SSD

cherryghost

So I'm doing some shopping for an SSD, a small capacity one to install my OS on. Any recommendations on one? I dont have much to spend so 30GB size would probably be my max.

AlmightyCushion

The OCZ Vertex range are very good. I've seen some ssds popping up on adverts over the past while so maybe you could check that out and grab yourself a bargain.

PogMoThoin

Word of warning, Read up on them, they don't last long if You defragment them or let Windows do it, although I think Windows 7 recognises that now.

kaimera

OCZ Vertex if you cant splash for the Intels.

oMega_2093

OCZ Agility is also a good choice. I've seen some reviews for both Vertex and Agility and it seems Agility has just slightly lower performance, and slightly lower price too.

Agility: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227461
Vertex: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227394

cherryghost

thanks lads.

still only looking at a 30GB one, not a 60GB. only gonna be using it for an OS install and a few programs

BeansBeans

kaimera wrote: »

OCZ Vertex if you cant splash for the Intels.

Sure the G2 Intel x25-M drives are actually cheaper than the vertex now.

The 80GB x25-M G2 is €183 off Lambda Tek
or €216 from hardwareversand.

The 160GB Intel x25-M G2 is only €361 from Lambda Tek.

Anyway to the OP considering the pricepoint of the Vertex. 60GB is €186 and the 120GB is €327.
The new Intel G2 drives offer better performance at a better price.


Edit: Eh just noticed you only want a 30GB. Maybe check out the G.Skill Falcon SSD and the Patriot alternative. I think they are both pretty much the same as the Vertex, Indillinx controllers at a lower price.

cherryghost

thanks lads i ended up getting an OCZ 60GB one from memoryc, i had a 10% off voucher

Unregistered.

cherryghost wrote: »

thanks lads i ended up getting an OCZ 60GB one from memoryc, i had a 10% off voucher

Is 30 enough for an OS and programs???

OP how much did you pay in the end

ED E

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

The OCZ Vertex range are very good. I've seen some ssds popping up on adverts over the past while so maybe you could check that out and grab yourself a bargain.

Bad plan. The MTTF on SSDs is low and as such its not worth you're while buying second hand as you will never really know how much writing was done.


If using an SSD do not use a swap/pagefile.

Blazer

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

If using an SSD do not use a swap/pagefile.

As long as you've about 8 gigs of ram.
Even on my SSD I was getting low virtual memory warnings and games crashing such as GRID without the page file.
I had 4GBs of ram and clearly not enough.

PogMoThoin

You can use a program called RamDisk to create a small virtual disk partion on Your ram for Your page file. If You got loads of ram You can give it a gigabyte or 2

Unregistered.

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

If using an SSD do not use a swap/pagefile.

Not quite correct.... If you are using a small SSD for the OS only then, obviously, set the page file to the other HDD!

cherryghost

i already have 8gb ram without any page file, takes about 44 seconds to boot from a cold turn on. so i'll have no page file on the ssd also.

it cost me 150 including postage from memoryc, hope to get it tuesday, memoryc are very fast for deliveries

PogMoThoin

Any chance of a link to it m8, considering this also

cherryghost

http://www.memoryc.ie/products/description/60GB_OCZ_Solid_Series_SATA_II_Solid_State_Disk_SSD/index.html

AlmightyCushion

cherryghost wrote: »

http://www.memoryc.ie/products/description/60GB_OCZ_Solid_Series_SATA_II_Solid_State_Disk_SSD/index.html

If I was you, I'd cancel that order. I'm pretty sure those drives are some of the ones that have the stuttering problem.

Edit: Yup, these drives suffer from the stuttering issues.

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?p=3498192

Amalgam

Didn't the Vertex have the same controller? I thought it was only the second version of the Vertex that used a new controller.

Runcore have a new range, the reviews seem positive enough.

http://www.memoryc.ie/products/type/Storage_Products/SSD/index.html?Brands=RunCore

AlmightyCushion

Amalgam wrote: »

Didn't the Vertex have the same controller? I thought it was only the second version of the Vertex that used a new controller.

