Help me choose the right SSD

[adulaamin]

Good day TPU! I've decided to buy an SSD instead of upgrading my monitor (simply because monitors are more expensive ) and I would like you guys to help me select the right SSD to buy. As always, I only have a limited number of brands/models to choose from. The software that I would like to put on the SSD are of course the ones that I mostly use (Adobe Master Collection/Games) and the OS so I'm estimating (based on the free space on my current main HDD) that I'll be needing around 100gb. The following are the brands/models that are available for me to choose from:

120gb/128gb (Prices are all pretty much the same and cost slightly more than half as much as the 240gb/256gb counterparts):
OCZ AGILITY4 Series 128GB SATA III
OCZ VERTEX 4 Series 128GB SATA III
Corsair Force Series GT 120GB SATA III

180gb (Price is around the middle):
Corsair Force Series GT 180GB SATA III 2.5 SSD

240gb/256gb (Prices are all pretty much the same and cost slightly less than 2 x 120gb/128gb counterparts):
OCZ AGILITY4 Series 256GB SATA III 2.5 SSD
OCZ VERTEX 4 Series 256GB SATA III 2.5 SSD
Corsair Force Series GT 240GB SATA III 2.5 SSD

Would a 120gb/128gb SSD be ok? I'll be very much close to filling it up. Would there be an effect on the lifespan/performance of the SSD? I could go for the 240gb/256gb models but if the 120gb/128gb/180gb models would be ok then I could save up the extra money for a new monitor.

 

[silkstone]

120gb is usually the minimum. I'd go for a samsung 830 if at all available, if not then the Force GT.

You can always create symbolic links to files and folders that are rarely accessed and put them on your main HDD. I used this guide and was pretty helpful.

Atm i am about 1/2 full on my SSD with windows, office, Adobe Acrobat X and a couple of steam games, but i know the full CS suite does use lots of space, so you may want to consider a 180gb drive.

Personally i chose to start with a 120gb drive and if at a later stage i need more space i can get a second one and raid them together for 240gb, the price difference between 2x120gb and 240 gb is around $20 and, hopefully, by the time i need the extra space SSDs will have come down by at least that much.

Oh, filling it up shouldn't affect it's life too much. However, and i'm talking from assumptions i have no real knowledge about this, if there is less free space then there is less area for temp files which may cause the same blocks to be re-written to over and over again. With more free space, the same amount of data would be written over a larger 'area', this may have some effect on the ssd life. The TRIM function may counter this, maybe someone with more knowledge than myself could clarify.

You can also disable some windows features to reduce the footprint of windows. System restore is not of much use if you make regular backups, and with the small footprint of an SSD, there really isn't any reason not to. Hibernation is also of little use when using an SSD. I'd keep the page file intact though unless you have a ridiculous amount of RAM.

[Edit] After reading the Wikipedia article on TRIM, it doesn't;t look like this has the effect of reshuffling the data to avoid excessive data writes to the same blocks.
If you use Photoshop excessively this may be a concern due to the size of the scratchdisk. a secondary, small SSD might be worth considering if you do lots of work in photoshop and you can use this for the scratchdisk along with pagefile. But it'd only really be worth doing if you could find one on the cheap, otherwise you should just go for the 180-240gb model. Ignore this - I just read about wear levelling, which means data does get shuffled around to decrease the amount of writes to the same blocks. However, with less free space it may mean that data gets shuffled a lot more, thus increasing total number of writes to the drive.

[Edit 2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write_amplification looks like little free space causes more write amplification than having more free space, this affecting ssd life

The general conscientious seems to be 20% or more free space on the drive for best performance

 

[manofthem]

I say go for a 240/256 ssd; the prices have really come down as of late. You don't want to get a 120gb ssd, fill it up completely, then suffer poor performance which is likely.

Silkstone is right, the Samsung 830 is a very nice drive. I cant recommend it enough, which I have done a lot on the forums. And speaking with everyone that has one, they are always pleased. Check out W1zz's review of the 830, the 246 and 512 should have near identical performance

 

[adulaamin]

240gb/256gb it is then. Which of the three would be the most reliable? As for the Corsair, are there two version for the 240gb model? I've seen reviews with two different controllers (SF-2282 and SF-2281).

