Buying a new SSD - which one?

Daphatboy

Daphatboy

Daphatboy

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Hi guys, Im probably going to buy an SSD within the next couple of months and I really need some advice in which is best for me.

I have been reading reviews and comparisons on lots of SSDs but still don't know which is best for me.

I would like a 60GB-128GB sized drive to hold my OS and my most used applications/games (such as Firefox, GTA IV, BF3 etc.)

It would like an SSD that's relatively fast in most/all situations, is around (or below) £150 and will last at least 5 years!

Also are some OCZ SSDs really as unreliable as some people suggest?


Any help is appreciated :)

Specs in my sig (and I will be buying a mobo with 6Gb/s SATA)
 
crucial m4 128gb, warranty is only 3 years though. By the time it fails ssds will be cheap enough to replace anyway.
 
Go for the crucial M4. The extra 8GB is a lot, I'ld rather be sat here with 120GB formatted space on an M4 than 111GB formatted space on an A3 ;)
 
Yep, my M4 has been flawless. It seems pretty much consensus that it's the most reliable of the current gen SSDs.

Also, as noted, the 8GB actually makes a real difference on an SSD where space is so precious. It's a whole other game I can install, for instance.
 
What situations would a higher write speed be necessary?

BTW I do some editing every now and again on photoshop and some video encoding on sony vegas :)
 
At consumer level I don't think any situation would really warrant it. Pros may want it for video editing but at the end of the day that depends on how fast your pc can encode (and a very expensive one at that) in which case you would be buying multiple and raiding them.

Even traditional hard drives are adequate for video encoding.

Trust me, you are not missing anything with the write speed. It is the read speed that is important. Your applications are not writing much to the SSD when in use. They are however reading far more.
 
+1 For the M4,
Somebody posted a link the other for a review where it compares the M4 to competitors and even though on paper it's slower, real world it was just as good if not better.
 
+1 for the Crucial one. I don't actually have one but have recommended it to a few people now and they love them and not had a problem.

The new Corsair Force 3 might be worth a look too, OCUK had it on a special offer the other day.

Stoner81.
 
Infact, I might aswell ask this question here aswell so I don't have to start a new thread;

What are the correct steps for installing a new SSD, copying data I specify over to the drive (including OS and games such as GTA and BF3). Using it as my boot drive and making it run as smooth as possible ;)


Bit of a broad question I know :D
 
Fairly broad question alright.

Make sure AHCI is set in your bios before installing Windows to the SSD. I found a nice guide for tweaks etc for the SSD here

For BF3 if you have the disks, it will just be a case of reinstall using them (installing origin etc as well) and updating.

Is GTA on steam or do you have the disks for that too?
 
GTA is on Steam, is it easy to move the files to a new drive? Or is it a re-install situation?


And is there a way that I can clone specific parts of my HDD and put them onto the SSD?
 
I think you can just move the steamApps folder (have a google). The problem is, that means all you steam games. My steam folder is about 170 gig, so I can't put that on an SSD. Once I get my SSD I might just rename my steamApps folder 'backupSteamApps' and copy just a couple of games to the SSD. Play those, then copy them back, keeping just a few at a time on the SSD.

Any ideas if that's a solution or won't work?
 
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