Vertex2 vs Vertex 3

[jgutz2006]

Okay, so i've currently got a 120gb Vertex 2 SSD and considering an upgrade. Go for the RAID of Vertex2's or get a single Vertex3. So buying a single 120gb Vertex2 or the more spendy 240gb Vertex3. Basically would it be worth my time, losing TRIM support and going with RAID-0 on a pair of Vertex2's? Or would i be better off sending my current 120gb drive to speed up a media center PC and getting the big 240 Vertex3?

I'm just trying to figure out if the cost difference is worth the performance increase? the RAID-0 configuration would obviously help out some but there are drawbacks. Keep in mind that i have an Asus Z8PE-D12 Motherboard which has SATA 3Gb/s but on the flip side, I do have the Full hardware RAID LSI expansion card to make the most of the RAID if i go that way.

What are your thoughts?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I can tell ya my son's thoughts...........he bought a Vertex 3 to go along side his Barracuda XT ..... the HD boots to Windows in 21.2 seconds, the SSD boots to windows in 15.6 seconds......

Unless ya doing video editing, huge spreadsheets / databases, rendering or something extremely disk intensive, you will have a hard time showing a productivity ROI on the purchase. Yes you will show better benchmarks, but benchies rarely translate to IRL productivity increases.

If you stare at the screen wile your OS or game loads, yes you'll see the difference..... I'm usually getting coffee, grabbing a snack, taking a bio or doing something (cleaning my screen, KB, whatever) while that happens and the puter is always ready before I am.

 

[djridonkulus]

I'm pretty sure that they released firmware to address the RAID 0 issues, but it doesn't seem to make sense to get Vertex 3 SATA III when your mobo only has SATA II. It would be more advantageous to just get another Vertex II - it's also cheaper. Also, is so much hard drive speed necessary? Are you in graphics design? For gaming, with my Vertex2 I'm already the first one spawned in BF3... i get to wait even longer for the countdown before starting.... yay....

 

[mugenkid18]

^^ my thoughts too. Why get an SSD for SATA3 when your board doesn't support it? Stick with vertex2, my 2c

 

[WyomingKnott]

Umm, I would get the Vertex III. RAID 0 isn't all that it is cracked up to be for general use. It does improve serial reads and writes, but most of what you do isn't serial reads and writes unless you are editing video.

If I were in your shoes, I would either
1) Buy the second and split my storage into two drive letters
2) Buy the second and let Windows combine the volumes
3) Buy the III and use the II for data and scratch space.
4) Upgrade to a mobo with SATA III support or buy an add-in SATA III controller with PCI-E x4 connectivity (x1, which is more common, is slower than SATA III).

On the other hand, I am very happy with the performance of my current system, which is running an SATA III SSD on an SATA II motherboard. It's snappy enough for me, so I have never worried about the theoretical throughput (say THAT three times fast) that I am losing.

 

[jgutz2006]

Thanks for all your ideas, I know it doesnt make much sense performance wise to go vertex3 when i have SATA2 controller, but i've had this current motherboard for coming up on 2 years but still runs great. Simply buying a new motherboard would entail new CPU's as i dont know if i could even find many dual CPU boards for the 5500 series westmere xeons. But yes i do use this computer for more than gaming as it is used for 3d modeling sometimes and large CAD files on a regular basis, hence the 48GB RAM which comes in handy and actually gets utilized.

So i am doing more than most people out there are (actually i will do the renderings for my wife who's the architect) and still use the pc for most things without any performance hit noticeable.
Trying to determine if its worth having the Vertex3 so that when i do upgrade to my next board, the drives will be faster but who knows, by then their next gen solution will be out there.

Basically i just need to increase my primary drive's storage, If i upgrade to the 240gb v2, i could do a simple disk clone and not reinstall everything.

djridonkulus - i totally agree as the Vertex2 is plenty fast for most things and i've always been one of the first to load in any online shooter games!

 

[Mfusick]

I'm pretty sure that they released firmware to address the RAID 0 issues, but it doesn't seem to make sense to get Vertex 3 SATA III when your mobo only has SATA II. It would be more advantageous to just get another Vertex II - it's also cheaper. Also, is so much hard drive speed necessary? Are you in graphics design? For gaming, with my Vertex2 I'm already the first one spawned in BF3... i get to wait even longer for the countdown before starting.... yay....

actually the Vertex3 will completely saturate your 3G SATA port... which is a good thing.

The other will not... and will be slower.

Check out the Toms Hardware SSD guide for Decemeber.. it explains all you need to know and answers all the questions in this thread.

 

[jgutz2006]

Best answer selected by jgutz2006.

 

[jgutz2006]

Thanks everyone for the Feedback, I purchased the 240gb Vertex3 drive to use as my primary OS drive, Havent decided to use my 120 as a scratch, or if i will throw it in my Media Center PC to speed up the OS a touch,

Wish the Best Answer could be split into multiple users as Experts-Exchange allows to share because i used all points from everyone to decide!

 

[Mfusick]

Thanks everyone for the Feedback, I purchased the 240gb Vertex3 drive to use as my primary OS drive, Havent decided to use my 120 as a scratch, or if i will throw it in my Media Center PC to speed up the OS a touch,

Wish the Best Answer could be split into multiple users as Experts-Exchange allows to share because i used all points from everyone to decide!

240gb vertex3 is fast!!!!!

Nice option... I saw it on sale today for $289 @newegg.

What a steal.

The larger SSD is way faster....

You got a top shelf drive

Congrats