Finally got some SSD Choices....Need Help Picking

[mikeny]

I've done my homework and gathered some info from people. I narrowed it down to 5 SSD's. None of them are using Sandforce because I figured that my first jump into SSD's I'd rather be safe even though the 2nd gen SF's seem to be better but I read a few that were still giving BSODs. I noticed a few SSD's that have 128GB are lower than some 120GB versions. I picked an obvious favorite, Intel 510 (120GB) at $279 and the rest are 128GB under $200.


Here's my comparison:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100008120%20600038519&IsNodeId=1&Description=intel&bop=And&CompareItemList=636|20-148-448^20-148-448-TS%2C20-139-953^20-139-953-TS%2C20-148-442^20-148-442-TS%2C20-233-226^20-233-226-TS%2C20-167-042^20-167-042-TS


I'm only putting W7, drivers, and maybe one MMORPG; if not, just w7 and drivers. I have a SB CPU/Asus Pro Gen3 board and 16GB Corsair ddr3-1600 RAM (4x4GB) <---when it's back in stock.

 

[cumi2k4]

well, the word on the street these days is that crucial m4 is very reliable...

 

[mikeny]

well, the word on the street these days is that crucial m4 is very reliable...

Are those 2 Crucials the same...minus the transfer kit? (Im not transfering anything).

 

[JohnnyLucky]

The Crucial m4 is very popular with gamers and enthusiasts.

Just Windows 7 and drivers on a 120GB ssd? Windows 7 and drivers will only take up about 20GB of space. What are you going to do with the remaining 100GB of free space? There's is plenty of room left over for your software applications, utilities, and games.

 

[mikeny]

The Crucial m4 is very popular with gamers and enthusiasts.

Just Windows 7 and drivers on a 120GB ssd? Windows 7 and drivers will only take up about 20GB of space. What are you going to do with the remaining 100GB of free space? There's is plenty of room left over for your software applications, utilities, and games.

I saw crucial only has SSD Sata III that is 128GB not 120GB. Read/write is 500/175. Seems low since others say something like 500/465; or am I just hung up on just numbers and not looking at the big picture.

I was probably going to add a MMORPG.....or steam that has most of my games.

 

[cumi2k4]

Crucial is not using the sandforce, therefore the 128gb, nevertheless give/take performs the same if not better with other sandforce-controlled devices.
You can check tom's hierarchy chart for this (higher is better), or find the in-depth review for ssd
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-price-ssd,3070-6.html

 

[gmcizzle]

I saw crucial only has SSD Sata III that is 128GB not 120GB. Read/write is 500/175. Seems low since others say something like 500/465; or am I just hung up on just numbers and not looking at the big picture.

I was probably going to add a MMORPG.....or steam that has most of my games.

If you care about reliability above all else, go with the Crucial or Intel SSDs. If you care about maximum speed above all else, go with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226225

 

[tinmann]

I was considering the Crucial M4 but opted for the Corsair Force 3 Series 120gb sata III for at $169.99 with free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233206

 

[perfectblue]

The current best in my experience is the Samsung 830.
Its predecessor (470) was very reliable but not up to the mark in terms of speed.

This one is pretty fast and til now I didn't have a single disk returned.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147137

It would be my next choice til another better ssd comes around.
Dont forget a read a review or two to understand the facts yourself

Good luck!

 

[ram1009]

I've been using a 256GB M4 for about a month with no issues, I recommend the transfer kit highly.

 

[mikeny]

Hmmmmm, new thought. I looked up the Samsung 830 and even thought it has less than 10 reviews, they're all positive, it's also one tier (TIER 3) above the Crucial I mentioned; as well as the same price. Did you have to buy the 3.5" tray to fit in the desktop? Just like the RAM I was going to purchase, the Crucial M4 is now out of stock. Hard decision: Intel 520 (120GB), Samsung 830 (128GB) or Crucial M4 (120GB).

 

[mikeny]

I was considering the Crucial M4 but opted for the Corsair Force 3 Series 120gb sata III for at $169.99 with free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233206

How's the Corsair? The reviews were scary.

 

[mikeny]

well, the word on the street these days is that crucial m4 is very reliable...

