SSD Assistance?

C

cybermaniac

New member
Hey guys,

I'm thinking of upgrading my HDD so I can have a nice fresh install of w7 (yes, I know I don't NEED to, it's my excuse dammit
tongue.gif
).

At the moment, I have 2x 74gb Raptors in RAID 0. I was thinking of getting an SSD for programs and the OS, (then maybe use 1 of the raptors to supplement). I already have 4x 500gb WDs for data, so that isn't a problem.

I've been thinking SSD, just not quite sure which one. I don't want to spend too much money, but then again, I don't want to spend too little and get useless junk for my money. I need something that is faster than the raptors (at read, I know at write they will pretty much be even).

During my research here, I've seen that the OCZ drives seem to be quite popular, but would like to hear from the people who actually know about SSDs (I haven't been following them really) as I'm sure you guys will know what will be better.

All I do is game, surf the web, bit of photoshop/lightroom.

Thanks in advance for the help guys
 
Whats your budget and what size drive would you like to aim for fella? Any of the quality brands would be fine but tbh if you get a decent Kingston, Corsair or Crucial drive you wont be dissapointed. Im running Kingston a V+ drive in my main rig.
 
tinytomlogan said:
Whats your budget and what size drive would you like to aim for fella? Any of the quality brands would be fine but tbh if you get a decent Kingston, Corsair or Crucial drive you wont be dissapointed. Im running Kingston a V+ drive in my main rig.
Click to expand...

Realistically, I think £150 would be ideal, £200 at a stretch.

I was heavily considering getting 2x OCZ 60GB Vertex 2E and RAID 0 them (I know this would bring me over budget, but hey, what's the the overdraft is for isn't it?
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, but am unsure if I should worry about TRIM commands (I heard that OCZ haven't yet sorted out their RAID drivers for TRIM?)?
 
Its the chipset drivers, when in raid TRIM can not be passed through so its a pitFa tbh.

Get the biggest drive you can afford as a single dude.
 
Corsair Extreme owner here. And you would literally have to rip it from my bloody dying hands to get it from me. Absolutely fantastic drive, fast as balls and Corsair offer amazing support.

I have heard that Patriot Torqx and Inferno drives are excellent though, but prepare to pay the price.
 
The Crucial C300's are excellent drives. I have one in my laptop and one in another rig. Still sporting an x25-m as well. Not the fastest on the block anymore, but still holding it's own considering I bought it in January.
 
Yeah the Intels are good. Just beware of being tempted to run them in RAID. RAID does not work with TRIM and you will be restoring every couple of months. And that isn't much fun. First you need to boot Ubuntu, load up the drive manager and pull out the power on the SSD and put it back in to unlock it, then run a secure erase and reimage it back. It's about 30 mins worth of messing around.

I used to have to do mine all the time because the firmware didn't support TRIM and it's no fun.

Apparently later in the year Intel are coming up with a new SATA controller that supports RAID TRIM but until then just don't do it.

Edit. Whoops, missed Tom's post on the subject
biggrin.gif
Oh well, measure twice cut once and all that
biggrin.gif
 
AlienALX said:
Yeah the Intels are good. Just beware of being tempted to run them in RAID. RAID does not work with TRIM and you will be restoring every couple of months. And that isn't much fun. First you need to boot Ubuntu, load up the drive manager and pull out the power on the SSD and put it back in to unlock it, then run a secure erase and reimage it back. It's about 30 mins worth of messing around.

I used to have to do mine all the time because the firmware didn't support TRIM and it's no fun.

Apparently later in the year Intel are coming up with a new SATA controller that supports RAID TRIM but until then just don't do it.

Edit. Whoops, missed Tom's post on the subject
biggrin.gif
Oh well, measure twice cut once and all that
biggrin.gif
Click to expand...

yea, after doing the research, it's probably best just to go for a single large SSD, even if intel come up with their new firmware, it's still going to be a hassle, and sod's law, my raid controller won't be upgraded
tongue.gif
 
Havong switched from RAID0 SSDs to singles, I can tell you, one single drive is definitely the way forward. Trim does the job, and the RAID controller seems to introduce all sorts of latencies from somewhere.
 
Diablo said:
Havong switched from RAID0 SSDs to singles, I can tell you, one single drive is definitely the way forward. Trim does the job, and the RAID controller seems to introduce all sorts of latencies from somewhere.
Click to expand...

that alone makes me thankful I asked here before I took the plunge.

Now to see what SSD Mr. Tom recommends!

Thanks for the heads up D.
 
cybermaniac said:
yea, after doing the research, it's probably best just to go for a single large SSD, even if intel come up with their new firmware, it's still going to be a hassle, and sod's law, my raid controller won't be upgraded
tongue.gif
Click to expand...

Dude you can bet your buttocks that Intel only put their controller on their boards. I can all but promise you that.

Also, Intel have cracked a new NM process that allows them to create double the storage on the same ammount of NAND. So (fingers crossed) by the end of the year we could be seeing 80gb SSD drives (value series) for about £90. If that happens I will sure bloody get one to install my games on !

I'd go with Tom. From what I have heard the Kingston drive is a great all rounder (Custom PC, just for the second opinion) and bloody good value to boot. And hey, it's Kingston. They have been around since most of the people here were knee high to a grasshopper.
 
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