SSD. First Purchase

machinebummer

machinebummer

machinebummer

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31 Jan 2012
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276
Hi guys

Apologies on starting a new thread just for this but was starting to get a little unsure.

This is my first SSD purchase and was considering between 2 different 120GB ones. The Corsair Force Series 3 and the OCZ Vertex.

Now reading the reviews on OCs store they seem great and all but "need a firmware update first" or "occasional lockup" seems to pop up frequently.

Is it really worth getting an SSD or are they too much trouble?

Is it easy to install and flash the firmware as I've always been really wary of doing any kind of bios flashing.

Should I consider another make model?

My Specs are

i7 2600
Asus P8H67-M PRO
16GB RAM
HD7950


Thanks
 
Last edited:
I have the SSD that is in my sig the OCZ Agility 3 and i rang OcuK and asked them if
it came with the latest firmware which it does, so it was easy as anything just unplug
your other drives plug the SSD in load OS onto it then plug other drives in and away you
go.

Definitely worth the upgrade though my system is lightening fast now. Would definitely
recommend getting one mate.
 
go for the corsair gt series or the vertex 3,they use better performing synchronous nand memory

as for firmware it will come with the latest version and sandforce drivers have been much improved
 
If I had to choose between the two you mentioned, I'd have to say the Corsair. OCZ have a pretty mediocre record for reliability.

But neither of them would be my first choice, for that would be a Crucial M4. Not the fastest SSD there is, but one of the most reliable and fast enough for all real world usage scenarios. I doubt you'd be able to tell the difference between the M4 and a faster SSD without a benchmark.

Updating the firmware on an SSD if you even need to is a piece of cake. Most of them come with the latest firmware already, so I wouldn't be worried about that aspect of it.
 
Most OCZ owners will recommend the OCZ.

However I've only ever seen one report on here of a bad Crucial M4 and even then the customer support from Crucial was superb for that person.
Crucial have the best reputation for reliability, along with Intel.

OCZ drives are also good, but I've seen more than a couple of reports of dead OCZ drives.

So as an M4 user, I would recommend the M4 hands down.
 
I don't own a SSD (yet!), but was considering the M4 128gb as a reliable all-rounder...
...until OcUK put the Intel 520 120gb on This Week Only @ £150. Epic pricing!

Definitely worth the extra £10 IMHO, mainly for the 5 year warranty and Intel name. Only drawback is the Sandforce controller, but Intel claim to have ironed out the bugs with their custom firmware. Time will tell.

There's certainly nothing wrong with the M4 - it's tried and trusted, and any bugs have been quickly fixed - and the real-world performance is better than the 220mb/s write speed suggests (read speed is the same as all Sata3 drives). The Marvell controller is probably the most reliable one out there.

But the Sandforce is the faster controller, and uses on-the-fly compression to increase speeds and reduce "wear", theoretically extending SSD life. So if Intel really have removed the BSOD/compatibility bugs with their firmware, the 520 should be a real winner (until Sata4 anyway).
 
minicle said:
+1

<< 1 happy OCZ vertex owner :cool:

If I was buying today, I would buy a 256gb ssd which is now the same price point as the 120GB vertex when I bought it.
Click to expand...

Well I was looking at the larger capacity drives as I could do with the space tbh but I thought I should just buy a smaller 120gb ssd and get another 1 or 2tb external HDD for around the same as a 240gb ssd.
 
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