# SSD advice



## Hayder_Master (Jun 4, 2010)

hello my friends, at last i find some site can ship to my country which Amazon and ebay sites, so now i think about get SSD please advice me
size 60G-80G, price under 250
gaming and windows boot most important things
i find this 
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00358V5LM/?tag=tec06d-20
and what you thing
thanx a lot


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## Cold Storm (Jun 5, 2010)

hayder.master said:


> hello my friends, at last i find some site can ship to my country which Amazon and ebay sites, so now i think about get SSD please advice me
> size 60G-80G, price under 250
> gaming and windows boot most important things
> i find this
> ...



That's a good drive, But, you can grab one of the big dogs for a bit more money. I suggest the OCZ 60gb Agility 2 SSD. The controller is a Sandforce-1200 drive. So your going to get near the 285/275 that it says.. 

I think you'd really like that over the Kingston.


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## Techtu (Jun 5, 2010)

You mention you want to use the HDD for installed games... I'd really look for at least a 128Gb ... On my 120Gb I never have enough room to have my favourite game's no matter what I do, so a 60Gb will not cut it.


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## digibucc (Jun 5, 2010)

i'm sorry i've wondered for awhile, what's hayder?


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## Cold Storm (Jun 5, 2010)

Tech2 said:


> You mention you want to use the HDD for installed games... I'd really look for at least a 128Gb ... On my 120Gb I never have enough room to have my favourite game's no matter what I do, so a 60Gb will not cut it.



Well, it would cut the low gb games. Even on a 60, I had about 35gbs left after windows, and a few apps.. my 80gb was around 50gbs.. But, to me I don't see the point in putting games on a fast drive.. but, that is myself look at things.

if he goes the 128gb route he can get a Kingston SSD Now 128,  for a few pennies under what he wanted to spend..


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## Hayder_Master (Jun 5, 2010)

Cold Storm said:


> That's a good drive, But, you can grab one of the big dogs for a bit more money. I suggest the OCZ 60gb Agility 2 SSD. The controller is a Sandforce-1200 drive. So your going to get near the 285/275 that it says..
> 
> I think you'd really like that over the Kingston.



wow that's really fast, thanx i put it in my list



digibucc said:


> i'm sorry i've wondered for awhile, what's hayder?




hello my bro how you doing, bro i look for SSD fast drive price range under 250$ but only in Amazon site


Cold Storm said:


> Well, it would cut the low gb games. Even on a 60, I had about 35gbs left after windows, and a few apps.. my 80gb was around 50gbs.. But, to me I don't see the point in putting games on a fast drive.. but, that is myself look at things.
> 
> if he goes the 128gb route he can get a Kingston SSD Now 128,  for a few pennies under what he wanted to spend..




128G looks good deal too but it's much slower than OCZ what u think


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## Cold Storm (Jun 5, 2010)

First off, I think dig wanted to know about your "username".. 


Well, Tech2 did come up with a good point in the factor of games.. if your wanting to place games with that drive, 60/80gb will put maybe 2/3 of the big title games in it.. Maybe a dozen low gb games without it hitting the 80% mark of the drive.. So, the 120 thrown in to give you head room. Yeah, it's not the fastest.. but will give you the amount you want. Think of it this way.. 

Win7 takes up around 20gbs give or take.. then you factor in all the stuff you add to it. A few threads here have shown that 30gb is Almost enough for a os drive. You really gotta skim on what you install.. 60 is good for os and apps then anything more can get games in it.. So, it's really up to you.  What are you going to add to the drive? And, what games will be added if you do add games to it..


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## Hayder_Master (Jun 5, 2010)

digibucc said:


> i'm sorry i've wondered for awhile, what's hayder?



sorry bro i was miss understanding, my first name is "Hayder" and "Master" is  my nick name



Cold Storm said:


> First off, I think dig wanted to know about your "username"..
> 
> 
> Well, Tech2 did come up with a good point in the factor of games.. if your wanting to place games with that drive, 60/80gb will put maybe 2/3 of the big title games in it.. Maybe a dozen low gb games without it hitting the 80% mark of the drive.. So, the 120 thrown in to give you head room. Yeah, it's not the fastest.. but will give you the amount you want. Think of it this way..
> ...




first, thanx for know me about digibucc
2nd, i plan to put OS and one game or two on SSD only the heavy games and remove it after i finish it, so that's point to your OCZ right


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## Cold Storm (Jun 5, 2010)

hayder.master said:


> sorry bro i was miss understanding, my first name is "Hayder" and "Master" is  my nick name
> 
> 
> 
> ...



