Woah, that's cheap.

I know next to nothing about PNY's quality, but this sure is a cheap SSD: Newegg.com - PNY Optima SSD7SC240GOPT-RB 2.5" 240GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

 

Hmmmm.....will this be reliable?

 

Low end SF 2281 (guess) drive - tempting, but too small, too slow and definitely too SandForcey...

If I could put this in a $200 notebook, I'd take a chance. To upgrade a HDD to SSD, again; maybe worth it. To buy this for performance? Not a chance (I'd rather pay double the money and get 10x the productivity from a SanDisk Extreme II).


But what I like/love about this product? If it can undercut the already superior prices of SanDisk this significantly - it bodes well for the avg price of SSD's falling even further, sooner.


Hope these all get sold out. I want to be able to buy real SSD's at these prices.

 

Now that is proper SSD price.

 

Very nice price for 240GB SSD. I wish we could have that sort of price over here in UK.

 

Like what tiller said, the SF-2281 (with stock firmware, likely) is just too much a risk for me to justify it for anything other than "screw it, why not?". Hell, even with decent firmware the SF-2281 is fairly slow compared with what Samsung and Crucial are offering in their SSDs; SandForce controllers are only really good with compressable data, which most of your data (or at least a significant amount of it) is not.

 

Even better, the next model up PNY XLR8. Better performance specs than the Optima. Both for $110 Rebates available $10 for XLR8 $20 for Optima

PNY XLR8 SSD9SC240GMDA-RB 2.5" 240GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Newegg.com

 

But in real world usage, how much difference would it make. I use it to mainly boot up my os and play a few games... which i think the majority of the people use it for. Also please chcke if the manufacturer provides a firmware update

 

I doubt that a firmware update will help fix what ultimately is a fundamental design flaw in the SandForce controller line.

Anyway, the actual performance with compressed vs uncompressed data ultimately isn't non-trivial for most, I agree. However, you pay a certain amount of money for the advertised performance (always measured with compressable data on SF drives, because the real-usage numbers suck), and as a customer I would be ticked off to be lied to so blantantly like that. Even Intel's SF drives with custom (and better overall) firmware still doesn't solve this problem (and yes, it's running the latest drivers).

Really, the only good reason to buy a SF drive over a Samsung/Plextor/Crucial drive imo is if there is a significant discount on the drive and (of course) you don't care all that much about your data or you are smart enough to keep multiple backups of it so that a drive failure won't hurt you much. Even just SF's reliability issues will keep me from buying a SF drive for any reason other than to toy with (as I have for the Intel 330, which was heavily discounted when I bought it).

 

And a review for the Optima PNY Optima 240GB SSD Review - A Low Cost SSD for the Mainstream at $90

 

An update from TweakTown on the Optima. What SSD will the consumer get if they buy this drive?
Bait and Switch - The Sad State of SSDs

 

I would better buy used 2 Gen. older Samsung/Crucial/Plextor than this. I bough couple "such kind of goods". What's the point to buy cheap if it get's down in 2 years?

 

Welp, time for me to put PNY on my list of "Don't ever buy a SSD from" companies, along with OCZ and Kingston....

Sure, if you have gaps in production and you have to use another piece of hardware to fill its place, sure, I can accept that. But clearly advertise those particular drives as having such replacements...

 

Would you reconsider OCZ now that they're under Toshiba's umbrella?

I felt the same way as you, but at the same time, they are one of the most Mac-friendly SSD producers in terms of support and tools available for end users, at least for those of us who have Macs that can be easily upgraded.

 

Nope. Same sort of controllers and firmware, just new CxOs. And even then, I'm not much of a fan of Toshiba anyway.

It's good that they were good to Mac users at least. I don't have one of my own, so I can't comment on that sort of thing. Though I thought that OWC was the big Mac aftermarket SSD seller(?).

 

OWC is way over-priced for what is little more than a 2nd-generation Sandforce SSD. The only advantage they have, and this could be a big one depending on your beliefs, is their customer service. It's all US based, and pretty responsive. They do a good job of standing behind their products. However, it's not as if their SSDs do anything special when hooked up to a Mac. There's no TRIM support (still limited to Apple original equipment parts without resorting to 3rd-party hacks). You can update the firmware easily, but this is true with a lot of other brands. For example, Crucial, Intel, Samsung, and OCZ all have Mac-compatible updates, mostly in the form of bootable .ISOs.

What really helps OCZ stand apart is the fact that they created a Mac version of their bootable toolbox, which provides support for firmware updates, diagnostics, and most importantly, SATA secure erase. While you can do a secure erase with other drives using a Mac, it's a pain in the backside that, for me anyway, requires removing the drive from my system, putting it in an external dock, and using a series of terminal commands with a specific version of gparted. For this reason, I can forgive OCZ for its transgressions, especially considering the fact that it seems Kingston and PNY are not getting raked over the coals nearly as much as OCZ was.

I just wish OCZ made an SSD with a capacity higher than 480-512 GB.

 

I would consider OCZ now that it's under Toshiba if the quality control/validation is there and not a rush to market where the consumer was their guinea pig as in the past.

It looks like the best thing to do is stick with NAND fabs. Intel, Crucial/Micron, Samsung (all in house) Toshiba/SanDisk/OCZ. Some are developing controllers to get it all in house as well.

Mushkin did something similar changing from Toshiba Toggle NAND to Micron NAND in the same product line.

 

Now, see I've got a Kingston HyperX in our desktop. Used to be in my Alienware, but I got a heck of a deal on a Samsung 840 Pro and decided to use that for my Alienware. Both SSDs play a critical role, obviously. And I've never had a days trouble with either of them. I think what you, Private, are referring to is the base model Kingstons and OCZs. Cause at one time I do remember the Vertex 3 (or 4?) being touted as a powerplayer in the SSD race.

But I'm not saying your wrong...not by a longshot. I'm just saying keep an open mind for them to correct their mistakes in the "distant" future.

For example, I've worked on both Fords and Chevys frequently. I've had issues with Chevys before, but only with one model, and not the other models. So I don't equate Chevys shortcomings on one model define quality and reliability with all their lineup. Ford...not so much. I've had issues across the board with just about every model car they come out with. More so, many of the issues overlap, so its a deficiency in both build and engineering. One day I may change my opinion of Ford (not likely, but possible) and Chevy may do something which makes me crazy and want to set all their vehicles ablaze. Its just a matter of opinion.

 

You can add Mushkin to that list, unfortunately.

To the point that I'd rather own a non-SF OCZ drive than any of the PNY, Kingston or Mushkin offerings...

 

I think that it'd just be easier to just avoid any SF drives altogether. Even my Intel 330 doesn't impress me that much as far as performance goes (at least it's reliable, though with Intel they charge appropriately for that).

Actually, I'm just going to avoid any controller that isn't proven.

 

Amen to that one. That's the rule I live by.