• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Good budget or high value 128GB SSD for lappy?

fuzzybabybunny

fuzzybabybunny

Moderator<br>Digital & Video Cameras
Moderator
In the past I used a Kingston SSDNow V. I've got a new laptop now (cheapo $500 Fujitsu with i5) and I need to replace the rotary.

What are the good bang for your buck 128GB SSDs now? No stuttering.
 
I would go with an Intel. Their power comsumption numbers are fairly low. Others, like the Kingstons, are high, and would reduce your battery lifetime compared to even a magnetic drive.
 
I'm confused.

It's been a while, about half a year since I last looked at SSDs.

Why the hell are people still recommending the X25-M? Haven't Indilinx and Sandforce come out with stuff that compares to Intel on a price/performance level?
 
Nothing to be confused about. The Intel X25-M is an excellent SSD. One of the best. Indilinx is certainly not better than Intel. Sandforce has better performance in some cases, but none of the Sandforce models are as reliable as Intel.
 
There's no need to worry about stuttering anymore with any 2010 model and up SSD. If you were happy with the Kingston V series as I was, you'll be happy with the current V series that's was on blowout for about $1 a GIG. Actually you might still be able to get one for that price.

The next great price would be the Intel 120GB that was $165 on Black Friday. It has the performance that's equal (and some have benched is better) than the Intel 160GB. Another thing is Intel recently released a firmware update that bumped up the NCQ read scores even more.
 
Last edited:
I had stuttering issues with the old Kingston V. Performance was good though despite that.

I've narrowed down the choices:

120gb Vertex 2, $230
Corsair Force F120, $230
Corsair Nova 128GB, $210
Intel X25-M (not G2), 120GB, $230

The Intels just seem kinda ho hum performance wise. I'm leaning towards the F120. I do a ton of batch photo processing and multitasking.
 
the intel 120GB is actually G2. G1 came in 80GB and 160GB...
in fact, not only is it a G2, its the newest G2s which came out just a few months ago.

the intels fall short on sequential speed, but still have the best random speed. Although the new next gen sandforce 2000 series supposedly dethrones them, not out yet though. I think it will be hard to tell apart the intel, indilinx, and sandforce drives though and none of them stutter. The stutters were because the old first gen jmicron were 1/300th the random speed of a spindle drive (~2000ms vs ~8ms) and ~20&#37; faster sequantial reads...
Good SSDs soon followed which were over 100 times the random writes/reads of spindle drives and 2x sequential read/writes. (i use / but reads and writes are different). Even current gen jmicrons don't stutter anymore (although I still see no reason to buy them, they are faster then spindle disks but they are so much slower than their competitors)
 
Last edited:
fuzzybabybunny said:
I've narrowed down the choices:

120gb Vertex 2, $230
Corsair Force F120, $230
Corsair Nova 128GB, $210
Intel X25-M (not G2), 120GB, $230

The Intels just seem kinda ho hum performance wise. I'm leaning towards the F120. I do a ton of batch photo processing and multitasking.
Click to expand...

Note that on a Sandforce drive, you will not get anywhere near the inflated numbers they spec for sequential write speeds if you are writing JPEGs and such. At best you will probably get around 130 MB/s, and it can drop down to 60 or 70 MB/s when the drive gets throttled for a week or whatever.

Also, the sequential read speed of the Sandforce drives for random data is only around 200 MB/s. The Intel will be around 250 - 260 MB/s sequential read.

Bottom line is that the Sandforce performance will be about the same as the Intel, slightly worse in some cases, slightly better in others. But the Intel is more reliable. The Intel is a much better choice than any Sandforce SSD. The only other one worth considering is the 128GB Crucial C300.
 
well neither of those are particularly cheap.

there are a lot of deals on the ssd vnow that you have for $120-130 though. all the sandforce ones tend to be $190-210 and the c300 is even more
 
I will go with the Intel ones. Have 2 of them, one 80GB and one 160GB, and both trashes the new Vertex 2. I believe other manufacturers are not very far behind in moving on to 25nm with their SF controller drives since 34nm is going EOL.
 
the kingston ssd v now that are on sale are not good for smaller/thinner notebooks, they consume alot of power and run hot, I am using one right now in a thin acer and i would not recommend it unless cost is the absolute factor.

that said, the drive is perfectly stable and problem free.
 
jwilliams4200 said:
Note that on a Sandforce drive, you will not get anywhere near the inflated numbers they spec for sequential write speeds if you are writing JPEGs and such. At best you will probably get around 130 MB/s, and it can drop down to 60 or 70 MB/s when the drive gets throttled for a week or whatever.

