Best choice for 120GB SATA III (6GB/s) SSD

[BBMW]

At the moment, what does everyone think would be the best choice for an SSD? I'm looking at the 120 GB class. Also am strongly inclined to go with a SATA III interface.

I'm looking hard at the Crucial M4. I looked at the OCZ Vertex III, but that seems to be not ready for prime time yet (reliability issues). Anything else worth considering?

 

[TemjinGold]

What do you consider for "best"? Fastest? Most reliable? Cheapest? You can't have all of those in one drive.

 

[nanaki333]

What do you consider for "best"? Fastest? Most reliable? Cheapest? You can't have all of those in one drive.

yeah. fast, cheap, reliable. pick 2

 

[BBMW]

The best combination of all of those. Want to keep it to $250 or less (which seem eminently doable). It would be a boot/software drive for a desktop.

 

[akahoovy]

Building on what those guys said, I am considering two options myself. The cheap and fast drive for 120GB is the Corsair Force Series 3, and I'm pretty certain that Corsair has fixed the issues with that drive. The other option for reliability and speed is the Intel 510 120GB (128GB?). They are about $210 and $280, respectively.

I will probably go with the Corsair, since remedying the recent issue reviewers have said that the drive has held up.

 

[TemjinGold]

The best combination of all of those. Want to keep it to $250 or less (which seem eminently doable). It would be a boot/software drive for a desktop.

You need to explain which of those three you value more and in what order or you won't get help.

 

[BBMW]

That means actually having to make up my mind .

Since it's mostly an installed software drive, read speed is probaby the biggest issue, and reliability is necessary (can't have the machine dead). Write speed would not be paramount. And I already gave the budget for this item.

You need to explain which of those three you value more and in what order or you won't get help.

 

[Burner27]

Crucial C300 128GB

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Then here's your options:
Crucial C300
Crucial M4
Intel 510

Since your budget goes to $250, I'd say go 510.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-042-_-Product

But you could get the M4 at superbiiz for $200 using promo listed on their front page.

 

[nanaki333]

Then here's your options:
Crucial C300
Crucial M4
Intel 510

Since your budget goes to $250, I'd say go 510.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-042-_-Product

But you could get the M4 at superbiiz for $200 using promo listed on their front page.

i wouldn't get an m4 until crucial fixes the firmware. you get random freezes with the m4 and the transfer rates drop off a lot. copying from my m4 in my desktop to my 2x 160gb intel 320 raid0 drives, it hits 400MB/s, then drops down to ~100MB/s. i know it's not my intel drives because i can hit 200MB+ with my spinpoints. the m4 also sucked as a boot drive because it kept freezing for a few seconds at a time.

best to get the c300. it's been out long enough and the firmware is matured.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

i wouldn't get an m4 until crucial fixes the firmware. you get random freezes with the m4 and the transfer rates drop off a lot. copying from my m4 in my desktop to my 2x 160gb intel 320 raid0 drives, it hits 400MB/s, then drops down to ~100MB/s. i know it's not my intel drives because i can hit 200MB+ with my spinpoints. the m4 also sucked as a boot drive because it kept freezing for a few seconds at a time.

best to get the c300. it's been out long enough and the firmware is matured.

That's with the 0002 firmware?

 

[sequoia464]

i wouldn't get an m4 until crucial fixes the firmware. you get random freezes with the m4 and the transfer rates drop off a lot. copying from my m4 in my desktop to my 2x 160gb intel 320 raid0 drives, it hits 400MB/s, then drops down to ~100MB/s. i know it's not my intel drives because i can hit 200MB+ with my spinpoints. the m4 also sucked as a boot drive because it kept freezing for a few seconds at a time.

best to get the c300. it's been out long enough and the firmware is matured.

Curious what board you have also...

 

[nanaki333]

oh wow, nevermind. didn't see they released a new firmware. looking at their site again. i'm going to retract my previous statement until after i try out the new firmware.

 

[Burner27]

oh wow, nevermind. didn't see they released a new firmware. looking at their site again. i'm going to retract my previous statement until after i try out the new firmware.

