Best SSD to go for with only SATA-II controller?

TehJumpingJawa · 20 Apr 2011 at 17:55

Windows 7 x64 is getting near to the point where it needs a clean install, and i'm itching to spend a little money on an upgrade.

So if I must reinstall, logic is telling me I might as well reinstall onto a new drive.

So, which SSD would I see best bang for the buck(£) with when using it as a boot drive for a (slightly modified) Dell XPS 7100?

Are all the brands pretty much equivalent?
Are mfg quoted speeds comparable & realistic of real world performance?
Is the massively improved seek time what causes the biggest noticable difference between SSD & HDD performance?

Cheers!

Oh, and spec of my XPS 7100 if it matters...:

Phenom II X6 1055T,
8GB,
Radeon HD 5870,
SATA-II raid controller with:
2x1TB in raid 0 + 2x750GB in raid 0.

shuzzbutt · 20 Apr 2011 at 20:04

im in the same boat myself, looking for ssd's for both my desktop & htpc. Getting quite tempted by the intel 320 series myself as I'd be quite happy with a 40gb drive for OS then get some cheap fast 1tb drives for storage.

Nameless_87 · 20 Apr 2011 at 20:25

I'm in the same boat...

I was between the Vertex 2E and the Intel 320 Series.

Decided to go with intel over teh vertex for 2 reasons:
1. Reliability - Inter are far better, i.e. less drives fail
2. Newer technology. Even though both are Sata 2, the intel is the newest one while the vertex has been out for quite some time.

So I'll go for an intel.

In real life it does not matter. You won't see a difference in everyday running, just on benchmarks, but as long as it performs well who cares about benchmarks!

TehJumpingJawa · 21 Apr 2011 at 13:13

Thanks, will look out for a deal on one of these.

deusexlumina · 21 Apr 2011 at 13:17

Personally i'd get a vertex 2E 60GB. Use one myself and never had an issue, has amazing read and write speeds, and -correct me if im wrong - but slightly cheaper than the competition.

I think the whole reliability thing has been overplayed a bit tbh. I wouldn't be surprised if the return rates for intel and ocz are very similar.

lrlcr · 21 Apr 2011 at 19:12

The reliability rates were posted in the pinned ssd thread. IIRC there was an order of magnitude between the failure rates.

TehJumpingJawa · 11 May 2011 at 20:37

Got a Kingston 96GB V+100 in the end, for a bargain price of £103.
Am loving it!

I forsee the purchase of a great many more SSDs

Philtor · 11 May 2011 at 20:43

For SATA II boards I would get the Vertex 2E.... 25nm might be 'newer technology' but from my understanding this is not a good thing with SSD Flash memory as it doesn't last as long. Just my 2 cents.