Also, the sequential read speed of the Sandforce drives for random data is only around 200 MB/s. The Intel will be around 250 - 260 MB/s sequential read.

Bottom line is that the Sandforce performance will be about the same as the Intel, slightly worse in some cases, slightly better in others. But the Intel is more reliable. The Intel is a much better choice than any Sandforce SSD. The only other one worth considering is the 128GB Crucial C300.
Click to expand...

Bah, I'm confused. I've been reading the AT Storage Review:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4010/kingston-ssdnow-v-plus-100-review/7

The Sandforces don't seem all that bad? Where are you getting reliability figures from? I probably won't be using this drive for more than 5 years I'd imagine...
 
fuzzybabybunny said:
Bah, I'm confused. I've been reading the AT Storage Review:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4010/kingston-ssdnow-v-plus-100-review/7

The Sandforces don't seem all that bad? Where are you getting reliability figures from? I probably won't be using this drive for more than 5 years I'd imagine...
Click to expand...

Don't look at past SF controller SSD reviews pal. I think if you just look at those thread on OCZ SSD, you should try and steer clear of all SF SSD at the same time. OCZ took the plunge to be the first to transit to a smaller 25nm Nand, but at a huge expense of performance. I believe other manufacturers are still reviewing the impact of the transition to 25nm, and the situation at OCZ. Real world performance with an old Vertex 2 running on 34nm nand and the new 25nm nand can be up to a 40+ percent decline. The benchmark scores with compressible data still somehow look as good. But real world results are what you will experience when you use it.
 
watzup_ken said:
Don't look at past SF controller SSD reviews pal. I think if you just look at those thread on OCZ SSD, you should try and steer clear of all SF SSD at the same time. OCZ took the plunge to be the first to transit to a smaller 25nm Nand, but at a huge expense of performance. I believe other manufacturers are still reviewing the impact of the transition to 25nm, and the situation at OCZ. Real world performance with an old Vertex 2 running on 34nm nand and the new 25nm nand can be up to a 40+ percent decline. The benchmark scores with compressible data still somehow look as good. But real world results are what you will experience when you use it.
Click to expand...

I guess it's between a C300 and a X25-M then. Reviews show X25-M showing its age since it has old architecture (or is this only for G1?). The C300 looks ok but it's about $270. The Kingston SSDNow V is still $230.
 
Last edited:
fuzzybabybunny said:
I guess it's between a C300 and a X25-M then. Reviews show X25-M showing its age since it has old architecture (or is this only for G1?). The C300 looks ok but it's about $270. The Kingston SSDNow V is still $230.
Click to expand...

ewiz.com has the C300 for $240 shipped and Newegg recently dropped their price to about $245 shpped
 
FSH42NA said:
ewiz.com has the C300 for $240 shipped and Newegg recently dropped their price to about $245 shpped
Click to expand...

I live in California, so everything is going to be about $270 after 10% sales tax 🙁

Amazon is out of stock of a lot of drives.

What's the actual usable space of the Intel 120GB? The usable space of a 128GB SF-1222 drive is 120GB
 
Usable space is 120GB or 111 GiB when formatted NTFS. I wouldn't worry about it architecture. If you are they offer a 3 year warranty. Nothing wrong with old storage tech especially if it's proven and Intel's is BIG time.

I own 3 Intels. G1 and G2. I also have 1st gen Kingston V series and played with the 2nd gen V series. All of these are the most troublefree SSDs I have lived with. There's none of the non-sense the other ones deal with. In fact I used to use the Intel Toolbox's optimizer weekly as recommended by Intel. However after re-reading the lastest manual. It seems like with Win7 you may not need to run it at all.
 
Last edited:
razel said:
Usable space is 120GB or 111 GiB when formatted NTFS. I wouldn't worry about it architecture. If you are they offer a 3 year warranty. Nothing wrong with old storage tech especially if it's proven and Intel's is BIG time.

