Getting my first SSD

LoloPinky

LoloPinky

LoloPinky

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Joined
6 Feb 2012
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70
Location
Scotland
Hello all,
I've been thinking about purchasing an SSD for a while now and I'm in desperate need to reformat my pc because of various things so I think now is the best time to get one. If it isn't, I can reformat my pc now and wait for the best time to get one, as I've heard some people say to wait for the new ones to come out. So is now a good time or not? I don't mind waiting.

Around £160 is my budget, though I'm willing to go a little higher. I have 3 hard drives at the moment, and I'll be using all of those for most of my programs & files. I'll be using the SSD for my OS, my most used applications and a couple of games that I play the most (though I will need a fair bit of space for mods/downloads for those games as well). So I'd like one around 120gb or more, I don't really want to go lower, just in case.

I've been looking at the OCZ Vertex 4 128GB and the Intel 520 Series 120GB. Does anyone have any experience with these drives? Or do you think there's another more suitable drive?

Also, is there anything in particular I need to know about SSD's? I know you can't defrag them and they have to be installed in AHCI mode, and I've read a bit about TRIM. Does TRIM work all by itself, or do I need to start it?
 
This thread might help. :)

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18392403

LoloPinky said:
Also, is there anything in particular I need to know about SSD's? I know you can't defrag them and they have to be installed in AHCI mode, and I've read a bit about TRIM. Does TRIM work all by itself, or do I need to start it?
Click to expand...

You can defrag an SSD, but all you'll do is send the write amplification crazy so you really don't want to. Also you can install in non-AHCI but performance will suffer as a result. Best to check AHCI is enabled before installing Windows. As for TRIM, both those drives support it in Windows 7 straight away, you don't need to enable anything. The only time you need to take your own measures is if the drive doesn't support it (rare these days, but can happen, and means doing garbage collection manually) or you install an OS that doesn't support it.
 
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Thanks for the reply and the info.

I read the other thread and it seems people are having problems with the OCZ drives and Intel are pretty dependable. Plus the Intel has faster read/write speeds anyway. So Intel definitely seems the way to go.
 
I have a crucial M4 and a corsair force 3 SSD

Not had a single problem with either.
The M4 was the most popular a few months ago, it's dropped in price the past few weeks but its write speed is not as good as some of the other drives.

personally I would sooner have a tried and tested stable drive than gamble on new tech...... the M4 is tried and tested.
 
Also, to check for yourself that TRIM is enabled so you can sleep at night.....just open up elevated command prompt (i.e run cmd.exe as admin) and type:


fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify

Resulting numbers shown in-line explained below:
DisableDeleteNotify = 1 (Windows TRIM commands are disabled)
DisableDeleteNotify = 0 (Windows TRIM commands are enabled)
 
After looking at the M4, it seems to be more suitable. It's cheaper, it has more space, the read speeds are the same and there are a lot more reviews for it than the Intel one, all of them being 5 star as well. And as you said, it's tried and tested.

I had a look at the Corsair Force 3, which also seems pretty good. It's cheaper than the M4 and has faster write speeds, with a heck of a lot more reviews. The only thing is I notice it doesn't seem to come with a warranty. All of the others come with either a 3 or 5 year warranty.

Ahh, now I have too many to choose from and I don't know which to pick XD
 
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dont choose the force 3,if you want corsair go for the force gt,they use better nand

corsair force gt

crucial m4

intel 520

vertex3/4

all use better nand memory
 
I think I'm going to settle for the Force GT. I'm getting more than double the write speed, a slightly higher read speed, for a difference of 8gb (which really isn't all that much) and £20 more expensive, which also isn't that much of a difference.
 
LoloPinky said:
After looking at the M4, it seems to be more suitable. It's cheaper, it has more space, the read speeds are the same and there are a lot more reviews for it than the Intel one, all of them being 5 star as well. And as you said, it's tried and tested.

I had a look at the Corsair Force 3, which also seems pretty good. It's cheaper than the M4 and has faster write speeds, with a heck of a lot more reviews. The only thing is I notice it doesn't seem to come with a warranty. All of the others come with either a 3 or 5 year warranty.

Ahh, now I have too many to choose from and I don't know which to pick XD
Click to expand...

both come with 3 year warranty mate
 
LoloPinky said:
I think I'm going to settle for the Force GT. I'm getting more than double the write speed, a slightly higher read speed, for a difference of 8gb (which really isn't all that much) and £20 more expensive, which also isn't that much of a difference.
Click to expand...

heres mine 60gb force gt on z68 mb

wlawrc.jpg


came with latest firmware and mounting bracket
 
Looks pretty great, I think the GT is the way to go.

That's good to know, SniperDude. I wonder why they don't put it on the product page though.
 
wouldn't worry to much about the write speed if the M4 250MBs is still really quick and once you have installed everything the drive almost becomes read only anyway.


But as I have said the corsair force 3 is just as good so the GT version should be even better.



EDIT: The warranty info is on the 180GB version don't know why its not on the others.
 
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Thanks for the help everyone, I'll get the GT ordered right away. Quick question though, do they come with SATA cables? I'm assuming they don't since it isn't stated on the product page, but just want to make sure before I go and get a SATA cable that I don't need :P
 
LoloPinky said:
Thanks for the help everyone, I'll get the GT ordered right away. Quick question though, do they come with SATA cables? I'm assuming they don't since it isn't stated on the product page, but just want to make sure before I go and get a SATA cable that I don't need :P
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mine didnt,look in your motherboard box if you built your own pc,it will ahve a spare cable,and sata3,sata2 cables are just the same performance wise so buy the cheapest one if you have to buy one
 
I found one in my motherboard box, but it looks rather old XD
I suppose I could switch it with one of the newer SATA cables that my HDDs are using.

I don't think I have any SATA II cables, they just say serial ATA on them.
 
Yeah, it does - I have a GA-880GA-UD3H. Speaking about motherboards, does anyone happen to know if mine supports SLI? It doesn't say anywhere it does, but it supports Crossfire and on a similar motherboard it does. It has 2 PCIe x16 slots, one running at x16 and one at x4. Does the second one need to be running at x8/x16 for SLI?

Oh, damn you shipping, I didn't think it would be as much as £7. Oh well. :(
 
LoloPinky said:
Yeah, it does - I have a GA-880GA-UD3H. Speaking about motherboards, does anyone happen to know if mine supports SLI? It doesn't say anywhere it does, but it supports Crossfire and on a similar motherboard it does. It has 2 PCIe x16 slots, one running at x16 and one at x4. Does the second one need to be running at x8/x16 for SLI?

Oh, damn you shipping, I didn't think it would be as much as £7. Oh well. :(
Click to expand...

you wont see those read/write figures i posted on your mb though,is it amd? notsure what controllers they use but they probably use marvell sata3 ports and they are poor compared to intel sata3

i thought you had an intel board,and p67/z68/x79 have the best performing intel sata3 ports,
 
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