Stevie G
Banned
Link http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ssd-solid-state-nand-reliability,review-32260.html
Best SSD for ~£50 Boot Drive Tie:
Kingston SSDNow S100 16 GB
Sequential Read 230 MB/s
Sequential Write 75 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 2.26 W
Power Consumption (Idle) 1.08 W
Kingston's SSDNow S100 series is really intended for industrial use, and we're told that you'll find these drives in toll booths, Redbox machines, and ATMs. While this is not a performance-oriented SSD, it is a decent choice that can breathe new life into your current system. Most of us tend to write less data than we read. If you want a quick way to speed up your home rig, a budget SSD is all you need because this cheap SSD's read speed is still faster than a hard drive.
However, you are forced to adopt a dual-drive configuration. With only 16 GB, you can only use this SSD as a Windows 7 32-bit boot drive (64-bit requires 20 GB). All of your programs and personal files need to be installed on a secondary hard drive. We've also had readers write in relaying their bad experiences using drives that were too small for Windows to conduct its update operations. Be cautious if you use a drive this small for anything; capacity is sure to become a point of contention pretty quickly.
OCZ Vertex 30 GB
Sequential Read 210 MB/s
Sequential Write 75 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 2.0 W
Power Consumption (Idle) 0.5 W
OCZ's Vertex series is based on the Indilinx Barefoot controller. That doesn't make it a bad SSD family, but you should have realistic expectations of what Indilinx's older controller can do. You'll still achieve better performance than a hard drive, but this drive falls into the lower half of the SSD performance hierarchy.
Best SSD for ~£80: Boot Drive
OCZ Agility 3 60 GB
Sequential Read 525 MB/s
Sequential Write 475 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 2.7 W
Power Consumption (Idle) 1.5 W
At ~£80, your choice is limited to a slew of 60 GB first-gen SandForce drives, Intel's 40 GB SSD 320, and OCZ's 60 GB Agility 3. Even if you don't own a 6 Gb/s-enabled motherboard, we're still going to recommend the Agility 3 because it's able to fully saturate a SATA 3Gb/s controller, whereas those other two options can't.
Furthermore, the Agility 3 uses asynchronous ONFi 1.0 NAND that can also be found in competing SSDs, such as Corsair's Force 3. To that end, if you see another 60 GB second-gen SandForce SSD at a cheaper price, go with the less expensive option. The difference in real-world performance is relatively small.
If you only have £80 to spend and you're eying a caching-based solution, skip over this MLC-based SSD and look to Intel's 20 GB SSD 311 instead. The small size doesn't matter, since the cache operates transparently; you should be more concerned with the fact that the 311 centres on SLC NAND flash, improving its performance relative to this larger alternative.
Best SSD for ~£80: Performance Boot Drive
Crucial m4 64 GB
Sequential Read 415 MB/s
Sequential Write 95 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) .150 W
Power Consumption (Idle) .065 W
Even if you aren't planning to upgrade to a SATA 6Gb/s-capable motherboard quite yet, the 64 GB m4 offers good SATA 3Gb/s performance. Of course, it's really designed to operate on third-gen SATA controller though, enabling read speeds in excess of 400 MB/s.
We've heard readers complain that SSDs based on SandForce's technology are affected by performance degradation when they're forced to operate on incompressible data. that's mostly an issue for folks moving lots of media-oriented information or employing a form of active encryption, such as TrueCrypt. The behavior of Crucial's drive doesn't change based on the data it handles, though.
Best SSDs for ~£85: Single-Drive Configuration
Kingston SSDNow V+100 96 GB
Sequential Read 230 MB/s
Sequential Write 180 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 3.6 W
Power Consumption (Idle) 0.05 W
If you want to use your SSD for more than simply installing an operating system and a few apps, the 90 GB capacity point is your next stop. Kingston specifically sells the 96 GB SSDNow V+100 to address this market.
Although this drive uses a Toshiba controller, it performs roughly on par with SandForce's first-gen logic, which you can also find at this price range. The V+100 isn't the fastest drive around, but it does give you more capacity. Thus, it's no surprise that our choice at this price point has more to do with price per gigabyte than performance.
