Best SSD $400 or lower?

[Kaldor]

Heya gents,

Looking to finally ditch my old Seagate 500gig 7200.12. Been looking at some SSDs for my primary OS, and use the 500gig for stuff I dont care about.

I looked at buying a 128gig SSD, but after doing the math, its not big enough for the stuff I need to load for work and play. So that jumps me up into the 256gig drives, which are quite a bit more pricey.

Question is, there is a huge price range, starting at $260 up to over $500. Id like to stay around $300, but I realize this may not be possible to get a good dependable drive thats quick.

Tom Hardware has a decent chart up, although how accurate those hacks are now is questionable. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-review-benchmark,3115.html

Anandtech has decent reviews, but is missing some of the more current stuff. www.anandtech.com/bench

Id like to stick to a decent brand like Crucial, Kingston, Corsair, or Mushkin. Id prefer an Intel over all, but my pockets arent that deep as I just ordered a 30" Dell monitor via work.

If you guys have any thoughts, Id like to hear them.

[Floyd]

For what its worth I love my Kingston HyperX 120gig. Its real fast and ive had zero issues from it.

[ND40oz]

Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 - reliability
OCZ Vertex 3 or Corsair Force GT - speed

[Drewsillac]

Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 - reliability
OCZ Vertex 3 or Corsair Force GT - speed

I have a Vertex 3, speed is great, but it's crapped out once already. I'm looking at going RAID 0, how are the Corsair ones compared to OCZ?

[ND40oz]

Same controller and most likely the same firmware, all depends on who gives you the best service if you do have a problem.

[Kaldor]

I think I will be picking up a Crucial drive. Right in my price range, and seem pretty reliable now that they have fixed their firmware issues. I wouldnt mind a slightly faster drive, but I dont have time to be screwing around with backups and restoring/reinstalling Windows if something goes wrong.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148530

[RedRaider]

Any updates on performance?

[Snyxxx]

Intel 520 is what I would buy. Sandforce and long term intel testing that squashed some hard bugs other manufacturers have not.

[BigMyke]

How reliable are these intel 520s under a raid array?

[Drewsillac]

Off topic, but when is TRIM going to be supported for RAID?

[Snyxxx]

How reliable are these intel 520s under a raid array?

No idea.:(

[cpufrost]

How reliable are these intel 520s under a raid array?

Should be fine. Intel's R&D is second to none. I'm still leery however and before investing thousands on this platform I'll wait.

Off topic, but when is TRIM going to be supported for RAID?

Not going to wait for this one. By the time firmwares on intelligent hosts have this working drives themselves will manage this task. The overhead within the latter will be lower.

[BigMyke]

Got a question for all you SSD raid gurus. My current HDD/x58 intel software raid 0 setup is 4x VelRaptor 150gb. Am I gonna see/feel much performance difference with these later ssd models in a similar raid array?
Performance of my current raid
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/SpyRage/Raptorraidbigmyke.png

[cpufrost]

No comparison especially in random reads/writes. No comparison at all!

[FaRKle!]

Speed: Sandforce controller
Reliability: Intel, Samsung, or Intel/Sandforce tested controller
Middleroad: Crucial/Micron
Budget: OCZ, JMicron, Marvell

[RampageWSU]

The Hyper X's haven't failed me yet.

[RedRaider]

Intel 520 - 240GB

or

Vertex 4 - 240GB

will be my next SSD...:crack:

[BigMyke]

Thats what I'm thinking too. Areca and intel 520 i'm thinking for me.

[RedRaider]

I'm buying a ARECA ARC-1882i bro...:crack:

[RedRaider]

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/51455-intel-520-240gb-ssd-raid-0-performance-review-11.html

[Floyd]

The Hyper X's haven't failed me yet.

Nor me! Mine hasnt had one hiccup since day one.

[cpufrost]

Don't buy OCZ. IMO OCZ should be changed to something else when it's typed here. Yeah, it's THAT bad.

[BigMyke]

Anyone have any experience with Intel's RMA procedure with their SSDs?

[Floyd]

Don't buy OCZ. IMO OCZ should be changed to something else when it's typed here. Yeah, it's THAT bad.

I saw LOADs of people complaining about the Vertex 3 when I was looking to buy SSDs. Ive had 0 issues with the hyperX

[cpufrost]

Anyone have any experience with Intel's RMA procedure with their SSDs?

Never had to use their RMA service fortunately. SSDs should be (nearly) reliable as CPUs. But shit does happen.

I just don't do biz with OCZ.
Goes back to the 90s when they were unheard of.
It may be a personal thing but honestly things have not changed over the years. Certainly I'm not doing myself a disservice holding a grudge.

If they made a kick ass SSD that held up things might be different.

I see Newegg has the 256GB M4 for $295! That's a damn good deal there!

[Tiny]

How good or bad are the corsair ssd's? I am planning to pick up two of the force series drives but if they are crap I would like to know. I am using an x128 right now and it works fairly well as far as I know.

[ND40oz]

With the latest firmware, the Force 3 and GT are fine, just like all of the current crop of Sandforce drives. You buy the Intel 520 if you want the best warranty, support and NAND, if you don't want to pay for it, buy whichever manufacturer has the best support.

[RedRaider]

Links to a Shitload of SSD Reviews (http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150954)

[jacobroufa]

TPU FTMFW! Thanks for that link Red... I gotta get a new SSD soon to replace my aging Vertex 30Gb in my gaming rig. Old or not, that thing is way faster than any other drive I've ever had, and perfect for a boot drive. Just a shame that the NAND is finally wearing out (27% health, according to the Indilinx tool I've got) and needs to be replaced.

2x Intel 520 60Gb in RAID0 anyone?

[xmanrigger]

As Floyd stated, I am also using a HyperX 120GB in my system and has been flawless since install. Didnt have to update FW, yet. Did I mention it is as fast as XMT's right hook? Ya, fast.