SSD advice

[no_numb]

I know this has been covered several times but I have a couple of questions I hope to clear up.

I am thinking of buying a SSD for my boot drive/programmes. I am after a speed increase for opening/booting etc. I don't have a particularly slow computer (AMD 550 BE unlocked/overclocked to 3.6ghz x 4, 4gb 1066 ddr2, samsung spinpoint f1 320gb, etc...) and the computer does not really get used to its full potential. However I am a big fan of not waiting around for things to happen.

The computer is mainly used for ms office related work, music, films, email, and other university work (this involves virtually building molecules etc but nothing too ott), because of this I am looking at the budget end of the SSD market i.e. under £130.

At this price range will there be any significant improvement in loading times? If so what drive is generally recommended in this price bracket? Is the 30gb ocz vertex a better buy than the 64 kingston SSDnow which is £20 cheaper?

I am using windows 7 rtm at the moment but I have a copy of home premium waiting to be installed so this would be a good time to change hard disks.

[Phage]

Yes. You should see a substanitial improvement in boot times.
The budget choice is currently the Kingston V40Gb (essentially a re-badged Intel), but are you sure you need it ? I'd probably wait until after Chirstmas to see what the new year broings. They're not great value right now, even at that price point.

[Infinite]

Id probably get the Kingston 40GB V series. A crippled rebranded Intel. Cost around £70.

Bargain tbh considering a 30GB Vertex is £130 T_T

To think I bought a 60GB Vertex back in Summer for £130. Prices have really shot up.

When I get a new laptop, if I have the funds and prices of SSD dont fall. Then the Kingston it is for me.

[dangel]

I got a 40gb kingston drive for my wife's pc and it's actually very good - no problems at all really.
I'm buying another for the media center pc - in fact, i'll do that now come to think of it.

[no_numb]

Yes. You should see a substanitial improvement in boot times.
The budget choice is currently the Kingston V40Gb (essentially a re-badged Intel), but are you sure you need it ? I'd probably wait until after Chirstmas to see what the new year broings. They're not great value right now, even at that price point.

I see thanks for the input. Need is certainly subjective. Most of us dont really need what we've got here but we do indeed what them. Perhaps it would be better to wait untill jan though. Although things just seem to be going up and up in price. The memory I bought over the summer now costs over twice what I payed back then.

I certainly wouldn't rush in as I'm a sucker for a bargain so I dont mind waiting around for the deals.

[no_numb]

Is there a big leap between the £70 v series and the newer £130 drives in terms of noticable performance on day to day tasks?

[Phage]

Heh. I'm such a hypocrite.
Now I want one, it's only the laziness of having to re-build my system that is holding me back really.

[Phage]

Is there a big leap between the £70 v series and the newer £130 drives in terms of noticable performance on day to day tasks?

Which one ? AFAIK the Kingston and the Intel G2 are the current top and bottom of the wanted list.

[Infinite]

Is there a big leap between the £70 v series and the newer £130 drives in terms of noticable performance on day to day tasks?

Which "newer £130 drives"?

[no_numb]

Which one ? AFAIK the Kingston and the Intel G2 are the current top and bottom of the wanted list.

Well which ever one is the best at that sort of price range. From what I can see on ebuyer and scan the ocz vertex 30gb seems to have the best stats but how that corresponds to real performance I dont know.

[Phage]

Without more detail I can only refer you to the Anantech storage benchmark result.
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/sho...spx?i=3667&p=8

[Infinite]

Theres no real "sweet spot" at around £130.

You have the 40GB Kingstons at £70.
Then 30GB Vertex at £130 which is not a good deal.
Then 60GB Vertex/Falcon at +£190, still not great deal
Then 80GB Intel G2 at +£190.

The sweetest spot would probably be to buy 2 40GB Kingstons then RAID them.

Edit: The Falcon II seems OK, the performance is not as good as the orginal Vertex/Falcon but is a fair bit cheap than them. I can only find 1 retailer selling them LOL £150

http://www.cclonline.com/product-inf...272&tid=frooct

[no_numb]

Without more detail I can only refer you to the Anantech storage benchmark result.
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/sho...spx?i=3667&p=8

Thanks for that I quickly read through the main points and there does seem to be some interesting points. Eg

Kingston's 40GB option is super interesting. Anyone who's sold on SSDs will probably opt for a bigger drive but if you're on the fence, the Kingston solution might be for you. The write speed is disappointing but for application launches and boot time it's got the speed.

I still firmly believe that an SSD is the single best performance improvement you can buy for your system today. Would I recommend waiting until next year to buy? This is one of the rare cases where I'd have to answer no. I made the switch last year and I wouldn't go back, it really does change the way your PC behaves.

Theres no real "sweet spot" at around £130.

You have the 40GB Kingstons at £70.
Then 30GB Vertex at £130 which is not a good deal.
Then 60GB Vertex/Falcon at +£170, still not great deal
Then 80GB Intel G2 at +£190.

The sweetest spot would probably be to buy 2 40GB Kingstons then RAID them.

That is an interesting point The cheapest ones I have been looking at were £100 so at £70 2 in raid seems like an interesting option. What is reliability on these like? Raid 0 I assume you mean? I have my sammy hard disk for storage and this is backed up onto an external hard disk also.

[dangel]

The thing is, look at boot drives in a certain light - the OS spends most of it's time doing small random reads/writes (the former much more so) and so sequential performance figures are misleading in this context.

[peterb]

Theres no real "sweet spot" at around £130.

You have the 40GB Kingstons at £70.
Then 30GB Vertex at £130 which is not a good deal.
Then 60GB Vertex/Falcon at +£190, still not great deal
Then 80GB Intel G2 at +£190.

The sweetest spot would probably be to buy 2 40GB Kingstons then RAID them.

Edit: The Falcon II seems OK, the performance is not as good as the orginal Vertex/Falcon but is a fair bit cheap than them. I can only find 1 retailer selling them LOL £150

http://www.cclonline.com/product-inf...272&tid=frooct

A quick Google found this:

http://www.lambda-tek.com/components...prodID=B250936 at About £138. (£160 inc VAT)

[DrBombcrater]

Is there a big leap between the £70 v series and the newer £130 drives in terms of noticable performance on day to day tasks?

Not really. I've used both the 40GB Kingston and an 80GB Intel as a boot/apps drive and there's not much difference. Installing stuff (especially large games) is quite a bit slower on the Kingston because of its low write speed, but other than that it keeps up with the Intel quite nicely.

The Kingston is a fabulous little drive for the price. For £70 the performance increase over a hard drive is just plain ludicrous.