Mobile Users: Honorable Mention for £135: System Drive (OS + Programs)
Intel SSD 310 (mSATA) 80 GB
Sequential Read 200 MB/s
Sequential Write 70 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 0.15 W
Power Consumption (Idle) 0.075 W
The 40 GB SSD 310 only uses half of its available NAND channels, and it costs too much to be a value contender in the desktop space. The performance of the 80 GB model feels much closer to the X25-V in a much smaller form factor. If our recommendation was based on price alone, this wouldn't make our list. But mSATA lets you keep your notebook's high-capacity SATA-based hard drive too, which means you get the best of both worlds.
Best SSDs for ~£140: Performance 128 GB
Crucial m4 128 GB
Sequential Read 415 MB/s
Sequential Write 175 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) .150 W
Power Consumption (Idle) .085 W
The 128 GB m4 recently got our 2011 Recommended Buy award, which is one of the reasons it makes our list this month. If you prefer something SandForce-based, you still can't go wrong with that previously-mentioned Adata S511 drive.
Based on our Storage Bench v1.0, the 128 GB m4 performs ~44% faster than its 64 GB variant, while only offering 11% less performance than its 256 and 512 GB big brothers. The extra capacity is what you're paying for, sure. But it's good to know that buying up higher in the stack also gives you even more speed, too.
Best SSDs for ~£160: Performance 120 GB
Adata S511 Series 120 GB
Sequential Read 550 MB/s
Sequential Write 510 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 3.62 W
Power Consumption (Idle) .66 W
Choices are pretty limited between £135 and £160. In our opinion, you're better off buying two smaller SSDs or saving up for a more expensive drive like Adata's 120 GB S511. While this drive has received less press than the Vertex 3, it's functionally the same. In our recent SandForce roundup, we gave the 120 GB Vertex 3 our 2011 Recommended Buy award due to better pricing, but we've seen Adata drop its price since then. As a result, this month's recommendation goes to the 120 GB S511.
Best SSDs for ~£200: Performance Option
Patriot Wildfire 120 GB
Sequential Read 555 MB/s
Sequential Write 520 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) ?
Power Consumption (Idle) ?
The Patriot Wildfire and Mushkin Chronos Deluxe are two of the fastest 120 GB SSDs that we've ever tested. Both demonstrate what SandForce's newest controller can do when matched up to Toggle Mode flash.
If you're willing to pay a little more per gigabyte to get better performance, both drives come highly recommended.
Best SSDs for ~£215: Reliable Option
Intel SSD 320 160 GB
Sequential Read 270 MB/s
Sequential Write 165 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 0.15 W (Typical)
Power Consumption (Idle) 0.1 W (Typical)
Despite our recent piece contending that SSDs aren't necessarily more reliable than hard drives, simply because they lack moving parts, we continue to believe that Intel's SSDs are the most reliable. Our opinions are shared by data centre managers in the enterprise world, who we interviewed for that story. Almost exclusively, they let us know that they lean on Intel drives.
As such, we recommend Intel's 160 GB SSD 320 for anyone willing to sacrifice the performance of a 6 Gb/s drive in favour of a more mature controller with several new firmware-enabled concessions for data security. The ability to map up to one die's worth of failed blocks to redundant flash is one such improvement. Additionally, on-board capacitors keep the drive running for long enough to write cached data to nonvolatile memory in the event of a power loss.
Best SSDs for ~£255: High-Capacity Option
OCZ Agility 2 240 GB
Sequential Read 285 MB/s
Sequential Write 275 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 2.0 W
Power Consumption (Idle) .5 W
If you are willing to spend more to get a better deal, OCZ recently dropped the price on its 240 GB Agility 2. At £255, you're only paying £1.06 per gigabyte. While this isn't as much of a performance-oriented SSD in light of today's more aggressive options, you're still getting a lot of bang for your buck.
Many people prefer the Vertex 2 to the Agility 2, but the only real difference is that the higher-end Vertex employs OCZ's optimized firmware to achieve better performance, while the Agility utilizes SandForce's more generic firmware implementation.
Best SSDs for ~£285: Performance & Capacity Option
Crucial m4 256 GB
Sequential Read 415 MB/s
Sequential Write 260 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) .15 W
Power Consumption (Idle) .10 W
If you're looking for a higher-capacity SSD with more of a performance-oriented flavour, we're torn between Crucial's 256 GB m4 and OCZ's 240 GB Agility 3. Both hover around the same price and offer similar performance. However, our recommendation this month goes to the 256 GB m4 because it's slightly cheaper per gigabyte.
For most enthusiasts, this really tops out the budget, especially since we imagine that you'll want even more storage for user data, necessitating a couple of 1.5 or 2 GB hard drives. There are larger options, but the performance picture really doesn't get much better.
