- Jan 5, 2010
- 477
- 2
- 18,790
Hey y'all,
I've decided it's time to get an SSD, but I need help. I'm generally extremely competent when it comes to choosing components, but despite my research, SSDs continue to leave me baffled. That's where you (hopefully) come in.
Currently running an i7-920 (d0 stepping), P6x58D Premium (USB/SATA 6.0), built a bit over a year ago. It's primarily for gaming, but I also do a decent amount of image editing, and I use it as a home recording studio for music. Multitasking is slim - alt/tabbing to a browser or mIRC while gaming, that sort of thing. It's rare that I would be running two CPU/memory-intense applications simultaneously.
I am not a patient person, and that's why I'm going to pull the trigger on an SSD. As I mentioned, the PC is primarily for gaming - I know an SSD won't improve the game's performance, but I'd like to see boot/load times on the applications that I run the most frequently shrivel up and die.
I'm looking for a minimum of 120GB, no real cap on size, but I'd like to be in the 160-240GB range, and I'm not particularly interested in spending over $500. Reliability is big for me, too - I want the second time I drop this much money on a SSD to be because I'm upgrading voluntarily, not because I'm replacing a busted drive.
With all that said, I've been looking at the Intel X25-M, the c300 (and 400), and the OCZ Vertex 2 (and soon to be 3). The Intel looks quick, reliable, and from what I can tell, pairs nicely with my current CPU, but is slightly older technology, and doesn't hammer out the same huge speeds as the others. The c300 and Vertex drives look blazing fast, but get low marks for reliability.
I'm really struggling with this decision, especially given that new drives are around the corner (but I have no interest in any of Intel's new offerings - the 510 and 320 look like they're either geared towards users that aren't me, or just not that great at all). Really, though, am I going to see much difference between the X25 and the other drives in my real world use? Are there other drives I should be considering?
I've decided it's time to get an SSD, but I need help. I'm generally extremely competent when it comes to choosing components, but despite my research, SSDs continue to leave me baffled. That's where you (hopefully) come in.
Currently running an i7-920 (d0 stepping), P6x58D Premium (USB/SATA 6.0), built a bit over a year ago. It's primarily for gaming, but I also do a decent amount of image editing, and I use it as a home recording studio for music. Multitasking is slim - alt/tabbing to a browser or mIRC while gaming, that sort of thing. It's rare that I would be running two CPU/memory-intense applications simultaneously.
I am not a patient person, and that's why I'm going to pull the trigger on an SSD. As I mentioned, the PC is primarily for gaming - I know an SSD won't improve the game's performance, but I'd like to see boot/load times on the applications that I run the most frequently shrivel up and die.
I'm looking for a minimum of 120GB, no real cap on size, but I'd like to be in the 160-240GB range, and I'm not particularly interested in spending over $500. Reliability is big for me, too - I want the second time I drop this much money on a SSD to be because I'm upgrading voluntarily, not because I'm replacing a busted drive.
With all that said, I've been looking at the Intel X25-M, the c300 (and 400), and the OCZ Vertex 2 (and soon to be 3). The Intel looks quick, reliable, and from what I can tell, pairs nicely with my current CPU, but is slightly older technology, and doesn't hammer out the same huge speeds as the others. The c300 and Vertex drives look blazing fast, but get low marks for reliability.
I'm really struggling with this decision, especially given that new drives are around the corner (but I have no interest in any of Intel's new offerings - the 510 and 320 look like they're either geared towards users that aren't me, or just not that great at all). Really, though, am I going to see much difference between the X25 and the other drives in my real world use? Are there other drives I should be considering?
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