SSD info..

would've posted in the SSD section, but it's a bit ridiculous lol.

anyone have preferences on SSD's? i've switched from the c300 to the corsair p3 to the new intel. but from what i've recently been reading, the average user will benefit most from having higher 4-8kb random writes.. this would be the c300 at this point.

do you guys agree?

which SSD's are you guys going with (if you're getting one). trying to get all my specs finalized soon since it seems fixed boards will be arriving next week

 

The random 4-8kb writes are exactly why I switched up to the C300. Well, that and I found a very minimally used 256GB model for roughly the same price as a brand new 128GB.

 

If I had the money I would be going for the new Intel SSDs. They have great read/write speeds with reliability. One day I will switch out the HDD for the intel, but atm its not it the budget.

If one is going for pure speed, I ask is a 1-2 second difference worth it for the price?

Also, I have to get my specs finalized soon too. I think if they are not done by Friday, it could end up further delaying the order.

 

can i ask what you paid for it?

and do you agree that the 4-8k are what i'd notice the most? all the sequential read/write speeds are pretty high on the aforementioned drives so that isn't a huge concern.. i'll be coming off a 5400rpm drive, so i'm excited absentmindedly timed my boot time the other day. was something ridiculous like 150 or 180secs to a fully usable desktop. dell dock had to load, and i believe i had the sticky note app up, but still

 

With an SSD you'll pay handsomely to get seemingly much better performance.

If you're willing to perform some basic 'chores' and upgrade your RAM to 4GB or more and/or add a 7200 RPM HDD to your system you could see just as dramatic of an improvement (for a lot less cash).

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/6723837-post163.html


180 seconds is not so 'ridiculous' if your system is fully capable of producing whatever you need from it after that time, btw.

There are other things besides high 4K R R/W's that govern disk/system performance. A great example is the Anand Intel 510 SSD article that shows shockingly bad 'scores' yet manages real world results similar to the benchmark king the Vertex 3.

See:
The Intel SSD 510 Review - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News


If HDD's are capable of good/great real world results with sub 1MB/s 'scores' then that should tell you that 100x faster SSD 4K results are simply today's marketing gimmick for those SSD's.

Try one in your system/usage scenario with an open mind and see if after doing basic maintenance (first link...) it is worth the money for you.

For my tweaked and partition optimized systems, so far they are not:

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/7214800-post9043.html


Good luck in your pursuit of most bang-for-the-buck performance.

 

A lot also depends on your usages. For heavy multi-tasking, for example, you'll notice the benefits of a SSD a lot more. As well, consider budget; C300s, the Intel 510, and the Samsung 470 are top of the line right now, but are also priced correspondingly. And the differences between SSDs are much smaller than the difference between a HDD and SSD. The truth is, for most people, a SSD is a luxury; it's fun and feels fast and snappy, but you're paying for it, kind of like a sports car.

 

I've $2600+ into this Sager rig I'm waiting on so I wanna do everything right

The three drives I mentioned are what's in my price range so anything in that range is acceptable for suggestions..

In case it wasn't clear, I'm not replacing a 5400rpm drive, Im getting a whole new laptop

 

I think the Samsung 470 is worth consideration, then. It's supposed to have better "degraded" performance than the C300. And the G3s are now scheduled for release mid-April, but I doubt you want to wait that long...

 

I'd like something that utilizes my SATA 3 port.. I think I'm gonna go with the c300 128gb for now. It'll save me another 50ish bucks (over the intel 510) and it'll keep me happy for a while that way I can comfortably sit back and see what unfolds over the next year or two with ssd's

 

Sure. It's not a bad choice at all.

 

Thanks for the help all!

 

If you really want to 'do everything right', then I would highly recommend the Intel 510.

You haven't mentioned what uses your new system will be put to - but with the Intel powering the system, you can be sure of consistent results (something which can't be said for most other SSD's right now).

Also, you may want to read about a correction about the V3:

See:
Correction: OCZ Vertex 3 Random Read Performance Data - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News



The exact same drive can show different behavior depending on the system it's used in, the O/S setup used, the apps needed and the specific drivers/utilities available to make everything work together.

With Intel, you can bet that all of the above has been taken into account.

Don't dismiss my previous point that you should be comparing to a well tuned running system (whether it's running a 5400 RPM drive, or 10K RPM vRaptors...). I have seen systems well above (spec-wise) my 3/4 year old system that run like they're P4's. Those owners thought that throwing more money (in parts and in upgrading 'specs') was the answer to better performance.

When they saw their same 'old' system running two to three times faster with simple basic optimizations, they couldn't believe the money they saved, nor the performance their system is really capable of.

