Best SSD for about $120?

[Jw_Leonhart]

So I was browsing on NewEgg and i'm going to get an SSD... my old 10k WD 74GB raptor drive finally went out on me...

So my question is, which one should I get? There are soooo many to choose from. Samsung has drive, kingston, OCZ, etc. etc....

I'd like fast performance but also to have some storage space, seems like 160GB is about as big as i'll get at around $120 though unfortunatly... I'll spend a few more bucks if anyone has some good suggestions though..

And also, how long would an average SSD last? My PC is on 24/7 so the SSD will never be off for the most point.

My hard drives always seem to last around 5-7 years... but when they fail they do so slowly so I know they need replacing.. I feel like when an SSD would go, it would just go.

[XBEAST]

If you want speed and reliability, get Samsung 830 128GB. If you just need higher capacity, you should be able to find something like OCZ Agility 3 180GB for that price. Another solution, not as fast as SSD but still a lot faster than HDD and with much higher capacity, would be Seagate Momentus XT 750GB HDD+SSD Hybrid. That is if you need very high capacity.


I will be buying Samsung 830 128GB soon, unless something better comes out. But Bulk bundle because Retail is about 40% more expensive.

[Jw_Leonhart]

How about the OCZ Vertex 4?

[thatguy91]

SSD is going to be a bit tricky on your system, if it is what you have in your signature. This is for a couple of reasons:
- no sata3 means you won't get the full performance
- full performance is moot, since the rest of the computer has to catch up
- with only 2GB of RAM pagefile writes will be of massive concern. Frequent writing slowly kills SSD's
- no TRIM. Without TRIM (look it up in Wikipedia for example) you SSD will lose write performance over time, something which you don't want
- no mention of the OS. OS's older than Windows 7 aren't optimised for SSD use, further being detrimental

So, what I am basically saying is, on a modern computer with 8GB of RAM, and set up correctly for SSD use, SSD's are great and have a good lifespan. On your system, it seems you will potentially kill it well before 7 years as you will have constant pagefile writes, no TRIM meaning write performance will degrade over time, and your system won't be able to make the most of the 'fastest' drive, not only because of no SATA3, but because it can only be as fast as the slowest link.

[sikvdila]

Plextor

[thatguy91]

As I were saying, I wouldn't even try to use a SSD on the specs in the sig. Sure it will work, and be faster, but you won't get the 5 to 7 years life out of it like you want.

[facetime]

There is Excellent Price going on @ Gadgetar

OCZ Vertex 3 128GB = $69 and Vertex 3 240GB = $139

The way prices are falling i would never consider buying conventional HDDs.

[Mega_Death]

That's a great price for 128GB.

Great to see the prices finally dropping. Just installed two in my PC after years of waiting. Definitely worth it.

[facetime]

Vertex 3 has dropped to $54 AR @ Gadgetar .

[TERRABYTEONE]

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh....php?t=1047312

the samsung 120 great.
stick with 120g samsung, or 120g 330 or 520 intel

i have all 3(330 i tested for customer)


im been using no trim in raid for 3+ years,(you can see the slowdown on my old 3x ssd setup., use to get 800mb/sec became 600mb/sec,,

anything greater than 200mb+ in read+ write great

you can do this

get your 120g samsung 830 ssd

install win 7 64 bit sp1

get eboostr pro v4.5

use 4g ram(if you got greater than 8g+) to eboostr (4095mb)

use 30+g of free ssd as ebsstr cache, it help cache hdd
tell eboostr not to cache ssd(c:\) exclude.

install steam to hdd (100+g of games etc)

eboostr speed up read only, so anything on hdd runs at ssd speed

advance option
(use harlinks to move faveorite game(steam - common) to c:\ ssd

this option you get 280mb/read + write on c:\ ssd it wont degrade cause it goes faster than sata 2, so 1 year later you still get 280mb/sec

30+g get uses (via eboostr-) to speed up data on hdds (think of it as read speed from ssd- treat it like a hybrid hdd+ssd

works on any o/s (xp+vista+win 7) all you need hook up ssd in achi(or ide at worst) or raid (only if using 2+ in raid 0)

+ software + a little tweeking


my games on my 2tb hdd load up (eboostr) at ssd speed (my setup 1000mb/sec) and ram get 3000mb/sec

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by thatguy91

As I were saying, I wouldn't even try to use a SSD on the specs in the sig. Sure it will work, and be faster, but you won't get the 5 to 7 years life out of it like you want.

Naah... I wouldn't worry about it. Someone (at xtremesystems.org forums) has been doing SSD endurance testing with Samsung 830 256 GB and so far he has been able to write ~3,78 petabytes (that's almost 4 million gigabytes) and it's still going on.

I someone wants speed, reliability and endurance, it's pretty hard to beat Samsung 830 series.

[thatguy91]

Originally Posted by facetime

Vertex 3 has dropped to $54 AR @ Gadgetar .

That is because it's the old model based on the Sandforce controller.

[StewieTech]

Crucial Real M4 128GB is a great SSD.