Best SSD choice /value/ performance

[Dropmachine]

So I am going to add an SSD drive to my system. It will ONLY have photoshop and Windows on it, NOTHING ELSE. I just want a few things to be quicker, ya know? And since I am due for a format and reinstall....

Question is, what SSD drive would you choose? Seems like the OCZ Vertex 2 drives are well priced, but other than that I have no idea.

Any help?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Vertex 3 drives are due out in the next few days and prelim reviews show them being significantly faster than Vertex 2 drives, although they will be a bit more expensive for a while until more Sandforce 2xxx drives hit the market

 

[Kabob]

Intel X25-M is what I'd go with, although the 3rd gen drives are just around the corner.

 

[Termie]

For your purposes, a $130 SandForce-based 60GB drive is probably ideal: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233124. OCZ has been playing games with its drives, lately, and while I love my Agility 2, it is now both more expensive and not guaranteed to have the same performance as mine.

Intel is too expensive. $180 for the 80GB drive is too much when the SandForce is noticeably faster. Plus you don't need the space, you need the speed!

 

[groberts101]

Would really depend on system, data flows, and types, but I would go V2(or preferably V3..yes.. even on sata2), Intel, then Crucial.

You must keep in mind though that the first gen Sandforce drives don't like much incompressible data(like vids,pics,music,zips,rars,etc) and much of that data flow should be scratched to another HDD for best results and to reduce the chance of throttling. Even still, the Sandforce controller more than makes up for it everywhere else due to the Turbo-like ability to speed up when using more easily compressed data, such as an OS would use.

Think of it like this.. THEY are WYSIWYG.. and SANDFORCE has "floating performance" capability . Only problem with that is the ability to "float down" if used in an aggressive manner with certian benchmarks/incompressible data.

To be honest, I prefer Sandforce. But that doesn't stop me from calling it like I see it even if it's a negative against it.

 

[Edrick]

Crucial C300's are some of the fastest drives out there now you can get them fairly cheap. ($229 for 128GB).

I just picked one up and love it. Much more reliable than Sandforce drives.

But Intel are great drives too.

 

[Dropmachine]

Thanks much for the info so far!

I just found the 120gb Intel X-25 for 189. Seems like a good deal. Maybe thats the way to go?

 

[PowerYoga]

Waiting for intel g3 prices to drop myself... :|

Keep in mind many suppliers still have the bad OCZ v2s in stock when you make a decision. The X25-M was on sale a few weeks ago for about $170 AR. So if you feel like waiting for a deal then that's probably the best choice.

 

[stahlhart]

Thanks much for the info so far!

I just found the 120gb Intel X-25 for 189. Seems like a good deal. Maybe thats the way to go?

Absolutely love mine -- so much so that I don't even care that you're getting it for $40 less than I paid...

 

[perdomot]

If you are just going to use it as an OS drive, the smaller Crucial SSD is the way to go.

 

[Dropmachine]

The cheapest I could find the Crucial 128gb drive was 235, vs 189 for the Intel 120gb.

 

[Termie]

Crucial 128 is $210 at superbiiz with coupon MAD15.

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php...28GB-RealSSD-C300-SATA3-Solid-State-Drive-MLC

Uh, oh, what's this all about? Trouble in Crucial land? http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2139854