SSD Deals and Reviews

Hello everyone,

I'm currently looking for a 240 Gb SSD.

My options include either the

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE240G 2.5" 240GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

or

OCZ Onyx 2 Series OCZSSD2-2ONX240G 2.5" 240GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Can anyone shed some light on either these two drives or recommend something better?

Thanks for all the help.

 

Both SSDs are based on Sandforce controllers, with the Vertex 2 being SF-1200 and Onyx 2 being SF-1222 (it doesn't mean the SF-1222 is more advanced though). Now, the Onyx 2 is marketed as a mainstream version whereas Vertex 2 is enthusiast. I have not read any reviews about the Onyx 2 so cannot comment on how fast it is in relationship to the Vertex 2 but you cannot go wrong with buying the Vertex 2. It is one of the best SSDs available and countless reviews (just google it) of the Vertex 2 have proven time and time again that it is truly a jack of all trades, high transfer rates, high random write and read rates, great throughput and still low price.

I myself am looking at buying a Vertex 2 for my desktop. Best SSD's out there are Sandforce-based SSD's at the moment.

Don't buy Intel at the moment, they are about to publish their next gen SSDs soon (within a couple of months) so you'd be buying last gen stuff if you buy Intel now.

And don't buy any SSDs based on Indilinx Barefoot controllers either, those are also last gen.

 

Thanks for an explanation.

As far as the Onyx 2 goes, I noticed that it has a lower power consumption (Idle .375W/ Active 1W) vs. Vertex 2(Idle .5W/ Active 2W). I was wondering whether there would be a noticeable change in battery life with one drive as opposed to the other?

 

I actually highly doubt that. Its gonna be in the range of minutes, literally. SSDs already use so much less energy than HDDs.
You can't quite trust the manufacturers specs either.
I'd say go for the safe option - Vertex 2. Onyx 2 isn't going to be faster, but it may be quite a bit slower, who knows until the first reviews come out.

 

Well I pulled the trigger on the OCZ Vertex 2, let's just hope its not a DOA and that its speed is really like they say.

Thanks for all your advice!

 

Hey Ultima, please benchmark your drive once you have it in. I have the 120GB version in my M11-R1, and never seem to get more than about 220 MB read on it... should be higher according to most reviews. I am curious if this is something with the M11-R1 hardware, drivers, etc.

 

Well, I'm currently using a Samsung MMDPE56G5DXP 256gb SSD, I live in brazil, so I didn't really have a lot of options, without spending even more money than usual.

I paid it around US$500, windows 7 index rating scored it 7.3 in a scale from 1-7.9, also my boot up was down from 3m40-50s to around 40-50s top, everything else while I use the computer now is smooth as it gets, no lag while opening windows, etc...

I can say I'm very happy in buying it.

 

@Docsteel - Will do and let you know how it turns out.

 

Did you type that correctly? 3 minutes and 40 seconds for boot with a mechanical drive? That's crazy high even for a 5400rpm drive.

 

Yeah, that is correctly, I'm couting all the way towards the end, after windows loads everything, when it's ready to work, I never used to stop to check it out, but that was correct, I timed it, several times.

 

Lol Fail Hdd!!!!

 

hahaha, totally, now I'm spoiled, can't go back to hdd ever!