No, don't do that. Yes, the latest FW (0007) fixes some people problems. I personally have 2 x 128GB C300s with the 0006 FW on them. I do not experience any of the problems people have been complaining about because I set my board (Asus P8P67 pro B3) to 'hot swap' and AHCI mode for all drives connected to the ICH10R. Part of the problem is also Intels' drivers. Some people disable LPM and the drive performs fine.

The C300 is a solid drive in my opinion.

 

[BBMW]

Based on the responses here, and Anand's round up article, I ordered the Intel 510.

 

[nanaki333]

No, don't do that. Yes, the latest FW (0007) fixes some people problems. I personally have 2 x 128GB C300s with the 0006 FW on them. I do not experience any of the problems people have been complaining about because I set my board (Asus P8P67 pro B3) to 'hot swap' and AHCI mode for all drives connected to the ICH10R. Part of the problem is also Intels' drivers. Some people disable LPM and the drive performs fine.

The C300 is a solid drive in my opinion.

nooooo. i meant about not recommending the m4. i just updated it so we'll see how it works out now.

i still stand by recommending a c300 to people as the best bang for the buck drive.

 

[sequoia464]

nooooo. i meant about not recommending the m4. i just updated it so we'll see how it works out now.

i still stand by recommending a c300 to people as the best bang for the buck drive.

The C300's are getting harder to find and the price is going up on them. I sent a couple 128's back unopened because I wanted the M4's. Kicking myself now - got the C300's for $200 each at Amazon.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Googling shows the C300 generally costs $30+ more than the M4. Seeing as the M4 is overall slightly better I fail to see how the C300 is a better bang for your buck. The M4 will continue to receive firmware updates.

 

[sequoia464]

Good point on the firmware.

 

[nanaki333]

Googling shows the C300 generally costs $30+ more than the M4. Seeing as the M4 is overall slightly better I fail to see how the C300 is a better bang for your buck. The M4 will continue to receive firmware updates.

$30? not sure where you're looking, but on newegg, there is a $5 difference. some are the same price, and they typically flip flop and the c300 is cheaper than the m4.

and the m4 is not a slightly better performing drive. the c300 is often tied and even beats the m4 in some tests, while the m4 sometimes beats the c300.

the c300 has it's most mature firmware and it just works. they are still trying to rid the m4 of bugs, which is going to take a few revisions.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

I'm just looking at google shopping. C300 is $229 at B&H. M4 is $200 at superbiiz using $10 off promo. Just looking at Anand's bench the M4/256 beats the C300/256 in 22 out of 29 of the tests listed, if that means anything.

 

[sequoia464]

Just picked up a 128 gb M4 - overall AS SSD score is 650, ATTO read best is 447K, write is 187K. Very pleased with this drive. I don't have a C300 to compare it to though.

 

[Burner27]

Just picked up a 128 gb M4 - overall AS SSD score is 650, ATTO read best is 447K, write is 187K. Very pleased with this drive. I don't have a C300 to compare it to though.

What are your 4k random reads/writes in Crystal Disk Mark?

 

[sequoia464]

What are your 4k random reads/writes in Crystal Disk Mark?

I haven't ran Crystal Disk Mark - AS SSD scores are as follows

Read Write
Seq ............389.75.........179.30
4K...............20.87...........72.53
4K-64Thrd...228.49..........127.31
Acc.time......0.089ms.......0.215 ms

Score............288.............218
.............................650

Not sure how to post a screen shot here. This is on an AMD 850 board - I have seen the overall AS SSD score closing in on 700 with intel boards. It took a bit of playing with my bios to get these results. I'm ordering at least one more C4 and replacing the raided 60 gb Vertex 2's and Intel 80gb X25m's that i am currently using. Not bothering with raid on the crucials.

 

[nanaki333]

I'm just looking at google shopping. C300 is $229 at B&H. M4 is $200 at superbiiz using $10 off promo. Just looking at Anand's bench the M4/256 beats the C300/256 in 22 out of 29 of the tests listed, if that means anything.

i was looking at newegg's website