I own 3 Intels. G1 and G2. I also have 1st gen Kingston V series and played with the 2nd gen V series. All of these are the most troublefree SSDs I have lived with. There's none of the non-sense the other ones deal with. In fact I used to use the Intel Toolbox's optimizer weekly as recommended by Intel. However after re-reading the lastest manual. It seems like with Win7 you may not need to run it at all.
Click to expand...

Errr... wait. The Intel 120GB has a usable space of 120GB? Don't all SSDs reserve some space for garbage collection?

The Sandforce 1222 drives at 128GB have 8GB reserved, so 120GB is user accessible.

How many GB is reserved by the Intel, and how many is user accessible?
 
About half a year ago, I went with an original OCZ Vertex 120GB in my Dell M1530, and other than a huge pain in the ass to upgrade the firmware (had to do it in Windows and not in AHCI), it's been okay so far.
 
Just ordered the Intel X25-M 120GB shipped next day air for $270. All this for a $500 i3 laptop.

EDIT: Cancelled the Intel, bought the Crucial. Intel 120GB will have 111GB usable space for $270 shipped. Crucial 128GB will have 119GB usable space for $250 shipped from Amazon, both next day air. And Crucial will arguably outperform the Intel.

God damn, SSDs are in a piss poor state nowadays.

Indilinx is no where.

Sandforce has retarded issues with sleep that can completely wipe out a drive with no warning.

Corsair isn't cheap.

Kingston isn't cheap.

Intel isn't cheap.

Amazon is out of stock of everything.

Garbage collection automatically reduces the capacity marketed in the product description.

Everything decent is still over $2 / GB.

California is bankrupt and 10&#37; sales tax somehow still isn't enough for these assholes.
 
Last edited:
fuzzybabybunny said:
Garbage collection automatically reduces the capacity marketed in the product description.
Click to expand...

actually, both spindle disk and SSDs do that.
Here is how it works, in computers, GB = 1024 MB, MB = 1024KB, KB = 1024B. This is because everything is base 2... its actually 2^X.
Companies that sell drives are using the scientific definition of kilo, mega, and giga... namely, giga = a billion.
So intel sells you a drive with 120 billion bytes (120GB), the computer however is using the computer giga and the conversion is to take 120 / 1.024^3 = 111.76GB.

And those drives do have reserve space, the drives use chips whose size is actually measured in computer giga. The reserved space is the difference between the two, aka 1.024^3-1^3/1^3 *100&#37; = 7.3741824%
Note that they do not actually advertise that space. They advertise it as 120GB (scientific) ignoring the extra 7.37% reserve space (which is not due to garbage collection)

Anyways, it has nothing to do with garbage collection and it happens in ALL drives, INCLUDING spindle drives.
 
fuzzybabybunny said:
Errr... wait. The Intel 120GB has a usable space of 120GB? Don't all SSDs reserve some space for garbage collection?

How many GB is reserved by the Intel, and how many is user accessible?
Click to expand...

Yes it's 120GB (or 111GiB) usable space as reported when you right click the drive and after I formatted it NTFS. Intel does reserve space, they just don't make a big marketing push to mention it to try and confuse your buying decisions when you try to calculate cost per gig. I'm sure it's 128GB on chip, but others more knowledgeable could tell you more.

I'm glad about the ones you chose. Intel and Crucial top dogs. The pre-2011 OCZ Vertex 2 are great as well for enthusiasts. For everyone else, 6 Pack Joe, friends, family the current Kingson V series is great at $1 a GIG.
 
razel said:
Yes it's 120GB (or 111GiB) usable space as reported when you right click the drive and after I formatted it NTFS. Intel does reserve space, they just don't make a big marketing push to mention it to try and confuse your buying decisions when you try to calculate cost per gig. I'm sure it's 128GB on chip, but others more knowledgeable could tell you more.

I'm glad about the ones you chose. Intel and Crucial top dogs. The pre-2011 OCZ Vertex 2 are great as well for enthusiasts. For everyone else, 6 Pack Joe, friends, family the current Kingson V series is great at $1 a GIG.
Click to expand...

Where are you finding the Kingston V 128GB for $128?
 
fuzzybabybunny said:
Where are you finding the Kingston V 128GB for $128?
Click to expand...

It's been an off/on hot deal at Buy.com and Newegg for the past month, varying between $115 and $135 depending on the deal. FYI that is with a steep $75 mail-in rebate at both places.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top