Best SSD for Windows 8

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Mnski-Ice

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Feb 10, 2013
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well I'm going to install Windows 8 PRO 64bit OEM from Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit, but i'll do a CLEAN INSTALL and don't ask why don't I upgrade it instead install a new one, ok let's start I'm asking what is the best SSD for my PC well earlier I was searching for SSD then i hooked up the OCZ Vertex 4, and I don't know much about SSD because it's first time gonna use it, but my friend told me that the OCZ Vertex 4 is great and my Windows 8 will boot up fast.

so I was searching threads to look up the best SSD that I can use for my PC, and now I ended up here so can you help me find a better SSD well I don't know if the OCZ Vertex 4 will do fine, so please prefer other SSD that I can use.

here's my specs ( links available ):

Motherboard: Gigabyte H61M-DS2 rev 2.0
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4073#ov

Processor: Intel i5-3570 6M 3.40Ghz
http://ark.intel.com/products/65702/Intel-Core-i5-3570-Processor-6M-Cache-3_40-GHz

Graphics Card: Palit GeForce 210 1GDDR3
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-210
http://www.palit.biz/palit/vgapro.php?id=1410

Memory: 4gb DDR3
Hard Drive: 500gb 7200rpm ( partitioned 200gb/300gb )
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
 
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.. Windows 8, 9 or 7 is not in the equation. so the question is simply the best SSD for a Intel based Chipset.
Yes the Chipset does effect performance, Intel being the better one. Motherboard; I'd probably prefer a 7 series MB vs the 6 series.

.. First I must qualify. Performance wise there is VERY LITTLE difference betwen the "better SSD" in real life day-2-day usage. A couple of sec diff in boot time is mock-nix and a diff of several millisecond - whell your eyes can NOT see that difference. And Yes there can be what appears to be considerable diff in Benchmarks. A GIVEN, ATTO sequencial performance is meaningless!! Bottom Line here is that I go for most reliable/least user problems.
If you must look at bench marks, look...
.. Windows 8, 9 or 7 is not in the equation. so the question is simply the best SSD for a Intel based Chipset.
Yes the Chipset does effect performance, Intel being the better one. Motherboard; I'd probably prefer a 7 series MB vs the 6 series.

.. First I must qualify. Performance wise there is VERY LITTLE difference betwen the "better SSD" in real life day-2-day usage. A couple of sec diff in boot time is mock-nix and a diff of several millisecond - whell your eyes can NOT see that difference. And Yes there can be what appears to be considerable diff in Benchmarks. A GIVEN, ATTO sequencial performance is meaningless!! Bottom Line here is that I go for most reliable/least user problems.
If you must look at bench marks, look at AS SSD performance.

My Preference is:
First choice - Samsung 840 Pro. Top rated and samsung has an excellent rep for reliability.
2nd choice: Crucial M4 (NO to crucial M5), plextor M3/M5, Samsung 830 (Which ever one is cheapest), Samsung 840 (non-pro) Not sure on this one. just yet.
3rd: SF22xx based controller SSDs using toggle NAND, or at least Synchronous NAND
4th- ONLY if Cost is absolute and can'nt afford above: SSDs using Asynchronous NAND (ie Agility IIIs, Crucial M5).

My List of SSDs:
1 Samsung 840 Pro
3 Smasuing 830's
3 Curcial M4's
2 Agility III's (Agility III is a good choice if using in a SATA II port with NO plans on upgrading MB to a SATA III MB). I avoid OCZ as I DO NOT like the managment - But that is ME. Their New SSDs are fine, just prefer the marvel/Samsung Controller over the SF22xx controller.

While I love My samsung 840 pro, it shows up with an overall score in the 1100s for AS SSD compared to 650-750 for my M4s and 830s, Just no wheres near that level of performance diff in real life - reason benchmarks do not really impress me.
 
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Mnski-Ice

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Feb 10, 2013
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seem's it's quite your first choice is good but I'm short on budget :p i think i'll go for the crucial M4, Samsung 830 or the OCZ Agility III?

but is this Crucial M4 good?
http://dynaquestpc.com/index.php/components-2/storage-1/solid-state-drives/crucial-m4-128gb-2-5-sata-6gb-s-sata-iii-solid-state-drive.html

or the

OCZ Agility 3?
http://dynaquestpc.com/index.php/components-2/storage-1/solid-state-drives/ocz-agility3-120gb-sataiii-2-5-ssd-hdd-hard-drive-soid-state-drive.html

or can you prefer from this site where will I buy http://dynaquestpc.com/index.php/components-2/storage-1/solid-state-drives.html?limit=30
 
VERY very little performance diff between the M4 and the 830. I used the M4 in m,y laptop as it has slightly lower power consumption than the 830. replaced the one of the M4s in laptop with the 840 Pro.. Laptop 840 pro 256 gig = OS + programs, M4 is also 256 gig and is for storage.

Agility III is a poor choice for when compared to M4 or 830. HOWever must admit it still puts a mechanical HDD to shame. The Agility III uses asynchronous NAND also uses the SF22XX controller. It does NOT perform any better on SATA III than it does on a SATA II port. Stated in a review and I verified using My agility III's.
 

