Ocz Vertex 2 60GB or Intel G2 X25 80GB

[zod96]

Need one for my desktop. Don't care about space. Which one is the fastest all around?

 

[LokutusofBorg]

Anand has pretty much the most authoritative articles on SSDs on the web, and they answer easy questions like this with quick glances at his charts if you're not into reading...

Start here, go to the next page, if that doesn't answer your question then I don't know what will. The Vertex 2 should perform identically (if not better) to the Agility 2 in all those graphs.

 

[zod96]

Why is the OCz 120gb only 279 at amazon and the 100gb $320? Is their
A big difference between the two?

 

[zod96]

After reading some reviews it looks like the Vetex 2 beats the intel g2 x25 in just about everything...

 

[aselya]

The 120 is, as far as I can tell, the Extended version of the 100. The only difference between the "normal" Vertex 2's and the "extended" ones that I can tell is that they have 7% over-provisioning, as opposed to 28%. So they have the same amount of NAND, but the 100 saves more of it for wear-leveling etc, while the 120 lets you use more of it for your purposes. I don't know why they would charge more for one or the other...

 

[flamenko]

Its kind of funny but the theory is that the 28% over provisioning will be more reliable and longer lasting drive. Its a good observation though that they are probably charging all the extra bucks for a small alteration in the firmware as there is exactly the same NAND between the two drives.

Just a though with respect to OCZ and that is that you might want to take a look at the customer satisfaction of what u do choose.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

Why is the OCz 120gb only 279 at amazon and the 100gb $320? Is their
A big difference between the two?

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=30430992

 

[zod96]

The intel g2 x25-m 80GB in the anandtech review only beats the ocz vertex 2 in one test the 4kb random read, and even then its only by a point 63 vs 62. In every other test the vertex 2 blows the intel ssd away. So why does everyone still say the intel is better? I'm not understanding that part...

 

[flamenko]

Reliability...

Google "vertex 2" with any common words such as dead, bricked, help and so on. You can also go to Newegg and read the reviews or watch on forums like this... People are starting threads with them dying all the time.

 

[=Wendy=]

The intel g2 x25-m 80GB in the anandtech review only beats the ocz vertex 2 in one test the 4kb random read, and even then its only by a point 63 vs 62. In every other test the vertex 2 blows the intel ssd away. So why does everyone still say the intel is better? I'm not understanding that part...

IMO, this is mostly down to brand loyalty.

Others will say that Intel is better because its been around longer and is tried and tested, yet many of the same people will say they can't wait for G3, which isn't tried or tested at all yet.
Go figure.

As far as performance is concerned. SandForce based drives are a good deal faster than Intel, IMO.

 

[zod96]

I have read the reviews at like places like newegg and amazon and almost all of them are 5 star and how much better these drives are compared to the intel one.

 

[HendrixFan]

Reliability...

Google "vertex 2" with any common words such as dead, bricked, help and so on. You can also go to Newegg and read the reviews or watch on forums like this... People are starting threads with them dying all the time.

Most of those incidents are for the Vertex LE and not the Vertex 2. The Vertex LE was a "unique" drive using a modified SF1500 controller and the Vertex 2 uses the SF1200 controller.

 

[flamenko]

Simple Google. As long as you are happy is all that matters. Heres what I just pulled off Google...in like 3 secs... Check lower too


2 posts - 2 authors - Last post: 5 days agoI got into imaging a few years back with Norton Ghost 2003. .... My Vertex 2 died 4 weeks into use with absolutely no warning at all. ...
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/ocz-a...hread.php?...p...
__________________________________________________ ______________
0 posts - 4 authors - Last post: 21 Jul
My Vertex 2 died suddenly, too. I had hibernated my laptop, and when I tried to turn it back on a few hours later, it gave me a "Missing ...

__________________________________________________ ________________
2 posts - 2 authors - Last post: 19 Jul
Default. I would RMA the drive (my Vertex 2 died recently, too): http://www.ocztechnology.com/support/ ...
www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?... - Cached
__________________________________________________ ______________
.

