SSD question

[hubbs_67]

Hello,

Just a general question - I'm considering getting a SSD, about 120 Gigs, for my OS, World of Warcraft and Diablo 3 (when it comes out). I figure 120 Gigs would be plenty for that. Everything else (music and movies) is fine to stay on my old hard drive.

My question is - for the purpose of loading Windows faster and loading game levels faster, am I going to notice much difference between a lower end SSD and one that costs quite a bit more?

For example, I can get an ADATA 120 Gig S510 for $125 after rebates, but I see that this site gives the Vertex 3 120 Gig the "recommended buy" and reading reviews it is supposed to be a bit faster, but it's also $175. Am I going to notice a big difference for paying the extra $50? And also, when reviewing possible SSD that aren't on the chart that this site puts out every month, is there an easy way to determine which drive would be good value?

Thanks in advance!

 

[RetiredChief]

First off, No there is not a big difference in real life performance between the various SATA III SSDs - In terms of Loading the OS, maybe a couple of seconds. Opening a program two blinks of the eye vs one blink. gor loading a map iduring game play difference probably in the millisecds (not a gamer so just a wag, but problably a good wag).

When Buying a SSD, My first consideration is reliability and least user problems. For that catagory, my prefference is Samsung 830, Curcial M4, and Intel 510 (soon to be replaced). I tend to think that there is a reason that some SSDs are lower. (excluding some infequent sales). Ie for OCZ they are often on sale due to the BAD rep the SATA IIII initially ( Me - Based on their actions I will not buy OCZ). They periodically put the M$ and the 830 on sale, but NOT as often. You will will quite often find the 120 gig Agility III on sale ( Ihave 2 and would not buy aqain). Performance wize probably about the same as Your ADATA.

On the ADATA - good specs for 4 K random (Up to 60,000 IOPS). But NOt enough customer reviews @ newegg to get a feel for reliability/User problems.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

The typical user usually can't tell the performance difference between a value ssd and a high end ssd. The typical user also can't usually tell the difference between a SATA 2 3GBs and a SATA 3 6Gb/s ssd. You would have to run some sort of synthetic benchmark to be able to tell the difference.

Here is a link to the ssd database:

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

Scroll down to the ssd brands you are interested in and then follow the links to the reviews for specific models.

 

[hubbs_67]

First off, No there is not a big difference in real life performance between the various SATA III SSDs - Interms od Loading the OS, maybe a couple of seconds. Opening a program two blinks of the eye vs one blink. gor loading a map iduring game play difference probly in the millisecds (not a gamer so just a wag, but problably a good wag).

When Buying a SSD, My first consideration is reliability and least user problems. For that catagory, my prefference is Samsung 830, Curcial M4, and Intel 510 (soon to be replaced). I tend to think that there is a reason that some SSDs are lower. (excluding some infequent sales). Ie for OCZ they are often on sale due to the BAD rep the SATA IIII initially ( Me - Based on their actions I will not buy OCZ). They periodically put the M$ and the 830 on sale, but NOT as often. You will will quite often find the 120 gig Agility III on sale ( Ihave 2 and would not buy aqain). Performance wize probably about the same as Your ADATA.

On the ADATA - good specs for 4 K random (Up to 60,000 IOPS). But NOt enough customer reviews @ newegg to get a feel for reliability/User problems.

So basically go to NewEgg and sort by Bestsellers and look for anything that has a good price and is at least 4 eggs and I should be fine?

 

[RetiredChief]

Even with a 4 egg rating, read the reviews concentrating on the 1 & 2 Egg reviews.
Throw out the ones that indicate operator error. look for comments that indicate compatability problems. Disreguard if less than 25 reviews - normally prefer if 50 or > reviews.

 

[hubbs_67]

Best answer selected by hubbs_67.