Best SSD for ~£50 Boot Drive Tie:
Kingston SSDNow S100 16 GB
Sequential Read 230 MB/s
Sequential Write 75 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 2.26 W
Power Consumption (Idle) 1.08 W
Kingston's SSDNow S100 series is really intended for industrial use, and we're told that you'll find these drives in toll booths, Redbox machines, and ATMs. While this is not a performance-oriented SSD, it is a decent choice that can breathe new life into your current system. Most of us tend to write less data than we read. If you want a quick way to speed up your home rig, a budget SSD is all you need because this cheap SSD's read speed is still faster than a hard drive.
However, you are forced to adopt a dual-drive configuration. With only 16 GB, you can only use this SSD as a Windows 7 32-bit boot drive (64-bit requires 20 GB). All of your programs and personal files need to be installed on a secondary hard drive. We've also had readers write in relaying their bad experiences using drives that were too small for Windows to conduct its update operations. Be cautious if you use a drive this small for anything; capacity is sure to become a point of contention pretty quickly.
OCZ Vertex 30 GB
Sequential Read 210 MB/s
Sequential Write 75 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 2.0 W
Power Consumption (Idle) 0.5 W
OCZ's Vertex series is based on the Indilinx Barefoot controller. That doesn't make it a bad SSD family, but you should have realistic expectations of what Indilinx's older controller can do. You'll still achieve better performance than a hard drive, but this drive falls into the lower half of the SSD performance hierarchy.
Best SSD for ~£80: Boot Drive
OCZ Agility 3 60 GB
Sequential Read 525 MB/s
Sequential Write 475 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 2.7 W
Power Consumption (Idle) 1.5 W
At ~£80, your choice is limited to a slew of 60 GB first-gen SandForce drives, Intel's 40 GB SSD 320, and OCZ's 60 GB Agility 3. Even if you don't own a 6 Gb/s-enabled motherboard, we're still going to recommend the Agility 3 because it's able to fully saturate a SATA 3Gb/s controller, whereas those other two options can't.
Furthermore, the Agility 3 uses asynchronous ONFi 1.0 NAND that can also be found in competing SSDs, such as Corsair's Force 3. To that end, if you see another 60 GB second-gen SandForce SSD at a cheaper price, go with the less expensive option. The difference in real-world performance is relatively small.
If you only have £80 to spend and you're eying a caching-based solution, skip over this MLC-based SSD and look to Intel's 20 GB SSD 311 instead. The small size doesn't matter, since the cache operates transparently; you should be more concerned with the fact that the 311 centres on SLC NAND flash, improving its performance relative to this larger alternative.
Best SSD for ~£80: Performance Boot Drive
Crucial m4 64 GB
Sequential Read 415 MB/s
Sequential Write 95 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) .150 W
Power Consumption (Idle) .065 W
Even if you aren't planning to upgrade to a SATA 6Gb/s-capable motherboard quite yet, the 64 GB m4 offers good SATA 3Gb/s performance. Of course, it's really designed to operate on third-gen SATA controller though, enabling read speeds in excess of 400 MB/s.
We've heard readers complain that SSDs based on SandForce's technology are affected by performance degradation when they're forced to operate on incompressible data. that's mostly an issue for folks moving lots of media-oriented information or employing a form of active encryption, such as TrueCrypt. The behavior of Crucial's drive doesn't change based on the data it handles, though.
Best SSDs for ~£85: Single-Drive Configuration
Kingston SSDNow V+100 96 GB
Sequential Read 230 MB/s
Sequential Write 180 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 3.6 W
Power Consumption (Idle) 0.05 W
If you want to use your SSD for more than simply installing an operating system and a few apps, the 90 GB capacity point is your next stop. Kingston specifically sells the 96 GB SSDNow V+100 to address this market.
Although this drive uses a Toshiba controller, it performs roughly on par with SandForce's first-gen logic, which you can also find at this price range. The V+100 isn't the fastest drive around, but it does give you more capacity. Thus, it's no surprise that our choice at this price point has more to do with price per gigabyte than performance.
Mobile Users: Honorable Mention for £135: System Drive (OS + Programs)
Intel SSD 310 (mSATA) 80 GB
Sequential Read 200 MB/s
Sequential Write 70 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 0.15 W
Power Consumption (Idle) 0.075 W
The 40 GB SSD 310 only uses half of its available NAND channels, and it costs too much to be a value contender in the desktop space. The performance of the 80 GB model feels much closer to the X25-V in a much smaller form factor. If our recommendation was based on price alone, this wouldn't make our list. But mSATA lets you keep your notebook's high-capacity SATA-based hard drive too, which means you get the best of both worlds.
