Best performing 100-200GB SSD for $400?

So, I'm looking to purchase an SSD to hold my OS, applications, and utilities on.

What I would like is an SSD that offers the following:

1) TRIM/garbage collection
2) Between 100 and 200GB capacity
3) Purchase price around $400
4) Indilix or SandForce controller

Performance of the SSD is very important to me. I would say that this is more important than capacity as long as it meets the capacity I mentioned above.

What are your guys' recommendations and/or thoughts?

 

For performance, Sandforce will be better than Indilinx. I've seen the 120GB OCZ Agility 2 for as low as $240, which meets all your criteria (the 240GB is over your budget).

 

I think you want Sandforce or Marvell controller.

OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD 120GB might be the fastest you can get in your budget. I'm not sure if it's the fastest.

Crucial C300 128GB also fits your budget.

I agree with Sgogeta that the Agility 2 might be the best budget buy. Good performance at a low price.

 

For ur uses , Intel would seriously be good enough.. the Sandforce controller is not very reliable and the indilix, i'm not sure.. Intel would be good enough and u can get a 160GB one for under $400 if u look around properly...

 

What basis are you claiming that Sandforce isn't reliable?

 

If performance is a major issue for someone, the last drive that I would reccommend would be the X-25 G2. Its write speeds aren't in the same ballpark as the new sandforce controlled drives and the C300 (marvell).

 

C300 64GB and 128GB have capped write speeds too. Vertex 2 and LE don't.

 

I had forgotten about that. Don't forget the Agility 2.

 

I thought Agility 2 isn't the stellar writer that Vertex LE and 2 are, that's why I didn't mention it. But I'm not exactly sure about it.

 

I should have been clearer. The Agility 2 is write-capped like the lower capacity C300s. It doesn't have the Vertex 2's special FW.

 

Ok got ya.

When I checked Agility 2 I saw it's listed as:
Max Write: up to 270 MB/s
Sustained Write: up to 200 MB/s

That's still a lot faster than Intel or C300 levels.

 

If someone really needs the $20-$30, I'd tell them to opt for the Agility 2, but otherwise, I would reccommend the Vertex 2 if they're more concerned about speed than cost.

 

Thanks for the replies! So, from what I am gathering, if I go OCZ, I should stay away from the Agility series and instead opt for the Vertex 2 or LE , correct?

If possible, links to those specific OCZ SSD's being referenced would be great! =)

I was also looking at OCZ's Colossus LT Series. It seems like it has good read and write performance with a rather large internal cache. What is everyone's thoughts on this particular SSD?

OCZ Colossus LT Series OCZSSD2-1CLSLT120G

I'm much more interested in speed than cost. I'm not really looking for a budget SSD here, or to save a couple bucks by going with a lesser SSD. I'd like the best SSD I can get for $400 that meet the criteria I listed earlier.

Can you link the SSD you are referring to?

 

Colossus is not what you want because of the controller.

Like I said in my earlier post:
120GB Mercury Extreme Pro SSD 2.5" Serial-ATA... (SSDMX120) at OWC

or
Crucial RealSSD 128 GB Internal hard drive

The OWC wins on write speeds, the C300 can have the edge on read speeds.

As far as i know the OWC is slightly faster than Vertex 2 but I haven't checked all the reviews. That's your job

 

That C300 has the new Marvell controller in it. From what I understand, it has balls out performance, but in order to take advantage of it, my notebook will need a SATA 3 interface (which it doesn't support).

And if I decide to throw it in my desktop (which is most likely what I would do anyway), I'll need a 6GB PCI-e card to use it since my mobo (an EVGA E760) doesn't support SATA 3 either.

I like the C300, the reviews on the 128GB version are very favorable. It looks like it puts the smackdown on Indilinx, SandForce and Intel even.

 

Well, after some looking around and reading reviews, here's what I've narrowed my short list down to:

OCZ Vertex 2 120GB
OCZ Agility 2 120GB
Corsair Nova 128GB
Corsair Force 120GB
Intel X-25M 160GB G2
OWC MEP 120GB

In your guys' estimation which is best, performance being the most important factor with [formatted] capacity being second?

