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best SSD drive for under 250USD?

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I finally have a budget and I want to get an SSD drive that would cost under 250USD.

it can be an SLC or an MLC.

would like at least 40GB

this is going to be for the OS only mostly and mabye a few programs.... not gonna store regular files on it.

:rockout::pimp::toast:
 
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Crucial m4 128 GB is about USD 230. Note 256 Gb version shows 260 Mbps write performance (175 Mbps for 128Gb version). Read performance is the same tho for both Crucials.

If you can spend approx USD 300, then OCZ Vertex 2 180 is "must have"-thing.
 
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The 180gb OCZ Vertex 2 really is a nice investion, I have one myself for games.

As for the OS drive, I use an OCZ Vertex 2 64gb, Should also be in your budget.
 
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the ocz has soem shaky reviews....hmmmmmm but thanks very much guys! that's pretty good for the price.
 
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OCZ has the fastest SSDs. The trade off is a higher failure rate. Up to you whether or not it's worth the risk on an OS drive. I just got an M4 256 for $352 since newegg had a discount code for people who shop there a lot.
 

crazyeyesreaper

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For $290 you can get Corsair Force 3 120GB. Fast and cheap drive. You could get smaller versions for even less.
 

crazyeyesreaper

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he can get a Force GT 3m thats just as fast as anything OCZ has for $259 as i linked above ^
 
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I'm seeing a lot of BSODs with the corsair drives have any of you had those? also some of the reviews were also saying the BIOS boot was messed up as well.
 
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When looking at complaints on SSDs try to see if they're talking about laptops or desktops. There seems to be a lot of issues that pertain to certain laptop brands but not the desktop.
 
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If you want reliability, you should pick Intel 510 SSD.

I'm using one atm, and I didn't even have to reinstall my OS because Intel has a utility called Intel SSD Toolbox which helps you move your OS from your old drive and optimizes your SSD (TRIM).
 
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I got AMD CPU and nvidia chipset on an M2N-SLI also if that helps anyone.....
 
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I don't think Intel is quite as reliable as it was last gen. Most likely due to the third party controller.
 
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I don't think Intel is quite as reliable as it was last gen. Most likely due to the third party controller.

Your claim is baseless.

The controller in which Intel WAS having problem with is the 320 series, and those chips were actually Intel's ironically.
 
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When looking at complaints on SSDs try to see if they're talking about laptops or desktops. There seems to be a lot of issues that pertain to certain laptop brands but not the desktop.

I find even more of the complaints center on PCI-express SSD cards, but those probably wouldn't pop up if he were searching for exact models. I second CrazyEye's recomendation, although that Intel app I've heard about for ghosting a whole OS setup sounds pretty damn handy.
 
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Your claim is baseless.

The controller in which Intel WAS having problem with is the 320 series, and those chips were actually Intel's ironically.

What 320 problem? I was speaking generally. The new sata III Intel drives generally have 4 egg reviews. The old sata IIs have 5 egg reviews.
 
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What 320 problem? I was speaking generally. The new sata III Intel drives generally have 4 egg reviews. The old sata IIs have 5 egg reviews.

Newegg reviews are terrible for judging stuff like that. People will give a product a 1/5 review because UPS took a week to get it to them, or it's missing a feature that it never claimed to have. I have seen some of the most ridiculous stuff listed in the Con's section on there. Also, almost every motherboard has a 4-Egg review for some odd reason. I would go so far as to say 4\5 Egg are basically the same damn thing. As long as it's more than 2 you're fine.
 
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Having actually read the one egg reviews I'd have to say that's not the case. I don't get people that can't utilize newegg reviews. Yes some suck, so use your brain and adapt your analysis of the data to compensate. It's still very useful for looking at the overall quality of the product. I really wouldn't recommend buying a product that hits as low as 3 eggs on newegg unless there's only a few reviews.

Anyways why are we even discussing reliability on an OS drive? Just get something fast and don't worry about it. I think even at it's worst OCZ's failure rate is 3%. Just buy whatever is fastest.
 
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soooo...


OCZ or Corsair??? or Intel.... hmmmmmm...... I have a few months to decide (getting it and a new GPU for skyrim)
 

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id take corsair just for the ease of RMA,

all the MTBF and specs they have on these things are just educated guesses, so ill take the easy replacment with the 3 year warranty of the Corsair unit.
 
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This'll be my first SSD so I want it to be a good first impression. Thanks all. I may go with Corsair for the RMA process.
 
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This'll be my first SSD so I want it to be a good first impression. Thanks all. I may go with Corsair for the RMA process.

If you dont want to take a chance on the drive working stick with Marvell based drives as SandForces current controllers are very buggy and is the reason why OCZ's Solid 3, Agility 3 and Vertex 3 are having so much trouble, as well as Corsair's Force 3 and Force GT. Corsair is working with SandForce to try and find a solution, and OCZ is releasing new F/W trying to increase the stability. It should also be mentioned that Marvell SATA controllers as well as Intel SATA controllers have the most trouble with the drives and that AMD boards seem to be more stable, but can still have problems. Marvell based drives are also slower than SandForce drives.

As for Corsair's RMA process, from my experience, avoid it, others may have had a good experience, but mine so far has been terrible.
 
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