So which one is faster? More reliable? Intel 520, OCZ Vertex 3 IOPS, Mushkin-DX, Patriot Wildfire, Samsung 830?

Which of the following options are the faster vs. most reliable?
Amazon.com: Intel 520 Series 240 GB SATA 6 Gb/s 2.5-Inch Solid-State Drive - SSDSC2CW240A3K5 (Reseller Kit): Computers & Accessories
Amazon.com: Patriot Memory 240 GB Solid State Drives PW240GS25SSDR: Electronics
Amazon.com: OCZ  Vertex 3 Max IOPS 240GB SATA 6Gb/s  VTX3MI-25SAT3-240G 2.5" Solid State Drive (SSD) with up to  550MB/s read and  65k IOPS write: Electronics
Amazon.com: Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 240 GB SATA 6.0 Gb-s 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive (MKNSSDCR240GB-DX): Electronics
Amazon.com: Samsung 830 - Series MZ-7PC256N/AM 256 GB 2.5 Inch SATA III MLC Internal SSD Laptop Kit with Norton Ghost 15: Electronics

Looking at options for a 240GB SSD built for speed. After reading a lot of the reviews, price+Performance goes to Mushkin. OCZ has remained the fastest but accoding to a few reviews( Intel SSD 520 RAID Review | StorageReview.com - Storage Reviews) the Intel 520 beats it? Opinions please.
Id buy the Mushkin in a heart beat if all the retailers werent sold out.

Is raid 0 w/ SSDworth it for my new sager NP 9170?

 

You won't notice a speed difference between those unless you are benchmarking. Me, I'd be going with the Samsung 830, it's got the best track record for reliability.

 

Thanks man, I also just read samsung is a boss at RMAing stuff 3 day turn around via return labels?

Would I notice better performance with 120GBx2 in raid 0?

 

So I've heard too. I've yet to get a Samsung drive, and am not in the market atm. But I've heard little but good about them, both performance and customer support should it come to that.

 

Any one know what the "laptop kit" vs the regular comes with?
I assumed the desktop kit comes w/ the proper sata cables
Amazon.com: Samsung 830 - Series MZ-7PC256N/AM 256 GB 2.5 Inch SATA III MLC Internal SSD Laptop Kit with Norton Ghost 15: Electronics
Amazon.com: Samsung 830-Series MZ-7PC256B/WW 256GB SATA III MLC Internal SSD 6.0 Gb-s 2.5-Inch MZ-7PC256B: Computers & Accessories
Amazon.com: Samsung 830 - Series MZ-7PC256D/AM 256 GB 2.5 Inch SATA III MLC Internal SSD Desktop Kit with Norton Ghost 15: Electronics

 

The Samsung 830 seems to have this in the bag for best price/performance.

However, I've got the Vertex 2 in my machine and I honestly couldn't imagine something booting faster than this beast.

The thing my drive lacks is a high rating for it's 4K IOPs thingy or whatever. Supposedly it's not as good at dealing with smaller files. Not a big deal. Reading speeds matter more. Tis why the Crucial M4 is so popular.

Example: My Vertex 2 has a rated Write speed of 275MB/s. I've seen it do that with large files. But for small files and benchmarks, It rarely peaks above standard HDD areas... around ~100MB/s.

Go with the Samsung drive. Best deal. Also yes, it's rather reliable too. That's one thing my Vertex 2 is iffy about.

 

Thanks for the comparison. I noticed youre over in Tally, Im up there also for med school.

 

Laptop kit just adds a sata-to-usb cable to aid in transferring over the drive IIRC. Note the cable thingy in the pictures (white). Desktop kit comes with a SATA cable and a molex-to-sata-power adapter.

btw, don't be sucked into the whole SATA 6GBps cable vs. 3GBps cable dealio. They're the same...

 

Indeed they are.
They email you a next day label, you ship it out, the day they receive it they send you a replacement sent next day.

This is very false.


Samsung 830 on a SATA 2 port with SATA 2 cable, on an X58 Sabertooth board.


Samsung 830 on a Marvell controlled SATA 3 port, SATA 3 cable on an X58 Sabertooth board.


Samsung 830 on an Intel controlled SATA 3 port, SATA 3 cable on a Z68 board.

It goes up to 502/305 on occasion after a few tweaks.

 

You didn't compare the cables directly, you changed entire systems. To refute his statement you'd have to put the SATA 2 cable into one of your SATA 3 systems and re-test.

 

Hold on, I'll put a SATA 2 cable on this rig just for you....
And if you read, the first two tests were on an X58 Sabertooth board. Last test is on a Z68 board. 2 different speeds, both SATA 3 cable/ports. Obviously there is a difference....