 

Why isn't OWC on your shortlist? It's the fastest as far as I know.


http://www.storagereview.com/ocz_vertex_2_review_120gb

Yes and no. Even on SATA 2 it performs well. But i can understand if you go Sandforce. Just know that the C300 can beat it in some situations even on SATA 2. But to really know what will be faster, benchmarks should be performed on the same controller as you have in your notebook.


Crucial's RealSSD C300 solid-state drive - The Tech Report - Page 5

 

well we all know the random crashes etc and firmware failures of sandforce.. well if u have a budget , than i would say crucial C300 is good.

 

No, we really don't. I haven't heard of anything like that, at all.

 

Erm, I dunno? I thought I added it and I guess I didn't. My bad, Phil!

 

The biggest problem we've seen with the C300 is that it needs optimal conditions to perform well, which means the right SATA 6Gb/s card. We tested with a few different interface options, including a nice LSI RAID card and found that even with SATA 6 cards, they're not all created equal and not fully compatible with the C300.

At this point we've had the best experience with Corsair's F120 ( review posted) and the OWC. Both have been the most stable and reliable SF-1200 drives we've seen.

 

Excellent! I'm looking forward to the F120 review. Out of curiousity, what is your opinion on the SF-1500 drives?

 

We haven't spent any time on the enterprise SSDs. The high cost makes them difficult to obtain for review anyway, even if we had the time. Perhaps after we catch up on this 15 drive backlog we'll expand

 

LOL! I feel your pain. Reviews always seem to pile up just before and after CES. While you're here, care to weigh in on my predicament on which drive to select for my needs? I have a nice, short list on page 2 of this thread.

I added the OWC to my short list as well. The more I read about it, the more I like it!

 

well i've read about of a few cases of this in reviews... look on engadget and the forum...

 

There have been some bugs in the firmware. Intel has had the same problem.

 

Bugs in firmware - yes, that gets to my comment about reliability I made before. We just had an issue with OCZ, so much so, that we got put on their naughty list. Here are the details of that exchange.

 

I think that they did something similar to that to Anand a while ago. They have a tendency to get pissy when things don't go their way, it seems.

 

Yeah, Anand wasn't happy with OCZ due to the lackluster performance of the original Vertex drives if I'm not mistaken.

 

Personally I'd stay away from the SF-1200's till they get the firmware to not auto cripple write speeds on heavy uncompressible file writing. The Callisto DX's have the issue and since per Mushkin it is firmware programed I think they all will since the FW is from SandForce.

Mine went from 140 MB/s to 80 MB/s and I've seen others get even lower and a Secure Erase and reimage is about the only way back................

Edit; First they even have decide they will do something about this as if you will notice no where is it even mentioned that these drives do this at all! it seems to be an undocumented feature to prolong the NAND life according to Mushkin............

My thread with Mushkin and my fight to get the truth

 

well this is another nail in the coffin as i have said earlier.. IMO now best option is C300... i did some calculation and laptops resellers are actually selling the C300 cheaper than intel per GB..

 

If you read the posts by Brian you can see he says that the C300 doesn't perform that well on a SATA 2 laptop controller.

We'll probably see the details on Storagereview soon.

In the mean time I think Corsair Force is a good choice.

 

The 160GB Force may also be interesting.

Corsair Announces New Force 40GB, 80GB, and 160GB SSDs - Legit Reviews

 

I'm more interested in the G3 than anything else, to be honest.

The 160GB Force should provide downward price pressure on the other SF drives though.

 

We liked the force, posted the F120 review yesterday.

On the C300, as noted, it really works best in "ideal" situations, it's finicky about hardware.

 

That makes sense, you already have a Vertex 2

 

I know dude, I bought this thing in a small capacity so I could replace it with a larger SSD once the prices come down. I hope that 25nm brings cheaper SSDs for everyone.

 

Nice quote from the SR review:

Source: http://www.storagereview.com/corsair_force_f120_ssd_review

 

could plz elaborate? i'm really stuck in between a 128GB C300 and 160GB intel? The C300 is actually cheaper per GB...