time to buy a ssd need advice thanx

Ok guys I am looking to get a ssd I have 230 in free amazon credit. so has to be from amazon so need advice.

first one I am looking at is Intel g2 80gb $210
second is a kingston ssd now v+ 128gb 310
third is a crosair 128gb for 310
if there are any other pointers for some my max price is 330 I can only spend a 100 of my money. The ssd must have trim thanx.

 

If capacity is not a big deal go for the Intel G2. If it is, then save up and go for the intel 160gb

 

I second the 80GB G2. Not quite the fastest thing anymore, but I still think it's a good value. Those Kingston and Corsair drives might slightly cheaper per GB, but the random write speeds are nowhere as fast.

 

Intel G2 - only one worthy of a recommendation

(On a budget the Kingston branded Intels might be an idea)

 

I haven't been following the SSD market lately but read that Anand from Anadtech.com is a big fan of Sandforce based SSDs. Seems like their power consumption is a lot better than Intel SSDs.

Maybe worth a look.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3681/oczs-vertex-2-special-sauce-sf1200-reviewed/1

 

Link doesn't work for me, but that might be the university network.. although with a 503 error?

On another note though - I'd not trust the Sandforce drives with their compression...
And there were the failing drives the "Limited Edition" ones? Apparently that got fixed with a new firmware - but still..

 

Its pretty much all said. Intel is the top performing ssd overall in pretty much every banchmark and has become the baseling for most benchmark testing and this is because of it success in small random reads/write disk access which is so important. These disk access methods provide you with the most visible performance jump for your buck.

SandForce and Marvell controllers are out there but they will be outside your price range and I second what is stated above that, in the ssd market historically, one is better to wait until a certain level of confidence can be offered in a ssd rather than jumping on a new release. People have jumped quickly on new ssds in the past with disastrous results.

 

Anandtech is down at the moment.

I wasn't very impressed with the power consumption of my Intel G2. I lost ten minutes to a Seagate 5400.6. Anand's review gave me more insight as to why this is.

 

Strange... on my SZ I gained roughly half an hour over the 5400rpm drive my SZ hat.

And on the spec sheet it was one of the most energy efficient...

But I suppose the other question is how you use your HDD/SSD - SSDs really shine when you want to open programmes on the go - and not just run say FF from RAM. I also like to use Dreamweaver on the go - my favourite place for writing things for my maths course is trains....
Or else, opening and closing FF, etc.

 

Any idea when next gen intel ssd's are releasing. Its almost an year since G2 released and we still have not even seen 320GB. Plus ssd prices have not fallen since then(Intel said prices will fall 40% every year).

 

I think I read somewhere that 3rd quarter 2010 was their target release date for G3.

It really sucks, I was in the middle of reading the Anandtech review when it went down ;_;

The technology is always getting cheaper, but I'm not sure if there is enough of a demand/market for a substantial drop in price.

But like every technology out there if you wait long enough something better is always on the horizon.

By the way guys, what's the deal? I keep hearing that the Intel G2s review very high, but usually they seem pretty "average" when compared to other SSDs that are in the same pricerange.

 

Recommend the OCZ Vertex 2 100GB

 

Its not sequential speeds that are important - its 4K speeds - and that's where they are pretty much the best.

 

The Sandforce ssd's are faster at 4k random writes by quite a margin over the Intel drives -- even the SLC model.

Look at the random 4k aligned (what Windows 7 does) benchmarks.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3681/oczs-vertex-2-special-sauce-sf1200-reviewed/6

Heres 2 100gb Sandforce in RAID 0 on my desktop.

 

Question is can you trust them...

 

wow what about samunsg drives, see get a intel g2 80 now or wait till g3 or a ocz vertix

 

Ok guys looking at either a 80gb intel cause of the price but I hear the 160gb is faster, but is it worth the jump, also how about comaperd to ocz vertex or maybe even the corsair nova series.

 

That all depends on how much space you need to have on your primary drive, and the ways in which you use your drive.

For the most part, I'd recommend the Intel drives, 80GB or 160GB depending on how much space you need. If you get a good deal on an Indilinx controller based drive compared to the original Vertex, they're pretty decent too, but if it's around $300 for the 128GB you might as well pay only slightly more per GB and go with Intel for better random read/write performance. On the other hand, if you're willing to spend the extra for the new Vertex 2, that's even faster because of the Sandforce controller. However, I'd say that those cost too much per GB.

