OCZ Agility vs. Vertex Plus vs. other SSD

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oronte

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Well I've decided I'd like to go SSD, I've decided I need about 128gb. I'll be using it to run Windows 7, office software, internet browsing, all my other programs, and games (like Skyrim). I've spotted two options:
OCZ Agility for R2100 - http://www.takealot.com/electronics/ocz-agility-3-sata-3-2-5-inch-120gb-solid-state-drive,9766006
and OCZ Vertex Plus for R1634 - http://www.takealot.com/electronics/ocz-vertex-plus-25-sata-ii-solid-state-drive-120gb,9856010

My motherboard will only handle SATA 2, if the Agility will perform much better then I would consider spending the extra money, otherwise I'd rather not. Any thoughts (or alternative SSD suggestions)?
 
I would not touch sandforce driven ssd's. They seem to have reliability issues. Go for a Marvell based drive such as Corsair performance pro/Crucial M4 or Plextor M2/3

Much more reliable and great read speeds which is what you want for an ssd.

Does your motherboard have ahci? If not you will need to run it in IDE mode which will hurt performance
 
Usually around R2200. Maybe wait a few weeks and hopefully the Crucial adrenaline caching drive wi ll be released. That is what I am hoping for.
 
Best to stay away from the Agility. A few review sites have made note that the Agility is problematic. I can't remember what the reason was.

The Corsair SSDs are really very good, I'd suggest that you take a look at one of those.
 
Strange that no one brought up any issues in my thread http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/399777-OCZ-Vertex-III-vs-Agility-III

Nevertheless, sandforce did identify the bug with stability and it's been corrected in firmware 2.15 (OCZ), so I doubt it's still a problem. (At least I hope so, I ordered an Agility III drive this morning and it's ready for shipment from takealot). Just check the firmware before you install your OS - you cannot upgrade the firmware while the drive is the "primary", so you'll have to check it first.

The agility3 reviews I read were quite favorable.
 
The Agility is actually not that good, yes it is still very fast but the thing that got me and made me not buy an Agility is the asynchronous drives being used.
This is made very clear when copying compressed files and windows start-up, also some other applications using a lot of compressed data to function.
Sand Force is great but any compressed file drops it's speed a lot, the synchronous is less affected when compared to the asynchronous drives., yes the response is their but not the speed.

I would go for the Adata S511 SSD's as they offer good value and Vertex 3 speeds, the OCZ drive doesn't seem to be very reliable though.

The Force 3, Adata 510 and Agility uses about the same tech.

The Force GT, Vertex 3, Adata 511 is about the same.

The Corsair Performance Pro 256GB drive is the fastest drive on the market and that uses a Marvell chip
 
The Adata S511 120gb is available at rebeltech for R1975: http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8013
Is there a general feeling that this would be better than the OCZ or should I spend a bit more (or wait a bit longer for prices to go down) and try to find a Marvell chip version? What's the difference between the Marvel and Sandforce?
 
oronte said:
The Adata S511 120gb is available at rebeltech for R1975: http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8013
Is there a general feeling that this would be better than the OCZ or should I spend a bit more (or wait a bit longer for prices to go down) and try to find a Marvell chip version? What's the difference between the Marvel and Sandforce?
Click to expand...

Here is a small guide: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2010/07/08/ssd-buyers-guide/5 - SATA 2, but the same basically.

However Marvell is expencive.

Would still go for the Adata S511 120GB, very good value and fast drive still.

Intel, Crucial, Corsair Performance-series and a couple more uses Marvell chips and the Intel SSD's are probably he most reliable SSD on the market as well.
 
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If you want great read speeds and reliability go for Marvell. If you want great benchmarking speeds go for Sandforce

I know they have updated the firmware but if you look through the forums especially at OCN then you will see people are still having issues with the Sandforce drives and the blame is put on the consumers and not on their defective products

Some people report that their drives lock up 4-5 times a day and that is after the firmware update.

I hear Crucial had a problem with the M4 but this was sorted out in a couple weeks and they had a fix for it. Great customer service

We can also buy from the Crucial EU store and they offer great warranty. If there is a problem they send you a parcel that is paid for so you don't have to pay to send it back to them. If that makes sense:)
 
I will go for Intel drives. there is not that much difference in real world difference in speed. you go for reliability which is more important.
 
Intel drives are hands down the most reliable but they are not that great in the speed department. I was interested in the 510.

The prices however :(
 
Doesn't matter wat drive you get, there will always be someone, somewhere that's got an issue with it.
Got my agility 3 for about 8 months now, and still works like a bomb....:p
 
Slayeruser said:
Doesn't matter wat drive you get, there will always be someone, somewhere that's got an issue with it.
Got my agility 3 for about 8 months now, and still works like a bomb....:p
Click to expand...

Got my agility3 yesterday. Got home, showed the wife and she decided it should rather be installed in HER netbook :p Overkill for her, but at least I scored some major points
 
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