot, Installations, Anti virus checks etc. I've read the anandtech reviews on both but I don't know which would perform best since the 120GB intel version was never reviewed.

 

Here's the real real world performance between Vertex 3 and Intel 510:
Crucial m4 256GB SSD (C400) Review - Introduction

 

I've read somewhere on the anandtech review that the 120 and the 250 gb are marginally different is that true?

 

Dutch website Tweakers.net benchmarked both in their StorageMark 2011 bench.

OCZ Vertex 3: haastige spoed is best goed | Trace-based benchmarks | Core | Tweakers.net Reviews

Shouldn't need any translation I figure... Seems like their is ~20-25% difference between the 250GB and 120GB during heavier usage.

PS. I suggest to ignore the PCMark result on the top of the page, it's not reliable imo.

 

Thank you, so much.

You've helped me out this whole time throughout this process and dilemma of mine. I think I'll wait and see if the C300 (which apparently is faster then the C400) drops in price and if nothing occurs throughout next week I'll pick up the Intel 510.

 

128GB C300 is $200 now on newegg....I think it's going to stay at that price for a looong time.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Sigh I have a new problem. Now I'm confused and I have no idea whether I should get the Intel 510 120GB, C300 256, or the C400 256...

The deciding factor will really be whether the C400 really does outperform the C300. My local shops having a discount on the C300's and I'm one of those confused buyers whether to go with one or the other.

So to take a quick survey what would you choose the community of NBR?
A. Crucial C300 (256 GB)
B. Micron C400 (256 GB)
C. Intel 510 (120 GB)?

and lets Assume your budget is 500.

 

Perhaps I can help. I have an archaic Crucial M225 256GB SSD from, get this, early 2010!

This old Indillinx based SSD was hot in its day until Sandforce came along. Most people looking at benchmarks would laugh at the incredibly slow benchmarks my M225 produces:





and my Windows Experience Index of 7.3 for the disk rating.

The fact is than ANY decent SSD of today is giong to change your computing life if you have only used platter hard drives in the past. Not only will they read and write much faster, but the seek times (latency) is incredibly small when compared to the spinning drives that have to find the file on a platter prior to the read.

Decide how much you are willing to pay for reliability and then shop for the best value (price + reliability) for the desired capacity. In my case, the M225s were pretty reliable and came with a 5 year warranty. I bought 5 of them. The last 7 SSDs I have bought are all Intel X25-M SSDs. They whrite slower than my Crucials, but they read faster and overall they feel a touch quicker. I bought the Intels because of their reliability and their overall read speeds simply because once the workstations are set up and hooked to the server, writing becomes a minor part of the disk usage on the machines in question.

As an earlier poster stated, speed is great, but I will take reliability above the small gain in speed every time I purchase.

Just my opinion.