Looking to get an SSD for my laptop.

Jstn7477 · Mar 14, 2011

Hello all,

I am looking to purchase an SSD for my laptop, since I have about roughly $215 at the moment. I'd like to have a Sandforce SSD, as they seem to be the best (is that still the case?) On Newegg, I see a lot of OCZ SSDs that appear to be SandForce based, particularly the Agility 2 and Vertex 2. So, my questions are:

1) Is an SSD worth it? Seems like they really speed up computers, but have limited write cycles and capacity.
2) Which OCZ SSD model is better? Agility 2 or the marginally more expensive Vertex 2?
3) Are there any other SSDs that are higher performance or more durable than the Agility/Vertex 2 at the $200 price point? I'm currently looking at the 120GB models.
4) What all do I need to be careful about not doing to the SSD? I know defragmenting is supposed to be disabled. Anything else?

Sorry if there are other threads around that I could have posted in. Thanks in advance for the help.

stevednmc · Mar 14, 2011

I can say for my self SSD FTW!!! I love mine, though it is a slightly loer end intel X25M it made my laptop screamin fast.
As to the OCZ's i hear they are good though i have no experience with them personally.

Make sure you have latest firmware installed, disable defrag and prefetching (windows ahould optimize for ssd automatically if you have 7. Check out ocz's website for mo info as they have great tutorials. Ill look for the link...

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/content.php?306-SSD-ABC-Guide

Edit: also type in ssd in the search box here, it will pop up a wealth of info!

MRCL · Mar 14, 2011

Just bought an OCZ Vertex 2 SSD for myself. And also heard that Sandforce controllers are sorta must have. Eh, I dunno. But according to the reviews of the guys who have a Vertex in their systems for quite some time now are still satisfied with them.

Jstn7477 · Mar 14, 2011

I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium, and will likely use the recovery disks that I made for my PC. I'm a little on the fence about cutting my space down to 25% (I'm currently using a Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid drive). It appears that I currently use about 180GB of space on my HDD, half of which I believe are all my Steam games. I'm thinking of either getting the 120GB OCZ SSD and installing a minimal amount of games, or trying one of those cheap Wintec Expresscard SSDs (48/96GB for OS and minimal programs and they're much slower though, but I would have a ton of space).

MRCL · Mar 14, 2011

Install Windows and maybe the games you play most on the SSD. For traditional storage, HDDs are still your best bet.

stevednmc · Mar 14, 2011

Thats up to you. I keep my laptop fairly clean, minimal install and have my desktop as the heavy hitter...if you ONLY have the laptop and NEED the space an ssd may not be the best choice..i dont know about the other ones though.

Jstn7477 · Mar 14, 2011

I have a 1TB USB 2.0 drive I can store stuff on. I'll just have to stick with a few games I guess if I go that route, but I'll miss having all my files on me (well, probably not).

stevednmc · Mar 14, 2011

Well then id say your a go for SSD! You can install games on the portable too....

Jstn7477 · Mar 14, 2011

stevednmc said:
Thats up to you. I keep my laptop fairly clean, minimal install and have my desktop as the heavy hitter...if you ONLY have the laptop and NEED the space an ssd may not be the best choice..i dont know about the other ones though.

Yes, the laptop is my only system, unfortunately. I've got to choose wisely before I blow all my money on this thing.

Jstn7477 · Mar 14, 2011

stevednmc said:
Well then id say your a go for SSD! You can install games on the portable too....

Can applications be installed on the external drive without any problems if the drive is disconnected? If the programs aren't executed while the drive is disconnected, would I be alright? If I get more money in the future, I may be able to buy an eSATA rack and use that for storage.

stevednmc · Mar 14, 2011

Found this on google:
http://ask-leo.com/can_i_install_programs_on_an_external_drive.html

And this: http://www.ehow.com/how_6793110_install-games-external-hard-drive.html

Jstn7477 · Mar 14, 2011

I wish I had an mSATA slot. I could easily buy an Intel 310 80GB SSD, put it in my spare PCIe slot and have both drives. Too bad my extra slot is just PCIe only and is for a non-existent 3G card.

stevednmc · Mar 14, 2011

Oh, man that sux...

mlee49 · Mar 14, 2011

One thing you may not think about when replacing a laptop hdd with an ssd is heat. I know for sure my laptop would drop 10-15C degrees inside just by pulling that hot spinning mechanical drive.

stevednmc · Mar 14, 2011

Yeah, mine too and it helps with battery life as well!

Jstn7477 · Mar 14, 2011

Yeah, this mPCI-E PATA/SATA garbage pisses me off. They use a PCIe connector for their silly drive standards that are obscure and only work on a few laptops.

@mlee49: Yeah, my palmrest would be a lot cooler without that Seagate 7200RPM drive in there. Not to mention the noises and vibration that the HDD makes all the time.

stevednmc · Mar 14, 2011

All benefits! Have we convinced you yet?

Jstn7477 · Mar 14, 2011

Yeah, I think I might jump on one. We'll see.

stevednmc · Mar 14, 2011

I think you'll be very happy if you do.

DrunkenMafia · Mar 14, 2011

If you could stretch your budget a little you could try one of the OCZ 180gb drives:

Computer Hardware,Hard Drives,SSD,OCZ Technology,S...

An extra 60gb would handle a lot of steam games

I have had a few SSD's and they are worth every cent. The only reason I don't have one in my laptop is that I have a lot of movies n crap for the kids to watch.

RejZoR · Mar 14, 2011

In such case Momentus XT makes more sense.

