Help me pick a boot SSD

[TC91]

I'm thinking of finally getting a small SSD for a boot drive as having one in my macbook has really really made my desktop's raid 0 feel slow. I am currently considering one of these SSDs:

Intel X25-M 80GB ~$220 CDN
Intel X25-V 40GB ~$130 CDN
OCZ Agility 60GB ~$170 CDN
OCZ Vertex 30GB ~$115 CDN
OCZ Vertex Turbo 30GB ~$150 CDN

Ideally I would like to spend not too much over $100 CDN but I'm not 100% sure if the slow sequential writes on the X25-V 40GB matter too much for a boot drive or if 30GB might be cutting it too close. I just plan to have my OS and apps on it (I currently have roughly 23ish GB worth of OS + apps right now) and also plan on grabbing the new 600GB velociraptor for a pure games drive (don't want to spend ~$700+ for a 250GB+ SSD). What do you guys/girls think I should do? Thanks.

 

[flamenko]

The best drive is the Intel 80Gb ssd and if you head to The SSD Review below, you will see I speak of it there.

You will be wanting a ssd with high random 4kb reads/writes for visible performance and the Intels shine here whereas you will very rarely be observing any performance with high seq reads and writes.

 

[MisterDonut]

What ^ said. If you don't wanna spend that much, the V is still pretty darn fast.

 

[hclarkjr]

might want to look at this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227531 anand gave it pretty good review here http://www.anandtech.com/show/3681/oczs-vertex-2-special-sauce-sf1200-reviewed in that review at the final words he said

The Agility 2 seems to make more sense for most desktop users.

i am debating between this and the intel 80gb G2

 

[MisterDonut]

To me, seems like the Agi/Vert 2's are way too expensive. That's nearly $4/gb. I paid around $2.50/gb for mine (Intel V), and it's fast enough. It's for a boot drive anyways.

 

[n7]

Honestly, i'd just look at getting the biggest one you can afford.

Indilinx/Intel/Sandforce...any of those will make a massive difference, & it'll be hard to tell any difference without benchmarking them.

 

[TC91]

Thanks for the replies, how much of a difference does the extra 5 nand chips on the X25-M 80GB and its additional performance make in terms of real world subjectivity compared to the X25-V 40GB?

I like the idea of getting the biggest drive but I can't justify spending ~$700 CDN for the 250/256GB drives and the 160GB X25-M is too small for me so I'm still not quite sure what I should do aside from more waiting lol

Thanks again.

 

[flamenko]

Believe it or not for the typical user, one couldnt identify which is which in side by side machines because their small random reads and writes are so close.

More intensive use by the trained eye would be able to tell them apart though.

 

[TC91]

Thanks for the reply flamenko, I think I'll probably grab the X25-M though I'll wait a little since newegg Canada just jacked up their prices

 

[flamenko]

They are screwy....only a few days ago they put all the prices down to the same as NewEgg USA which made sense as the dollar is equal...

 

[hclarkjr]

newegg USA has raised their prices also. the G2 is $299.99 now