New SSD (240GB+, SATA 600)

[Timbaloo]

Hi folks,

My intel X-25M 160GB SSD is almost full, so i'm looking for a 240GB (or larger) SSD that is SATA 600 compatible (though i will be using it on a SATA 300 port until i upgrade to IB).

I'm looking at the Mushkin Chronos 240GB which i can get for an amazing 269€ (309€ for the "Deluxe" version, although i doubt it's worth the extra money). Reviews (at least the ones i've read so far) say it's a decent product. Anyone disagree?

Any other recommendations?

 

[daniSAUR]

It's a good SSD but I'd go for either a Kingston hyperx or a crucial m4.

 

[Timbaloo]

Why so?

 

[nothingspecial]

Got the 120GB version, and it's pretty good. Few little niggles, like reporting at SATA1.5 when running on SATA2 (ATTO and Crystal both give readings at SATA2 spec) and the temperature reporting at 128°C (no sensors, confirmed by Mushkin), but apart from that I've got nothing bad to say about it.

I'd only go for the Kingston if it's slightly cheaper or around the same price. If it's more expensive, save your cash and get the Mushkin.

 

[fcb]

Well the readings are correct on the temperatures. SSDs generally don't have temperature monitoring built in, so you can safely ignore the 128°C.

Mushkin Chronos drives are great. As long as you've se the SATA mode correctly to AHCI and using the correct SATA ports on the motherboard, you should be pretty good to go for a clean install of Windows. As a reminder, you should download the latest SATA driver from Intel. Mushkin has made firmware updates pretty simple and their support has been excellent.

Crystal Disk Mark will read slightly off if you're either on SATA 2 or SATA 3 platforms because it compresses and decrompresses while doing the tests I believe. ATTO should give much closer results to advertised performance of the drives. So there's nothing to worry about.

I'd definitely recommend the Kingston HyperX as well. They're great drives and have always been quality out of the box.

 

[Timbaloo]

The same shop where i can get the Mushkin for 269€ lists the Kingston HyperX 240GB for 399€ which is quite a difference. To be perfectly honest i don't care much about the price, but i don't see why i should pay 30% more for what exactly? Slightly better benchmark scores? What i prefer is unproblematic usage. So far still tending towards the Mushkin.

 

[Ya93sin]

Crucial M4 is very reliable, or in my experience anyway

 

[fcb]

Can't go wrong with those selections: Crucial, Kingston or Mushkin.

If you don't really mind slightly slower performing drives that are better priced, you may take a look at the Kingston V200 series. I believe they just released these as the next line up for the previous V100 drives. The V100 drives are very reliable.

 

[yassarikhan786]

The temp reading is also shown as 128 C for my SSD. Which is clearly wrong and should be ignored.

 

[fcb]

I think the manufactures left the temperature monitoring out since SSDs don't become hot anyway.