System Name	Awesomesauce 4.3 \| Laptop (MSI GE72VR 6RF Apache Pro-023)
Processor	Intel Core i7-5820K 4.16GHz 1.28v/3GHz 1.05v uncore \| Intel Core i7-6700HQ @ 3.1GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-X99-UD5 WiFi LGA2011-v3\| Stock
Cooling	Corsair H100i v2 w/ 2x EK Vardar F4-120ER + various 120/140mm case fans \| Stock
Memory	G.Skill RJ-4 16GB DDR4-2666 CL15 quad channel \| 12GB DDR4-2133
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid SC2 11GB @ 2012/5151 boost \| NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB +200/+500 + Intel 530
Storage	Samsung 840 EVO 500GB + Seagate 3TB 7200RPM + others \| Kingston 256GB M.2 SATA + 1TB 7200RPM
Display(s)	Acer G257HU 1440p 60Hz AH-IPS 4ms \| 17.3" 1920*1080 60Hz wide angle TN notebook panel
Case	Fractal Design Define XL R2 \| MSI
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster Z \| Realtek with quad stereo speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply	Corsair HX850i Platinum \| 19.5v 180w Delta brick
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 \| Windows 10 Home x64

System Name	TheBruise
Processor	i7-960
Motherboard	Gigabyte x58A -Ud5
Cooling	Vantage ALC push pull/2x180mm fans/1x120mm silverstone
Memory	12GB Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz
Video Card(s)	2 Sapphire Vapor-X 5870's in Xfire
Storage	Ocz Vertex 3 Max Iops (OS) 300GB Velociraptor, 750 GB WD Black
Display(s)	Asus 23" VS238H-P
Case	Silverstone Ft01-BW Fortress
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-fi Titanium
Power Supply	Corsair HX-850
Software	W7pro SP1

System Name	Fractality 1.0
Processor	Intel Core i7-860 @ 3.6GHz
Motherboard	EVGA P55 SLI
Cooling	Prolimatech Megahalems and four Fractal Design 120mm fans, sleeved
Memory	16GB Kingston Hyper RAM
Video Card(s)	PNY GeForce 580 XLR8
Storage	64GB and 180GB SSDs / 1TB and 2TB HDDs
Display(s)	24" Acer V243W
Case	Fractal Design Define R2, sleeved all I/O cables
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Corsair HX750W modular, sadly only stock sleeving
Software	Win 7 64bit

System Name	Awesomesauce 4.3 \| Laptop (MSI GE72VR 6RF Apache Pro-023)
Processor	Intel Core i7-5820K 4.16GHz 1.28v/3GHz 1.05v uncore \| Intel Core i7-6700HQ @ 3.1GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-X99-UD5 WiFi LGA2011-v3\| Stock
Cooling	Corsair H100i v2 w/ 2x EK Vardar F4-120ER + various 120/140mm case fans \| Stock
Memory	G.Skill RJ-4 16GB DDR4-2666 CL15 quad channel \| 12GB DDR4-2133
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid SC2 11GB @ 2012/5151 boost \| NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB +200/+500 + Intel 530
Storage	Samsung 840 EVO 500GB + Seagate 3TB 7200RPM + others \| Kingston 256GB M.2 SATA + 1TB 7200RPM
Display(s)	Acer G257HU 1440p 60Hz AH-IPS 4ms \| 17.3" 1920*1080 60Hz wide angle TN notebook panel
Case	Fractal Design Define XL R2 \| MSI
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster Z \| Realtek with quad stereo speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply	Corsair HX850i Platinum \| 19.5v 180w Delta brick
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 \| Windows 10 Home x64

System Name	Fractality 1.0
Processor	Intel Core i7-860 @ 3.6GHz
Motherboard	EVGA P55 SLI
Cooling	Prolimatech Megahalems and four Fractal Design 120mm fans, sleeved
Memory	16GB Kingston Hyper RAM
Video Card(s)	PNY GeForce 580 XLR8
Storage	64GB and 180GB SSDs / 1TB and 2TB HDDs
Display(s)	24" Acer V243W
Case	Fractal Design Define R2, sleeved all I/O cables
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Corsair HX750W modular, sadly only stock sleeving
Software	Win 7 64bit

System Name	The Dove Box Rev 3.0
Processor	i7 8700k @ 4.7GHz
Motherboard	Asus Maximus X APEX
Cooling	Custom water loop
Memory	16GB 3600 MHz DDR4
Video Card(s)	2x MSI 780 Ti's in SLI
Storage	500GB Samsung 850 PCIe SSD, 4TB
Display(s)	27" Asus 144Hz
Case	Enermax Fulmo GT
Audio Device(s)	ON BOARD FTW
Power Supply	Corsair 1200W
Keyboard	Logitech G510
Software	Win 10 64x

System Name	GaMEr / HTPC
Processor	FX8320 4.5ghz so far NB- 2815mhz / X2 255 @ 3.2ghz (Temp till BD)
Motherboard	990FX-UD5 / GA-MA785GPMT-US2H
Cooling	XSPC - 240rad 480rad 5 x 120mm out, 6 x 80mm in / H220-edge 1/2" & 2 x 120mm Magma
Memory	4gb PI 6,8,6,18 1T 1706mhz / 4gb Crucial D9's 1400 @ 6,6,6,18,1T
Video Card(s)	3gb HD7950 / Onboard
Storage	2 x 120gb Sandisk ultra plus 2tb WD / 60gb vertex 2 + 2 x 2tb WD Greens
Display(s)	3x24in Dell Ultra (portrait) / NEC 32" FullHD LCD
Case	LL PC71A Full tower / Antec fusion black with Imon remote Modded for WC
Audio Device(s)	OB / Auzentech cinema 7.1
Power Supply	TT 700w TR2 / TT 600w Litepower modded with Noctua S12 fan.
Software	7 Ult / 7 premium x64