OCZ Vertex 2 100GB Solid State Drive Review Comment Thread

[chrisk]

Originally Posted by Smoothie

I have seen the 50 GB Vertex 2 drives for about $189 CDN. I think I will have to pick one up for a boot drive.

I would go with an Intel 80GB for $220:
Infonec Computers - Computer parts Canada, PC Components, laptop computers, motherboards, processors, CPUs and much more : Intel X25-M 80GB Mainstream Solid State Drive - 34nm Product Line - Solid state drive - 80 GB - internal - 2.5" - SATA-300

I would rather have the extra 30GB of room and I doubt you will notice any difference.

[AkG]

If you have a "last gen" flagship model like the 120GB Vertex 1 or Intel X25-M gen 2 then moving up to the Vertex 2 right now is not a great invesment. The firmware is still not mature enough to show what these drives really can do, as time goes by this will most likely change. IF you have a 60GB Vertex 1 (or other mid teir drives), then yes the difference is big enough to justify it, if you have the money.

For everyone else, premium models come with a premium price. Always have, always will. :)

If you are looking for a more budget minded SandForce drive our next review may be more up you alley. ;)

[chrisk]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

I'm going to step in here.

I count myself as an enthusiast and I will freely admit that currently SSDs don't appeal to me in the least. This is simply because I still count them as beta hardware that are not yet mature enough to warrant installation into my primary system. I'll buy into the fad when I see these as an actual replacement for my primary drive instead of overpriced boot drives.

*waits for angry emails from Corsair, OCZ, G.Skill et all*

I could agree with this. We don't really know how these drives will perform, and the capacities and driver support make them tricky to use.

OTOH, nothing I have put into my system in ages has resulted in such a noticable difference in system speed for me. In my laptop, the speed and lower temps were astounding (boot times went from 3.5-4 mins to ~40-50 secs, drop in temps by 10-20c).

[phoenixrage]

yea, the increased boot time and less power/heat is what appeals to me.

[Digikid]

Originally Posted by phoenixrage

yea, the increased boot time and less power/heat is what appeals to me.

???

[phoenixrage]

Originally Posted by Digikid

???

doh! LOL i meant.. increased boot speed.. decreased boot time.

[Oversized Rooster]

That was an excellent review! :)

Going by paper specifications, I expected the Vertex 2 to blow away current offerings. However it seems in real world usage and even in benchmarks it clearly doesn't blow away anything. I know the firmware has yet to mature but even so, it's only a marginal improvement.

I think I'll stick with my Vertex drives in RAID0 for a little while longer...

[Zero82z]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

I'm going to step in here.

I count myself as an enthusiast and I will freely admit that currently SSDs don't appeal to me in the least. This is simply because I still count them as beta hardware that are not yet mature enough to warrant installation into my primary system. I'll buy into the fad when I see these as an actual replacement for my primary drive instead of overpriced boot drives.

*waits for angry emails from Corsair, OCZ, G.Skill et all*

My thoughts exactly. Costs are going to have to come down, capacities are going to have to come up, and the technology is going to have to become more mature for me to ever consider buying an SSD unless I find one for an extremely good price.

[rjbarker]

SSD's....love em...2 in my Notebook and 1 in my Primary...I find it painful booting up my wifes Rig (secondary) and that one is booting off a Raptor...slow and friggin loud ;)....BUT...also love my WD Blacks ;)

[SKYMTL]

I don't know why everyone has issues with boot times. My computers:

Win 7 Ultimate N: 5 seconds after login (i7 @ 4Ghz) WD Black 2TB
Win 7 Ultimate N: 9 seconds after login (i5 750 stock)...and one SERIOUSLY full WD 1TB Black
Win 7 Ultimate N: 8 seconds after login (Intel Atom + NVIDIA ION HTPC) Seagate Momentus 500GB
Windows XP x32: 8 seconds after login (Intel T6570 laptop) No idea....
Windows XP x32: 12 seconds (AMD X2 3200+) Old as the hills Samsung Spinpoint 250GB


For the Win 7 ones you can add another 7-10 seconds between the BIOS load screen and the login screen.


Seems like people have issues keeping their Start menu clean rather than having any problems with storage performance...