New SSD, a Yes or a No

[harmpiejan]

Hey geeks

I saw this discout on a SSD from my standard hardware store, and I read some articles about it, but I'm still not sure. Do you think I should buy this SSD?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227550

my main concern is the MLC-chip, I heard they are slower, have a lower lifespan, but I'm on a real tight budget for this. My computer has been running flawless since february, but when I built it I couldn't afford the SSD. Now with this discount I can easily buy it. what do you think?

HJ

 

[sincreator]

Here is Tom's recommended SSD's for the money article: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-review,3194-2.html The Agility 3 drive is a fair amount faster, and the same price as the drive you were first considering. There is also a $10 MIR that would even drop it to $54.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227725

PS: I usually tell people to get a 128gb SSD atleast, then you can install five or six games on it as well as Windows. I guess your on a budget so you have to just get what you can afford for now, or maybe save a little bit more money to go up to a 128gb SSD.

 

[nhasian]

yes you should absolutely get an SSD. you will be very happy you did.

 

[Idonno]

The Agility 3 is only faster if you are using it on a sata III port. If you are going to use it on a sata II port the OCZ Vertex 2 is actually slightly faster.

Either way they are both much faster than any mechanical hard drive and will make a huge difference in your PC's speed however I agree with "sincreator's" suggestion to get at least a 128gb SSD.

 

[harmpiejan]

I will be using a sata III port, and comparing the two drives, the Agility 3 a lot faster indeed. But on my store, the difference between those two is 10 euro, so $12,-.
The Vertex has a read/write 285/275 and the Agility makes it up to 525/475.

BUT!.. will I notice the difference? I'm really not going for the extreme speeds, or some crazy benchmarks, I just want my windows to run faster. Actually, this is what I really want to put on my SSD:

Windows 7 (future upgrade to 8)
Photoshop CS6
Illustrator CS6
Premiere Pro CS6
After Effects CS6
Office Proffesional 2010
Chrome
iTunes
Adobe Reader

so, if we take 25 GB for windows 8 (system requirements are 20) that would be 36 GB, tops 40. I do not intend to install any games on my SSD, getting loading times from 5 secs to 3 is not that urgent. The most important for me is the instantly-open experience. I don't really care for copy speeds or massive file movements, I just want a fast and responsive system. So do you think it's worth the 12 dollar for the double speed when just using it for this list of programs? Just post your opinions ;D

 

[sincreator]

IMO, why not? It's only $12 and it's almost double the performance. lol.

 

[Idonno]

I will be using a sata III port, and comparing the two drives, the Agility 3 a lot faster indeed. But on my store, the difference between those two is 10 euro, so $12,-.
The Vertex has a read/write 285/275 and the Agility makes it up to 525/475.

BUT!.. will I notice the difference? I'm really not going for the extreme speeds, or some crazy benchmarks, I just want my windows to run faster. Actually, this is what I really want to put on my SSD:

Windows 7 (future upgrade to 8)
Photoshop CS6
Illustrator CS6
Premiere Pro CS6
After Effects CS6
Office Proffesional 2010
Chrome
iTunes
Adobe Reader

so, if we take 25 GB for windows 8 (system requirements are 20) that would be 36 GB, tops 40. I do not intend to install any games on my SSD, getting loading times from 5 secs to 3 is not that urgent. The most important for me is the instantly-open experience. I don't really care for copy speeds or massive file movements, I just want a fast and responsive system. So do you think it's worth the 12 dollar for the double speed when just using it for this list of programs? Just post your opinions ;D

You probably will notice a difference. How much is really dependent on your perception and the level of importance you place on speed. From what you've written above I'd guess you won't notice much where as I would notice more. It's all very subjective but, still for an additional $12 I think you should go for the Agility. It's just not that much more in the grand scheme of things and your OS drive is one of the most important key components.

 

[geofelt]

A SSD is one of the best performance enhancements you can buy for a PC.

I agree that going small on a SSD is not a great idea if you can avoid it. 120gb is about right, now that prices are down.

You may read about glowing benchmarks for the newest SSD's.
The sequential benchmarks drive the SSD to it's maximum with programs that issue I/O operations
at a much faster rate than an application can, and does so at high queue levels. 6gb sata looks great.
But, a normal desktop user rarely does anything remotely like that.

The second type of benchmark measures maximum IOPS which will be done at high queue levels again. Think >30.
That is also not what we do. The OS does mostly small random I/O, and at smallish queue lengths.
It is the response time that matters most.

It turns out that at low queue lengths, Most SSD's have the same response time, and they are very low.
That is exactly what you want from a SSD, particularly for the OS.

So, what does this mean when buying a SSD?
---------------Bottom line-----------

Get the capacity you need at the lowest cost per gb

Also, for reliability, I would go with Samsung 830 or any Intel SSD.

Here is a Intel 330 120gb SSD for $94 after rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167121

 

[harmpiejan]

alright, let's see what we got now

-Idonno: you are saying I could get the Agility, for the faster read/write speeds, but the fast experience is subjective to my understanding of fast. Well, I don't really care for extreme 'fast', but my start-up time is about 20 seconds before login, most time being spilled on the windows logo while loading.

