The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

hey rick, my best bet is between these two:

OCZ Onyx 32GB - $75 after rebate!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227510&Tpk=OCZ Onyx.

the OCZ i would pick if you are doing intense multitaking and running windows 7 as it has trim support.

30GB will be enough, as win7 is under 10GB, so 4GB worth of stoft ware leaves about 1/2 of the SSD free for a very big pagefile (though its highly recommended a pagefile shoudl eb set up on a partition the storage HDD), or jsut random installs and hdd space for the OS.




now if you instist on stay with the tried and tested XP then this:

Kingston SSDNow V Series 30GB - $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139162

best used on XP as it has no TRIM supprt (as doesnt XP). or if you arnt not doing intensive multitaking.

both are brilliant value, and IMO i would go with the OCZ as i like using window 7.

though, the intel drive in Q3 will be retaining its price BUT doubling its capacity to 80Gb, if you need that. if not buy either of these two

and remember that you will need a 2.5" to 3.5" hdd adaptor, to fit in a desktop, unless you are fitting it into a laptop.

 

umm speed of the OS, boot times, just a snappy feel of the average life your PC.

 

That OCZ looks incredible russ. Wish I had the funds for it. Perhaps if the price drops in a few months. I've been pondering how I could make do with a mere 100Gb. I think I can do it!

 

Oman7,
They make it in three different sizes and I wouldn't mind buying a 50GB one

Oman7,
The one that would interest me would be the OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX50G 2.5" 50GB SATA II MLC. Utilizing the SandForce exclusive RAISE tecnology, and OCZ's Durawrite, it beats out the Intel X25-m in every test, Real World and otherwise. It absolutely "Drubs" the Intel in most of the tests. From what I can see from Dee's testing, it's probably the finest SSD yet! At $179, it's not cheap, but the benefits are obvious.

I've checked the Auto Notify at Newegg, as they sold out in one day! I guess that means that I will be switching to Win7, if I do get one. I'm getting ready for another Out of State build for a friend in Massachusetts in a couple of weeks, so maybe I will buy one for my AMD. I might as well step firmly into the 21st Century before I go! LOL!!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

LOL! I don't doubt they sold out I'm gonna have that badboy on my mind for a while now.

 

You wouldn't want the Onyx, I believe it's cacheless like the early SSDs, it will make using any system it runs in an absolute chore.

 

This ONYX has 64Mb. Unless newegg screwed up again.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227510&Tpk=ocz onyx

 

Ah ok, no you're right, it's not the same as the Solid/Core/Apex drives. However, since it uses an Indilinx controller, it will not be as fast for random access as Intel or Sandforce SSDs.

 

Sam,
I think I would rather spend the extra $100 and get the OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX50G 2.5" 50GB SATA II MLC. It's State of the Art, and makes the Onyx seem like a Horse and Buggy, performance wise! I would also rather have a 50GB than a 32GB SSD.

Did you read the Review and Tests, Dee did on it, that I linked to Kevin? Fabulous SSD!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I'd want to see the G2 X25-M go up against the Vertex 2. It would still lose I'm sure, but it'd be a bit closer. You have to bear in mind that the X25-M G1 existed before almost any of us knew what SSDS were, it's ancient.
Note how far behind the other SSDs are too. In the face of Sandforce and Intel controllers, all other SSDs are pretty much useless at random performance. Better than mechanical drives by factors of several, but not hundreds.

Also note the velociraptor is 3 times as fast as the original OCZ cacheless SSD. The Apex was the high-end part too, let alone the basic Core/Solid models.

 

Honestly, my velociraptor loads windows and favored programs quickly enough. So other than PLAYING with an SSD, I really don't have a need for one at present. Besides, in my opinion they're still in their infancy. Not sure just how trustworthy they are yet

If another V-Raptor goes out though...I'll be irritated enough to make the change LOL! 7200 drives just aren't enough anymore. I think most of you understand that

 

Sam,
Read Dee's Review and Tests on it. It blows the X25-M away, head to head!
http://www.myce.com/review/ocz-vertex-2-100gb-ssd-review-30021/Introduction-1/

Same drive, but 50GB and a smaller amount of total reserve memory. The 100GB has 28MB for remapping and replacing failed cells. Same 3 year Warranty.

Russ

 

I think she says they're almost identical...

 

The G1, is what they tested. The G2 is a newer, improved version. It would still never match the Vertex 2, but the OCZ is £152 for 50GB and the Intel is £166 for 80GB, so that makes the OCZ pretty pricey. I have to say though, in terms of loading speed, I'm using a 7200rpm drive right now, not even a 10k, and compared to my old 37GB Raptor, the WD1001FALS is just as fast, and makes half the noise, plus it's nearly 30 times as big! Having a huge drive as your OS has its disadvantages, as you're always going to put stuff on it you'll need to move off it should you need to reformat, but for the price I paid, and what it does, it still makes even the best value SSDs look horrendously expensive. So many things need upgrading before an SSD, it just isn't going to get done in the near future for me. The first SSD I'm likely to buy will be for my silent machine, not for performance in my gaming system.

 

Excellent sam! I used a WD1001FALS for a time. It performed very similarly to a V-Raptor. In fact, if my Raptor were to quit right now, I wouldn't hesitate to use one

 

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/125?vs=152

shows the G2 loosing to the vertex2 in all but 1 test they did.

 

Sam,
While I do agree with you, if I'm going to be leaving this world anyway, what better way to do it than to spend a little time messing around with the latest and greatest technology. It would put a nice cap on almost 22 years of building computers!

Russ

 

Couldn't agree more russ

Thanks for the post shaff. Clearly I need to visit anandtech more often. I had no idea that products could be filtered to show only particular results like that. That may be my first stop from now on, when querying technology.

 

Shaff,
I saw that, but I think that Dee has gone well beyond Anandtech with his testing. In fact Anandtech's revamped SSD tests are what inspired Dee in the first place. He mentions that in the Review.

Russ

 

Yeah, the result of the G2 vs the Vertex 2 is unsurprising. The X25-M G2 is still a pretty old-fashioned design. I'm hoping Intel will revamp it by the time I happen on a high-end SSD. Not that I have anything against OCZ SSDs, but as it stands at the moment, the Vertex 2 is pretty pricey.
Russ: A bit of a bleak way of putting it, is there any reason for that?