Which SSD brand?

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jbard

1377 posts

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#107940 22-Aug-2012 18:54

Hi

I am looking for an SSD for my Dell XPS 15 laptop.
Looking for at 128GB size for around $150-175.

I have no idea about brands so I am hoping you can recommend some.
I will add some links to what I am looking at right now:

Crucial m4:
http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=873561

OCZ Agility 4:
https://price.geekzone.co.nz/product.aspx?pid=886546963

Intel 330 Series:
https://price.geekzone.co.nz/product.aspx?pid=886325878

Samsung 830:
https://price.geekzone.co.nz/product.aspx?pid=886076219

Corsair Force Series 3:
https://price.geekzone.co.nz/product.aspx?pid=885177639

networkn

Networkn
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#675594 22-Aug-2012 19:06

In order of my personal preference I would go

OCZ, then Sandisk, then Corsair, then Crucial, then Samsung, and lastly Intel (Though recently they have improved).

OCZ recently switched from the Sandforce Controller to their own technology which still has maturing to do (General 4 onward).

I am heading to the USA in 8 weeks, I plan on picking up some to upgrade the 4x120GB SSD's I have in my home PC in a RAID0. Yesterday there was a special that would have given you 240GB for 199NZD.

lokhor

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#675600 22-Aug-2012 19:20

Intel 330 series are supposed to be quite good

All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.

kyhwana2

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#675602 22-Aug-2012 19:21

Avoid OCZ and Sandforce for laptops, due to issues with waking up/sleep in laptops.

I'd say go with Intel (non-sandforce) or the Samsung 830. I have a 256GB 830 in my laptop and it's been fine so far.

sbaird

81 posts

Master Geek

#675613 22-Aug-2012 19:37

I have an Adata 256G and its great,

mattwnz

20162 posts

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#675614 22-Aug-2012 19:38

I have got the intel one and it is very good and no problems. But I have found the 120GB is really only just large enough. They have dropped a lot in price over the last few months, as I paid a lot more for mine.

nathan

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#675622 22-Aug-2012 20:01

+1 for Intel, especially 330 or X25 series or their mSATA drives too (320?)

jbard

1377 posts

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#675626 22-Aug-2012 20:13

Thanks for the tips guys. I just bought the Intel :)

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freitasm

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#675650 22-Aug-2012 21:09

Oh well, I was going to give a vote for the Crucial C300 256GB - I have one and it's been great.

Regs

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Snowflake

#675666 22-Aug-2012 21:34

I have had two OCZ agility 3's. one worked perfectly in a Lenovo laptop. the other died in an hp laptop, and so did its replacement. swapped that for an intel 300 series instead. i'm less inclined to buy ocz after the failures and after reading a few similar stories.

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mattwnz

20162 posts

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#675721 22-Aug-2012 22:33

The thing about intel is they also have a good warranty on them and they are a premium brand. They do also come with an adapter mount to fit it to a 3.5 bay for desktops, which I am not sure if the others all have.

insane

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#675747 22-Aug-2012 23:51

Bunch of us at work bought 5 OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSDs, and with my luck it was my one which died after two weeks, the remaining 4 are working fine.

Have been using a Corsair Force GT at home for around a year now, it does freeze a fair bit though, at least once every few weeks.

I can live with the occasional freeze at home but at work I need something which is stable, so I'm going to buy a non-sandforce after my RMA is completed.

alexx

867 posts

Ultimate Geek

#675752 23-Aug-2012 00:11

Just like they used to say in the early days of SCSI disk drives...
Cheap, Fast, Reliable... pick two.

These I would recommend:

Crucial M4 - plus their new mSATA drives might be worth a look if you have an mSATA slot.
Intel - most Intel seem to be good.
Samsung 830.

This thread on the Xtreme Systems forums makes interesting reading. They took a bunch of SSDs and thrashed them and kept track of how many TiB were written before the device finally died.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?271063-SSD-Write-Endurance-25nm-Vs-34nm

I'm using the Crucial M4. The only slight reservation I would have with the Crucial M4, is that on the Crucial forums I've seen quite a few problems with them reported when installed in the Macbook Pro. However, most Windows and Linux users seem pretty happy. Not sure if that is just a Crucial thing. Do any third party SSD work well in the Macbook Pro?

#include <standard.disclaimer>

Ragnor

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#675757 23-Aug-2012 00:33

I remember the guys from Computer Lounge saying a few times in the last year or so that they see significantly less failtures/rma's for Intel SSD's compared to OCZ, Corsair etc.

freitasm

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#675769 23-Aug-2012 07:41

insane: Have been using a Corsair Force GT at home for around a year now, it does freeze a fair bit though, at least once every few weeks.

I can live with the occasional freeze at home but at work I need something which is stable, so I'm going to buy a non-sandforce after my RMA is completed.

It sounds like the problem I had with my Crucial C300 installed on an all Intel platform. Basically the Intel Link Power Management screws up with timings. I found a .reg file in the Crucial forums, installed and it never happened again.

I had the same drive installed on an AMD platform desktop and it never had the problem.

alexx: I'm using the Crucial M4. The only slight reservation I would have with the Crucial M4, is that on the Crucial forums I've seen quite a few problems with them reported when installed in the Macbook Pro. However, most Windows and Linux users seem pretty happy. Not sure if that is just a Crucial thing. Do any third party SSD work well in the Macbook Pro?

It's the same problem as above, but apparently on Mac OS you can't just disabled the Intel LPM for some reason or another.