Runcore have a new range, the reviews seem positive enough.

http://www.memoryc.ie/products/type/Storage_Products/SSD/index.html?Brands=RunCore

No the drives that had the stuttering issue use a jmicron controller, the vertex uses an Indilinx barefoot controller.

Amalgam

Just a warning on reviews, try and read up on Runcore, from sites that aren't sponsored by them.. *cough* jkkmobile *cough*.

cherryghost

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

If I was you, I'd cancel that order. I'm pretty sure those drives are some of the ones that have the stuttering problem.

Edit: Yup, these drives suffer from the stuttering issues.

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?p=3498192

my mates got it running on the same OS i intend to install it on, and hes had no issues whatsoever with it

EDIT: I'm not cancelling it. If there are problems, however, I will report it here after I do some tests

cherryghost

So yeah, got vista and all my applications running now on the OCZ Summit 60GB. memoryc cancelled my order because they actually ran out of stock that day :P I done some tests on it:

Both setups had a Q6600 running at 3ghz, 8GB DDR2 Ram and a GTX 260


Old Setup (Vista x64 installed on 1TB WD Caviar Green)
Bootup time: 52 seconds
Max speed transferring a 700mb file from one location to another: 35mb/s
Time taken to boot up The Gimp from cold launch: 22 seconds
Call of Duty 4 Map Load time: 7 seconds

New Setup (Vista x64 installed on the OCZ Summit 60GB SSD)
Bootup time: 18 seconds
Max speed transferring a 700mb file from one location to another: 160mb/s
Time taken to boot up The Gimp from cold launch: 9 seconds
Call of Duty 4 Map Load time: 2 seconds


Since its only 60GB though, I dont intend to run any games off it, just Vista and all my applications.
Call of Duty Map Load time off the 1TB WD Caviar Green: 5 seconds.

So its a little faster, but not hugely. But anything running independently on the SSD itself is blisteringly fast!

Rezident

cherryghost wrote: »

New Setup (Vista x64 installed on the OCZ Summit 60GB SSD)
Bootup time: 18 seconds
Max speed transferring a 700mb file from one location to another: 160mb/s
Time taken to boot up The Gimp from cold launch: 9 seconds
Call of Duty 4 Map Load time: 2 seconds

Very nice. Can't wait to go SSD (but sadly will have to).

Seifer

Cherryghost mentioned that he gets a quicker map load time in CoD4 with it installed on his old standard HD and the OS on the SSD.
What is the reason for this?

cherryghost

its up to about 23 seconds now with all my stuff installed on it

seifer i reckon it was because my OS was originally installed on a partition on that HD, so the HD was digging for resources on the OS as well as taking a chunk of speed for the game too

Seifer

cherryghost wrote: »

its up to about 23 seconds now with all my stuff installed on it

seifer i reckon it was because my OS was originally installed on a partition on that HD, so the HD was digging for resources on the OS as well as taking a chunk of speed for the game too

So would that smaller time boost be noticed if you put your OS on a standard hard-drive and CoD4 on a separate standard hard-drive?

cherryghost

not sure really. a bit out of my depth on that one!

PogMoThoin

Seifer wrote: »

So would that smaller time boost be noticed if you put your OS on a standard hard-drive and CoD4 on a separate standard hard-drive?

No, but it helps keep Your c partion clean and efficient.

I always do things this way, in fact there's nothing on my c drive just windows and a few programs. I install games on "e" another drive, I've media "f" (videos folder) on its own drive as well and I've a drive for documents "d" (desktop, pictures, saved games etc all on this drive) as I remove this from the c drive. I've music partion "g" and and a storage pariton "h" on the same drive as documents. This way I can reinstall my c drive at any minute and just move the path to the folder.

I take an image of my c drive when I've got it running on a fresh install with drivers, updates and a few programs, firefox etc, this way i can reinstall this image in minutes, identical setup to before.

My c drive is 2 fast 36GB 10,000 rpm Western digital Raptors in Raid 0 and is always snappy, although noisy, but I don't mind. I'll be investing in SSD's shortly which is why I'm keeping an eye on here.