Spec Me An SSD ~£125

yhack

yhack

yhack

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Joined
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Cambridge
So I'm looking for an SSD to put Windows and some games on, ideally over 100gb. I've got a budget of around £125, not too much more than that.

From OcUK my options seem to be:

Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-021-CS&groupid=701&catid=2104&subcat=1427

and

OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" SATA-3
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-076-OC&groupid=701&catid=2104&subcat=1427

From the specs, the Corsair seems to be winning, but which would be better?
Are there any other SSDs for around this price that are worth having a look at?
Is there any new technology right around the corner that will cause prices to drop or anything?

Thanks in advance for any help :)
 
The M4 is £25 more expensive than the price the Op is looking at and after looking at all the reviews and doing the same tests on my own Force 3 120GB, I don't think it offers £25 of extra performance.

The Force 3 is currently £125 inc delivery if you look around :)
 
MilanoChris said:
I'd rather pay an extra £25 to have no firmware issues.
Click to expand...

The Force 3 has no outstanding firmware issues. Even OcUK's shop page states this.

1.3.3 fixed the power/sleep issues reported. New drives ship with this FW and those shelf stock that do not, just flash from within Windows. Works flawlessly.
 
Last edited:
I've been testing it out since I got it last week and have experienced no problems whatsoever. I imagine people getting problems are not on firmware 1.3.3.
 
Thanks for the replies.
I've just realised my motherboard doesn't have SATA 3, if I got the Force Series 3, would it run on SATA 2 until I get a motherboard upgrade?
Assuming it would, what kind of speed could I expect from it?
 
It doesn't matter what SSD you get, they will all blow you away :p

yhack said:
Thanks for the replies.
I've just realised my motherboard doesn't have SATA 3, if I got the Force Series 3, would it run on SATA 2 until I get a motherboard upgrade?
Assuming it would, what kind of speed could I expect from it?
Click to expand...

It would just be a bit slower, mate has the same drive on his SATA II board and it's perfectly speedy, just transfer rates are a bit slower.
 
yhack said:
Thanks for the replies.
I've just realised my motherboard doesn't have SATA 3, if I got the Force Series 3, would it run on SATA 2 until I get a motherboard upgrade?
Assuming it would, what kind of speed could I expect from it?
Click to expand...

If you're not up for a motherboard upgrade at the moment, you could try a controller card out:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18343210

(I'm yet to purchase the bits, but will be soon! :p)
 
yhack said:
Thanks for the replies.
I've just realised my motherboard doesn't have SATA 3, if I got the Force Series 3, would it run on SATA 2 until I get a motherboard upgrade?
Assuming it would, what kind of speed could I expect from it?
Click to expand...

You could hit around 280 MB/S, but the the main reason for getting SSD is the massively improved seek times, this will the same on SATA II or III.

Paying money for a SATA III card would certainly be a waste IMO.
 
Well I bought the Corsair Force Series 3 120GB.
Now to work out how to dual-boot it with my current set-up. I haven't done this for a long time :)
 
ssd.png

Seems it's slacking a bit, anything I need to do to make it faster?

Currently:
ACHI on
Hibernate disabled
Pagefile 1024mb
TRIM enabled
Windows Search disabled
Prefetch disabled
System Restore disabled
 
I haven't done any of that stuff except for the trim being on and ahci mode and mine is at full tilt (M4)

What mobo you got and have you got the latest bios/drivers/Intel RST etc?
 
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