 All right. You'll get about 30-32 for the os and about 6ish for apps. Depending on what you run. if it's just going to be small amounts for the gaming, it should be all right. Besides, you got something to start with.


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## Hayder_Master (Jun 8, 2010)

i find this one looks impressive 
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036IOWGQ/?tag=tec06d-20


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## Hayder_Master (Jul 16, 2010)

guys, i find my friend "cold storm" advice is the best chose very faster and cheap on http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003MX0VJM/?tag=tec06d-20

but i see the reviews on newegg they say it can't reach the maximum speed and the written speeds "Max Read: up to 285 MB/s, Max Write: up to 275 MB/s, Sustained Write: up to 250 MB/s" it's not real, can't reach 200Mb read and 110 write, any ideas please i should made my order tomorrow.

and i don't know why everyone chose the Intel x25 - 80G and it have best rate, it's very slower than OCZ.


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## Cold Storm (Jul 16, 2010)

hayder.master said:


> guys, i find my friend "cold storm" advice is the best chose very faster and cheap on http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003MX0VJM/?tag=tec06d-20
> 
> but i see the reviews on newegg they say it can't reach the maximum speed and the written speeds "Max Read: up to 285 MB/s, Max Write: up to 275 MB/s, Sustained Write: up to 250 MB/s" it's not real, can't reach 200Mb read and 110 write, any ideas please i should made my order tomorrow.
> 
> and i don't know why everyone chose the Intel x25 - 80G and it have best rate, it's very slower than OCZ.



The one that you have linked will be a good starting point for you. 

The reason for the factor that Intel's X25 being so good is that it's a very reliable drive. It's not a drive that has the sandforce 1200 or 1500 controller, but it has one that will be reliable threw and threw. Yes, it doesn't have the speeds as some of the other big names.. But, due to that, and the factor that it can be kept and the desired speeds, make it a great SSD. For the people that want dependable tech, Intel has it covered on that one ssd. Ether it being the 40gb or the 80gb. You get it and you know that you got something going. 

This isn't to be reframed from others. Most SSD's out there are made from the best tech that can be given. OCZ, Gskill, Corsair, Crucial are some of the leading names due to the factor of going extreme with their chips. Sandforce Controllers are top notch. 

For extreme performance, the others with the sandforce controllers are the way to go. A dependable ssd, most will go for intel. That's the way I look at it.


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## cdawall (Jul 16, 2010)

i just got a pair of 32GB drives and raided them its not much if any more expensive than one big drive and quite fast my pair i got used from freaksavior dirt cheap since his x58 didn't like them in raid0


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## Ross211 (Jul 16, 2010)

Cold Storm said:


> For the people that want dependable tech, Intel has it covered on that one ssd.



Intel also has the resources to test their SSD on every SATA chipset known to man.

I've seen threads on OCZ forum about users' SSD not showing up in their BIOS 

Intel Controller Hub + Intel SSD = groovy 

I suggest an Intel X25-M or a drive with the newer Sandforce Controller...  Or wait it off for Intel to release their new SSD lineup later this year.


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## ISSA2000 (Jul 16, 2010)

you need 120- 200g for games..

unles to raid 0 them(pain in the ass), yo would be better of with a fast hdd.

a new generation 500g platter hdd, has 130+ mb/sec transfer rate (for the first 6-200g) (depends on size 500g-2tb hdd)

just partition c as 200g, rest d: (same as short stroking a hdd, c:\ just used the fastest part of the hdd...

you can use eboosr to cache(supercache)+ accelorate windows wth extra ram.

