Best Bang For the Buck, SSD around $100-$150

[tetete]

I think a lot of people are like me, need a budget? SSD around 40-80 GB for OS only installation.

If we are in a hunt for one(waiting for deals), which models are worth to wait, and what's the sweet point to pull the trigger?

I know OCZ 64GB Vertex First Gen for $100 is a good price.

how about other popular SSD choices around this range?

I will keep information recognized if there're lots of replies


FASTER Class
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Intel x25-m 2nd Gen.
80gb $2 Per GB at retail; Just below $2 Per GB Used Ebay

Intel x25-m 1st Gen.
$1.50 Per GB Used Ebay or forum

Corsair Force F40
Online retailer 40GB - $90, with rebate

OCZ Agility 2
Online retailer 60GB - $135, with rebate

crucial 300
64GB $140 when on sale



SLOWER Class
-----------------------------------------------------------
Intel X-25V
40GB - $100 Online retailer

OCZ Vertex 1st Gen
64GB $100 After RB

 

[Atara]

An intel x25-m 80gb would be perfect if you can get a deal or buy one used.

 

[tetete]

An intel x25-m 80gb would be perfect if you can get a deal or buy one used.

the question is how much do u think for the X25-M is a deal?

 

[razel]

For Intel Gen 2s, best deal for new from a retail store is $2 a gig. Best deal new from ebay... well you can check the completed auctions, but I get a feeling it's roughly just below $2 a gig as well. Used... $1.50 GIG for G1. There was someone in the For Sale Thread selling G1 160GB for $250 I think.

 

[tetete]

For Intel Gen 2s, best deal for new from a retail store is $2 a gig. Best deal new from ebay... well you can check the completed auctions, but I get a feeling it's roughly just below $2 a gig as well. Used... $1.50 GIG for G1. There was someone in the For Sale Thread selling G1 160GB for $250 I think.

thanks for the infor

 

[TheTony]

Here's the three I am considering, for use as a boot drive:

Intel X-25V (40GB - $100)
Corsair Force F40 (40GB - $90, with rebate)
OCZ Agility 2 (60GB - $135, with rebate)

Was sold on the Intel until the Corsair was recently release and price drops put the Agility 2 onto my radar.

 

[poohbear]

i'd go w/ the crucial 300 64gb which can be had for 140 no rebate needed. fastest SSD in its category and is best bang for buck.

 

[FishAk]

For some, the Marvel controller of the C300 has been great. For others- not so much.

One thing to keep in mind, is that with the marvel controller, you probably need to keep about 30 percent of the nand in reserve to keep performance up, which puts the 64Gb drive at only 45Gb usable space. Still not to bad, if you have a SATA III port, and you happen to be one of the ones who don't experience problems with the Marvel controller.

 

[billyb0b]

i say corsair force! super speedy drive

i recently went from a gen 1 agility 120gb to a new corsair force 60gb. cut my ssd capacity in half but the speed increase is great.

 

[poohbear]

For some, the Marvel controller of the C300 has been great. For others- not so much.

One thing to keep in mind, is that with the marvel controller, you probably need to keep about 30 percent of the nand in reserve to keep performance up, which puts the 64Gb drive at only 45Gb usable space. Still not to bad, if you have a SATA III port, and you happen to be one of the ones who don't experience problems with the Marvel controller.

I researched the Crucial c300 and the Sandforce SSds before purchasing, and sorry i never read what you're talking about.

All the new ones come w/ the new firmware that fixed early issues, and i haven't read anywhere about the 30 percent reserve to keep performance up. Can you provide links? its been awesome for me so far, and im using SATA2. I read between them and the Sandforce you should go for the best price as you wouldn't notice a difference in performance between the 2 as an OS drive. The Crucial C300 is cheaper than most sandforce SSDs (even after the recent rebates Sandforce SSDs have), so it was a no brainer. Please provide links though as im curious about your claims.

 

[FishAk]

Please provide links though as im curious about your claims.

I don't have any special links- only what I'm sure you already know concerning spare area, and also SandForce's compression algorithm. Anand has covered these topics quite well, as I'm sure you already know.

Both SF and Crucial, with their C300 controller, as well as Intel, and others, set aside 7 percent of their nand as spare aria. Many find that the drives need to have more than just 7 percent set aside, in order to keep up their performance. I don't personally have a C300, but I've seen people throwing out numbers from 60 to 80 percent as the limit for filling the drives- not just Corsair's.

SandForce is different. When the SF controller is told to save a 10Gb file, it tells the OS it used 10Gb worth of space, but it actually uses much less space due to it's compression. Sometimes, as much as 50% less space. So even though the drive officially has only 7 percent spare aria, I believe the SF controller actually uses the aria it saves due to compression to use as spare nand.

It's conjecture on the last part there about whether SF actually uses the saved nand as spare area, so I don't have a link for that part, or anything more substantial than my own reasoning. But I would be very surprised if the boys at SF just left that unused space with no purpose. This is why I think SF is the only drive that can be filled to capacity with no performance hit.

 

[poohbear]

yes i've read the OCW sandforce can be filled 100% w/ no performance hit, and im assuming the other Sandforce drives can be as well although no one has confirmed this for some reason even though they were asked to (Flamenko on these forums is a reviewer and he can confirm). However, as a 64gb OS drive, i never planned on filling it to 100%, and w/ Windows 7 & TRIM, and the latest firmware from Crucial (which is already on any new C300), i dont think its enough of an issue to turn users away. at any rate, its a great drive and i got it for ~25% cheaper than the OCZ vertex2 (166 vs 192 before rebate), so can't complain at all.

30% is a huge reserve btw, i doubt that's true, i read about 10-15%, which is normal recommendation for all SSDs including the sandforce ones (again, i've only confirmed the OCW sandforce SSD has the same performance at near 100% capacity).

 

[tetete]

THX guys

 

[poohbear]

my god why cant we put the percent sign on these forums? percent = "#37" on these forums.