-Geofelt: You say I can get the cheaper one and won't notice a big difference, but I need to get a reliable SSD

so, last question (I hope): for the reliability: Vertex vs Agility?

if there's no difference, I will go with the Agility. There are more 60 GB SSD on the site (Alternate Netherlands) but the price is getting higher, and that's what I was trying to avoid ..

 

[Idonno]

so, last question (I hope): for the reliability: Vertex vs Agility?

Without taking anything else into account, For reliability the OCZ Agility 3 is a better choice.

I can't speak for the Netherlands but, here (in the US) the Agility 3 is cheaper at the moment. $54.99 @ Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227725&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Solid+State+Disk-_-OCZ+Technology-_-20227725

 

[harmpiejan]

well, the agility is about 12 dollar, 10 euro more expensive, but with the double read/write speeds it's well worth it.
thank you all for your help, I will order the Agility 3

good thing summer holidays are coming up, now I have all the time in the world to play with my new toy xD
it's rainy and cold here.

 

[Idonno]

Well good, I'm glad you got that nailed down. I think you'll be real pleased with your choice.

 

[geofelt]

alright, let's see what we got now

-Idonno: you are saying I could get the Agility, for the faster read/write speeds, but the fast experience is subjective to my understanding of fast. Well, I don't really care for extreme 'fast', but my start-up time is about 20 seconds before login, most time being spilled on the windows logo while loading.

-Geofelt: You say I can get the cheaper one and won't notice a big difference, but I need to get a reliable SSD

so, last question (I hope): for the reliability: Vertex vs Agility?

if there's no difference, I will go with the Agility. There are more 60 GB SSD on the site (Alternate Netherlands) but the price is getting higher, and that's what I was trying to avoid ..

If you care about reliability, you might want to read this(older) article on ssd return rates:
http://www.behardware.com/articles/843-7/components-returns-rates-5.html

 

[harmpiejan]

well, luckily I'm getting a Agility 3. and alternate has a great costumer service. I'm using one HDD now, but there is another one in my drawer. Guess I'll add that one and back-up weekly, just to be safe

 

[RetiredChief]

Like to Clear up some BS.
But first the Agility III would be an excellent choice.The agility III gains NOTHING when placed on sata III Vs Sata II in REAL LIFE.

The Agillity III has Great SEQUENCIAL performance, But this is mostly Hype that manuf and some reviewers provide.
.. High Seq performance is based on ATTO (a Benchmark developed for HDDs) which uses Highly compressable data - Not real life for a OS + Program drive. Check it's performance using AS SSD (uses compressed data and closer to real life) and you will find that Seq performance drops of Considerably.
.. There was a review that that documented this, AND I have 2 120 Gig Agility IIIs and verified this on my i5-2500k using intel sata III port and Intel Sata II port.
.. As a side Comment - Sequencial performance is the LEAST important parameter for a OS + Program drive - It's the 4k Random performance that is important.

Again - The Agility III would be an excellent choice. And You Lose NOTHING puting it on a SATA II Port.

 

[harmpiejan]

great! thank you. I have Sata III ports, so it wouldn't be a problem anyways, but now I'm sure.
I will buy it shortly

thanks to all, thread closes tomorrow if nobody adds something crucial

 

[RetiredChief]

Don't forget:
1) disconnect HDD BEFORE installing SSD and Installing windows 7.
2) Before installing windows on SSD, verify the BIOS is set to AHCI
3) after Windows 7 is installed and up and runing on SSD you can reattach the HDD(s).

 

[harmpiejan]

thanks for step 2, almost forgot that. well, I will buy the SSD in about a month, and I will at least watch the neweggTV episode about SSD's, so I can't go wrong.
but still thank you

 

[Idonno]

Like to Clear up some BS.
But first the Agility III would be an excellent choice.The agility III gains NOTHING when placed on sata III Vs Sata II in REAL LIFE.

Not looking to get into a pissing contest here but that's dependent on/subject to the individuals usage and to a lesser degree perception. For the most part your correct with the OP's intended usage as well as most people for that matter for my usage, not-so-much.

And just to be clear I'm not talking about being a benchmark hero either.

 

[RetiredChief]

^ "but that's dependent on/subject to the individuals usage and to a lesser degree perception. For the most part your correct with the OP's intended usage as well as most people for that matter for my usage, not-so-much. "
Will agree, I was speaking to the majority, not the exception.

Yes ASync NAND and the Sandforce 22xx Controller will do "advertized" when working with LARGE File structures that will compress to a high degree, ie you work a lot with 10 meg Bitmap photos. However the same Photo in Jpeg may not hit the same performanceBut most using a 120/128 gig SSDs do not put these "large" files on the SSD.

The agility III is a great SSD for a "work/tmp" drive used with the Large file structures, and or a "slave" to the OS + program drive ie for putting large game maps on.

 

[Idonno]

Will agree, I was speaking to the majority, not the exception.

No problem, I just felt like you were calling me out (so to speak) and I felt the need to defend myself. However in the grand scheme of things I think we agree it's Just a little hard not to skew comments to a slight degree towards our own application and with that thought I have to admit that it's entirely possible that the OP wouldn't notice any difference between sata II or III for a dedicated OS-SSD.

And just so there's no confusion, the OCZ Agility 3 is still a better choice over the Vertex. We pretty much all agree on that.