8g ram(32bit 5+ gig unmanaged ram can be used -v4.0) or 64 bit o/s use managed ram..


ebooster r+5 g ram for it makes huge diff.. 


older bios/board have prob with ssd, i had my mod my bis (x48 chipset asus rampage formula) with latest intel raid bios mod) so my ssd works(and does not drop out of raid)


P.s look at the silverstone ssd booster thread.. or much callisto deluxe ssd speed,  hdtach speed show mch slower than ssd speed that they avertise..

my ssd says 280mb/read etc, bu in hdtach i get 240mb/sec in intel x9


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## Cold Storm (Jul 16, 2010)

Ross211 said:


> Intel also has the resources to test their SSD on every SATA chipset known to man.
> 
> I've seen threads on OCZ forum about users' SSD not showing up in their BIOS
> 
> ...



True on the factor that intel has more to do in testing then some companies. 

There will all ways be a drive or two out there that will have sort of problem. Life isn't perfect, so you can see that Technology isn't ether. Intel has had their trials with their ssd's. Just like everyone else. 


Also, want to go with Issa on the factor that the newer hdd's are showing to be faster then what they have been. But, I will still go with a ssd over a hdd if the price is the same. Not saying that the "size of the drive" will be. Only reasoning behind that. To me, the OS should be the most protected thing out there.. If you back up all your stuff on the other drives, you wouldn't have to worry. But, a OS will give you more problems if something happens to the drive then anything else. So with SSD's being a non moving (there is hybrid drives that have both moving and non) drive, it's a lot safer to suggest to someone that it would be key for a OS.. Even if your not looking for the speed that they can give..

Now, Hayder.. The ocz agility really isn't what Amazon says it is.. If you look at OCZ's product page, you will see that the 60gb is:

* *  Read: Up to 230 MB/s
    * Write: Up to 135 MB/s
    * Sustained Write: Up to 80 MB/S*

So, it's a Indilinx controller not a Sandforce like they are showing on Amazon.. If you want a Sandforce controller, the write and read will be 275/285. Then you want to grab the Vertex 2 SSD. 

Remember this is the feel I have on SSD's.


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## warup89 (Jul 16, 2010)

I didnt know about Eboostr, Thanks ISSA.

Anyways, yesterday I just got my OCZ agility 2 60gb, and I was very pleased with it although SSD space comes to mind right after I installed windows 7 as it took 30gbs of my SSD, but IMHO the other 30gbs that I have left is just about enough for my MAIN programs and games, as I plan to install only the stuff that i want to be fast on the SSD and the rest on another HDD.


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## Zehnsucht (Jul 16, 2010)

Swedish site sweclockers had a pretty neat roundup published just a couple of days ago:
(translated)
http://translate.google.com/transla...6-ssd-sommaren-2010/14#pagehead&sl=auto&tl=en

Recommended: OCZ Vertex 2 100 GB & Corsair Force 120 GB
Best value: Intel X25-V G2 40 GB


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## Wrigleyvillain (Jul 16, 2010)

So the Agility II isn't a Sandforce but the Vertex 2 is? And what are some others?


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## erocker (Jul 16, 2010)

Wrigleyvillain said:


> So the Agility II isn't a Sandforce but the Vertex 2 is? And what are some others?



The newer Agility 2 is a Sandforce, but with different nand memory than the Vertex 2.


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## Cold Storm (Jul 16, 2010)

erocker said:


> The newer Agility 2 is a Sandforce, but with different nand memory than the Vertex 2.



Your are right... In which the OCZ site it self needs to be fixed.. The specs that they show on the site it self is for the Indilinx based ssd.. Not the Sf-1200 based that both it and the Vertex 2 has.. Man, I hate when site go flaw on their own stuff...


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## Hayder_Master (Jul 17, 2010)

thanx guys that's a huge of info but i still some kind confused, so what is the best deal now near 250$ sure speed most important and only in amazon site please.


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## Cold Storm (Jul 17, 2010)

the agility 2 is a great ssd.. but if you have more then that to spend.. I bet we can find a bigger drive for ya. 

So, it's safe to assume that $250 is the amount that I want to look for via amazon? Right? Is that via shipping, or just base price?


