Tom's Hardware's Summer Guide: 17 SSDs Rounded Up

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Which SSD should you buy today? Seventeen flash-based drives battle across a benchmark suite that include throughput, I/O performance, consistency, power consumption, efficiency, and the best overall bang for the buck. The time is right to upgrade.

Comparison Table

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Manufacturer Asax Asax Crucial
Family Leopard Hunt II Server One 120 RealSSD C300
Model Number TS25M64 SSD Row 1 - Cell 2 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1
Capacity 128 GB 200 GB 64 GB
Other Capacities 16, 32, 64, 256 GB 50, 100, 400 GB 128, 256 GB
Flash Type MLC MLC MLC
Controller Indilinx SandForce Marvell 88SS9174-BJP2
Form Factor 2.5" 2.5" 2.5"
Interface SATA 3Gb/s SATA 3Gb/s SATA 6Gb/s
Cache (MB) 64 MB N/A 128 MB
NCQ yes yes yes
Height 9.5 mm 9.5 mm 9.5 mm
MTBF N/A N/A 1 200 000 h
Operating Temperature 0-85°C 0-85°C 0-70°C
Specified Idle Power (low-power) 0.50 W N/A 0.09 W
Measured Idle Power (low-power) 0.48 W 0.99 W 0.13 W
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Manufacturer Crucial Crucial G.Skill
Family M225 RealSSD C300 Phoenix
Model number CT256M225 MTFDDAC256MAG-1GAES FM-25S2S-100GBP1
Capacity 256 GB 256 GB 100 GB
Other Capacities 64, 256 GB 128 GB 120 GB
Flash Type MLC MLC MLC
Controller Indilinx Marvell 88SS9174-BJP2 SandForce SF-1200
Form Factor 2.5" 2.5" 2.5"
Interface SATA 3Gb/s SATA 6Gb/s SATA 3Gb/s
Cache (MB) 64 MB 128 MB N/A
NCQ yes yes yes
Height 9.5 mm 9.5 mm 9.5 mm
MTBF 1 000 000 h N/A 2 000 000 h
Operating Temperature na 0-70°C 0-70°C
Specified Idle Power (low-power) 0.48 W 0.09 W N/A
Measured Idle Power (low-power) 0.39 W 0.60 W 0.74 W
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Manufacturer G.Skill Intel Intel
Family Phoenix Pro X25 X25-M 34 nm
Model Number FM-25S2S-120GBP2 X25-V SSDSA2M160G2G2
Capacity 120 GB 40 GB 160 GB
Other Capacities 60, 240 GB 80, 160 GB 80 GB
Flash Type MLC MLC MLC
Controller SandForce SF-1200 PC29AS21BA0 PC29AS21BA0
Form Factor 2.5" 2.5" 2.5"
Interface SATA 3Gb/s SATA 3Gb/s SATA 3Gb/s
Cache (MB) N/A 32 MB 32 MB
NCQ Yes Yes yes
Height 9.5 mm 9.5 mm 9.5 mm
MTBF 2 000 000 h 1 200 000 h 1 200 000 h
Operating Temperature 0-70°C 0-70°C 0-70°C
Specified Idle Power (low-power) N/A 0.08 W 0.06 W
Measured Idle Power (low-power) 0.71 W 0.19 W 0.06 W
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Manufacturer Kingston OCZ OCZ
Family SSDNow-V Vertex 2 Vertex 2
Model Number SNV-425 100GB - OCZSSD2-2VTX100G 120GB - OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G
Capacity 128 GB 100 GB 120 GB
Other Capacities 30, 64 GB 50, 200, 400 GB 60, 240, 480 GB
Flash Type MLC MLC MLC
Controller JMicron JMF618 SandForce SF-1200 SandForce SF-1200
Form Factor 2.5" 2.5" 2.5"
Interface SATA 3 Gb/s SATA 3 Gb/s SATA 3 Gb/s
Cache 64 MB N/A N/A
NCQ yes yes yes
Height 9.5 mm 9.5 mm 9.5 mm
MTBF 1 000 000 h 2 000 000 h 2 000 000 h
Operating Temperature 0-70°C 0-70°C 0-70°C
Specified Idle Power (low-power) 0.70 W 0.50 W 0.50 W
Measured Idle Power (low-power) 1.40 W 0.55 W 0.52 W
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Manufacturer OCZ OWC RunCore
Family Vertex Mercury Extreme SSD Kylin II
Model Number OCZSSD2-1VTX120G OWCSSDMXE100 Row 1 - Cell 3
Capacity 120 GB 100 GB 100 GB
Other Capacities 30, 60, 250 GB 50, 200,400 GB N/A
Flash Type MLC MLC MLC
Controller Indilinx SandForce SF-1200 SandForce SF-1200
Form Factor 2.5" 2.5" 2.5"
Interface SATA 3Gb/s SATA 3Gb/s SATA 3Gb/s
Cache (MB) 64 MB N/A N/A
NCQ yes yes yes
Height 9.5 mm 9.5 mm 9.5 mm
MTBF 1 500 000 h 1 000 000 h 1 000 000 h
Operating Temperature 0-70°C 0-70°C N/A
Specified Idle Power (low-power) 0.47 W 0.55 W N/A
Measured Idle Power (low-power) 0.47 W 0.60 W 0.64 W
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Manufacturer Toshiba Western Digital Solidata
Family HG2 WD SiliconEdge Blue K5
Model Number THNS256GG8BBAA SSC-D0256SC-2100 K5 SLC Flash SSD
Capacity 256 GB 256 GB 64 GB
Other Capacities 64, 128, 512 GB 64, 128 GB 16, 32, 128 GB
Flash Type MLC MLC MLC
Controller Toshiba T6UG1XBG JMicron JMF618 Indilinx
Form Factor 2.5" 2.5" 2.5"
Interface SATA 3 Gb/s SATA 3 Gb/s SATA 3 Gb/s
Cache (MB) 128 MB 64 MB 64 MB
NCQ yes yes yes
Height 9.5 mm 9.5 mm 9.5 mm
MTBF 1 000 000 h 1 400 000 h 2 000 000 h
Operating Temperature 0-70°C 0-70°C 0-70°C
Specified Idle Power (low-power) 0.07 W 0.60 W 0.50 W
Measured Idle Power (low-power) 0.06 W 1.00 W 0.44 W