 

the intel will be faster and more reliable... i would get the 160GB intel if u have one hard drive slot especially if u need more space....

 

how much space does 7 take up

 

Microsoft recommends 20GB for Windows 7.

 

Intel G2 is still best option as price and performance go... samsung is quite reliable but still intel is better.

 

You really can't go wrong. Agility 2 seems to be faster than the intel G2s according to benchmarks (yes, even in random read/write) but it's not substantial. A few MB here, a second or two there.... The samsung/corsair drives take a much bigger hit (few dozen MB here, 5-10 seconds there) but you will pay much less per GB.

Intel G2 is a good balance between the both. They've been out for a while so you can get a 80gb version for about 220 while the vertex 2 is brand new so you will pay a little more for the 50gb version.

 

so on a 80gb i would 55gb after 7 hmmm, also do these things loose space over time unlike hdd

 

No, they don't lose space over time.

When your SSD gets old and the Flash starts failing it won't do it all at once but incrementally instead - unless the controller fails first. However, these are an entirely different matter, analogous to hard drive failure.

 

It will depend a lot on what 5400rpm hard drive you had. My Seagate 5400.6 is quite power efficient. WD3200bevt isn't.

 

what do u guys think I have 230 in free amazon credit I can get a g2 80gb for free or pay 200 and get the 160gb

 

Do you need the extra storage? If it's only for keeping media you would do better to just get a small SSD for programs and OS and a external hard drive (3.5 inch one if you need portability or a 3.5 if not)

You could pay 200 dollars more for an extra 80gb or 120 for 2tb XD

 

I personally never had a problem with my OCZ Vertez 120GB SSD.
Recoemmended!

 

I would say a couple of games 2-4 and basic programs and os is 80 enough

 

could a 80gb hold 2-4 games and os and prgrams and run good or would i need more

 

That sounds like enough, but if you want to be sure why not just look at how much space your OS and programs are using on your m15x?

 

Wrong -- under Windows 7 4k aligned writes the Vertex 2 is about 100mb/s faster than the Intel G2.

 

I typoed. I was talking about the agility 2. Let me go change that.

 

oh yea I am using 50gb including windows.

 

Well in that case 80GB should be fine.

 

what do u think of this for 350
* Model: 2.5'' 256GB MLC SSD
* P/N: MMDPE56G5DXP-0VBD7
* SATA/SATA2 2.5
* 256GB Solid State Hard Drive
* sequential read rates of 220MB/sec
* sequential write rates of 200MB/sec
* open basic applications 10 times faster than the quickest 7,200RPM notebook drive
* SATA/SATA2
* 9.5mm (0.37in)
* 22pin SATA
* 100.2x69.85x9.5
* 73.0g

 

I can't say without knowing the controller that's in it or seeing benchmarks for it. A 256GB SSD for $350 seems too good to be true, though.

 

A brand new, clean install of Windows 7, minus system restore and hibernate? Around 9 GB.

 

I got mine for $380. Different brand, but still. Indilinx controller isn't too shabby,

 

It wasn't Seagate - it wasn't WesternDigital...

Don't think it was hitachi...or maybe it was?

From the specsheet it was the most energy efficient around...

MH something... in the number...

 

As you probably know spec sheets say very little about real life power consumption.



If it was my money I would wait a little and watch the development of prices and reliability of the sandforce drives.

 

It seems to be a Samsung
MMDPE56G5DXP - Google Search

 

Well, I guess a Samsung drive would use a Samsung controller, but that's still not specific enough. I'd assume that that specific drive is probably on the weak side for random reads/writes, but I haven't seen it tested.

 

I was considering getting a C300, didn't think power consumption would be so bad.

 

im selling a new oem 128gb ssd from a vaio i ordered if u interested. il probably put it in amazon marketplace later

 

smackrs6 There is no reason for you to have 2 threads on SSD's so they are now merged.

 

did he mention that his drive isn't working well lol... its better to pay more and have it more reliable... to save the problems.. intel's best bet but expensive and only has 160GB Max.. anyways , when is a 256GB intel comming out?

 

Never lol, Intels next size up from the 160gb will be a 320gb model.

Anand has a mystery SSD on hand for testing, I'm speculating that it may be the 320gb model from Intel.

 

but is the 320gb going to be g3 hmmm.

Man I am really wondering if I should wait or just get the g2 I wonder how much they would change.