Kingston SSDNow V-Series 2.5" - Should I take the plunge?

I found a really good deal on the Kingston SSDNow V-Series 128GB first-generation. I am able to get it for only $150. This is the first generation one so it doesn't have TRIM support and it is a bit slower then the second generation..? Should I take the plunge..?

 

No, its worth saving to buy a better ssd

 

For $150USD..? It's not worth it..! I don't want to spend that much money on a SSD.

 

That's a killer price, actually. About $1.17/GB.

I don't know how the Gen1 Kingstons workd around the absence of TRIM, but if you can find a TRIM substitute that looks like a pretty decent buy.

 

The only one I can find for that price is the one without TRIM. The one without TRIM got very decent reviews. It's not the fastest or best SSD on the market but I think it will do! Do you think it's better then the 7K500 HDD's?

 

In short, yes. I don't have the specifics, but some of the higher end HDDs can beat the lower end SSDs in certain usage. Not sure exactly what, though.

In any case, you'd love the low access times.

 

I am sure even with those performance issues the SSD's will still be better then HDD's.. no..? Also, the price I am getting is killer.

 

SSDs don't degrade that quickly. They will, over time.

Also, unless they're properly maintained, they do slow down because of the writing penalty. If you're willing to run a TRIM substitute every week or so, it'll be fine.

 

What's a TRIM substitute? Where do I get one? Even if it slows down a bit, it will still be snappier then a HDD right?

 

I don't know off the top of my head what Kingston uses for maintenance. Maybe Tony Trim. Search around or ask in the SSD thread.

 

way to spread fud.. actual ssds dance around any hdd in random writes. there are no major issues. there are clear defined limits, like in any tech. and any product using some tech has to work within those limits, and tries to do it's best to maximize it's benefits within those limits. wearleveling being one such technology.

to the op. i possibly would buy that drive, mostly out of curiosity. but for myself, i would only get ssds worth the money for. and they're not yet in that range, sadly. for the real woah-this-drive-is-amazing effect, consider spending 300 - 500$. i know that's a lot. but you get a lot back.
for those 150$, you most likely won't get much wow. so it's worse-spent money.

but on the other hand, this would be a perfectly fine drive to speed up some elder system making it usable again. i guess.

 

I would not buy that particular SSD because it based on the horrid Jmicron chipset.

It WILL cause system-wide stuttering after about 6 months of use. If you want an SSD on the cheap that wont have these kinds of issues, grab a used Samsung SSD. Many performance enthusiasts will tell you the samsungs aren't as good as intel or indilinx (OCZ vertex/agility), but they do NOT have any of the issues that the jmicron ones do (even the older, non-TRIM supporting models).

EDIT - Even the slowest Samsung drive, after degredation, will perform better than a typical 5400RPM notebook drive. The same cannot be said of jmicron based drives.

You can grab a used 128gb Samsung for $200-$250. It's well worth it over the Kingston V-series. If you want a new drive, the OCZ Agility 120gb will blow even the samsung SSDs out of the water and can be had for around $300 after MIR (although, as always, YMMV when it comes to mail-in rebates).

Don't buy a Jmicron based SSD, PERIOD. It's a waste of money. Anything with a Samsung, Intel, or Indilinx controller is fine, but usually more expensive. Used samsungs are relatively cheap and abundant b/c that's what most OEMs ship, so anyone replacing an SSD that came with their system has it.

 

The only issues I've seen are with jmicron based ssds. . . not sure what you're talking about.

EDIT - And besides that, traditional HHDs are the single most unreliable component modern computers regardless of what brand you buy. HDDs are simply highly sensitive and likely to fail by their nature. So buying a regular HDD doesn't really help anything, it's just (a lot) cheaper.

 

An SSD is not always a better buy than a HDD. It all depends on you application and what's most important to you:

If the most important thing for you is raw speed right out of the gate, then the SSD would win hands down. However, if you have copious amounts of data that you need to store or archive, the price per gigabyte on an SSD would be prohibitive. You should also keep in mind that not all SSD are created equal.

There are actually some low cost SSDs on the market that are slower than a 5400 rpm HDD! Therefore, you many not gain any advantage at all. Or worse, your system may even run slower. Not to mention they inherently have a slower write speed.

You need to weigh all the variables and the pros and cons first before you invest in any new system or components. Even at that price, you still need to be getting something better for your money.

 

The drive you are considering is a Gen 1 ssd based on the JMicron 602b which has had all of the problems. The new Kingstons are built on a new JMicron 618.

For $150....I would get it and just hope I was one of the lucky ones.

My advise with respect to gaining ssd knowledge is listen to those who have them and weigh lightly on those who would like one but are perturbed because the price is still up there.

If you are a regular PC/laptop user, this is the best upgrade you can make for the money right now. So many people are waiting for these huge capacity ssds to come down in price when they could be just getting a screaming fast ssd for their OS and a few programs and considering an external, getting a 32Gb sd card or better yet, replacing that DVD with the original hard drive and an adpter for secondary storage...

I kind of chuckle because, for under $100, a laptop can be changed to have Win7, Office complete, Photoshop complete, Adobe Acrobat complete and still have about 8Gb available in a 32Gb ssd. Now, included in that $100 bucks was the adapter to pull your DVD and put the regular hard drive there in its place... Screaming system, lots of storage...the laptop has a whole new look.

 

Are you going to use an SSD for your main applications and as a boot drive? If so, then an emphatic YES.

Are you going to use an SSD to store your 200 GB of Videos, Music, and Media? If so, then you better have a bulging wallet.