13 posts - 8 authors - Last post: 20 Jul
My Vertex 2 died last week, I've sent it in for an RMA. ... My Vertex 2 died without warning, but I was back up and running within an hour ...
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/ocz-a...hread.php?...1... - Cached
__________________________________________________ ______________

clean installed Windows 7 in my brand new Asus n71jq notebook and OCZ Vertex 2 100GB SSD and updated to firmware 1.10 a couple of days afterwards; after 1 week of hard work reinstalling all applications and data the SSD is not recognized anymore just after awakening from sleep mode. I tried to see if the SSD was recognized in the bios and in an external enclosure but no luck .
__________________________________________________ ______________

OH I FORGOT I BOUGHT A 50 GB VERTEX2 FOR BACKUP IT WORKED A TOTAL 6 HOURS--THEN DIES THE VERY SAME WAY THE 100 GB DIED---ITS TIME FOR SOME AMERICAN MADE ...
__________________________________________________ ______________
29 Jul 2010 ... Buy OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive ... With FirmWare 1.11 the drive is completly death. ...
__________________________________________________ _____________

Attempted the 1.10 update from bootcamp win 7 x64 3 times, froze every time. I finally gave up and booted back in to OS X. After 2 minutes ...
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/ocz-...ww.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-528-_-Product

Again 8 out of 42 rate 2 stars or less:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-550-_-Product

Here is VERY recent posts:

http://www.overclock.net/ssd/822093-ocz-vertex-2-problems.html

 

[flamenko]

Most of those incidents are for the Vertex LE and not the Vertex 2. The Vertex LE was a "unique" drive using a modified SF1500 controller and the Vertex 2 uses the SF1200 controller.

Look at the bottom entry which is recent as well as this one... Not 1500 controller.

http://www.overclock.net/ssd/754203-i-think-my-ocz-vertex-dead.html

And actually no...they are newer drives if you look at the dates.

My opinion? I dont understand how OCZ escapes the pitfalls of reputation with the problems of so many with respect to their stuttering 602 release that they screwed so many on, the original vertex LE (not 2) which had the 1500 controller and still we see so many new vertexes die weekly. Hit up newegg any day and you will see its a large bricking rate.

OCZ is the only drive that seems to have a 2 week gestation perios where many will die within that period and its always the same...no longer recognized. In the last week, I bet I assisted 4 people on the vertex 2 alone with probs.

Anyway...my opinion is out there...OP good luck with whatever you get even the OCZ...The SSD upgrade is great!

 

[geoffry]

Reliability...

Google "vertex 2" with any common words such as dead, bricked, help and so on. You can also go to Newegg and read the reviews or watch on forums like this... People are starting threads with them dying all the time.

When you search specifically for failed drives though of course you are going to find them...

It skews the data one way.

 

[=Wendy=]

When you search specifically for failed drives though of course you are going to find them...

It skews the data one way.

Exactly
And you can bring up the same results for any brand of drive when you google for failed ones.
The most popular ones will always turn up the most results, given that they sell more.

Also, SandForce drives are more or less all the same, most use the same version of the SF-1200 controller, and most use the same Intel 34nm NAND.

 

[Voo]

When you search specifically for failed drives though of course you are going to find them...

It skews the data one way.

Yeah and the funny thing:
"vertex 2" bricked: About 4,170 results
"intel x25" bricked: About 10,500 results

Google results above (and we all know that you may not get the same results from different locations, etc.) But I'm not sure what to make with it, and how we'd measure something like reliability reliable with google search, since there's a number of issues with that (intel bricked enough drives with their FW upgrades.. several times - which is completely uninteresting today but still shows up, OCZ has other drives with more issues, which also shows up if we don't specify the search term enough. And then the obvious problem that if we specify everything good enough we won't find anything because most people don't write posts that way)

 

[flamenko]

Hmmm I'de like to see that. I passed on this thread because I saw what was going to happen but, well, gotta love a challenge right.

In my examples, I didn't rely on simply Google... That wouldn't be fair now would it? I even let the comment that I included the Former vertex LE SandForce 1500 controlled drives in there when each specifically said "Vertex 2" and, if you observed, I even stayed in a fairly close time frame to avoid the 1500 controller instances.

To avoid what Voo just did, I also added a few VERY recent examples from forums. Quite frankly, I'm very active in about 10 forums and I see a few of these every week. I responded to one just this morning that I would pull up if I could remember the site. The user was concerned because his Vertex II was less than a week old and not being recognized and he would have to reboot. This is the modus operandi of the vertex before death.

I also went to NewEgg because, well folks, there is nothing like the word of the buyer. Lets stick to NewEgg if you want and do a little math. Pull out the Intel reviews and then pull out the Vertex 2 reviews and come up with a percentage of people who absolutely hated the drive. I get this with people who voted 1 or 2 out of 5 because these comprise mainly of those with dead drives. Lets not try and get technical on the methodology because we all know that the majority fill out there customer satisfaction after they get it running only to have it die days later; we cant hear from them.