How's the Corsair Performance Series? I think it doesn't use the Sandforce controller.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

mikeny - The Samsung 830 is the successor to the wildly successful Samsung 470. The 470 has an absolutely stellar track record. There were no major issues or problems. So far it looks like the 830 is going to be just as good as the 470. Both ssd's are Samsung design with their their own in-house controllers, flash, and components. It looks like Samsung got it right both times.

Here is a link to the ssd database:

http://www.johnnylucky.org/data-storage/ssd-database.html

Scroll down to the Samsung section where you'll find links to actual technical reviews of the 830 including the one published by Tom's Hardware.

 

[cumi2k4]

How's the Corsair Performance Series? I think it doesn't use the Sandforce controller.

To be frank, i have no idea. The review here on Tom's (see the link in previous post) is my main source of information, also with few other forum posters. My recent (but very small) research on the net for ssd comes out with the crucial recommendation, while i note there's few problem with early sandforce controller (please take it with a lot of salt, after all, i'm just some random guy spouting nonsense on the internet )

 

[mikeny]

mikeny - The Samsung 830 is the successor to the wildly successful Samsung 470. The 470 has an absolutely stellar track record. There were no major issues or problems. So far it looks like the 830 is going to be just as good as the 470. Both ssd's are Samsung design with their their own in-house controllers, flash, and components. It looks like Samsung got it right both times.

Here is a link to the ssd database:

http://www.johnnylucky.org/data-storage/ssd-database.html

Scroll down to the Samsung section where you'll find links to actual technical reviews of the 830 including the one published by Tom's Hardware.

Thank you!

 

[mikeny]

To be frank, i have no idea. The review here on Tom's (see the link in previous post) is my main source of information, also with few other forum posters. My recent (but very small) research on the net for ssd comes out with the crucial recommendation, while i note there's few problem with early sandforce controller (please take it with a lot of salt, after all, i'm just some random guy spouting nonsense on the internet )[/quotemsg

Yeah, that's why I look at multiple reviews. If there is one, I wait for more!

 

[finalguy]

i can tell you from my research that the top 3 gaming ssds are kingston hyperX, the crucial m4, and what i ended up buying ocz vertex 3. now kingston, patriot and ocz have been kinda one uping each other in this market so its hard to pin point whos the best as its a moving target BUT ocz must be doing something right with their ssd as they've stopped making ram it seems. the other bit of advice i can give was given to me years ago, there are plenty of "brands" of things but most of the time only a few companies make the parts. micron makes or atleast used to make the lions share of ram modules. crucial is theres retail arm so.... it stands to reason that the company that makes the chips may be able to do it better and cheaper. i felt that way about crucial's balistix ram for a while before switch to ocz ram.


thats just my 2 cents

p.s. get SLC not MLC, even if it costs you more in $ or you have to settle for less GBs

 

[RetiredChief]

First some tips:
.. Disregard Sequencial bench marks for a OS Plus Program drive as this is the least important matrix,
.. Write speed is less important than read speed.
.. Prefered benchmarks: PCmark vantage - closer to real world followed by AS SSD which at least used compressed data for it's benchmark test.
.. On reliability - Samsung followed by Intel/Curicial M4 (Note Intel's 510 uses the marval controller, NOT a INtel controller which May reduce it's reliability when compared to the highly reliable G2 and 470).

 

[mikeny]

i can tell you from my research that the top 3 gaming ssds are kingston hyperX, the crucial m4, and what i ended up buying ocz vertex 3. now kingston, patriot and ocz have been kinda one uping each other in this market so its hard to pin point whos the best as its a moving target BUT ocz must be doing something right with their ssd as they've stopped making ram it seems. the other bit of advice i can give was given to me years ago, there are plenty of "brands" of things but most of the time only a few companies make the parts. micron makes or atleast used to make the lions share of ram modules. crucial is theres retail arm so.... it stands to reason that the company that makes the chips may be able to do it better and cheaper. i felt that way about crucial's balistix ram for a while before switch to ocz ram.


thats just my 2 cents

p.s. get SLC not MLC, even if it costs you more in $ or you have to settle for less GBs

I saw on newegg; only 2 SLC's and they are only 32GB.

