Need help deciding on an SSD!

jac705

jac705

jac705

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Hi I'm looking to buy an SSD for my OS since I have heard they can greatly improve performance such as start up times, program launch times etc.

Taking a look at whats for sale the OCZ drives seem like the ones to go for in my price range of about £200 but I don't know enough about the difference between Solid, Apex and Vertex series.

Ideally I would want 60GB and I would be open to buying more than one for a RAID 0 setup, though I have read this is often not necessary.

Thanks for any advice.
 
Solid is a rebranded Core V2 using the low-end jmicron controller. Small write performance isn't too great on this drive and people often report stuttering.

Apex is essentially 2 Solid controllers in a type of RAID 0. Better performance and the small write performance is a little better as well, so less stuttering and higher read and write speeds. But still considered to be on the lower end of the SSD spectrum.

Vertex is the best drive from OCZ currently. Small write performance outshines all except Intels drives. It uses a different controller to the other drives and as such doesn't suffer the same problems. Read and especially write performance in the latest firmware is much better than the competing drive (Intel X25-M)

If you're going for an OCZ drive. Vertex has to be the choice.
 
also interested in this, are the g-skill drives any good? sorry for hi-jack but im sure it will be of interest to the OP too, what SSDs are currently regarded the best drives to get.. not necessarily the most expensive
 
There is a very good write up at Anandtech here which is worth a read. It's been linked to several times here in other threads, so have a browse through it cause it'll answer most of your questions regarding the current crop of SSD's.

Basically the OCZ Vertex are just slightly behind the Intel X25E series and actually on a par with the Intel X25M series in many of the real-world benchmarks used in the tests. Anand does some very good testing and also there's an interesting section dealing with how OCZ changed the firmware etc to adjust their drives performance based on the constructive feedback that Anand gave their CEO!
 
A very helpful article.
One question though: I tend to format every 6 months or so...will this shorten lifetime of the drive by a noticeable amount?
I dont want to be spending £200 and it only lasts 18 months or not much longer!
 
I don't believe formatting every six months will have much affect, just remember to use the secure erase tool mentioned in the Anandtech article to get maximum performance back.
 
Either a PB22-J, or stretch a bit further to £275 and get a 80gb Intel.
The 30 and 60GB Vertexes are an unjustifiably high justified £/GB at the moment (seriously OCZ, they're good, but not better than an X25-M! ).
 
Looking at an SSD too - is 64Gb enough for Vista ultimate and a few programs? I'd check the usage on my current drive but it's borked :(
 
Zarf said:
Either a PB22-J, or stretch a bit further to £275 and get a 80gb Intel.
The 30 and 60GB Vertexes are an unjustifiably high justified £/GB at the moment (seriously OCZ, they're good, but not better than an X25-M! ).
Click to expand...

They're also cheaper per gb than the X25-M (apart from the 30GB), especially once you pass the 60GB point
 
miniyazz said:
They're also cheaper per gb than the X25-M (apart from the 30GB), especially once you pass the 60GB point
Click to expand...

30GB Vertex = 4.10/GB
60GB Vertex = 3.55/GB
64GB PB22-J = 2.34/GB
80GB X25-M = 3.43/GB
120GB Vertex = 2.78/GB
128GB PB22-J = 2.10/GB

Like I said, the 120GB Vertex is fairly decent value for it's performance (but well over the OP's budget), but the 30GB and 60GB models are disproportionately high.
 
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