SSD for Alienware Area-51 m15x

I am thinking of upgrading my 120GB Sata drive in my computer to a 120 Sata III SSD Drive. Is it possible? Can my system handle that fast of a transfer rate?

Here are links to the SSD's.

1) Micro Center - OCZ Technology Agility 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" Solid State Drive (SSD) with SandForce 2281 Controller AGT3-25SAT3-120

2) Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Which one is the best option and why?

 

Neither
Get crucial m4 or samsung 830 or intel 510

Why?
Because both those drives are OCZ's and have sandforce controllers

BTW you wont see the benefit from a SATAIII ssd drive in your rig, i think your limited to SATAII,
so samsung 470 series, intel 320 series or intel x25m g2 series might be cheaper options

 

What is wrong with that? The sandforce controllers?

 

im not an expert on it, but most people on this forum would advise you to stay well clear of them.

Basically the drives slow down to a crawl (possibly slower than a hdd) after a while.
Stick with an Intel or marvell or samsung controller

 

And OCZ is actually a good brand. They make good memory.

So why would I spend more money (yes it is actually more for the intel's and samsungs) for a smaller amount of memory? Even if it is a SATA III wouldn't it still work?

 

Yes the SATAIII drives will still work in your system.
OCZ is a good brand, but not a good brand of solid state drives (mostly due to the use of the sandforce controller, but also because of their horrible customer support (or acknowledgement of problems))

You won't regret buying a non sandforce SSD,

 

My advice in order of Reliability, Performance and $$$:

Intel 510 Series 250GB SSD

Crucial M4 256GB SSD


Currently, I don't recommend the Samsung 830 SSD - depending on your usage pattern, you could drive the performance to the floor (floppy drive speeds, anyone?...).

The Intel solution costs around 50% more than the Crucial option ($600 vs. $400 for the M4) but is consistently faster than the M4 in my use (I have both).

Even with the 5200 hour 'bug' the M4 has - it is still a much, much better option than the much-hyped OCZ/SF fiasco which promises performance it can't deliver (won't deliver actually; DuraClass 'tech' garbage actually limits the performance the drive can deliver so that it lives past it's warranty status - and, the overall real world performance it does deliver is at a pokey HDD level or less, imo).


(forget the smaller SSD's of less than ~250GB - too slow - an XT Hybrid 750GB will eat them for breakfast).

See:
60/64 GB SSD Shootout: Crucial, Samsung, And SandForce : Which 64 GB SSD Is The Best?

 

This one looks promising.

Amazon.com: Seagate STAN500100 Momentus XT 500 GB Solid State Hybrid Hard Drive: Computers & Accessories

 

That's the 'gen 1' version.

You want this one:

See:
Seagate 750GB Momentus XT 7200.1 SATA 2.5in Hybrid Drive w/ 32MB Cache at Memory Express


See:
AnandTech - Seagate 2nd Generation Momentus XT (750GB) Hybrid HDD Review

 

I am looking for a good Solid State Drive. I heard that a Hybrid one will perform almost as fast as a solid state drive. True or false?

That Seagate one is 750 GB. I install and have alot of games. Is that one a good choice?

 

I feel it's an excellent choice for maximum performance along with the most capacity in a single drive.

See:
Seagate Momentus XT (750GB)

 

So here it is, June 2012.... Any thoughts on an SSD for an area 51 m15x (Alienware b4 Dell) Smooth silver skullcap. I ask because alot has changed with SSD's. Just want to know everyone's thoughts