 

[mikeny]

i can tell you from my research that the top 3 gaming ssds are kingston hyperX, the crucial m4, and what i ended up buying ocz vertex 3. now kingston, patriot and ocz have been kinda one uping each other in this market so its hard to pin point whos the best as its a moving target BUT ocz must be doing something right with their ssd as they've stopped making ram it seems. the other bit of advice i can give was given to me years ago, there are plenty of "brands" of things but most of the time only a few companies make the parts. micron makes or atleast used to make the lions share of ram modules. crucial is theres retail arm so.... it stands to reason that the company that makes the chips may be able to do it better and cheaper. i felt that way about crucial's balistix ram for a while before switch to ocz ram.


thats just my 2 cents

p.s. get SLC not MLC, even if it costs you more in $ or you have to settle for less GBs

I was thinking of Crucial (M4) or Samsung (830).

Finalguy; Kingston HyperX, OCZ Vertex3 use Sandforce. I was reading that people are still getting BSODs and instability.

Confused now lol I thought I had a good idea which one to get. Now Im lost. What;s the best one for W7 and a MMORPG (or just W7, drivers and Steam) . Crucial M4

 

[finalguy]

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I was thinking of Crucial (M4) or Samsung (830).

Finalguy; Kingston HyperX, OCZ Vertex3 use Sandforce. I was reading that people are still getting BSODs and instability.

Confused now lol I thought I had a good idea which one to get. Now Im lost. What;s the best one for W7 and a MMORPG (or just W7, drivers and Steam) . Crucial M4

ok sorry to confuse you. let me clearify i bit, if you are not buying to today and are more looking to the future then try for slc over mlc. as for sandforce i believe most of the issues and the BSOD's were with the first gen sandforce, most reviewers say the second gen 2281 controllers are very good me included. heres the thing with ssd right this min it falls to 2 questions: is it importent to you to have the bleeding edge fasted drive? and how big do you NEED it to be. just for boot get something in the 60gb range and if you dont need bleeding edge then crucial is awesome, they just arent playing the epeen game at the moment.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441 for just a boot os drive(wow is 20-40gigs depending on how many mods,pics,vids, and patches/updates are in your folder plus u must maintain atleast double a patch size for the temp file in windows for downloading and installing. some of those patches and be a few gigs in and of themselves. starwars old republic is looking to be 30-40 gigs right out of the gate. i would also plan ATleast 40 gigs for win7 to have room for temps, bloats, java,adobe,flash,etc.)



for os and a few games/apps for more space to have if not everything atleast a game or too and all the other stuff i listed above

 

[mikeny]

[/url]

ok sorry to confuse you. let me clearify i bit, if you are not buying to today and are more looking to the future then try for slc over mlc. as for sandforce i believe most of the issues and the BSOD's were with the first gen sandforce, most reviewers say the second gen 2281 controllers are very good me included. heres the thing with ssd right this min it falls to 2 questions: is it importent to you to have the bleeding edge fasted drive? and how big do you NEED it to be. just for boot get something in the 60gb range and if you dont need bleeding edge then crucial is awesome, they just arent playing the epeen game at the moment.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441 for just a boot os drive(wow is 20-40gigs depending on how many mods,pics,vids, and patches/updates are in your folder plus u must maintain atleast double a patch size for the temp file in windows for downloading and installing. some of those patches and be a few gigs in and of themselves. starwars old republic is looking to be 30-40 gigs right out of the gate. i would also plan ATleast 40 gigs for win7 to have room for temps, bloats, java,adobe,flash,etc.)



for os and a few games/apps for more space to have if not everything atleast a game or too and all the other stuff i listed above

No problem. I thought I responded maybe not or perhaps a higher power is deleting posts. I basically was looking to put Windows 7/drivers and steam on it. Steam has a few of my games. I still have 2 SATA II HDDs. If I do go to Star Wars, I would put it on my Velocirapter which is 350GB. I was thinking either, Crcual M4 or I saw in another post, the OCZ Agility 3. Seems like the reviews got better. One negative in the past few weeks was because the person didn't have a SATA III port.

Crucial M4

Or

[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=qvoams6k8ddu]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=qvoams6k8ddu

Vertex 3

Hey, you got that one right? How is it? Did it come with the updated firmware?

SSD is the last thing to get. I have all other parts on order. Newegg is surprisingly slow lately. I ordered the motherboard and CPU November 28th, it was shipped the 30th, and won't arrive till 12/5....This is so unNewegg of them. Wonder what happened.

 

[mikeny]

Best answer selected by mikeny.