In your case what I would do (seriously) is this:

Buy the machine with the fastest cpu you can afford. Same for the video card.

Buy the least amount of RAM that will let you do work from day 1 with it (or if it is offered reasonably - $$$ - then max it out, of course).

Buy the system with two of the smallest, cheapest HDD's you can configure it with.

Now that you have the basic platform set (with a good $$$ savings too, I'm sure), you are ready to upgrade/maximize the RAM (if you didn't already, at time of purchase) at current/reasonable street prices and are also in position to wait and get the latest SSD technology and see exactly how it will increase the performance of your new machine.

I would be surprised if you followed this route that it would cost you more than the $2600 you have budgeted for. And, you will easily get a system that within a 3/4 month period is substantially faster (maxed RAM and latest SSD capacity/speed) than the C300 you are currently considering.

Good luck.

 

Being an Information Systems major, I do take very good care of my machines. My current laptop chugs along rather nicely for being almost 3 years old. Got a dual core pentium desktop at home (family rig) that powers through just about anything

Since my machine is being assembled by Mythlogic, I went ahead and bought my ram when it was goin for a nice price at newegg. Just had it sent to myth, and they'll be sticking that in the system for me..

I'm considering dropping to a 64gb boot drive. 64gb ssd's are relatively cheap, and should take care of me for a bit. Plus, my birthday is in September which is only 6mo away. Should be able to grab up a nice deal on a better SSD by then, and recover some of my $

Suggestions on 64gb drives?

And I actually had closer to $2800 budgeted, but the current price is just around 2600 485m is the best mobile gpu available atm, figured 12gb ram was more then plenty, and I went with the 2720 over the 2820 because I couldnt justify to myself spending an extra $200 for .1ghz faster speed and 2mb cache.. I won't see the difference in my usage which is mostly gaming, and school work. Also Internet browsing, occasional video editing (but very little), and watching movies.. Regular every day stuff

 

If you're thinking to upgrade already in Sept... then you may as well save your cash from now.

For your regular everyday stuff - I don't think your new system needs the compromises that a 64GB SSD will demand.

The reason you want the biggest SSD is because the biggest capacities usually prove to be the best/better performers too.

Any 64GB (Torx), 80GB (Intel G2), 100GB (Inferno), 120/128GB (Intel, Samsung) and Intel 160GB SSD's I've tried have all been returned or replaced with a good 7200 RPM 2.5" drive in all my notebooks so far.

If you just install your SSD with a clean windows install (Win7x64 SP1 highly recommended! ) and not much else, then the 64GB SSD's will keep you happy - anything past that (which, is literally anything more than that...) I have seen the performance of all SSD's drop down to just a little better than HDD levels (except for bootup/shutdown).

Good luck.

 

while I mostly agree with tilleroftheearth in this post (i.e. that's pretty much what I do when buying new machine) I would strongly suggest not to get the best CPU, as a high-end CPU will cost you arm, leg, and eye when buying it from the computer supplier. Better upgrade that later along with the RAM and the HDD.

 

Im not getting the max CPU. Gettin the sandy bridge 2720qm i7 proc..
-Maxing the video card (nvidia 485m.. Unless the 6970m becomes an option soon)
-getting 12gb ram. already more then i need, but i already bought it
-getting a 500gb 7200rpm drive as secondary
-gettin the blu-ray drive as external b/c I don't use it very often and I wanted two HD's in a 15.6"

My main question is
1) what spec should i consider most for an ssd?

 

- reliability ... for the speeds that you're looking for, having in mind that those would not drop drastically from what's advertised

I'm big fan of Samsung 470 series SSDs, and would pick those before I get and Intel SSD. However, I haven't considered the new Intel 510 SSD as it's kinda new, so can't speak about it right now.

 

As you are getting a new sandybridge 6 series chipset that supports SATAIII then you may want to consider a SATAIII SSD, Intel 510 series or Crucial/Corsair C300 series

 

miro gt,

I agree with what you're saying; I didn't mean to get the 'best' cpu, period.

hizzaah,

The 'spec' you should consider most for an SSD is compatibility, reliability and consistency. Intel/Samsung is the only game in town for those.

Any other 'spec/benchmark' is simply trying to throw sand in your eyes.

As I mentioned before; with your system capable of SATA3 speeds, I would only consider the Intel 510.

 

I also agree that with SATA3 you don't have many options (unless you want waste potential performance), so I would go with the Intel 510. For SATA2, I think Samsung 470 is best overall because of it's insanely low power consumption

 

i decided to go with the 510.. did a bit more reading around and talked with my builder some more and decided Intel was the way to go

appreciate the input