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SSD decision making (3)

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Last response: in Storage
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Folks, I need help
After doing extensive research and reading so many reviews and specs my eyes fell out, I finally broke it down to 3. I am looking for some input on which of these 3 is the most reliable. My main concern is reliability. Speed is secondary, but these 3 are close enough to satisfy me. Price between these 3 is also not a factor. I am willing to go up to $210. I would like some feedback from anyone using any of these 3, or if you have used more than 1 of these, on reliability. I don't want to have to replace this in 6 months. I want something that has been proven reliable. Who can tell me which is the better of the 3? I am also mainly concerned about ease of install. Which of these has the minimum amount of firmware updates, prep, etc before installing? Overall, I am looking to install the drive, and have it up and running within a couple of hours. I do not want to have to make all day plans to do this install. thanks for any and all help. I also would like to know what is required before installing the ssd...ie - I know I have to change bios to ahci, but do I do this before installing the ssd, or before installing windows?
My system consists of:

Mobo - Asus p7p55d pro intel p55

proc. - Intel Core i5 750 BX80605I5750 Processor - 2.66GHz, LGA 1156, 8MB L3 Cache, Quad-Core, Lynnfield

ram - corsair ddr3 1333mhx 8gb

OS - win7 home premium 64 bit

PS - 650w corsair

Vid - GeForce GTS 250 Video Card - 512MB DDR3, PCI Express 2.0, DVI, HDMI, VGA. SLI Ready


I have sata II, but I am not concerned with that. That will satisfy me. I am running stock speed, nothing is overclocked.



Samsung MZ-7PC128D/AM 830 Series 2.5" Solid State Drive Kit - 128GB, SATA III, 6Gbps, Norton Ghost 15, Desktop Upgrade Kit
price $199
size 128gb


Intel SSDSC2CW120A310 520 Series Solid State Drive - 120GB, SATA III (6Gb/s), 2.5", up to 550MB/s Read, up to 500MB/s Write, OEM
price $209
size 120gb


Crucial CT128M4SSD2 m4 2.5" Solid State Drive - 128GB, SATA III 6Gb/s
price $175
size 128gb

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get the m4, it's consistently been on sale in the $145-150 range. i just picked one up for my system and it's awesome. the 830 might be a little faster, but unnoticably, and the reliability of the m4 is next to none. save some money and buy the m4.

also, you don't have any sata3 slots on your mobo so you'll hit a ceiling of 270mb/s reads and writes. all drives will fully saturate this, so there won't be a difference in read speeds between the 830 and m4. as i just installed the m4, it was fairly easy to figure out. (you have to enable ACHI in the bios), and from there just install windows. there is a new firmware update available with the m4 that fixed a bug with the drive, but a newly purchased drive should have this pre-installed.

at amazon and newegg the m4 is $159 no tax and free shipping(at least for me) on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-2-5-Inch-Solid-State-CT12...

not the greatest deal, but wait around for a week or two and you should see it hit 145-150.

This is the Intel 520 bak0n not the 320. This intel is the fastest, non enterprise, drive around. It has both intel branding (respected) and a sandforce 2281 controller.

I would buy the intel, although you have made the toughest ssd call online.

The Samsung 830 is super. Well liked, fast, and solid.

The M4 is great. It builds on the success of the C300 which was the 2nd gen drive to have.

I doubt there are many users (or any) who could see the difference between these three drives in regular use. All of them should max your SATA II interface in almost every way and even when you upgrade to ivy bridge they will perform your socks off. Wait for a great sale on any of the above and pull the trigger!
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I also have an Asus P7p55 pro and I can't recommend OCZ for the moment...
no complains on the excellent performance of my 6 month old Vertex 2 but it suddenly broke down yesterday and I now have to RMA it...
Storage Expert

I think if you search the net, you will find all SSD's have had reliability / BSOD issues at one time or another....and yes, that includes the M4.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5308/crucial-to-fix-m4-bs...

I also gotta contradict BakOn as we're talking about the 520 and not the 510 here. The reliability claim is based upon the 510 not having a Sandforce controller (which had the famous BSOD issue now fixed). However the 520 used a SF controller and is now the new king of the hill.

If ya don't get the Intel, I'd look for SSD's with the premium 3Xnm Toshiba Toggle Mode Flash which is found, among others, on the Vertex 3 MaxIOPS, Patriot Wildfire and , OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G. The Samsung 830 should be on anypne's list of considerations also.

Hold the phone.

SSDSC2CW120A310

is the intel 320. I own this one and it's great. But not in the same league as the 520, or the sammy 830, or the crucial M4.

The intel 320 is a rock solid sata II SSD with intel controller, nand, etc.

Just thought I'd double check as the price seemed pretty good.

thanks for the help. I think I will go with the samsung, mainly because they make all of their own stuff. Speeds are too close to call on any of them, and I am not really a fan of the sandforce controller. thanks for all the suggestons

Good Call. Enjoy your 830.

Use the ssdreview tips during the install and choose the 'important' tweaks for you but really you don't have to do anything special in order to enjoy a super fast accessing drive.

Thank ya
I'm sure I will


adampower said:
Good Call. Enjoy your 830.

Use the ssdreview tips during the install and choose the 'important' tweaks for you but really you don't have to do anything special in order to enjoy a super fast accessing drive.

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