Various SSD Questions

[Zalewski]

As SSD's are now becoming somewhat affordable ($0.75-$1.00 per gb), im in the market for a reliable 60 or 64gb ssd. But with a few hesitations.
My motherboard supports Sata II (3gbps)
1. Would it be smarter to shop for a Sata III (6gbps) SSD instead of a Sata II since I would actually get capped Sata II speeds out of a Sata III ssd?

For the most part SSD speeds are hypothetical and i would assume 285/270 speeds on a Sata II ssd with Sata II controller wouldn't be all too present.

2. OCZ ssds, yes or no?

I know the new firmware and new revisions has come out, but is it safe to say just to steer clear of these SSD's no matter how cheap they may get? Or has the new firmware resolved all problems.

[anb]

2. OCZ ssds, yes or no?

no. bad reliability.

however as for the firmware update it is hard to judge because it came out recently, so there's not many user feedback on it.

[Xuvial]

As long as Crucial, Intel and Corsair keep their SSD's competetive I'll sadly always prioritize OCZ below those brands.

For your purposes, this one is a no-brainer: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148441

It will cap-out on your Sata II interface, but when I compare it to the prices and reliability rates of similar 60gb/64gb SSD's it still wins by a mile.

[anb]

For your purposes, this one is a no-brainer: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148441

picked this one yesterday, mainly because of superb user feedback ratio in reliability.
Here's the readings (Sata 6gb):
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 519.226 MB/s
Sequential Write : 103.660 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 420.337 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 105.185 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 24.985 MB/s [ 6099.8 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 59.697 MB/s [ 14574.5 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 215.469 MB/s [ 52604.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 100.412 MB/s [ 24514.7 IOPS]

Test : 2000 MB [C: 50.7% (30.2/59.5 GB)] (x3)
Date : 2011/11/02 0:31:08
OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

[Xuvial]

Faster than advertised sequentials o_O
*fangirl squeal*

[Azuri]

no. bad reliability.

however as for the firmware update it is hard to judge because it came out recently, so there's not many user feedback on it.

I have an OCZ on a RMA right now. I'll be staying clear of them. I've got a Kingston Sata II it's doing fine and just recently picked up a Patriot Pyro, seems they are fairly new to the SSD market and it's going well so far. They seem to be a solid choice for RAM so SSD seems like the next general progression for them.

[Xuvial]

It appears the "death point" for OCZ SSD's is around the 6 month mark, though quite a few people have had theirs fizz out at the 10-12 month point. My rig is already getting close to 8 months (no hiccups yet) but I should REALLY start looking into ghosting/backing-up my SSD. Apparently it's not as simple as replicating an HDD due to the way an SSD arranges data bits.

[anb]

Faster than advertised sequentials o_O
*fangirl squeal*

previous readings were done with latest firmware i updated manually (0009).
Here's the readings with stock factory firmware (0002):
Sequential Read : 412.771 MB/s
Sequential Write : 104.638 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 369.266 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 105.672 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 24.204 MB/s [ 5909.2 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 68.778 MB/s [ 16791.6 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 139.910 MB/s [ 34157.6 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 93.756 MB/s [ 22889.7 IOPS]

i think thats explains it

[MalazanFan]

Weren't the OCZ Octanes supposed to go on sale today? Google isn't showing anything more recent than the 3rd week of October for the Octanes.

[Samfisher]

I only trust Intel SSDs. Waiting for the next one, and I'm gonna get another to add to my X-25M.

[Evildeffy]

Weren't the OCZ Octanes supposed to go on sale today? Google isn't showing anything more recent than the 3rd week of October for the Octanes.

Awaiting reviews for that aswell, Indilinx's return is one that a great deal of peeps are wanting to see.

Nothing here in the EU aswell still.

[Deleted]

Currently using an OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD. Gave me huge headaches for the last while but then I paid a visit to their forums and got help pretty quick. After I was told to update my MB bios and have the latest firmware on the SSD I can tell you that since then I've had no problems with the drive. So might not be a bad choice after all.

[shagster]

I have been running a Vertex II 120 for my OS/Games for 1 year now. I run a Vertex III MIOPS 120 as well and have no issues in the several months I have had it.

[Zxian]

The thing that most people fail to realize is that most of OCZ's problems have been due to the fact that they're the most popular Sandforce based drives. Everyone who's been selling SF-2000 series controllers has been having stability issues with certain hardware configurations. OCZ was just in the spotlight since people recommended them for speed, and then got hit with buggy firmware. You also had a slew of users with unstable overclocks that caused issues with the SATA controllers and the OCZ drives - users who then bitched at OCZ for their problems.

If the issue is with firmware and not with the hardware, then it's actually more likely that you'll see a fix and a solid product if the issue is known. From what I've read so far, the 2.15 firmware release from OCZ seems to have fixed most of the stability issues we've seen to date.

I've got a 120GB Vertex3 and a 120GB Solid3 in my system and I haven't had any issues yet (*touchwood*). Both drives are running the latest 2.15 firmware from OCZ.

[Astven]

I've built several PCs and Servers at work with SSDs and run one in my PC at home as well. From all the different manufacturers i've tried OCZ definately was the worst while Intel seems best reliability wise. In theory there's a big difference between Sata I and II but practically i couldn't notice a big improvement on 6GB drives. Doesn't hurt to have that little extra performance of course you can't expect it to be twice as fast.

[Meleti]

The two lowest RMA rates for SSD manufacturers belong to Intel and Crucial, respectively (sourcing from some French study I saw on overclock.net). I'd stuck with one of those two manufacturers as long as pricing and performance is broadly competitive.

[MalazanFan]

Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F120GB3A-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) on Newegg for $109 after $50 instant rebate and $30 mail-in rebate. Went ahead and got one of these even though I'm interested in seeing how the OCZ Octanes are. But ~40% off when all is said and done is too good to pass up!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...20111029080324

Edit: Looks like today is the last day of the mail-in rebate.

[Evildeffy]

Weren't the OCZ Octanes supposed to go on sale today? Google isn't showing anything more recent than the 3rd week of October for the Octanes.

An update from my contacts:
OCZ's Octane series will be launched at the latest at the end of this month, expected mid to 3rd week, there are apparently issues with NAND memory production not being as high as hoped.

At least that's what i was told for the situation in the EU.

They also stated that prices may rise on the first batches because of this issue, but should go down later.

No performance info unfortunately