SSD Advice

[Archer]

Looking at the 120GB range
So, OCZ Agility 3 vs OCZ Vertex 3 vs Adata S511 vs Corsair Force 3. Cause everytime I look a them I end up being even more confused :/ Agility is cheapest but suffers in some areas. The other three are more or less the same price, but which one is "better?"

For the most part I'll just be gaming, 3D modelling and I might get into rendering more depending on what CPU I get. Will do the occasional photoshop as well. Really cant go much higher than R2500 on this.

[Ancalagon]

If it were me, I would get the Agility 3. From the review I read on Anandtech (I suggest you look around for it), the stuff that I use my PC for would not really benefit from the Vertex 3.

However, look at information about the Sandforce 2281 BSOD problem. It will affect the Corsair Force 3, Agility 3 and Vertex 3. Firmware updates have reduced it, but according to the forums, not completely eliminated it. From the looks of things, its unlikely that you will have the problem, but not guaranteed. Just beware and do research before you buy.

[nakedpeanut]

I think in your every day-to-day use, you will not notice a difference at all..
I'd just pick the one with the best priced and least reported errors.

[hereticangel]

hopefully your upgrading the mobo in the sig for the ssd,no use having a sata 3 ssd on sata 2 mobo or a sata 3 card.

sata 3 card, just causes problems with sata 3 ssd's,or it does with marvel controller :P

just get agilty 3 ssd, day to day the agilty 3 is fine.

[Archer]

Mobo will be upgraded, but current one has 2 SATA6 ports anyway.

edit:
/activate paranoia
120GB will be enough as well right? :p W7 + 20GB of programs + 4 or 5 games?
Have 1.5TB for other storage

[killadoob]

That adata one looks the business to me.

[nakedpeanut]

You'd be surprised at how fast your drive fills up!
SSD for os and apps and other crap etc.. then 2nd hybrid drive for games :) works nice for me.

[russellO]

I bought the 120Gb Adata S511 because it came with disk cloning software and a 2.5" -> 3.5" bracket. The Agility has neither and the Vertex has bracket but no software.

I have 2 magnetic drives D: for games/development/etc and E: for media. I disabled hibernation and moved swap file to E:, saved about 12Gb on SSD (and obviously minimisng unwanted writes to the SSD). I have VS 2010, SQL Server 2008 R2 and a host of other development tools on WIndows 7 x64 and only using 30Gb so far. Moved IE and Chrome temp folders to E: as well (minimising unwanted writes again).

Windows boots in seconds and programs are dam quick. My games load quicker now than when they were on the same magnetic drive as OS.

*knock on wood* everything is fine so far, been running for 2 weeks.

[Archer]

Dont need a bracket, I'll be making my own SSD mount ;)

[Ancalagon]

Wouldnt having the temp files on a magnetic drive reduce a lot of the point of an SSD? I get the whole write limit thing, but I thought the write limit was high enough that it didnt really matter?

[Pada]

Yes, having the temp files on the mechanical disc would reduce the point of the SSD a bit, but if you just move your temporary Internet folder its OK.

At my office I'm just running a RAM drive and then moving ALL my temp folders to the RAM drive :D

[Rudimental]

Hmm. I saw the Adata on special at Take2 for about R2,250.

At that price I'd pick it over the others, since there isn't much in it in terms of performance of the other 3. I wouldn't take the Agility because of its asynchronous NAND, which makes it slower.

[sand_man]

The Sandforce BSOD issue is a deal breaker IMHO...

EDIT: And I bought a Vertex 3, get BSOD's every 5 days. Downgraded FW from V2.11 to V2.09 in the pursuit of stability...

I should have been more thorough with my research. This product is temperamental...

[Ancalagon]

It seems that for a lot of people, the problem has completely disappeared. But not all. It may be worth looking at an Intel SSD, or an SSD that uses another brand of controller, like JMicron or whatever.

I'm thinking of buying a 256GB SSD and 2 x 1TB HDD for RAID 0 when I upgrade at the end of this year. I've done RAID 0 before, dont know why I'm tempted to do it again. Its not like its a huge boost for most applications.

[SYNERGY]

I purchased the Crucial M4 128gb for R1700 including delivery from the US :)

[russellO]

Yes, having the temp files on the mechanical disc would reduce the point of the SSD a bit, but if you just move your temporary Internet folder its OK.

At my office I'm just running a RAM drive and then moving ALL my temp folders to the RAM drive :D

Yip agreed. My programs and apps make full use of the SSD. Like I said "Moved IE and Chrome temp folders". So that only affects browsing history, cache, cookies, etc which is not important at all to me.

[hereticangel]

make sure update the firmware of the m4, nice performance boost :)

http://www.carbonite.co.za/f10/ocz-240gb-ssd-18897/

sad i missed this bargain, agilty 3 240gig for R2200 :(

[zakdoc89]

Bought 2 m4's.... waiting to test them out....

