Help choosing a new SSD boot drive

[Covert_Death]

Hey guys okay I was wondering if I could get some expertise in choosing a boot drive... here is what I'm really looking for in a drive:

Price under $150!
Sata3
atleast 60Gb
really strong read write speeds
Great reliability

here are the 2 drives im currently looking at:

OCZ Vertex 3 (performance) 60Gb = $134.99
OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III ML...

Corsair Force GT series 3 (performance) 60Gb = $134.99
Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F60GBGT-BK 2.5" 60GB ...

between these two, the corsair seems to have slightly better specs but i don't know much about SSD as i've never had one before.

is there much of a performance difference between the vertex 3 and the agility 3 from OCZ and the force GT 3 vs the force 3 from corsair? the agility is only 106 and the force 3 is 109... can you really tell a difference with a $30 price increase? basically i will be willing to pay the extra 30 if it means better reliability, but if the reliability is compromised for increase speed i'd rather get one of the ~$109 ones.

hope someone can help me out!

 

[Covert_Death]

well the vertex 3 just dropped price literally over night haha!!! it is now 124.99 with a $10 mail in rebate, bringing it down to the price of a power 3...

any objections to the vertex 3 anyone???

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

wish Adata was still on sale about week ago adata had there S510 120gb sandforce SSD for sale

550 reads 510 writes $160 for 120gb Mail in Rebate dropped it to $140 for 120gb maybe theyll go on sale again who knows

 

[Covert_Death]

mmm that would have been a good one to grab

 

[entropy13]

If those are your options then there would be no objections from me on the Vertex 3.

 

[Covert_Death]

well thats just what i came to on my own research, i really like them but if you all have any suggestions that would be comparable to those id be more then happy to listen!

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

120gb Agility 3 $154 after rebate

OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III...

90gb Force Series 3 $149
Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F90GB3-BK 2.5" 90GB SA...\

60gb Solid 3 from OCZ $95 with MIR its $85
OCZ Solid 3 SLD3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC

 

[entropy13]

120gb Agility 3 $154 after rebate

OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III...

90gb Force Series 3 $149
Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F90GB3-BK 2.5" 90GB SA...\

60gb Solid 3 from OCZ $95 with MIR its $85
OCZ Solid 3 SLD3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC

If you're going to recommend the 120GB Agility 3 might as well recommend the Vertex 3 of the same capacity.

OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III ...

Also, don't forget to read this too Covert_Death: http://hardocp.com/article/2011/08/07/nand_flash_faces_off_synchronous_vs_asynchronous/6
That's the last page, you can read that or if you want read the whole thing. Simply put, considering the price difference is "small" enough ($201-$175=$26) yet the performance gap is "big" enough (per review), you're better of with the one synchronous.

 

[Covert_Death]

That's the last page, you can read that or if you want read the whole thing. Simply put, considering the price difference is "small" enough ($201-$175=$26) yet the performance gap is "big" enough (per review), you're better of with the one synchronous.

what do you mean by the one that is synchronous? i am not quiet sure what this term means when applied to SSD's and how to know which are and which aren't

 

[entropy13]

what do you mean by the one that is synchronous? i am not quiet sure what this term means when applied to SSD's and how to know which are and which aren't

To put it simply, that's how the chips on the drives themselves are set-up and "works." I would think a good analogy would be comparing a single-channel 2x2GB RAM (meaning each 2GB stick has its own channel) and dual-channel 2x2GB RAM (meaning the two are in one channel).

Synchronous are usually used on the more expensive product lines, asynchronous for the "cheaper" (i.e. less expensive) ones. For OCZ for example, it's synchronous for Vertex 3 and Vertex 3 MAX IOPS while it's asynchronous for Agility 3 and Solid 3. For Corsair it's the Force GT that is synchronous and the Force Series 3 that is asynchronous. Prices along the product lines of the same company under the same category can serve as an indication.

 

[Covert_Death]

ahhh okay, yea im skimming through the article now, good stuff to know!