Here's an old benchmark of a SATA 2 cable on the SATA 3 port of that X58 board.

 

Good enough for me, I had no idea whether the cables were different or not. Thanks for the comparison.

 

The mushkin just became available on newegg and amazon. And I cant cancel the samsung purchase haha. So 40$ more for 16GB, tad slower but great customer service is now the question?

http://www.amazon.com/Mushkin-Chron...40GB-DX/dp/tech-data/B0057VOVE8/ref=de_a_smtd

255 on amazon, 249 on newegg.

 

Are you coming from a 7200rpm drive? If so, you will not notice a difference between 500mb/s and 550mb/s.

No idea on Mushkin customer service regarding their SSDs. Plus Mushkin is Sandforce based which some people are still hesitant about.

 

This is for my laptop. Im using a 120GB patriot wildfire +10,000rpm 300GB raptor on my desktop

 

The SATA 3 Marvell ports are known to give weak and inconsistant SATA 3 performance. Just saying...

I've done tests myself and seen many others do the same, found little difference (down to margin of error in the tests). Considering the pin-outs on the cables are exactly the same and it is all digital transmission, a 1 is a 1 or a 0 is a 0... But whatever. Guess I'm not going to convince you otherwise...

All a moot point on a laptop anyway. Your ports are SATA2 or they're SATA 3.

 

Your whole point is "btw, don't be sucked into the whole SATA 6GBps cable vs. 3GBps cable dealio. They're the same..."

There's a big difference between 6gb/s and 3gb/s, as proven in my tests and anywhere on the internet.

Yes I know Marvell controlled SATA ports suck which is why I upgraded to a Z68 board. I don't see how you can say there is no difference between SATA 2 and SATA 3 when there is evidence clearly in front of your face...
Or here's another one for you, transfer times with Macrium Reflect.
SATA 3 on Marvell (So basically SATA 2.5) is 800mb/s transfer and SATA 3 on Intel Z68 platform is 1.1gb/s transfer creating a backup image to external drive. So if you have a SATA 3 drive on a gimped SATA 3 port, imagine the difference between SATA 2 and SATA 3 for this application.

 

I said there is no difference in the CABLING. Maybe I wasn't clear about that. Yes, there is a huge difference in speed between the 2 modes, but I was making an off-hand remark about SATA 3 cables and how they are being advertised in some places as the only way you can use a SATA 3 drive to full potential, when the cable is in fact the same as a SATA 2 one. But again, we are getting off-topic (mostly my fault, apologies to OP) and obviously disagree, which is fine.

 

No one should be considering the OCZ Vertex3. A, it's SandForce, B, it's overpriced, and C, it's SandForce. Oh, and D: the Marvell/Indilinx-based OCZ Vertex4 is faster anyway, and cheaper than the Vertex3 IOPS: Amazon.com: OCZ Vertex 4 Industry's Highest I/O Performance Up to 120K IOPS 256GB SATA 6.0 GB/s 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive - VTX4-25SAT3-256G: Computers & Accessories

 

The laptop kit also comes with a shim to add thickness in the event your laptop expects a 9 mm 2.5" drive. The way hard drives are installed in my T61p requires that you have a that shame/spacer or something else like a piece of plastic, paper or cardboard to make it the right thickness. Otherwise, the drive will move around and IMHO could break the connector.

My Lenovo X100e subnotebook mounts drives totally differently and not having a spacer/shim isn't a problem.

I know because I bought a laptop kit when it was on sale and later a bare drive (neither kit) when it was on sale.

 

I forgot that the 830 was a default 7mm drive instead of the normal 9mm (or 9.5mm, whichever it is...). Many other drives you can take off the spacer, Samsung did it the other way around. Does guarantee it will work with the ultrabook-type slim form factor.

 

I bought the cheaper version, looks like ill be creating my own shim lol

 

Oh yeah, forgot about that. Will have to make my own spacer when I get it. Will probably just use some corrugated cardboard or something.

 

Hi all,
I'm about to enter in the SSD's world with my 1st one, so...

I don't know which this ones are the best option for me:
Samsung 830 notebook pack
Crucial M4

But my notebook is a u30jc and sata II and has a 9,5mm drive...

Should I go to Samsung or I'm well served with the M4?

The link from the Samsung doesn't say that it comes with a spacer, is it normal?

 

They're both good choices. I'd personally just get the cheaper one but if priced equally, I'd pick the Samsung 830.

 

All I have to say is the Samsung 830 256GB that I just got is noticeably quicker than the WD SiliconEdge Blue 256GB that it replaced.

 

I don't get why WD and Seagate continue to half-heartedly play with offering SSDs...WD doesn't even offer MLC-based drives, just SLC.

 

Different markets.