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

[Stevie G]

Have a look at these threads

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/365842-Tom-s-Hardware-s-SSD-Hierarchy-Chart
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/365840-Best-SSDs-Entry-level-Mid-range-High-end-Toms-Review

[SharkBait]

Get the Vertex 3 120. It's the one I have and I paid R2250 for it. :)

[Slayeruser]

http://www.guru3d.com/article/ocz-agility-3-review/

[Ancalagon]

how do you guys go about importing stuff from the US?

[killadoob]

how do you guys go about importing stuff from the US?

Well i used newegg and myUS. A bit of a mission with a credit card cause they want you to scan the back and front but they allow you to block the ccv and expire date though.

Awesome experience, they shopped at newegg for me, charged me 10% extra and send it within 5 days.

[Ancalagon]

The 10% covers shipping charges I presume? So its not 10% plus shipping?

And if you happen to get stopped by customs, you pay VAT on 110% of the value?

[killadoob]

The 10% covers shipping charges I presume? So its not 10% plus shipping?

And if you happen to get stopped by customs, you pay VAT on 110% of the value?

Nope the 10% was the charge for them to do the shopping, the shipping from newegg to most parts of the US is free but they charge a 10% shopping fee, i used the 5 day service which was 30 dollars for a ssd :eek:, so don't try and import heavy stuff using the 5 day service.

[Ancalagon]

Okay I'm a little confused, how does this work?

I setup a Myus.com account, get a US address from them, and then place my order from Newegg and get it sent to the MyUs address. MyUS then ships the order to me. Right?

Or do you order from newegg via MyUS?

EDIT: Geez its so much cheaper, I really am thinking of ordering pretty much an entire PC minus the case and PSU.

[killadoob]

Okay I'm a little confused, how does this work?

I setup a Myus.com account, get a US address from them, and then place my order from Newegg and get it sent to the MyUs address. MyUS then ships the order to me. Right?

Or do you order from newegg via MyUS?

EDIT: Geez its so much cheaper, I really am thinking of ordering pretty much an entire PC minus the case and PSU.

You give them the link for your goods, pay them. They order from newegg and ship to you. Most things on newegg have free shipping if you live in the US, so myUS will go do your shopping you provide them with the link they total it add their 10% plus shipping and off you go.

Also remember you will be charged 10% plus 14% when it lands. The shipping company will clear the goods for you. what is nice is you can track every step of your package.

Yup it is very cheap, i imported a 128gb ssd for 4k, at that time you couldn't buy a 128gb here and if you could find someone with stock they were 10k+. Make sure you get a price or have an idea of the shipping costs. I find it is not much cheaper on certain things.

Go check out the 2500k from newegg, 314 x 8 x 10 x 14% = without shipping it costs more to import.

What is that much cheaper? Also remember if something breaks you will need to ship it. So if something is 200-300 rand cheaper it ain't worth it. Even 1k cheaper for all goods is not worth it.

[Ancalagon]

I think thats one way of doing it - not the cheap way. The other way is what I described - read here (http://www.myus.com/en/how-it-works/#&panel1-2).

What I've decided to do is wait for Bulldozer to launch, if it launches on the 12th of October (EDIT: If BD doesnt launch on the 12th then it will have to be a Core i5). Oh and I want to sell my old PC, might already have found a buyer. Anyway, once those two things happen, I want to order:
CPU - about $200 - $220 of whatever is best at the time
Motherboard - about $150 worth
Memory - 8GB DDR 1866
SSDs - 1 x 64GB for OS and virtual mem, 1 x 240/256GB for games
HDD - 1 x WD Caviar Black 1TB
CPU cooler - Antec Kuhler 620
GPU - trying to decide between a 6870, 560Ti and 6950. Have to say, the price/performance of the 6870 is looking very hard to beat right now.
Possibly a SB XFi - I like having a discrete sound card. XFi Crystalizer is pretty handy to make MP3s sound better.

And then on this side I'll buy a Corsair Carbide 400R, win7 home premium 64 bit, and a Coolermaster 600W silent modular PSU, forget the model name.

[Ancalagon]

Sorry for double post, seemed more appropriate.

After looking closely at prices, the only things probably worth importing are SSDs. We get ripped badly on SSDs here, way worse than in the States. The rest comes out to similar prices, except sometimes for higher end GPUs and motherboards, which are cheaper over there by a few hundred bucks.

[Archer]

Until there is a recall on your drive...... Been quite a few of those lately.

[Ancalagon]

I'd only order proven SSDs, such as a Crucial m4 or OCZ Agility 3. I mean at least with those I know what the problems are already (that both require immediate firmware upgrades).