In fact, lets not stick to the Intel because its really not fair. It has the highest consumer rating of all SSDs on newegg Canada and US. Let me make it really simple here for you. Pit any other manufacturer against your vertex and you will soon learn that OCZ has the worst rating for any SSD.

Oooooh wait... yup I know you might try a trick and pull out the ole Kingston with the 602 ssstttttuuuutttering controller but beware because OCZ had the same back then.

Its simple. We can yammer all we want and try to twist the fact that OCZ has a HORRIBLE customer satisfaction record, but the truth is they are a horrible company which is shown every day, not only in product reliability, but also in every MIR we wait for (yes I am waiting for two right now).

In the end...I don't care what SSD the Op buys and I hope he doesn't experience any of the problems so many others have but...is it not fair to finally look at OCZ and say BUYER BEWARE! If there failurer rate were only 1 in 10, I would be alarmed but they could never get that fortunate.

 

[nipplefish]

Yeah and the funny thing:
"vertex 2" bricked: About 4,170 results
"intel x25" bricked: About 10,500 results

Consider the fact that the x25 has been around for much longer and has a much larger userbase.

 

[Voo]

@Flamenko: The thing is you'll always find posts about bricked drives, why not do the same with Intel? (And some of your posts aren't about bricked drives but people telling other people that the Vertex easily bricks)

"In a nutshell, the SSD works, but several files on the SSD are unreadable. When Windows tries to read one of the corrupted files, the system will just hang[..]
I downloaded the tool after posting my question, the result of a full scan is:
Read Scan :: Failed :: Contact your reseller or local Intel representative for assistance"
http://communities.intel.com/message/101136

"I shut down the computer... Switch it on again... and it stucks on "windows loading".
I try everything. I also try to instal windows 7 from the beginning.
After the installation finishes... it worked.
I did a restart and then stucks again."
http://communities.intel.com/message/101351#101351

Only the first few posts from ahm.. this week (as compared to mid july for your posts, since when is July "VERY recent"?).

And you yourself told us why the Newegg evaluation is flawed in itself - also with a sample of only 50 reviews for a drive compared to the 300 of the intel how large do you think the rate of error for both statistics is - large enough.

 

[zokudu]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo

These are the kinds of people you would rely on for realistic reviews?

Or this beauty:

I removed the existing cooling compound from my heatsink and applied the artic silver. I attached the heatsink to the cpu and turned on the computer. The CPU was at 60 C and rising. If you have a heavy fan, the artic silver may not keep the fan close enough to the cpu to actually work.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rue&Keywords=(keywords)&Page=1#scrollFullInfo

 

[bad_monkey]

And you yourself told us why the Newegg evaluation is flawed in itself - also with a sample of only 50 reviews for a drive compared to the 300 of the intel how large do you think the rate of error for both statistics is - large enough.

The point is that it is statistically relevant that the OCZ drives may fail very shortly after purchase. Unless one could somehow get the data for how many drives have been purchased (originally) and how many have failed within x amount of time, one has to rely on synthetically derived data such as newegg rating and forum posts. Are there variables here that are not taken into account? Sure. Is it the best we can do with a limited amount of time and resources? Probably. Is it possible that someone can get three Intel drives and they are all bricked? We know that it is. Is it also possible that 90+% of consumers can purchase 1 Intel drive and never have any issues? Yes, that is the nature of the beast.

Moreover, this isn't the National Science Foundation or the New England Journal of Medicine. OP asked for a recommendation and he/she got a recommendation with some supporting information for that recommendation.

 

[flamenko]

We are still going on with this? Anyway found the other thread I spoke of which occurred a day or so ago...

http://www.overclock.net/ssd/822093-ocz-vertex-2-problems.html

 

[HendrixFan]

We are still going on with this? Anyway found the other thread I spoke of which occurred a day or so ago...

http://www.overclock.net/ssd/822093-ocz-vertex-2-problems.html

Wow! An overclocking forum where people have stability problems all the time. Good find, thanks for the help! /sarcasm

You won't find as many people on enthusiast sites with Intel SSDs versus the Sandforce SSDs because they are going for pure performance. They are also likely to have tons of stability problems throughout their machines, tracking down problems that are likely due to overclocking in one way or another. Despite those pitfalls, the site's forums you linked to seem to heavily recommend the Vertex 2 over any other SSD. Wonder why?

 

[flamenko]

Well, perhaps you might read the thread. It was a simple installation without RAID. Oh ya, lets discount him because he is on an Overclocking site. Good one.