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## Hayder_Master (Jul 17, 2010)

Cold Storm said:


> the agility 2 is a great ssd.. but if you have more then that to spend.. I bet we can find a bigger drive for ya.
> 
> So, it's safe to assume that $250 is the amount that I want to look for via amazon? Right? Is that via shipping, or just base price?



yes amazon only can ship to my country and i think e-bay too, thanx bro im really appreciate your help


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## Cold Storm (Jul 17, 2010)

I say grab a Vertex 2.. It'll be sweet little ssd to start with.. That's my thought on the stuff.


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## warup89 (Jul 17, 2010)

Well, i Just did my first test on my new Agility 2 and this is the results i got from HD tune:






Beware though, since its a 60gb drive space can be a bit tight, W7 alone took 25gb away, but its not much of a big deal if you install the main programs on the SSD, and the rest somewhere else.


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## Ross211 (Jul 17, 2010)

OCZ Solid 2 60GB (Indilinx Controller) on my GA-EP45-UD3P (Intel ICRH10) -


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## Ross211 (Jul 17, 2010)

warup89 said:


> Well, i Just did my first test on my new Agility 2 and this is the results i got from HD tune:
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...



*Things everyone should (& shouldn't) do with their SSD -*
*Make sure you have AHCI enabled in your BIOS (If you installed Windows without AHCI enabled, follow this guide - GUIDE - Enabling AHCI mode AFTER Windows 7 Installation)
*Don't defrag your SSD
*Take Window$ page file off your SSD
*Disable preftech, superfetch, & indexing
*Disable hibernate & system restore

Enjoy your SSD!


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## Hayder_Master (Jul 17, 2010)

thanx guys that's great, HD tune explain anything


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## Hayder_Master (Jul 17, 2010)

we can say this one do the job
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UO9POK/?tag=tec06d-20

and this is turbo addition but look slower than above
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002H9XRW0/?tag=tec06d-20


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## Cold Storm (Jul 17, 2010)

hayder.master said:


> we can say this one do the job
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UO9POK/?tag=tec06d-20
> 
> and this is turbo addition but look slower than above
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002H9XRW0/?tag=tec06d-20



Those are good but a Vertex 2 is around your asking of those two you just linked..


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## Hayder_Master (Jul 17, 2010)

Cold Storm said:


> Those are good but a Vertex 2 is around your asking of those two you just linked..



LOL, i was looking for vertex 2 seems i pass it, thanx bro so this is the last call i think


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## avatar_raq (Jul 17, 2010)

digibucc said:


> i'm sorry i've wondered for awhile, what's hayder?


Hayder is one of the names of the Lion in Arabic. It's also one of the names bestowed upon an Islamic Shi'ite symbol (Imam Ali).
 Sorry for going off-topic, now: I stand by the advice I gave Hayder Master earlier (b4 this thread!): Get an Intel X25m Gen2 80GB SSD, it's the most reliable, and u can add another one -in the future- in raid 0 without losing trim support. I believe Intel SSDs are the only ones right now that support trim in raid, guys please correct if I'm wrong or outdated!
Reliability, after all, is the most important thing when RMA is such a pain in the butt in Iraq!
Cheeeeers!


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## Techtu (Jul 18, 2010)

avatar_raq said:


> Hayder is one of the names of the Lion in Arabic. It's also one of the names bestowed upon an Islamic Shi'ite symbol (Imam Ali).
> Sorry for going off-topic, now: I stand by the advice I gave Hayder Master earlier (b4 this thread!): Get an Intel X25m Gen2 80GB SSD, it's the most reliable, and u can add another one -in the future- in raid 0 without losing trim support. I believe Intel SSDs are the only ones right now that support trim in raid, guys please correct if I'm wrong or outdated!
> Reliability, after all, is the most important thing when RMA is such a pain in the butt in Iraq!
> Cheeeeers!



