Looking to upgrade to SSD - OCZ Agility

ShakeNBake

ShakeNBake

ShakeNBake

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Looking to upgrade from an old school 1TB SATA-II HDD to a SSD for operating system and gaming. Will still use the HDD for data storage.

My motherboard = MSI Z68A-GD55-G3 Intel Z68
(running windows 7)

This SSD by OCZ seems to be the best value for money:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-077-OC&tool=3

240GB for £140, 525MB/sec max. read, 500MB/sec max. write

Am I missing anything here, or is this a crazy good bargain...?
 
Well not a bargain exactly but a good price.

I say that because until last week the Samsung 830 was available for 10 quid more and the same capacity M4 was similarly priced and both are better drives.
Or alternatively Sandisk Extreme 240gb which uses toggle nand (better than the Agility).

Saying all that if you don't have a ssd atm you would be pleasantly surprised with the Agility anyway over a spinny hdd :)
 
the Crucial SSD of similar size is currently £192, £52 more than the one I linked O.O

what is the main difference between the OCZ Agility and OCZ Vertex SSD's?
 
I woudn't go with one of the cheaper ones there cheaper for a reason.

Intel, Samsung 830 or Crucial M4 are always the best and most reliable
 
Ok well I'm back to the drawing board now.

I'm basically looking to upgrade to an SSD for faster system load times and faster load times during gaming.

I am specifically having a problem with stuttery gameplay in Diablo III despite neither my CPU, GPU or RAM being maxed out, and having a fast internet connection. I believe the problem is being caused by slow read/write times from my old school SATA-II hard drive (and a bit of fail from Blizzard's coding but they seem to be taking forever to fix it..)

What size SSD would you recommend? Would 120GB be enough for Windows 7 + a few games?

I have a SATA-III motherboard, so would be looking for a 6Gb/s SSD.

All of the 120GB SSD's seem to be using MLC flash technology. The only thing that varies is the controller. I've seen a bit of hate towards the Sandforce controllers, but they seem to be in most of the SSD's, so what it the problem with Sandforce controllers, and what controller is better?

I was looking at the OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-106-OC&groupid=701&catid=2104&subcat=1427 but I don't understand why the stated write speed is only 430MB/s..?

I also don't understand why the Agility 4 costs more money than the Vertex 4, and has far slower read/write speeds?


Basically should I go for the slightly older, slightly slower, and slightly less reliable OCZ Agility 3 240GB for £140, or a slightly newer, faster, more reliable 120GB SSD such as the Vertex 4 for £80-120...? Would 240GB be overkill for W7 + a few games?
 
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120 is enough for a few games, but if like me you have a big steam library you will use it easily. 256 or 240 ideal, I wouldn't touch a sandforce drive I've seen too many bad reviews. I would pay for the reliable tag samsung and crucial have earned.
 
sandforce are fine,just poor early firmware,no issues at all with mine

you can go down the caching route also if you have z68/77 mb,small 60gb ssd caching a big 2 or 3tb hdd
 
The sandforce issues have long since gone yes but it did tarnish my views of OCZ ssd's unfortunately (still loving my near silent OCZ psu though).

I use a 120GB Sandisk Extreme for os and other programs (also BF3 as I reinstalled it on the wrong ssd :p)

My 128GB M4 is for games only.
 
So sandforce is actually viable now? Guessing it's not as good as the samsung and crucial controller but that my untrained eye couldn't notice the difference anyway?
 
alright I went for a Vertex 4 in the end.
thanks for the help guys.

a few more questions if anyone is around to answer;
I am a bit confused with how to update the firmware by "flashing" the SSD. What exactly does this mean, and how roughly do I go about doing it?
If I have a current hard drive in my system, is it better to take that out completely, then just put my windows 7 disc in my drive, and turn the system on with only the new SSD attached? Is it easier to update the firmware before or after installing Windows 7 on the new SSD..? I have the link to this: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...BC-for-OCZ-SSD&p=567552&viewfull=1#post567552 which should help a bit..
 
ShakeNBake said:
alright I went for a Vertex 4 in the end.
thanks for the help guys.

a few more questions if anyone is around to answer;
I am a bit confused with how to update the firmware by "flashing" the SSD. What exactly does this mean, and how roughly do I go about doing it?
If I have a current hard drive in my system, is it better to take that out completely, then just put my windows 7 disc in my drive, and turn the system on with only the new SSD attached? Is it easier to update the firmware before or after installing Windows 7 on the new SSD..? I have the link to this: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...BC-for-OCZ-SSD&p=567552&viewfull=1#post567552 which should help a bit..
Click to expand...

unless its changed since i last did it, put the ssd in as a 2nd drive, boot into windows on existing, run the ocz tools update, then you good to install

and i think you made a good choice :)
 
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