Hey guys I am currently trying to decide which SSD to buy for my new build. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/128gb-crucial-realssd-m4-25-sata-6gb-s-ssd-mlc-flash-read-500mb-s-write-175mb-s-new-version VS http://www.scan.co.uk/products/90gb-corsair-force-series-gt-25-sata-6gb-s-ssd-read-555mb-s-write-505mb-s-85k-iops I know the M4 is better value for money,but apparently the force Gt's are really good, but I am interested in Performance/reliability over price. I would use it for my Primary boot drive with W7 on it, and probably pop BF3 on there too. Let me know your thoughts. 150 is Kinda my budget, and I don't really mind too much about the 40GB.* Regards, Arch
Definitely go with the M4, 38gb of extra space for cheaper? You won't notice any difference in speed between the 2 in everyday use, but you'll really appreciate that extra space. With a firmware update (this might be included with newer batches) the read speeds of the M4 are completely comparable with all the sandforce drives. Great performance and reliability, it's a no brainer IMO. Also take note, make 7 more constructive posts to bring your count up to 20 on these forums and you can get free delivery with scan.
Would I have to install the firmware before loading Windows? Does it matter in which order I do it? Oh? I did not know that! Awesome ;D
I guess so. With my OCZ SSD I just plugged it in as another drive on my then current windows HD and updated the firmware that way before doing a clean install. Best to check the Crucial website. And yea, http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=186923
With the firmware update the M4's are literally just behind sandforce drives such as your corsair,the perceivable difference between them will be negligible. To get top speeds on the M4 upgrade the firmware to 0009. The firmware update on M4's requires a boot disk (usb key/ optical disk) to be made but can be done at any time (although it is recommended you backup the drive being upgraded). Crucial's instructions are fairly comprehensive: http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx
I would personally get the crucial. But mainly because of the great experianxe ive had with their support. Returning a dead device resulted in a brand new one on my doorstep within 2 business days. Very impressed
What about this one? Pretty much the same capacity as the M4 but has much better read speeds, plus it's £20 cheaper.
It seems to be that OCZ are on the ball when it comes to firmware updates but Corsair take an awful lot of time to test before releasing a firmware update. I'd either get an OCZ Agility 3 or the M4.
Sorry to thread jack, but, I was wondering, how much real world difference would you feel with the OCZ Agility 3 or Corsair Force 3 compared to the high end Vertex or M4 models? The stated read/write speeds are more or less the same, however I know it would be slower in some respects. I'm just not sure how this would effect how it actually feels on a day to day basis. For some reason £125 feels much much easier to stomach than £150.
Unusually my Vertex 3 drives feel like they're getting faster day by day. Booted up Witcher 2 to try the new patch and it was straight in the game, literally just 2 seconds to load the tutorial section that now introduces the game.
It depends on the point of view. OCZ is the first one to get firmware updates, but that can be good or bad depending on situation. If they get a superb firmware first, then it is good. But they also act as a sort of beta tester for other companies - they wait a week and see if there are lots of complaints at OCZ forums about the new firmware. If not, then they implement it, if yes then they wait . So if you like to live on the edge, choose OCZ. If not, then you should think twice about buying OCZ.
Hmm nah I disagree, OCZ obviously test new firmware to make sure it doesn't screw a large part of their userbase. It's just that their tests must be less time consuming than Corsair's.
Are you sure about that ? Their past history doesn't really support that statement. But if you like adventure, why not.
Well, they've been less problematic than Crucial releasing a f/w that bricked loads of C300s early on... ...yeah, you'll *always* get someone with issues (hence why you should backup before flashing f/w on any drive), but otherwise... As to which SSD (the OP's question) assuming you're going for either a SandyBridge or an AMD with 6Gb/s (so you're not on a shonky Marvell controller), then for a budget drive get the M4. Whilst the GTs are good (though if i had new SSD money i'd go for the V3 max iops), as you reduce the size then the speeds go down - so the 90GB GT is not as good as the 120GB GT. i also, unless you're in a non-trim environment or you're looking at 60/64GB drives (which you're not so it's just a note) where the Crucials are slower overall, would not look at the asynchronous SFs (Agility 3, standard Corsair F3, etc) as the M4's (w. 0009 f/w) better... if budget's no limit though (well, ish £200), then either the high end 120GB SFs (Vertex 3 max iops, Partiot inferno, Corsair GT, etc for example) or the 120GB intel 510 are much better SSDs than the M4 & whatnot... Even 'if' you noticed no increase in speed (though esp the SFs are much faster for writes), you need to remember that both of these choices have a far greater longevity than the M4 d.t. using 3Xnm nand rather than 2Xnm nand (in the M4 & cheaper SFs). Okay, so SATA Express 'should' be out on boards in the middle of next year (if you'll have the cash to upgrade all & everything again - & there are 8 or 16Gb/s SSDs to buy), but if not then whatever you buy now will need to last you - either directly as a single SSD or (& this is another place where the SFs are much better than the alternatives) by adding a 2nd one for R0. Mmmmm... Just reading about the OCZ Octane (press release)... Whilst it similarly (to the M4) uses 2Xnm nand & the SFs are still better in non-trim/raid, it's believed to be looking at 560 reads & 400 writes for the 128GB model... ...vs 510/180 for the 128GB M4... & both a much lower latency & higher r-e-w endurance... ...supposedly out 1st of November & priced at current V2 levels. 'if' it lives up to the hype then this would knock the M4 out of the water on the budget end.
The issue with SandForce numbers is that SandForce numbers are for compressible data and m4 numbers are for incompressible data. So while sometimes SandForce really gets those higher writes, often it doesn't.
From what I can gather, you're suggesting OCZ release substandard firmware all the time for every drive they've ever released. I can't vouch for every drive or firmware version, but the small handful I've used past and present have all and continue to run fine for me whether they be Intel, OCZ, Corsair or Crucial.