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

well entropy while your insight is noted the vertex 3 is still $200 not $150 user stated $150 price limit

Force GT over Force 3 is massive price bump at 90gb

and does asynchronus matter? no not really the speed of any SSD is to the point you wont feel or ever notice the difference between them mostly because there response is in the sub millisecond vs 14-18ms of an HDD per item read,

how about recommending SSD's that fit the OPs price limit that would be a good start would it not

while I agree that Vertex 3 and Force GT are better SSDs there not good enough to warrant the far higher price tag

show me in real usage in daily tasks where the extra $50-70 gets you a boost worth paying for.

if you absolutely must have performance lower capacity higher speeds is great but id recommend the extra storage space simply do to the fact over time youll want that extra space,

 

[Covert_Death]

Space doesn't bother me too much right now as I have two 500gb 7200rpm drives in raid that work well for mass storage I will be putting an OS and two games on the ssd for quicker texture loads but anything else I'm fine with on hdds

 

[BrooksyX]

Get the crucial m4 64gb. Its like $110 i think. Last week newegg had it as a shell shocker for like $85. I was mad i missed that one.

Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Inte...

edit here is a guy that is selling it for $90:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Crucial-Tec...ultDomain_0&hash=item336d401adf#ht_500wt_1156

not a lot of feedback but thats what paypal buyer protection is for

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

you also have to remember clutter over time, temp folders, app data caches etc take up space,

typical game these days is 12-20gb, so on a 60gb ssd 1 large game + os + data cache = pretty much full SSD,

just a 60gb ssd used on TPU's motherboard review OS up to date with all benchmarks installed to the SSD fills it completely,

you will be surprised how quickly 60gb will fill if your a power user,

 

[erocker]

Vertex 3 is a good choice. Crucial M4 and other SSD's with that controller have pretty bad write bandwidth, they work fine for installing games on, but meh for O/S.

 

[Covert_Death]

you also have to remember clutter over time, temp folders, app data caches etc take up space,

typical game these days is 12-20gb, so on a 60gb ssd 1 large game + os + data cache = pretty much full SSD,

just a 60gb ssd used on TPU's motherboard review OS up to date with all benchmarks installed to the SSD fills it completely,

you will be surprised how quickly 60gb will fill if your a power user,

yea win7 is usually 20gb i think but im going to move restore points to a 120gb drive i use soley for backups and that should bring the OS down to 7-8Gb if i remember correctly, i will be installing ArmA II and BF3 on the SSD (ArmA II is 15Gb and BF3 is roughly the same) so i should have just enough room with 60Gb...

another question i have that some of you might be able to answer is how do i install the OS on one drive (the SSD) but make the C: drive my 500Gb drive?
i want to do this so that when i install programs they will default to my 500Gb drive instead of the SSD, i would like to do this so that i know exactly what i put on my SSD and that i know everything else defaults to my bigger drive.

 

[erocker]

yea win7 is usually 20gb i think but im going to move restore points to a 120gb drive i use soley for backups and that should bring the OS down to 7-8Gb if i remember correctly, i will be installing ArmA II and BF3 on the SSD (ArmA II is 15Gb and BF3 is roughly the same) so i should have just enough room with 60Gb...

another question i have that some of you might be able to answer is how do i install the OS on one drive (the SSD) but make the C: drive my 500Gb drive?
i want to do this so that when i install programs they will default to my 500Gb drive instead of the SSD, i would like to do this so that i know exactly what i put on my SSD and that i know everything else defaults to my bigger drive.

Most installers are going to default to whatever drive your O/S is on, regardless of drive letter. When installing programs, you just need to set which drive to install to yourself.

 

[Covert_Death]

darn, okay, i was kinda hoping programs just defaulted to "C:" so if i changed C then it would install where i wanted it to and not on the OS drive

EDIT:
okay im wondering now if something like this would work:
http://www.online-tech-tips.com/com...ation-for-installing-applications-in-windows/

if editing the registry file really changes the default location then i can change it to my raid drive but all the necessary system files would still go to the appropriate location on the OS drive

 

[TheOne]

The Force Series GT 60GB is now $120 on Newegg and $100 after MIR during Newegg's 72 hour sale.

Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F60GBGT-BK 2.5" 60GB ...