Need some SSD recommendation and tips

[TriggerWolf]

Hi guys.

I'm in need of some SSD recommendation and tips as I'm fairly close to jumping into the <1ms seek time bandwagon


I've been looking into a fair amount of SSD reviews. A few brands I checked were Corsair, Kingston, Intel and Samsung.

Intel seems to be a bit pricy and less Random 4K speeds.
Samsung with their lack of write performance troubles me and their Pro series are overpriced and not much better.
Kingston and Corsair seem to be the best of all 4, with huge linear and random R/W performance, of course at a bit of extra cost. But performance/cost ratio seems the best.

In the end for the theme I want to fit in my case (red, white and black) Corsair's Force GS series seem the most adequate but not a requirement of course, I'm open for suggestions!

Now, here's the question, I need a bit of space as my system drive, right now I'm using 200GB of 483GB. Surely I could be using less, I have a few games installed...

I'm in between buying 2 120GB or 1 240GB, will there be any noticeable performance with a RAID0 configuration and is the extra cost worth it?

[lemonadesoda]

Buying a SSD is like buying a CPU. There is no right answer, and whatever you buy today, price/performance changes over the next 6 weeks mean that you would always get a better deal in 6 weeks time. So you need to bite the bullet and pony up a little extra today... or play the waiting game. It's also like going out to a nice restaurant. Are you going to penny-pinch the last dime, or are you going on a date and you are relaxed enough to pay a $ or 2 more?

Go to W1z/TPU most recent reviews. He says Samsung 840 Pro or OCZ Vector. If those are too expensive for you, then buy something cheaper but then be quiet about it.

[TriggerWolf]

Buying an SSD is hardly the same as buying a CPU. I look at more than just performance when buying a storage device.

If one 240GB SSD costs 200€ with 100% performance, if I saw another one costing 210€ but with 120% performance over the first I would gladly go for it. Costing a few € more is not the point. I have no experience in using SSDs at all. All I know is by just reading reviews, I'm here asking for advice, opinions and tips from other users.

You, like me and surely everyone else wants the best performance and reliability/price ratio.

[TRWOV]

Samsung's controller is very solid. It does very well in TRIM-less environments as it has a very good garbage collection algorithm, that's why I choose it for my cache drive (RST doesn't support TRIM commands). If you're going RAID0 I suggest you to pickup a pair of Samsungs since TRIM is unavailable in RAID setups.

[happita]

Originally Posted by TRWOV

Samsung's controller is very solid. It does very well in TRIM-less environments as it has a very good garbage collection algorithm, that's why I choose it for my cache drive (RST doesn't support TRIM commands). If you're going RAID0 I suggest you to pickup a pair of Samsungs since TRIM is unavailable in RAID setups.

+1 to this.

Samsung's SSDs have a very good reputation like Intel's. It just comes down to preference. I would prefer Samsung though just because their controller is a teeny bit faster than Intel's newer Sandforce-driven SSDs.

[TriggerWolf]

Originally Posted by TRWOV

Samsung's controller is very solid. It does very well in TRIM-less environments as it has a very good garbage collection algorithm, that's why I choose it for my cache drive (RST doesn't support TRIM commands). If you're going RAID0 I suggest you to pickup a pair of Samsungs since TRIM is unavailable in RAID setups.

Originally Posted by happita

+1 to this.

Samsung's SSDs have a very good reputation like Intel's. It just comes down to preference. I would prefer Samsung though just because their controller is a teeny bit faster than Intel's newer Sandforce-driven SSDs.

Thanks for the feedback!

While I was reading about TRIM, I found out that Intel has added support for RAID0 configurations in their 7 series chipsets, so it's a win-win situation here.

In a few more reviews I read about the Samsung SSDs, they all spoke well and recommended them but they also mentioned the downside of the TLC over the MLC.

[HammerON]

Using two OCZ 256 GB Vertex 4's in Raid0. No issues and I am happy with the speed. I was told that you will not see many benefits to a Raid array with SSD's... could be true but I went ahead and did it anyways
I feel you will be happy with any of the SSD's mentioned thus far.

[TriggerWolf]

Originally Posted by HammerON

Using two OCZ 256 GB Vertex 4's in Raid0. No issues and I am happy with the speed. I was told that you will not see many benefits to a Raid array with SSD's... could be true but I went ahead and did it anyways
I feel you will be happy with any of the SSD's mentioned thus far.

Ah, just what I wanted to hear. Right now I'm lingering between a 250GB Samsung 840 (non Pro) and the 240GB Corsair Force GS. Both offer similar warranty terms of 3 years, which is great.

[xvi]

What do you mean no benefit to SSDs in raid? :P

[TriggerWolf]

Originally Posted by xvi

What do you mean no benefit to SSDs in raid? :P

LOL that's ridiculous. Awesome though. Considering how old that video is, those SSDs were probably worth like 7000 bucks.

You can now grab 5 current gen SSDs enough to wipe out those transfer rates. They should've shown random 4k performance though xD

[Jetster]

Keep in mind there is no trim support for SSD in RAID except for Intel 7000-series chipset. Not that you have to have it. Just saying it may shorten the life of the drive. unless somthing has changed resently

[Chevalr1c]

My Kingston SSDNow V300 is working well. You may be able to find it for a lower price than the 840 (Pro), at a price level similar to the Crucial M4 but with slightly higher write speeds if I am not mistaken.