Get an SSD, anywhere from 40GB to 128GB, and use it as your boot drive and housing for main applications/programs. Store your media files on an external hard drive.

 

Just wondering.. All of the reviews I have read about this 1ST generation drive indicate that it's one of the only JMICRON drives to not suffer from stuttering..

This drive retails at $300 guys.. I got a special deal on it.

 

You seem to be heavily biased toward buying the product you are attempting to obtain feedback on. This leads me to believe that all you are looking for is confirmation that your deal is something to go for. There have been plenty of responses addressing the performance of the SSD.

In other words, you would be better served by looking at the SSD in a neutral light. Trying to "defend" the SSD just because it has a great deal will not help you in the long run, especially if you find that the SSD does not live up to your expectations.

 

Not at all. I am just pointing out some of the reviews I read on it.. I just want to make sure everyone here is not making a "guess" on it and are informed on this specific drive.

 

Well look at it this way... U can buy it and if you dont like it, sell it for $$225 and make yourself a night out.

 

Then it would be best if you left out comments such as:

...As they can influence the feedback you are trying to obtain.

 

I owned the 64gb version of this drive and while it was ok, it doesnt compare to my indilinx based supertalent GX (now ME model) which i only paid $20 CAN more for. It would stutter if i tried to unrar a large avi (1.3GB)while opening a program. Faster tan my 7200.3 which had higher than avg access times but I wouldn't buy it again now.

Unlike most reviewers, I used this drive longer than just for a review (3+ months) and it's ok as long as you don't use a better SSD and then go back to this one.

 

I just ordered teh sn-425 from newegg, which is the 2nd gen Jmicron I believe.

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=872&type=expert&pid=11

For a budget drive, it's quite decent, and would probably be a huge improvement over my laptop 5400 rpm drive. I would never use it to replace my raptor in my desktop though. We'll see how it goes.

 

What do you use for your Lenovo laptop?

I am using Defragler.

Is this a good option vs stock-Windows 7 defrag program?

 

Before moving to an SSD, I used MyDefrag (formerly JKDefrag). I have used Defraggler, Diskeeper, PerfectDisk, and O&O Defragmenter before - never found any one program that provided any better performance than the others did.

I would stick with the Windows 7 built-in defragmenter, or use a free alternative that you like.

 

I never defrag.

 

Why not? +10 Char

 

The built in one is fine. If you have a lot of free space, the performance increase provided by these tools is largely negligible.

 

With Windows 7 I do not use a Defrag-Program.

For everything else:
O&O Software offers downloads of its O&O Defrag 10 Professional Edition for Windows for free via the directions below. That's a $45 drop and the best deal we've seen for this defragmentation software. (We saw version 10 for free last month.) To get this deal:

1. Fill out this registration form to receive your license key : http://www.oo-software.com/home/en/special/defragspecial/
2. download the O&O Defrag 11 Professional Ed. software here: http://www.oo-software.com/home/en/download/archive/index.php?product=oodefrag11pro
3. activate your software via the instructions found in the email sent to your account

 

Why don't you defrag with Windows 7?

Also, what's wrong with Defragler?

 

Diskeeper 2010 works for me.

 

i turn off any scheduled defrags and run defrag c: /x then defrag c: /h /v when above 10% fragmentation.

third-party defrag apps are a waste of time, money, and system resources.

 

I don't defrag cause I never saw it as a big issue.

 

I am using Defragler and have no issues with it.. Is it fine to use..? I never had problems with it..

 

for the neatest defragger i pick Pertfect Disk.

 

I don't use a defragger, because I have a SSD
And there is nothing wrong with Defraggler.

 

Been using Diskeeper.

 

+1 to that. I used an older version on my N100 when I had it, use the current version on the machines in the sig.

 

Windows 7 built in defragmenter runs as a scheduled process automatically on Wednesday every week. Out the box.

Is all I need.

 

TinyRK,

Are you a Kill Bll 2 fan?

And Zaz- defrag conditions do make a difference as far as performace is cocerened.

Renee - who uses PefeckDisk at least once per week

 

I use Auslogics Disk Defrag

 

Previously used O&O, but now I use SmartDefrag on my T61.

 

I stopped defragging a while ago. Restoring my system from a backup is my choice now. I do it every 6 months. Might sound stupid but with all the software I try, install, deinstall everything gets messed up so fast.

 

When I use Winblows I use Disk Keeper which came with the laptop, it does a good job.
When using Linux, you DONT need to defrag.

 

I used to do both defrag (Diskeeper) and I would restore the OS periodically. The restore does wonders for increasing performance. Windows is such a garbage collector, despite my weekly use of CCleaner and Glary Utilities.

Now I have an SSD so I don't have to defrag. I still do a periodic OS restore. Those cheap WD 500GB hard drives from Newegg sure make disk imaging and backup easy.

 

I switched from Diskeeper to Auslogics Disk Defrag. It's free!

 

I am wondering if I should keep using Puran Defrag..? I have the Windows defrag system but I have been recommended to use Puran.

How does it compare to other programs of it's kind? Money is not an issue for me as I just want the best program for my system. I also want it to be simple and not complex with many options.

I have Defragler as well as a side-option.

 

Yes It Is Good

 

imo best basic defragger out there. i would rather have it over anything else out there to be honest

 

I also use Disk Defrag.
http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/

It is free.
It is fast.
It shows a progress report.
It shows detail info about your drive.

The Vista defrag is missing some of these features.