SSD Are Me!

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by photon

The 320 can't hold up against the Vertex/Agility 3 or 510, but it isn't that bad

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4244/i...d-320-review/8

120GB for $160 is ok, but you can get an Agility 3 120GB for $200 from NCIX right now, or a 180GB Vertex 2 for $250, both of which will outperform the 320 quite handily, significantly in the case of the Agility 3 (Assuming you've got SATAIII).

Intel reliability though is a lot higher than OCZ or anyone else, so if that's a factor that might be something to consider.

Anand's mid-range review has info on the 160GB vs. everything else comparable:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4421/t...-ssd-roundup/2

A 320 will be sooooo much faster than a normal HDD it'll still blow you away.

Yeah, any Intel or Sandforce drive from the last year or two will give a massive performance boost. A good SSD is the single best upgrade you make for a perceived performance increase.

That said - the 320 series is a weird one for me. It's limited to 3Gbps SATA and in real-world performance you probably couldn't tell the difference between it and an older X25-M or Sandforce 1200 based drive (which you can probably find for much cheaper).

In fact: http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=106403

Small block random reads/writes are more significant to OS performance than many think, and that's where the Intel drives really fall behind:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4244/i...d-320-review/3

To be fair - Intel drives are generally accepted to be more stable/reliable (though I've never had a single issue with any of the Sandforce drives I've used).

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by TSXCman

hey guys,

I got the retail edge deal in order and am going to be purchasing one of the Intel 320 SSDs, but I would like your recommendations on which size or to stay away.

I can buy the 120gb for $160
Or the 160gb for $200 + a lot of time (enough to earn 28 000 credits)

I immediately preferred the 120gb but I looked at some benchmarks to learn that the higher capacity also meant higher performance.

How does the Intel 320 series stack up to the SSDs that people are seeking now? and would there be a noticable difference between the 2 volumes in terms of performance (the volume size is fine at 120gb)?

At it's regular price, it's not the best bang for your buck, especially since the 310 is much slower than most new drives out there today. It's also only SATAII so you won't be able to take advantage of SATAIII speeds.

Higher capacity usually always means higher performance for all SSDs. Since you are getting a discount however, I would actually look at the 510 series if your options are limited to Intel.

Intel drives are usually considered to be more reliable (more provisioning, more protection in case of power loss, etc.) but they are slower than most of the newer drives out there (Crucial C300/M4, OCZ Vertex 3, etc.).

[TSXCman]

hmm... I'm thinkin i didn't do such a good job now.

what i did was pay 110$ for the chance to buy a:

2600K for 115$ plus shipping
120gb for 160$ with the i7 shipped.

so 385$ plus shipping and GST. which seemed sweet mainly due to the i7 but a little less now due to hearing the SSD is inferior to similar cost bracket drives.

my alternative is to just not buy the SSD, then the i7 is $225 plus charges

[photon]

Still a good price for an i7 2600K. If you had a laptop you could get the SSD and put it in the laptop.

[TSXCman]

What would you guys suggest between:

120gb intel 320 series new for $160
Corsair Force F120 120GB Sandforce 2 Refurb (30 day warranty) for $117

[photon]

I'd say the Corsair but 30 day warranty? Oi...

The Corsair will be faster, but not hugely so.

$40 for a better warranty and more reliable drive?

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by TSXCman

What would you guys suggest between:

120gb intel 320 series new for $160
Corsair Force F120 120GB Sandforce 2 Refurb (30 day warranty) for $117

Originally Posted by photon

I'd say the Corsair but 30 day warranty? Oi...

The Corsair will be faster, but not hugely so.

$40 for a better warranty and more reliable drive?

I'd go with the Intel. When it comes to something you can't fix yourself (IE: a solid state hard drive), I'd stay away from refurbs with 30 day warranties.

If they were both brand new though, it would be the Corsair hands-down.

[photon]

Get two Corsairs and keep one as a standby

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by photon

Get two Corsairs and keep one as a standby

Haha, or that.

[Hack&Lube]

Damnit! Yesterday Tigerdirect.ca had refurbished Corsair 128GB SSDs for $119!!!

By the time I got home last night, they were all sold out of course. That was pretty amazing because on Tigerdirect.com, they were $129 USD!

I know they are refurbs but at least we are getting below $1/GB. I hope we can get new drives in that price range by this winter or Q1 2012.

[photon]

NCIX has 120GB Agility 3's for $169 I think it is.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by photon

NCIX has 120GB Agility 3's for $169 I think it is.

