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$300 burning a hole in my pocket.... Which SSD should I get?

C

chrisf6969

Member
So I sold an older PC and I have about $300 that I'm going to use as an upgrade.

I'm pretty happy with everything on my PC.
e8400 (does 4Ghz, but been keeping it at 3.6Ghz low volts)
Asus P5K-E - good mobo
GTX 260 - good enough, especially considering I haven't gamed in months
2x2Gb ddr2 1066 - 4Gb plenty fast enough

I don't really see a point in upgrading to an Core i7 right now.
I've been considering getting a quad core like q9550, but I don't really do anything that warrants it. (no encoding, etc.)

So the biggest bottleneck that I see in my system is the harddrive. And from everyone who's played with a good SSD, they praise the ever living shit out of them.

So to the million dollar question.... WHICH SSD should I get.

I'm leaning toward the following 3 options:
Intel 80Gb X25-M: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820167005
2 x 30Gb OCZ Vertex (Raid 0): http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820227393
or 60Gb OCZ Vertex: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820227394
EDIT: added G.skill Falcon: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...6&ref=dynamitedata.com
I'll save $ if I got with either OCZ option which would be nice to be under budget, instead of slightly over with the Intel.

Please, post OTHER recommendation in thread!
 
I'm in the same situation as you. Im happy with all my hardware except hd. I was waiting on x25-m prices to come down and I saw this morning that newegg has a shell shocker deal up on ocz vertex 30 gb drive $120 and $20 rebate. I ordered one and am going to use it for OS. Right now the only ssd that actually work like they should are the intels and ocz vertex series. The vertex should tie me over until x25's come down to the 100 range.
 
I saw that shell shocker deal this morning too, and I was thinking.... 2 x 30Gb Raid 0 would be yummy.
And since I have $290 sitting in my paypal account from a sale last week, I'm really on the edge of buying now!

41 views & only 1 vote besides my own!
 
X25-M. Performance wise, its basically an X25-E with lower sequential writes.

That said you need a large mechanical storage drive regardless unless your computer use is extremely lightweight.
 
Astrallite, you have a bunch of Vertex & Intel SSDs, right?

How is 2x 30 GB Vertex RAID-0 vs. X25-M in Crystaldiskmark?

My pick is X25-M btw, as it's more storage than 2x 30 GB Vertex, & i believe for real world usage it'll still be slightly faster due to better random small writes/reads.
 
Originally posted by: n7
Astrallite, you have a bunch of Vertex & Intel SSDs, right?

How is 2x 30 GB Vertex RAID-0 vs. X25-M in Crystaldiskmark?

My pick is X25-M btw, as it's more storage than 2x 30 GB Vertex, & i believe for real world usage it'll still be slightly faster due to better random small writes/reads.
Click to expand...

I can't answer that question 😛

I gave up on RAID after my 2 x 1 TB Raid storage setup bit the dust.

For general IOPS (HD Tune 3.5 Pro Random Access bench) the X25-M is faster than the 120GB Vertex (and Vertex EX incidentally). For stuff like boot time, application load, it should be quicker. From the ATTO numbers I've seen in the OCZ forums, the real benefit of RAID Vertex doesn't come up until you get into > 128KB file blocks. Below that the Intel still has an edge.
 
Originally posted by: Astrallite
X25-M. Performance wise, its basically an X25-E with lower sequential writes.

That said you need a large mechanical storage drive regardless unless your computer use is extremely lightweight.
Click to expand...

I have a WD 640Gb Black for my backup & main storage.

The SSD will be my OS & Programs drive.
 
Get the X25 M. I just starting to use it for my OS and apps and things open up instantly. I think its the best upgrade you can make for the money.
 
I read one guys take on the subject of Raid or no Raid on SSD's, and he said that yes its an incredible difference going from a spindle drive to a SSD, but that he noticed no discernable difference going from one SSD to 2 in Raid0. Sure, benchmark apps will tell you you're doubleing your throughput (in the benchmarks), but in real world normal every day use, there isn't much of a difference or noticelable performance gain between the two setups.
 
From what I've seen on user benchmarks, RAID seems to have negligible effects (sometimes even negative) on random read performance with SSDs. You take the fact that nearly 70% of system reads are 4k and under, and you can see how limited RAID will provide for a typical user experience.
 