Mnski-Ice

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ok then what will you prefer me to buy a Crucial M4 or Samsung 830?

or very well check on this site for the Crucial M4 and give me the link, I just need a 128gb of the Crucial M4 and I don't know what to buy there? I'm just a beginner and no't an expert because this where will I buy the Crucial m4, because I'm from the Philippines so you wouldn't expect me to buy on newegg, amazon or etc. please but I'll check the Samsung 830 SSD from sites where can i buy it on the philippines :)
http://dynaquestpc.com/index.php/c [...] l?limit=30
 

MC_K7

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Plextor M5 Pro Xtreme 256GB:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820249033

5-year warranty. High quality product. Performance close to the Samsung 840 Pro, but better bang for the bucks IMHO. Offers better sustained read & write performance and less degradation over the years. Bought two of them, my favorite SSD so far.

*** Edit: Oops, didn't realize you were looking at 128GB versions:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820249026

(Currently out of stock on Newegg though)
 
^ Plextor m5 pro is a vey good SSD, on par with M4, 830 and 840 Pro.

Plextor was very well know for the DVD-rw drives, about the best out there untill they dropped making their own. Plext tools was a very good software program for evaluating the quality of a burn. OfCoarse they were also about the most expensive out there
 

Mnski-Ice

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It's seems to be ok though but I'm going to stick for the Samsung 840 Pro, Samsung 830 or the Crucial M4
 

Mnski-Ice

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nice though I think if your using a Asus motherboard i think it will only take 2 seconds to boot because latest motherboards of Asus has the feature of that I know :O even so if your Windows 7/8 is installed in a SSD it will take less boot too? correct me if I'm wrong :)
 

Mnski-Ice

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I just saw this Samsung 840 PRO for only $190 but it's on Philippine Peso Price http://www.tipidpc.com/viewitem.php?iid=21428509 well it's a high price and it's on your first choice for me and you said earlier that it's worth the price, maybe I will think about it if I'm going for a Samsung 840 Pro or the Crucial M4 or the Plextor M5.
 
*I only saw 3Gbps controllers on his motherboard.

Without a 6Gbps controller he can't take advantage of SATA3 speeds so it's a waste of money spending extra.

My advice would be the Samsung 840 (non-Pro) if the price is right, or an OCZ Vertex 4. There's a couple others that are fine. Samsung 840 uses TLC but that's adequate, especially if the value is there (by the time it wears out SSD's will be far, far cheaper anyway).

Other:
- you should apply over-provisioning (Samsung's Magician software can do it automatically)
- for Samsung's 840 I had to use the disc boot method to flash the firmware. No big deal though (Samsung Magician) as the Windows version didn't work in Windows 8.
- if SPACE gets to be an issue then disable Hibernation and set the min/max of your Pagefile to 4GB.
 

Mnski-Ice

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so sir what do you prefer for me that is compatible and around 120gb SSD? like Crucial M4
 


http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=77210&vpn=MZ%2D7TD120BW&manufacture=Samsung Memory & Storage&promoid=1312

Don't forget that 20% is lost to over-provisioning (you should apply that with Samsung's Magician software) and a little more is lost to formatting so it will end up just over 90GB of usable space.

That's plenty for Windows and applications. I run games on a different drive. If you get desperate then Google on how to remove the Hibernation file and reduce the Pagefile to 4GB min/max.
 
photonboy brings up some good points on saving SSD space. To expand on that:
Hibernation uses an amout of disk space equal to Ram
.. w/4 gigs of ram that is 4 gig saved
.. With the fast boot time of SSDs it is not that much of a biggy.
.. How to disable fo to Let me fix it myself.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920730

Manage page (virtual memory)
.. I always set the Min and max to the same size even for HDDs. For HDDs it reduces fragmentation, for SSD it saves space.
.. Windows sets this to 1 ½ times ram so 4 gigs of memory uses 6 gigs of diskspace.
.. W/4 gigs of ram it’s a trial and error method. I’d first try setting both Min and max to 2048 mb. If it is not enough then you will get an error message stating “out of memory” No biggy, just go back in and increase say to 3072 mb, still not enough go to 4096 mb. With greater than 4 Gigs of ram, I’ve found that I can get by with setting min and max both to 1024 mb. Savings between 4 -> 2 gigs disk space.
..Push comes to shove, You can move this to a HDD thus saving all the space (only a slight performance hit). Just state NOE for Dive “C” than set to Drive D (Your HDD).
SEE: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/sysdm_advancd_perform_change_vmpagefile.mspx?mfr=true

Take control of space allocated for restore points.
.. Windows allocates a set amount (percentage) of your HDD/SSD size.
.. Each restore point takes 300 mb (in Windows 7, not sure on windows 8). Just 10 restore points equal 3 Gigs Disk space. Setting to 900 mbs would allow 3 restore points. Myself, with the New Image ability in windows 7 & 8, I disable restore points and rely on the back-up image. Savings variable depending on what uSoft allocates and weather you disable or just reduce amount of disk space allocated by Windows.
SEE: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/3187/disable-system-restore-in-windows-7/
 

rsibincic

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Not posting an answer, but yet another possible thread split.

I can see that you guys would understand my question. Just so you know,,, I'm jumping into this off of a google search, so if I am breaking protocol, just point me to the FAQ/policy. This thread popped as the #1 hit in my search.

I'm using all of 55G of a 1T hard disk on my windows8 i7-quad laptop, and was considering an SSD.

If I were to pursue an SSD option, what could I expect in return?

I do not game or process video. Is there benefit for me?

Thanks a million!

-Rich
 


Start your own thread.
It makes no sense for you to pose a question to a thread that's over a year old.

If you do that, then send me a PM with the link I'll try to respond.
 
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