Damn, must have missed it. $195 now. Still a good price.

[Hemi-Cuda]

so i finally took the plunge. i held off on an SSD until i was ready to rip the guts out of my machine and redo it, since i didn't want to reinstall Windows twice. so i picked up a 240gb Vertex 3 at Memory Express and got the mobo/cpu/memory bundle that they were offering

1 x Intel - Core™ i7-2600K Processor, 3.40GHz w/ 8MB Cache $334.99
1 x Asus - P8Z68-V PRO w/ Dual DDR3 1600, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, CrossFireX / SLI $214.99
1 x Patriot - Gamer 2 Series, Division 2 Edition DDR3 8GB (2 x 4GB) PC3-12800 Enhanced Latency Kit $89.99

quite impressed with the speed now. coupled with my existing GeForce 460 SLI setup this upgrade should last me awhile. now i just have to buy a new CPU cooler, as the stock Intel one is garbage and my old one just barely doesn't fit in the slots of the 1156 socket

[photon]

That's exactly the upgrade I'm thinking of doing, though I need more memory than that.

[Azure]

How important is a SSD if you run most of your files off of a server?

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Azure

How important is a SSD if you run most of your files off of a server?

It will help you boot faster but all your programs and files will be dependent on the speed of your server and connection.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

so i picked up a 240gb Vertex 3 at Memory Express

When I went they didn't have any left THANKS A LOT!

Fortunately they had a Patriot Wildfire that wasn't listed on their site so I got one of those (and was able to pricematch to keep the price the same).

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by photon

When I went they didn't have any left THANKS A LOT!

Fortunately they had a Patriot Wildfire that wasn't listed on their site so I got one of those (and was able to pricematch to keep the price the same).

it was a bitch to get that Vertex 3. i used the pick up at store option on the website when i picked out my new system and went to the SE location. they were out of Vertex 3's (even though the website said they had 5) and tried to give me an Agility 3 saying "the specs are exactly the same". when i called them on their bull####, they said the NE store had some so i went there. thing is i was going there anyway to pick up the parts for my aunt's new PC i was building (trying to be efficient since the stores stocks are so different). so when i went there and picked up her stuff, i asked for the Vertex 3 and they said no problem, tossed it in with the rest, and off i went. then i get home only to see that i hadn't paid attention and they gave me an Agility 3 AGAIN. so i had to go back, argue for a 2nd time that no, they are not the same as the Vertex series, and finally doofus was able to find one in the back

course then as i get home and start building my system, i realize that the old DVD-RW i had won't work since it's IDE and my new motherboard only supports SATA, so that was another trip. and i'm going back again for a new cooler since the stock one is garbage. this happens everytime too, i spend about a week going back and fourth to Memory Express whenever i build a new system because of small things that pop up

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

it was a bitch to get that Vertex 3. i used the pick up at store option on the website when i picked out my new system and went to the SE location. they were out of Vertex 3's (even though the website said they had 5) and tried to give me an Agility 3 saying "the specs are exactly the same". when i called them on their bull####, they said the NE store had some so i went there. thing is i was going there anyway to pick up the parts for my aunt's new PC i was building (trying to be efficient since the stores stocks are so different). so when i went there and picked up her stuff, i asked for the Vertex 3 and they said no problem, tossed it in with the rest, and off i went. then i get home only to see that i hadn't paid attention and they gave me an Agility 3 AGAIN. so i had to go back, argue for a 2nd time that no, they are not the same as the Vertex series, and finally doofus was able to find one in the back

course then as i get home and start building my system, i realize that the old DVD-RW i had won't work since it's IDE and my new motherboard only supports SATA, so that was another trip. and i'm going back again for a new cooler since the stock one is garbage. this happens everytime too, i spend about a week going back and fourth to Memory Express whenever i build a new system because of small things that pop up

MemEx is stupid that way. Their stock system must be the worst in all retail. How hard is it to get your inventory to show up properly? Everything has an SKU every store tracks physical inventory locally whenever new items arrive or purchases are made. How hard is it to get it to sync with what it says online?

The lesson with MemEx is to never assume what the website says is actually there. Call them first. There are so many times I've shown up and the guys simply told me that the website was wrong or the computer showed the item as being there but it had "disappeared" and the guy couldn't find it. What a mess their inventory and stock system is.

[Thor]

Oh man, it saddens me to see the prices you guys are paying, Iceland is so pricey for stuff like this, especially the SSDs!