which upgrade first?

[Dark Mantis]

That is totally understandable as more often than not these retailers don't get the copy right. All too often the data they provide is in error. Best to go to the manufacturer.

[Wonderwrench]

FYI, I just replaced my 80 gig Intel X25-M G2 with a 120 gig OCZ Vertex 3 MI, see sig. I tested the drive on the Marvell SATA III and ICH10R SATA II controllers and ended up using the Intel SATA II controller. The Marvell's sequential reads/writes were faster but the ICH10R SATA II controller has better random read/writes and is more consistent and just felt snappier. Some might say why get a SATA III drive and run it on a SATA II controller. IMO why buy an out dated SATA II drive unless your looking to save money in the short term. I will be building a new PC in the next year or so and the Vertex III should be up for the task.

Should you upgrade your video card or get an SSD first? If the games you play are performing good enough for you go for the SSD. If not get a better GPU.

Bill

[Dark Mantis]

That agrees with my testing Bill as far as the Marvell and Intel controllers go. The Intel are just a better feeling altogether and certainly more reliable.

[soarwitheagles]

How about the new Crucial M4?

DM, is this the C400 you were talking about or is this unit something else?

Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

    64GB

Interface Type
    SATA III

Features
    Random 4k Read: 40,000 IOPS
    Random 4k Write: 20,000 IOPS

    Integrated 8-channel single chip Controller

    Self-monitoring, analysis, and reporting technology (SMART) command set

    RAID Support

    Average Access Time < 0.1 ms

    Data Reliability: Built-in EDC/ECC

Performance

Max Shock Resistance
    1500G

Power Consumption (Active)
    150 mW

Power Consumption (Idle)
    < 65 mW

Sequential Access - Read
    Up to 415 MB/s (SATA 6Gb/s)

Sequential Access - Write
    Up to 95 MB/s (SATA 6Gb/s)

MTBF
    1,200,000 hours

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Soar,

Yes the C400 is the same as the M4 which is how it is better known now it has been launched.

I haven't been able to personally try it out as Crucial was short of review models but I am hoping to look at it in the future. I was discussing it with Lsdmeasap and apparently it wasn't as much of an improvement over the C300 as was expected. They have made a change to the firmware which has increased the random read/write speed I believe but apparently this could have been done to the C300 model anyway.

[Alundran]

Right well been having another scout around and am leaning towards the vertex 3 max iops

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120gb-ocz-vertex-3-max-iops-edition-25-sata-6gb-s-ssd-read-550mb-s-write-500mb-s-75k-iops

although the revodrive x2 is brilliant i just dont think 100GB will be enough for me

120GB (although of course id like more) seems a little more justifiable for the price tag.

I know my sata 3 ports arnt the best however im sure the kinks will have been ironed out by the time i upgrade whenever the next sockets arrives

Do people agree or am i taking a step back?

[Aussie Allan]

Right well been having another scout around and am leaning towards the vertex 3 max iops

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120gb-ocz-vertex-3-max-iops-edition-25-sata-6gb-s-ssd-read-550mb-s-write-500mb-s-75k-iops

although the revodrive x2 is brilliant i just dont think 100GB will be enough for me

120GB (although of course id like more) seems a little more justifiable for the price tag.

I know my sata 3 ports arnt the best however im sure the kinks will have been ironed out by the time i upgrade whenever the next sockets arrives

Do people agree or am i taking a step back?

 It is a personal thing, choosing Hardware!

 I like you, had my reservation as to the apparent lack of much storage on the RevoDrive x2 but OOOOOOOH! those speeds were like honey to a bee!

 In reality the OS comes to about 50-55Gb depending on stripe size you use leaving a bit under 40Gb for your most used toys, mind you I have probably another 50Gb of programs stored on another 500Gb disc (Seagate Momentus XT) that seems to supply my with the program I click on all the same , albeit not as quick but still pretty snappy.......if you look at it this way , it doesnt matter about your present SATA ports, you could even have SATA I because the Revo uses a PCI-X slot, outperforming even SATAIII at the moment.

 It's a Personal thing , but I'm so glad I went this route

 Aussie Allan

 

[Dark Mantis]

I think on hte whole a lot of users worry too much about the size of the boot drive. Here speed is more important than size (but don't try and tell the wife that!) as long as it holds the operating system and  a few choice programs etc. All the rest should be on a large data storage drive. This makes everything easier from making an image of the OS to defragging and backing up.

[Alundran]

How about this instead??

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/100gb-ocz-technology-ibis-series-hsdl-ssd-sandforce-1222-read-740mb-s-write-690mb-s-100k-iops

[Aussie Allan]

 How are you going to connect it to your computer, as in will your board support it at speed.......OCZ is also bringing to market a 4-port HSDL card with a RAID controller on board ($69 MSRP). You’ll be able to raid four IBIS drives together on a PCIe x16 card for an absolutely ridiculous amount of bandwidth. The attainable bandwidth ultimately boils down to the controller and design used on the 4-port card however.........This is where the ultra high end enthusiest market may be heading, PCI-E for OS storage that is............four IBIS in Raid0.........where talking  2TB read and write speeds......if you have the pockets

                                                                              OR

 You can look at OCZs RevoDrive x2 PCI-E card now that fits into just about any board ......all it needs is a free X4 PCI-E and up for 620Mb/s write and 825Mb/s read right out of the box for the same money

 Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

Having just got hold of one of these OCZ Revo x2 drives that Allan is talking about I can confirm what he says with some reserve. I get more or less the figures OCZ advertises the drive at which are 740 MBs read and 680 MBs write but I might be able to tweak a little more out of it when I get a bit more used to the intricacies of the setup.

It certainly is an easy and fast performing solution for anyone in the market for such a drive.

[Aussie Allan]

 If you want some more info of where I think the industry is going as far as storage......Here's why!





 And a RevoDrive  X2 stats out of the box with no tweaking



  Hears the link if you want to read more............ http://www.ocztechnology.com/hsdl  .....Enjoy!

 Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

Very pretty charts! I do like big numbers like that.

[Alundran]

i understand where your coming from however im unsure as to weather the revodrive will fit on my board i know Dark Mantis has the same board however he watercools and i dont so im using the huge heat spreader which pretty much hides both ports (bad design in my eyes) just want to be 100% it will fit or will i have to clock back to stock speeds and remove the spreader

[Aussie Allan]

 Don't really understand that one, considering you already have a GPU set on the board.........the revo sits underneath the GPU in slot 2 or any slot that is at least X4 PCI-E 

 Aussie Allan