SSD Decisions, OMG another thread?!

Gangster · 24 Sep 2010 at 11:31

Hey all,

Looking to bite the bullet after reading about the new intel SSDs being delayed.

With so many out there I've got no clue which is the best.

I'm looking to spend max of £150, but can stretch if the performance is really there - when I say that I mean real life performance not benchmark figures.

I've done the research on how to set one up, what to disable etc just now picking one is the problem!

I'm looking at;

Intel G2 80GB
Read: 250mb/s Write: 70mb/s

Crucial C300 64GB
Read: 355mb/s Write: 70mb/s

Corsair Reactor 120GB **Scratch this, read loads of people have issues with them dissapearing in BIOS... last thing I need!**
Read: 250mb/s Write: 170mb/s

Also looking at the Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB... but worried that writes aren't so good but the next model up the 128gb is quite a huge jump in price!

Now looking there, I thought by reputation Intels were the best, but from manufacturer specifications it looks like the Corsair has the better overall with read/write combined?

Does anyone know a reliable site to get read/write figures off, and more importantly which are the speeds that are most important? I know there is 4k etc but whats the best measurement of how well it will do in overall windows use, occasional gaming etc.

Winston · 24 Sep 2010 at 12:35

Will you be using sataII or sataIII?

PCM2 · 24 Sep 2010 at 12:38

You have to consider the access times and 4K read/write as well. But if you want to know where this is going - why haven't you got the OCZ Vertex 2E in your list if you have an SATA2 motherboard?

domthecondom · 24 Sep 2010 at 12:53

go for intel if you have a sata2 mobo

Greebo · 24 Sep 2010 at 12:57

domthecondom said:
go for OCZ Vertex 2Eif you have a sata2 mobo

Fixed this for you

Gangster · 24 Sep 2010 at 13:16

PCM2 said:
You have to consider the access times and 4K read/write as well. But if you want to know where this is going - why haven't you got the OCZ Vertex 2E in your list if you have an SATA2 motherboard?

I was editing my post but had so many tabs comparing these things I forgot to save the edit lol

What are the most important specs to be looking at in terms of general windows usage?

domthecondom said:
go for intel if you have a sata2 mobo

Does it really perform the best out of the three?

Greebo said:
Fixed this for you

I've been hearing that the Sandforce controllers on the OCZ 2E don't degrade on write performance, well they are able to sustain their speeds quite well?

I think I might go with the OCZ based on reviews and price too, 60GB will do me fine and good at £110 ish.

So i guess its between these two SSDs, similiar price just which one is better?

OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB
- Capacity: 60GB
- Controller: SandForce SF-1200
- Maximum Read: 285MB/sec
- Maximum Write: 275MB/sec
- Sustained Write: 250MB/sec
- Max I/O Per Second (IOPS): 50000 IOPS (4KB File)
- NAND Flash: Multi-Level Cell (MLC)
- Interface: SATA-II
- TRIM Support (Requires Windows 7)
- Warranty: 3 Years

Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB
- Capacity: 64GB
- Cache: 128MB
- Controller: Marvell 88SS9174
- Read: Up to 355MB/sec
- Write: Up to 70MB/sec
- NAND Flash: Multi-Level Cell (MLC)
- Interface: SATA 6Gbps
- Low Power Consumption
- Shock Resistant
- TRIM Support (Requires Windows 7)
- Warranty: 3 Years

I'd guess the OCZ, but then again Crucial has SATA 3... :confused:

Greebo · 24 Sep 2010 at 13:22

Gangster said:
Does anyone know a reliable site to get read/write figures off, and more importantly which are the speeds that are most important? I know there is 4k etc but whats the best measurement of how well it will do in overall windows use, occasional gaming etc.

That's the problem with SSD's and hence which SSD is best is quite dependant on the use it is being put to.

Intel's had the big lead in randon 4k read/writes but the other manufacturers have caught up/overtaken them.

4k read/writes is the key figure for how zippy windows is in general.

Obviously sequential large file reads affects how quick games/levels load up.

High write speeds like the Vertex 2 are good if you are say using paintshop and saving large files to disk (or even temporary files and store them elseware on a normal drive when done)

Crucial C300 is the no brainer buy if you had sata 3. On sata 2 it's read speeds are no better than the vextex 2e and it's write speeds are substantially less.

It gets even more complex when you factor in the Crucial and OCZ drives work in totally different ways with the Crucial using a cache but the OCZ doesn't and loves compressed files.

