Noob confused about SSD

[hanGenie]

Hey guys, I been hearing magic of SSD for making computer faster and with recent price drop I'm on verge of buying, so I do some research and now I'm super confused and having hard time finding answers from googling so help me out

I'm going for 128GB as it seems to be best value for the money. After reading people seems to recommend Samsung 830, Crucial M4 or Intel.

1. I read this on another post in Tom's hardware

"Did not look your MB up, but I think it uses a marvel Sata III controller and if so You will Not obtain optimium performance. In fact if you were to Buy the sata III SSD, it would probably be faster on the Intel SATA II port."

I have P8P67 motherboard, and it is my understanding that it has 6GB/s ports but I'm confused if it has Intel or Marvell one or both. Reason I'm asking if I been reading on forum that Marvell doesn't work well at all and you might as use slower Intel port.
How can I know if I have Marvell or Intel?



2. When I started looking into OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD, i read this comment

"The reason behind this due to a faulty SF-2281 controller made by Sand Force which can cause the drive to not be recognised and sporadic BSOD's."

Also I think there's was article on Tom's Hardware in 2011 about how SSD is still experimental and unstable for consumers. So my question is this. Is there any instability issues I need to watch out for with SSD or was that just for SF-2281?

3. Any comment on which 128GB to get? I'm leaning toward Crucial M4.

Many thanks!

 

[Guest]

P8P67
Intel® P67(B3) chipset :
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray
4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), blue
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
Marvell® PCIe 9120 controller : *2
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), navy blue
go for the GREY not the blue.

since last year SSDs have gained substantially in reliability. what was news then is obsolete now. going for the M4 is a great choice. honestly most any SSD will give you an enormous performance increase over a platter HD.

 

[fantastik250]

The Crucial M4 is good. And Looniam is correct, the reliability for SSD's have increased. I own the M4 and the firmware update is very simple to use.

 

[hanGenie]

Thanks for letting me understand current state of SSD is decent. I know changing from platter HD improvement will be amazying but I just didn't want to end up dealing with BSOD or some other instability but it sounds like it'll be fine! Going to order M4 very soon, thanks guys.

 

[foscooter]

1.) You mobo supports SATA III on it native Intel SATA ports. USE THEM! Do not use, or even enabel the Marvel ports. They are cr@p!

2.) This issue has been resolved with the latest firmware updates. I have had several SF22xx drives, and no problems with BSOD. OCZ Firmware upgrader is Windows based, which if you have no OS, you can't do it. But the Linux bootable USB tool from OCZ is great!

As far as which drives, these are mine: Intel 520, Intel 330, OCZ Vertex 3, Samsung 830, anything else including Crucial, Mushkin, and Corsair. Look at THG SSD Reviews.

 

[hanGenie]

What do you mean don't even able Marvell ports? Does that cause issue for SSD even if it's not on it? I think I'm using it for platter HD at mo.

 

[fantastik250]

The Marvell ports have some issues. It also depends if it is sharing a PCI lane with the Marvell controller. On previous generation motherboards, Marvell ports do not give max speed transfers. It is quite known not to use Marvell ports. It is much better to use the Intel ports for SSD. It seems okay to use your HDD drive in it if you currently have no issues.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

1. Read the MoBo Manual

2. Answer here:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/OCZ-Releases-Firmware-Update-for-SandForce-SF-2281-SSDs-223086.shtml

3. Mushkin Chronos Deluxe simply put has no competition...... fastest SSD available in each size range (others use same flash and are of comparable speed i.e Patriot Wildfire, vertex 3 MaxIOPS), SSD has extreme long life due to premium toshiba toggle flash and prices that nobody can touch.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4328/mushkin_chronos_deluxe_120gb_solid_state_drive_review/index13.html

To sum it all up with a bow on top, you get amazing performance, extremely long service life and a hassle free low price point on a drive that literally has very little competition in the marketplace.

 

[hanGenie]

I ended up buying Crucial M4, as I didn't want instability headaches. I'm sure I'll be WOOOOOOWed at SSD speed coming from platter HD.

Thanks for help people.