Hayder, is also his name, as I've seen him say in an earlier post


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## avatar_raq (Jul 18, 2010)

Tech2 said:


> Hayder, is also his name, as I've seen him say in an earlier post



It is his real name, I just wanted to explain its meaning


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## Techtu (Jul 18, 2010)

I was just adding to your post so digibucc would also know as he asked


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## Hayder_Master (Jul 18, 2010)

avatar_raq said:


> Hayder is one of the names of the Lion in Arabic. It's also one of the names bestowed upon an Islamic Shi'ite symbol (Imam Ali).
> Sorry for going off-topic, now: I stand by the advice I gave Hayder Master earlier (b4 this thread!): Get an Intel X25m Gen2 80GB SSD, it's the most reliable, and u can add another one -in the future- in raid 0 without losing trim support. I believe Intel SSDs are the only ones right now that support trim in raid, guys please correct if I'm wrong or outdated!
> Reliability, after all, is the most important thing when RMA is such a pain in the butt in Iraq!
> Cheeeeers!





Tech2 said:


> Hayder, is also his name, as I've seen him say in an earlier post





avatar_raq said:


> It is his real name, I just wanted to explain its meaning





Tech2 said:


> I was just adding to your post so digibucc would also know as he asked



nice, you still talking about my name


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## Hayder_Master (Jul 18, 2010)

guys i just want to be sure is the vertex2 have sandforce controller, there is nothing writing in this SSD features about sandforce, not like this one, why
G.SKILL Phoenix Pro Series FM-25S2S-60GBP2 2.5" 60...


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## Hayder_Master (Jul 21, 2010)

ok here is what i find, OCZ add the sandforce chips in the new product's so all vertex 2 have sandforce 1200 chip and vertex EX have sandforce 1500 chip but it's expensive, so i think stick with vertex 2


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## BababooeyHTJ (Jul 25, 2010)

Ross211 said:


> Intel also has the resources to test their SSD on every SATA chipset known to man.
> 
> I've seen threads on OCZ forum about users' SSD not showing up in their BIOS
> 
> ...



I was wondering why OCZ didn't have something like this. I made a post at OCZ forums asking why and obvously never got a response. I'm glad to hear that SSD manufacturers are starting to do stuff like this. Hell a hard drive manufaturer not having a utility to check their drives is unheard of.

My other big problem with OCZ is that much like they do with their ram they release drives with different flash all of the time. That bothers me for two reasons. One it's hard to really trust benchmarks but that isn't a big deal to me. The second and most important problem that this brings up is that they don't thoroughly test each revision of drive before releasing a firmware update which has caused problems in the past. Hell I had to RMA my Vertex because of this. I also asked why they don't release a firmware as a public beta before a final release. Why not MSI and Gigabyte do it all of the time with their motherboard bios. I was told by a volunteer mod to fill in my system specs. They never used to have these volunteer mods.

Most of these SSD manufacturers NEED to start thinking like the HDD manufacturers. OCZ has had way more problems with firmware that Seagate has ever had and for some reason they don't catch half of the flack that Seagate has. I can't store my data on something like that. You have to remember that first and foremost it is a storage device. Reliability is far more important to me than a little speed.

I'm a little put off by these SSDs and tbh after going from the Vertex to a 500GB F3 spinpoint with no tweaks to my windows install I really don't notice much of a difference. No where near as much as a lot of people claim. I'm glad to hear about the steps that Intel is making and maybe one day I'll look into an Intel drive if I'm ever in the market for an SSD again.



warup89 said:


> Well, i Just did my first test on my new Agility 2 and this is the results i got from HD tune:
> http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4800723770_63b787d44e_b.jpg
> 
> Beware though, since its a 60gb drive space can be a bit tight, W7 alone took 25gb away, but its not much of a big deal if you install the main programs on the SSD, and the rest somewhere else.



Looks like you are on FW 1.5? Thats what my HDTune benchs looked like when the data corruption started. You may want to image you drive or at least backup data. Then run "Tony Trim" since as free space cleaner will corrupt you drive immediately instead of over time and out of the blue if you do happen to have the issue that has plagued many Vertex owners including myself. My benchs looked just like Ross' with 1.41FW when all was well.

Also it's really easy to get a windows 7 install under 10GB by just moving the page file and removing hibernation and system restore. In an elevated command prompt (run as administrator) just type in "powercfg -h off" that clears up quite a bit of wasted space. I for one have never used hibernation.


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## Hayder_Master (Jul 25, 2010)

guys i have ordered my vertex 2, thanx for everyone


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