I say go for a 240/256 ssd; the prices have really come down as of late. You don't want to get a 120gb ssd, fill it up completely, then suffer poor performance which is likely.

Silkstone is right, the Samsung 830 is a very nice drive. I cant recommend it enough, which I have done a lot on the forums. And speaking with everyone that has one, they are always pleased. Check out W1zz's review of the 830, the 246 and 512 should have near identical performance

I can't seem to find a local retailer/e-tailer for a Samsung 830 so I'm stuck with the choices on the first post.

 

[silkstone]

Go on to newegg and look at the ratings for each drive you are looking at. I believe the all the Force GT 240gb drives should use the same controller.

 

[manofthem]

240gb/256gb it is then. Which of the three would be the most reliable? As for the Corsair, are there two version for the 240gb model? I've seen reviews with two different controllers (SF-2282 and SF-2281).

I can't seem to find a local retailer/e-tailer for a Samsung 830 so I'm stuck with the choices on the first post.

Ok gotcha! I wouldn't get the Agility4, unless it was crazy cheap. I have heard very good things about the Vertex 4, crazy fast and no terrible reports like the older OCZs had (Fullinfusion has one and he can't stop praising it). I would have gotten the Force GT had the price been right when I purchased.

Between the Force GT and Vertex 4, not sure. Both sandforce, both respected. Whichever one is cheaper I'd say...

 

[adulaamin]

Go on to newegg and look at the ratings for each drive you are looking at. I believe the all the Force GT 240gb drives should use the same controller.

I'm confused coz this says it uses the SF-2282 controller and this says it uses the SF-2281 controller...

Ok gotcha! I wouldn't get the Agility4, unless it was crazy cheap. I have heard very good things about the Vertex 4, crazy fast and no terrible reports like the older OCZs had (Fullinfusion has one and he can't stop praising it). I would have gotten the Force GT had the price been right when I purchased.

Between the Force GT and Vertex 4, not sure. Both sandforce, both respected. Whichever one is cheaper I'd say...

I think the Corsair uses SandForce and the OCZ one uses Indilinx...

 

[entropy13]

There's not much of a difference in price between the Force GT and the Vertex 4, but I would say that extra 16GB would be worth it.

(conversion US$ 1 = 42.15PHP)
Force GT 240GB - $237 ($0.9875/GB)
Vertex 4 256GB - $250 ($0.9765625/GB)

Or you can think of it as adding $13 for 16GB more.

 

[Nordic]

Ok gotcha! I wouldn't get the Agility4, unless it was crazy cheap. I have heard very good things about the Vertex 4, crazy fast and no terrible reports like the older OCZs had (Fullinfusion has one and he can't stop praising it). I would have gotten the Force GT had the price been right when I purchased.

Between the Force GT and Vertex 4, not sure. Both sandforce, both respected. Whichever one is cheaper I'd say...

Vertex 4 is not sandforce. It is actually an overclocked marvel controller with custom ocz firmware.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5741/ocz-confirms-octane-and-vertex-4-use-marvell-based-silicon

Should have similar reliability to the crucial m4.

 

[Flibolito]

Should have similar reliability to the crucial m4.

So far M4 series has been fantastic for me I got 4 of them. My next venture will be the Samsung 830. Have had a bad experience with Sandforce, was so unimpressed I gave the drive to a friend for free. Just my opinion I bet the Vertex 4 is pretty awesome as well.

 

[manofthem]

I think the Corsair uses SandForce and the OCZ one uses Indilinx...

Vertex 4 is not sandforce. It is actually an overclocked marvel controller with custom ocz firmware.

yeah I don't know why I swiped that
Im sorry about that; I'll blame it on me being tired and thus dispensed wrong information when I did indeed know better, god I hate that!

 

[adulaamin]

Thanks for all the replies. You guys have been very helpful. I'll be going for the OCZ Vertex4 256gb.

 

[Aquinus]

I've been happy with my two Force GTs, they saturate the SATA 6G bus and they've been reliable so far. I can't complain.

 

[MasterInvader]

I've been happy with my two Force GTs, they saturate the SATA 6G bus and they've been reliable so far. I can't complain.

+1 Corsair Force GT or GS

I didn't try raid0 yet, but so far is way better then my 830 [laptop] or the old Vertex3