Right, because raid doubles throughput but increases latency. For small random reads and writes, low latency is more important than high throughput.

It's like comparing a sword to a club. For sheer destructive ability, many massive clubs together could do more damage than a sword. But if you need to cut something neatly, no matter how many clubs you tie up together into a massive club, it still won't cut it any better.

Hmmm... Maybe somebody can think of the requisite car analogy now 😛
 
Dam I voted for the Intel because I thought the raid-0 option involved non-vertex drives. (I don't carry around part numbers in my head)

Had the OP put Vertex in the raid-0 option as he did the non-raid vertex option then that is what I would have voted for.
 
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Dam I voted for the Intel because I thought the raid-0 option involved non-vertex drives. (I don't carry around part numbers in my head)

Had the OP put Vertex in the raid-0 option as he did the non-raid vertex option then that is what I would have voted for.
Click to expand...

OCZSSD2-1VTX30G
VTX? vertex?
 
Originally posted by: taltamir
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Dam I voted for the Intel because I thought the raid-0 option involved non-vertex drives. (I don't carry around part numbers in my head)

Had the OP put Vertex in the raid-0 option as he did the non-raid vertex option then that is what I would have voted for.
Click to expand...

OCZSSD2-1VTX30G
VTX? vertex?
Click to expand...

If you are asking do I wear an "L" on my head too, the answer is yes.

Here's what I read:

Do I get (1) raid-0 OCZ XYGHJS123$%*#@! or (2) a Vertex or (3) an Intel?

Could I have spent 2 more seconds an read a little more into it? Sure, but I assumed that since Vertex wasn't explicitly written for option 1 whereas it was explicitly written for option 2 that meant option 1 was some cheap ass Core series on clearance at newegg...i.e. that it was something other than Vertex which just automatically made me spasm and click and Intel option.
 
Originally posted by: Hacp
Gskill falcon 128gb for 309 dollars. Its essentially the OCZ vertex.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231256
Click to expand...

Wow that looks sweet! What would be better two of the 128GB striped or four 64GB (getting expensive at $800!). Four of them in RAID0 would be a fast 256GB drive!

Why is the E series Intel so expensive? $800 for 80GB? LOL

Would there be much benefit to using these ssd on a areca card with 2gb cache as opposed to plugging into the motherboard?
 
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Originally posted by: taltamir
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Dam I voted for the Intel because I thought the raid-0 option involved non-vertex drives. (I don't carry around part numbers in my head)

Had the OP put Vertex in the raid-0 option as he did the non-raid vertex option then that is what I would have voted for.
Click to expand...

OCZSSD2-1VTX30G
VTX? vertex?
Click to expand...

If you are asking do I wear an "L" on my head too, the answer is yes.

Here's what I read:

Do I get (1) raid-0 OCZ XYGHJS123$%*#@! or (2) a Vertex or (3) an Intel?

Could I have spent 2 more seconds an read a little more into it? Sure, but I assumed that since Vertex wasn't explicitly written for option 1 whereas it was explicitly written for option 2 that meant option 1 was some cheap ass Core series on clearance at newegg...i.e. that it was something other than Vertex which just automatically made me spasm and click and Intel option.
Click to expand...
What does L stand for? 😉
lol
 
Originally posted by: Hacp
Gskill falcon 128gb for 309 dollars. Its essentially the OCZ vertex.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231256
Click to expand...



:beer:

This is what I was thinking too.


Moving to a 120GB Vertex from a pair of VRaptors was the best upgrade I've done in a while. I still keep the VR's around though. I had my doubts with the Vertex and a couple of it's earlier firmware revisions...but now it performs great.

...Selling my pair of GTX 295's and moving to a single 285 was the best ...downgrade...that I've done. No more SLI/CFX for me....eh....at least no more Quad SLI/CFX.
 
well... its an OCZ vertex with a different firmware, unknown performance, 8GB unhidden which was before used for accelerating performance (by reducing the amount of read-erase-modify-write cycles and doing some background defragging) and different utility support.

heck for all we know the falcon might be a better choice, but i just haven't seen any real reviews yet.
 
Originally posted by: taltamir
the intel is 315$ shipped on newegg right now, making it the better deal.
Click to expand...

If all you want is pure numbers, sure. I like more space though.
 
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