Going to buy my first SSD - Could use a hand

[Ghaz]

Final Question!

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/80GB-Intel-SSD-Gen-2-MLC-Flash-25-SATA-3Gb-s-Read-250MB-s-Write-70MB-s-OEM

This is the X25-M right? It does not seem to specify.

Hey guys, its nice to finally make a post on here! I have followed the news on here for quite some time.

Anyway, I plan to buy an SSD. I have been doing some reading.

I know about the whole, the longer you use it, the slower it gets business. This can simply be solved my doing a secure erase every so often. This brings my to my first two questions.

Firstly, I have heard of Intels "HDD Erase" utility to do a secure erase - is there a free alternative or is this freely available?
Secondly, how often would I need to do a secure erase? I'm either going to use this in a laptop or gaming machine.


Another question is, is the write speed degrading noticable? Will these slow write speeds bottleneck my system in anything other than install/saving things etc? "Now your OS is always writing to your drive, and that’s why we see a performance impact even if you’re just launching applications and opening files and such, but the penalty is much less tangible when it comes to read performance" is something I read in an article, how much impact does this have on general usage?

Also, I get the feeling I should avoid JMicron controllers, they sound terribly slow. Is this correct?

decided to go with the Intel due to reviews and the fact that the Vertex turbo real world performance gains are under whole seconds.

Did this person mean the intel was faster by seconds, or that the vertex was only faster than normal HDDs by under whole seconds? Sorry If I sound paranoid, but I am a student and I can't afford to waste money on something that won't benefit me much.

I'm looking at spending around £150, from scan.co.uk (I live near them). This means I can't buy one of the expensive intel ones. There are a few good looking ones on there, including OCZ Agility and Vertex. These I have heard are pretty good.

However, there is one on there that specifically says "Supports TRIM via upgrade". This makes me wonder whether the OCZ ones supports TRIM. How important is TRIM? I know what it does, but I don't know how affective it is in real life terms.

One also has 128mb cache over the others with 64mb, will this make a noticable difference?

If anyone wants to recommend me one, then I will buy online. Also, if you are feeling particularly helpful, you could have a poke around on scan.co.uk to help me pick.

Otherwise, I have been looking at these:

64GB Samsung

Intel X25-V

30GB OCZ Vertex Turbo

64GB Corsair

60GB OCZ Agility

60GB OCZ Vertex

tl;dr halp with SSDs

Thanks for the help in advance, Ghaz.

 

[brett1042002]

I bought a Intel X25-M 80gb (2nd Gen). I had to upgrade the firmware (pretty painless procedure) to enable TRIM and fix some other bugs. I use this as a boot drive only. I store all my apps/games on my 640gb HDD. Intel also provides a SSD Toolkit on their website that comes with SSD Optimizer software. It is supposed to help keep the drive operating a peak efficiency, along with TRIM. They recommend the Optimizer be run once a week. I assume it's the SSD version of Disk Defragmenter. Though I'm sure it operates way differently.

I am very happy with this drive. Boot times are really fast. Navigating windows is instant. I had WoW installed on this SSD for a while, and the load times were incredible. I recommend this drive

 

[Ghaz]

I bought a Intel X25-M 80gb (2nd Gen). I had to upgrade the firmware (pretty painless procedure) to enable TRIM and fix some other bugs. I use this as a boot drive only. I store all my apps/games on my 640gb HDD. Intel also provides a SSD Toolkit on their website that comes with SSD Optimizer software. It is supposed to help keep the drive operating a peak efficiency, along with TRIM. They recommend the Optimizer be run once a week. I assume it's the SSD version of Disk Defragmenter. Though I'm sure it operates way differently.

I am very happy with this drive. Boot times are really fast. Navigating windows is instant. I had WoW installed on this SSD for a while, and the load times were incredible. I recommend this drive

Is that the same line of SSDs as the one as I listed? That one is a bit out of my price range, but I don't mind having less capacity if the other one is the same. The level of support sounds good

 

[RetiredChief]

Both the OCZ Votrex and the Patriot Torqx (They are about the same) support Trim. Have the Torqx 128 in my laptop - works great. I opted for size vesa the Performance difference. Also Have the Intel 80 Gig G2 in Desktop. While the OCZ/Patriot are not as fast as the Intel they still beat the pants off a Machanical HHD and for Operating System and programs I would consider 60 gigs as Minium.

I believe the later models using the Samsung control finally came out with a frim ware update to support Win 7 Trim Cmd.

 

[Ghaz]

Both the OCZ Votrex and the Patriot Torqx (They are about the same) support Trim. Have the Torqx 128 in my laptop - works great. I opted for size vesa the Performance difference. Also Have the Intel 80 Gig G2 in Desktop. While the OCZ/Patriot are not as fast as the Intel they still beat the pants off a Machanical HHD and for Operating System and programs I would consider 60 gigs as Minium.

I believe the later models using the Samsung control finally came out with a frim ware update to support Win 7 Trim Cmd.

Okay, currently I'm debating whether to spend the extra on the intel, or 30GB vertex turbo or 60GB vertex.


Anyone know the difference between vertex and vertex turbo? (or agility for that matter).

 

[wiley23]

For the difference between Agility and vertex and turbo, check out http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=3631 (and much, much more info on SSDs)

 

[RetiredChief]

Wiley23's link to SSDs is VERY informative. One point, it somewhat dated inrespect to Trim support and the current firmware versions.

As to size, I still recommend a min size of 60 gigs even if you have to get "2nd best" in performance. As with HDD's you need to leave approx 15% free which cuts down the usable space Plus some brands do not give you the "Advertized" space. IE Intel 80 only gives you 74 Gig, Torqx 64 only gives you 60 gigs while the Vortex 60 gig gives you the full 60 Gigs. So with a 30 gig drive you could end up with only about 24 gigs.

MAKE sure the one you get does support trim.

Although I have the Patriot Torqx and am happy with it (wiley23's link tends to favor it over the Vortex- also review in CDinfo favored it), The reviews on newegg paint a very bleak quality picture.

 

[Ghaz]

Okay guys, I think I'm going to go with the intel, because the vertex seems to have gone up in price at scan so its only a £30 difference. Plus I like how intel provide software to maintain it.

That article was a good read - I notice how it seems to focus on write speeds, but I guess thats because most SSDs read at similar speeds.

Just to double check:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/80GB-Intel-SSD-Gen-2-MLC-Flash-25-SATA-3Gb-s-Read-250MB-s-Write-70MB-s-OEM

This is the X25-M right? It does not seem to specify.

Thanks so much for the help guys! It is much appreciated.

 

[sminlal]

Yes, that's an X25-M. You might want to try to find the SSDSA2MH080G2R5 instead of the SSDSA2MH080G2C1 (difference is in the last two letters). The actual drive is identical, but the "...R5" part number is the retail kit which includes a mounting bracket so that the drive can be mounted in a standard 3.5" drive bay. The stores I've seen usually sell both variants for the same price.

 

[Ghaz]

Yes, that's an X25-M. You might want to try to find the SSDSA2MH080G2R5 instead of the SSDSA2MH080G2C1 (difference is in the last two letters). The actual drive is identical, but the "...R5" part number is the retail kit which includes a mounting bracket so that the drive can be mounted in a standard 3.5" drive bay. The stores I've seen usually sell both variants for the same price.

They don't seem to have it, but they do have mounting brackets for pretty cheap, so no worries. Thanks for the reply.