I am currently looking for a cheapish ssd with good reliability.
Would I be better off buying the Intel 330 120gb or save around $50 and get an OCZ agility 3 120gb?
SSD - which one should I buy?
pharm86 on 26/06/2012 - 08:10
Comments
Intel 520 - 5yr warranty. Not cheap though but if Intel is willing to give such a long warranty you would think that they would be somewhat reliable
The warranty period however, does not cover drive failure due to normal wear and tear. Even though the warranty period is 5 years, its very likely the SSD will give up the ghost before the warranty expires.
You will have to point out that clause in their warranty statement. Under Australian law I don't think it will hold water. I remember reading that Intel have said their SSD's will last far beyond 5 years under heavy workloads.
Yeah, I'm looking at the Sandisks cause I can buy them locally (making it much easier to return in the event of a failure).
The next question is, buy now? or buy at the end of the year?
Is this spate of price drops the start of a price slide or is this an adjustment that will level off after the EOFY?r is this an adjustment that will level off after the EOFY?
Computer parts are never sold below cost due to high turnover rates (therefore, EOFY generally does not affect price of computer components).
As for the Sandisk SSD, $100 dollars for a 128GB drive is plenty cheap enough to consider buying now, IMO.
I was thinking some of the OCZ drives are end of life and selling them out before EOFY might be the reason for the plummeting prices.
I don't really expect to have the time/inclination to do the upgrade until September anyway, so I think I'm happy to wait for the local price to drop to that ~$100 mark. If it doesn't drop further, then at that stage, I'll still be happy to pay the ~$1/Gb price the Sandisk's are currently sitting at. Plus there'll be another 3 months reliability data for the Sandisk drives!
some of the OCZ drives are end of life and selling them out before EOFY
The price drops of OCZ drives are caused by competitive price drops overall in the SSD market, NOT because it's a end of life product. (exception: SATA2 Octane drives) The cost of making SSD drives have fallen and the current low prices now reflect that.
The SSD price drops have NOTHING to do with the EOFY in Australia. The price drops did start in USA first before we started seeing discounts Down Under.
Look at the Sandisk Extreme for example. It hasn't been out for a long time, so there is no possibility of it going EOL — yet it is being sold at 96~99 cents per gigabyte.
yep, understood.
If the Intel is anything like the 320 Series I have then go Intel, Two words, Fast & Reliable.
Anyone found any good deals for the Crucial M4 128GB? I think that's the one I am going to go for.
There's deals on OzBargain almost daily on the M4.. (as a general rule, discounts will occur on all sizes even if only one size is reported in the bargain) as long as you're happy to import.
If not, then the Sandisks are cheap, super quick and have been on the market for 6 months or so with no major reported issues that I've been able to find.eg from today's 512Gb Crucial M4
256Gb for $199 +shipping - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/768803-REG/Crucial_Tec…
and 128Gb for $109 +shipping - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/768801-REG/Crucial_Tec…
If reliability is an issue, you either get the Crucial M4 or the Intel 330. However, the Intel 330 is IMO too expensive for what it is — the performance isn't crash hot and the warranty period is only 3 years — which puts it equal to all the other SSD's with similar warranty periods.
I would recommend the M4 over the Intel 330 — its cheaper and just as reliable.
I wouldn't say OCZ is at the top of the reliability list. But that's just my biased opinion.
Also consider the Sandisk Extreme option, which are just as cheap as OCZ Agilities.