Recomended SSD? Please help!

[a-p-p-l-e-s]

Hi i really want to upgrade my hard drive and maybe get a ssd and a better hard drive for raid 0. The reason i want an upgrade is so that my sc2 loads faster and so my friend stops saying my computer is crap... my computer is all good with cross fire 5870 + 850W psu and a lot more good stuff but my computer boots so slow (because of my hdd) and my friend knows nothing about the computer so he assumes that the boot speed determines how good your pc is.. so i just wanna get a ssd and shut him up for good... lol! i can spend about 200$ max. I was wondering how much memory will i need? and what ssd do you recommend?
should i just spend 50$ more and get a vertex 3 120gb for 250$? all help is appreciated!!

 

[LordConrad]

If your motherboard supports SATA III (6Gb/s), Then I would get either a Crucial RealSSD C300 or a OCZ Vertex 3. If you don't have SATA III, you can save some money by getting a Vertex 2, or get one of the SATA III drives which will run at full speed next time you upgrade your motherboard. You could also get a SATA III add-on card if your motherboard doesn't support it natively.

I think a 120GB SSD is a good compromise on price versus performance. 120GB SSDs give you plenty of room for your OS and your more important applications and games, the rest of your software and data can be stored on a standard hard drive. Also, drives over 120GB in size get expensive very quickly.

 

[a-p-p-l-e-s]

how much memory do you recommend?

 

[LordConrad]

64GB is fine for just your OS and a few other applications, but I recommend 120GB SSDs (see my edited post above).

 

[a-p-p-l-e-s]

Crucial RealSSD C300 as like a 300 read but like a 150 write.. while the vertex 3 is at like 500 write 500 read!!

 

[LordConrad]

Yes, but the C300 is probably on sale since the C400 is right around the corner. I would go for the Vertex 3, but it depends on your budget.

 

[a-p-p-l-e-s]

the c300 is basically the same price as the vertex 3 Oo

 

[ojas]

under 200$ i think the agility 2 should be ok too...it seems to be pretty close to the vertex 2, at least with the latest firmware...

 

[adampower]

The c300 should last a little longer and generally be more 'reliable' than the v3 due to 34nm Nand.

Also, in our real world there is probably very little discernible difference. I won't, in the near future, be able to push 500MB/s anywhere that my v3 needs to write that fast. As for video editing and such... hmmm. More of a random write thing anyway.

IOPS are the thing for an OS drive. And random 4k reads are actually faster on the c300. (see anand's update here http://www.anandtech.com/show/4204/correction-ocz-vertex-3-random-read-performance-data)

 

[a-p-p-l-e-s]

The c300 should last a little longer and generally be more 'reliable' than the v3 due to 34nm Nand.

Also, in our real world there is probably very little discernible difference. I won't, in the near future, be able to push 500MB/s anywhere that my v3 needs to write that fast. As for video editing and such... hmmm. More of a random write thing anyway.

IOPS are the thing for an OS drive. And random 4k reads are actually faster on the c300. (see anand's update here http://www.anandtech.com/show/4204/correction-ocz-vertex-3-random-read-performance-data)

so you recommend c300 over vertex 2+3?

 

[tecmo34]

Yes... I would recommend the C300 over the other two drives.

As for system memory, you can get 8GB of DDR3 1600 for under $100, so it makes sense to go with a 8GB (2x4GB) setup. Most users are fine with 4GB but with current pricing, I say why not

 

[a-p-p-l-e-s]

will the c300 have a quicker boot speed?

 

[tecmo34]

Yes... It will have a quick boot.

Here is a comparison of a C300 & Agility 2: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/151?vs=194

 

[adampower]

Yes.. Second that Tecmo stuff.

I'm really torn between the v3 and the c300 right now. The sandforce based alternative should be better but OCZ... and 25nm NAND...

But I keep coming back to the c300. Quicker boot than v3? Probably not but.. 10 seconds to 9 seconds or something like that... Both super fast but maybe v3 super fasterish. (I invented that word).

 

[LordConrad]

My next SSD will be either a C400 or a Vertex 3. Won't be getting it until May or June though. I'd like to see these drives go head-to-head.

 

[ojas]

what about a SSD for SATA-2? vertex 2?

i've been thinking about it for while, cant decide b/w the agility 2 and vertex 2...in the computer power user (CPU) mag, i saw a comparison b/w a zalman n-series ssd, the vtx2, agility 2 and the x25-m...
zalman and vertex 2 gave consistent performance, the other 2 suffered in random writes (4 KB, QD32)...

on tom's i saw a reverse of benchmarks (in the same test) with the agility 2 giving a +100 MB/s benchmark and the vertex 2 giving 70. wondered why that was, then found out about the 25nm thing.
the guys at CPU probably were using the 35nm vertex 2 E, or a normal Vtx 2.

but if the agility is, for some reason (FW update?) giving vertex 2 like performance, at a lower price, then it seems to me that it's a good choice.

but the question is, how exactly is the agility 2 performing?

and tecmo34, i think anandtech has the 25nm vertex 2E.

 

[mastermind119]

I was wonder what kind of motherboard i need for vertex 3 120 gb ssd card. Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

[tecmo34]

You need a motherboard with SATA III 6.0Gb/s support to utilize the Vertex 3.

 

[a-p-p-l-e-s]

Best answer selected by a-p-p-l-e-s.