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    SSD Compatability

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by Varros, Sep 15, 2011.

  1. Varros

    Varros Newbie

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    Varros, Sep 15, 2011
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  2. kent1146

    kent1146 Notebook Prophet

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    1) Yes, the Alienware M11x R2 uses SATA2 (3.0Gbps max) instead of SATA3 (6.0Gbps max).

    2) Yes, if you buy a SATA3 SSD, it will be backwards compatible with machines that only support SATA2.

    3) Do not get the OCZ Agility 3. You do not want products from OCZ, and you definitely do not want their "Agility" line of products. The products to look for are Crucial M4 or Intel 320 SSDs. Those drives have performance, reliability, and pricing that are currently at the top of the heap.


    4) Be aware that buying a SATA3 SSD is not a requirement, because the difference between SATA2 vs SATA3 is only in *maximum* bandwidth. And the only time you use maximum bandwidth is during Sequential Read patterns. However, 95% of what you do on your computer actually uses Random Read patterns, which is not affected by SATA2 vs SATA3. So you really won't notice much real-world performance difference either way.

    It's like buying a Ferrari with a top-speed if 188mph. Yeah, that's great, but 95% of the time you're driving on 65mph highways. That awesome 188mph top-speed doesn't really help you much.

    The reason this is important is because if you can find a good sales / rebates on an SSD that is SATA2, it would not be a bad decision to buy that. But if those sales / rebates aren't available, then just spend the extra bit of money to get a SATA3 drive.
     
    kent1146, Sep 15, 2011
    #2
  3. Hello_Moto

    Hello_Moto Notebook Evangelist

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    I'll second what kent1146 has to say in his point 3.

    Despite OCZ's supposed rep as a quality manufacturer, I have encountered severe problems with their Vertex 2 SSDs (actually Sandforce SSDs in general) in that they would randomly brick themselves to the point where you cant boot off the SSD into windows or re-flash the firmware because the SSD cannot be detected in the 1st place.

    Switched over to an Intel X-25M and it's been working great since!
     
    Hello_Moto, Sep 15, 2011
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  4. warparrot

    warparrot Newbie

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    I'll third what kent1156 has to say in point 3.

    I've had problems with OCZ's SSDs and upon looking into the matter a little more, the problems are actually pretty common.

    Intel and crucial are good stuff. Also, the Kingston SSD in my desktop has been working flawlessly.
     
    warparrot, Sep 15, 2011
    #4