many a time i have wanted to jump on the SSD wagon and can see the benefits, but to me its changing all the time with new speeds, updates and settings to take into account, part of me thinks at least with the old style, there was a standard 7200rpm blah blah and we all new the trusted makes and models it was all quite simple.
im a little confused about it all, and wondering if i go and spend a few bob the drive will be superseded within a few months
saying that i do want to get one as my misses wants to buy me something for xmas and i can't think of anything else i need.
Im after a good solid performer that operates without having countless firmware or having to use wiping software to gain speed back, is that possible?
There's really not a lot to be confused about.
They're SATA drives, you plug them in like a normal HD. You install Windows like a normal HD. You turn off defrag. You enjoy the benefits. That's all you need to do. Yes you can do more tweaks if you really want to, but it's not necessary.
Even when it slows down a bit over time, you're still faster than a HD - and you clean it - just like you would with a HD, but you use an SSD program instead of a defragger.
a lot of l the talk about TRIM, firmware and degradation is well over played, and IMO quite often raised by those who don't understand what this means, or just want to knock SSDs simply because they can't justify a purchase themselves at this time - and want to put others off it. From the firmware perspective what you've got to remember is that this an OC's forum. Just like many people upate their mobo BIOS the minute a new one is released to beta, the same is similar for SSDs. Now that Indilinx & Intel drives have TRIM support - it's becoming less of an issue as new drives will be shipped with TRIM supporting firmware, making subsequent firmware updates a case of if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
If you're confident about fitting your own drive, installing windows, and general minor tweaks - then the downsides mentioned should be minor factors in your decision making. If you buy your kit at PCWorld and need directions as to where the on/off button is (not aimed at you _jimlad_ as I know you're more advanced than that!), then get someone else to fit it, and take a few hours over the next few months to read up how to get everything working under TRIM and keep your drive clean. Or learn how to make an image of HD, run a util to clean the drive in DOS, and reinstate your image.
As for recommendations; in no particular order;
Indilinx drives (Crucial M225, OCZ Vertex/Agility, Corsair X Series...)
Samsing drives (Samsung PB22J, Corsair P Series...)
Intel drives (Kingston V 40gb, Intel X25M)
Choose one of these with a capacity and budget that suits and you won't go far wrong.
Yes the drive will be superseded in a few months, just like CPUs, GFX cards and hard drives improve. In all likelihood the next drives will mean SATA3 for full speed, but you'll need a new mobo or PCI-e SATA3 card as well.