Best SSDs for ~£140: Performance 128 GB
Crucial m4 128 GB
Sequential Read 415 MB/s
Sequential Write 175 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) .150 W
Power Consumption (Idle) .085 W
The 128 GB m4 recently got our 2011 Recommended Buy award, which is one of the reasons it makes our list this month. If you prefer something SandForce-based, you still can't go wrong with that previously-mentioned Adata S511 drive.
Based on our Storage Bench v1.0, the 128 GB m4 performs ~44% faster than its 64 GB variant, while only offering 11% less performance than its 256 and 512 GB big brothers. The extra capacity is what you're paying for, sure. But it's good to know that buying up higher in the stack also gives you even more speed, too.
Best SSDs for ~£160: Performance 120 GB
Adata S511 Series 120 GB
Sequential Read 550 MB/s
Sequential Write 510 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 3.62 W
Power Consumption (Idle) .66 W
Choices are pretty limited between £135 and £160. In our opinion, you're better off buying two smaller SSDs or saving up for a more expensive drive like Adata's 120 GB S511. While this drive has received less press than the Vertex 3, it's functionally the same. In our recent SandForce roundup, we gave the 120 GB Vertex 3 our 2011 Recommended Buy award due to better pricing, but we've seen Adata drop its price since then. As a result, this month's recommendation goes to the 120 GB S511.
Best SSDs for ~£200: Performance Option
Patriot Wildfire 120 GB
Sequential Read 555 MB/s
Sequential Write 520 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) ?
Power Consumption (Idle) ?
The Patriot Wildfire and Mushkin Chronos Deluxe are two of the fastest 120 GB SSDs that we've ever tested. Both demonstrate what SandForce's newest controller can do when matched up to Toggle Mode flash.
If you're willing to pay a little more per gigabyte to get better performance, both drives come highly recommended.
Best SSDs for ~£215: Reliable Option
Intel SSD 320 160 GB
Sequential Read 270 MB/s
Sequential Write 165 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 0.15 W (Typical)
Power Consumption (Idle) 0.1 W (Typical)
Despite our recent piece contending that SSDs aren't necessarily more reliable than hard drives, simply because they lack moving parts, we continue to believe that Intel's SSDs are the most reliable. Our opinions are shared by data centre managers in the enterprise world, who we interviewed for that story. Almost exclusively, they let us know that they lean on Intel drives.
As such, we recommend Intel's 160 GB SSD 320 for anyone willing to sacrifice the performance of a 6 Gb/s drive in favour of a more mature controller with several new firmware-enabled concessions for data security. The ability to map up to one die's worth of failed blocks to redundant flash is one such improvement. Additionally, on-board capacitors keep the drive running for long enough to write cached data to nonvolatile memory in the event of a power loss.
Best SSDs for ~£255: High-Capacity Option
OCZ Agility 2 240 GB
Sequential Read 285 MB/s
Sequential Write 275 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) 2.0 W
Power Consumption (Idle) .5 W
If you are willing to spend more to get a better deal, OCZ recently dropped the price on its 240 GB Agility 2. At £255, you're only paying £1.06 per gigabyte. While this isn't as much of a performance-oriented SSD in light of today's more aggressive options, you're still getting a lot of bang for your buck.
Many people prefer the Vertex 2 to the Agility 2, but the only real difference is that the higher-end Vertex employs OCZ's optimized firmware to achieve better performance, while the Agility utilizes SandForce's more generic firmware implementation.
Best SSDs for ~£285: Performance & Capacity Option
Crucial m4 256 GB
Sequential Read 415 MB/s
Sequential Write 260 MB/s
Power Consumption (Active) .15 W
Power Consumption (Idle) .10 W
If you're looking for a higher-capacity SSD with more of a performance-oriented flavour, we're torn between Crucial's 256 GB m4 and OCZ's 240 GB Agility 3. Both hover around the same price and offer similar performance. However, our recommendation this month goes to the 256 GB m4 because it's slightly cheaper per gigabyte.
For most enthusiasts, this really tops out the budget, especially since we imagine that you'll want even more storage for user data, necessitating a couple of 1.5 or 2 GB hard drives. There are larger options, but the performance picture really doesn't get much better.
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