Quick general new SSD question

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undesign

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Hi good hardware peoples :)

Quick question about SSD's - by boot HDD is dying, so I want to pop into the store today and pick up a midrange SSD as replacement, probably 128Gb. I'm too lazy to do my usual proper research on the subject, so really just want to know if there is anything specific I should look out for - or avoid maybe?

Is this a buy and plug-in type of operation?

The OCZ brand pops up quite often - is this a good one to go for (Vertex, Agility etc)?

Thanks!
 
Either OCZ Vertex 4 or Agility 4. Vertex 4 is faster, but it can depend on your usage scenarios whether it will make a difference.
 
Ancalagon said:
Either OCZ Vertex 4 or Agility 4. Vertex 4 is faster, but it can depend on your usage scenarios whether it will make a difference.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Nothing too intense. Bit of photo and video editing, for the rest just basic PC usage.

From what I've read boot times and speed of programs opening should be markedly faster than with current HDD with any SSD really, so more worried about brand and reliability.
 
Yeah probably true, but bad SSDs are a lot slower than good SSDs. Also they can have bugs.

Get an Agility 4 - I have a 256GB Agility 3, its great.
 
undesign said:
Hi good hardware peoples :)

Quick question about SSD's - by boot HDD is dying, so I want to pop into the store today and pick up a midrange SSD as replacement, probably 128Gb. I'm too lazy to do my usual proper research on the subject, so really just want to know if there is anything specific I should look out for - or avoid maybe?

Is this a buy and plug-in type of operation?

The OCZ brand pops up quite often - is this a good one to go for (Vertex, Agility etc)?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

The best budget brands at the moment are OCZ's Agility 3 120GB, TEAM's S2 120GB (new Sandforce controller), ADATA's SP900 128GB, Intel's 330 MLC 120GB, Corsair's Force3 120GB, or OCZ's Agility 4 128GB or the Vertex 4 128GB. The Vertex 4, SP900 and the Intel 330 would be my first choices.

As for the set-up, you need to read through this comprehensive SSD guide for an idea of what you can do to set it up properly. You don't need to do everything there, just enable TRIM, take the pagefile size down to 1GB and turn off defragmentation and search indexing. And remember to switch the SATA mode in the BIOS to AHCI instead of SATA or IDE.
 
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I personally wouldnt modify the pagefile size. Windows is designed with a pagefile in mind, and its also smart enough to know how and when to use one.

Some people recommend disabling a swap file entirely if you have enough RAM, but apparently a lot of parts of Windows, as well as applications, are designed with the idea of a swapfile being there.
 
Thanks guys. Decided on the Vertex4 or Agility4. None of the brick-and-mortar stores in my vicinity have any stock (mind you they hardly have stock of any SSDs) so I'll have to curb the impatience and order one online.

Arghh...I hate waiting. :(
 
Ancalagon said:
I personally wouldnt modify the pagefile size. Windows is designed with a pagefile in mind, and its also smart enough to know how and when to use one.

Some people recommend disabling a swap file entirely if you have enough RAM, but apparently a lot of parts of Windows, as well as applications, are designed with the idea of a swapfile being there.
Click to expand...

This. Don't change anything. Just plug it in and use like a regular drive.

Obviously disable any scheduled defrag.

Been using a Samsung 60 GB SSD for 4 years now. Back then it cost R10,000 and only did 100 MB/s read/writes. Still feels blazing fast.
 
Ancalagon said:
I personally wouldnt modify the pagefile size. Windows is designed with a pagefile in mind, and its also smart enough to know how and when to use one.

Some people recommend disabling a swap file entirely if you have enough RAM, but apparently a lot of parts of Windows, as well as applications, are designed with the idea of a swapfile being there.
Click to expand...

You can safely run a pagefile of 1024MB without any issues. Because we have so much RAM in our rigs now, the pagefile is being used less and less by third-party apps. You don't have to use one if you have a RAM drive set up, but that's for advanced users only.
 
Quick heads up - I sent stock availability requests to Rebel Tech and Wootware, going to take the Vertex 4 128Gb. Thanks again for everyone's advice.
 
Titan Ice keeps stock on SSD's@ their store. Pity they don't have a brick-and-mortar in CT.
 
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