To be honest, all the leading SSD drives are pretty much the same performance in real life and you would only probably notice any differences in benchmarks. The write speeds of the Crucial drive are a little disappointing though but if not using the kind of apps where this is needed you won't notice that either. The difference between a normal hard drive and an ssd is very noticable though.

For example, crysis loading times on a SSD are much faster than hard drives but there is only 4 sec difference between the slowest kingston cheapo ssd and the crucial on sata 3 which is the fastest so about 10% difference.

I have just upgraded from a Crucial M225 ssd to two vertex 2e in raid. Yes windows boots up quicker than before and so do games and it does seem a little quicker in general use but not a massive difference. Tbh the only reason I did was for the space and putting two in raid 0 is much quicker than the same size single drive so why not.

Gangster · 24 Sep 2010 at 13:27

You mention Sata 3, would it be worth buying a pci card with sata 3.. is it that much quicker?

Greebo · 24 Sep 2010 at 13:33

Gangster said:
I was editing my post but had so many tabs comparing these things I forgot to save the edit lol

What are the most important specs to be looking at in terms of general windows usage?

Does it really perform the best out of the three?

I've been hearing that the Sandforce controllers on the OCZ 2E don't degrade on write performance, well they are able to sustain their speeds quite well?

I think I might go with the OCZ based on reviews and price too, 60GB will do me fine and good at £110 ish.

So i guess its between these two SSDs, similiar price just which one is better?

OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB
- Capacity: 60GB
- Controller: SandForce SF-1200
- Maximum Read: 285MB/sec
- Maximum Write: 275MB/sec
- Sustained Write: 250MB/sec
- Max I/O Per Second (IOPS): 50000 IOPS (4KB File)
- NAND Flash: Multi-Level Cell (MLC)
- Interface: SATA-II
- TRIM Support (Requires Windows 7)
- Warranty: 3 Years

Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB
- Capacity: 64GB
- Cache: 128MB
- Controller: Marvell 88SS9174
- Read: Up to 355MB/sec
- Write: Up to 70MB/sec
- NAND Flash: Multi-Level Cell (MLC)
- Interface: SATA 6Gbps
- Low Power Consumption
- Shock Resistant
- TRIM Support (Requires Windows 7)
- Warranty: 3 Years

I'd guess the OCZ, but then again Crucial has SATA 3...

I presume you have sata 3? If not then on sata 2 the crucial has read speeds similar to the OCZ.

Gangster · 24 Sep 2010 at 13:35

no sata 3 on my board, just trying to find how the crucial compares in speed when sata 2 vs sata 3? For the Crucial drive that is.

Greebo · 24 Sep 2010 at 13:56

Gangster said:
You mention Sata 3, would it be worth buying a pci card with sata 3.. is it that much quicker?

70mb/sec on read speeds so about 20 to 25% faster at loading up large sequential files.

The result is a pretty consistant faster loading time for games. On sata 3, the crucial will load stalker in 20 secs vs 24 secs on the OCZ.

Is it worth £30 for the sata 3 card? Probably not. In my opinion sata 3 needs a little bit of time to bed down and sort itself out. I know that on my mobo, the marvel sata 3 chipset is appauling on raid versus the Intel sata 2 chipset. My write speeds were only half of what they should have been and my 4k random writes were only a 5th.

It doesn't seem to affect single drives though but just shows how "new" sata 3 is and isn't quite there yet.

Gangster · 24 Sep 2010 at 15:26

Ok, in which case considering that the Corsair will be no good by the time Sata 3 is properley established I may as well go for the OCZ model?

Greebo · 24 Sep 2010 at 16:02

Probably. I mean I only had my first ssd for a year. I'm pretty sure that next year with the next gen ssd drives I'll be changing mine again.

After all once they are offering 200Gb drives for £120 with 500mb/sec read and write speeds you'll have to go onto sata 3.

Ivyforce · 24 Sep 2010 at 16:26

Very happy with vertex 2e here.
Win7, wow, bfbc2 and theme hospital and 9.5gb spare.

wow is bigger than windows too nowadays..

PCM2 · 24 Sep 2010 at 19:17

Put it this way. I have a X25-M 80GB myself and I love it to bits. But I think for the current price performance the Vertex 2E is the way to go for SATA 2 motherboards - I am eyeing it up as my next purchase myself as I need more space.