by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/24/2011 9:02:00 AM
Posted in Storage , SSDs , OCZ , Vertex 3 , SandForce , SF-2000
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Final Words

Just as we saw with the SF-1200 vs. SF-1500, there's absolutely no performance difference between the Vertex 3 Pro and the Vertex 3. In fact, the Vertex 3 does benchmark slightly faster in our tests thanks to the use of Micron 25nm NAND. If you were excited about the performance of the Vertex 3 Pro but were put off by the price, it looks like that'll be a non-issue thanks to the Vertex 3.

The performance of this second generation of SandForce based SSDs is nothing short of astounding. The big questions really are about reliability and firmware maturity, both of which we can't really answer until we get final drives in hand with mass production firmware.

At the same time there are a couple of new SSDs headed to market in the coming weeks that will compete in this space. Next up? Corsair and Intel.

AnandTech Storage Bench 2010
Woot by Cow86 on Thursday, February 24, 2011
This is likely going into my next build ^^ Which is a few months off still, so hopefully the prices will be somewhat favourable by then....
Cow86
RE: Woot by vol7ron on Friday, February 25, 2011
let me guess... waiting for z68? :)
vol7ron
What about load times? by Rasterman on Thursday, February 24, 2011
Which of the benchmarks relate to loading windows and loading programs and games or levels in games? It would be nice to see how these compare, my guess is its not worth it to upgrade from a Crucial Real SSD C300 256GB to a Vertex 3 256GB as the perceived difference is going to be negligible?

Some real world tests would be nice:
fresh load of windows 7
start windows 7 from hibernation
starting major games
loading levels in major games
starting major programs (photoshop, visual studio, windows media player, itunes, outlook)
Rasterman
RE: What about load times? by ImSpartacus on Thursday, February 24, 2011
Well, if you do upgrade from that C300, I would happily take it off your hands.

I figure that old hardware is only worth, ohhhh, $100? Yeah, that's about right.

So, what do you say?
ImSpartacus
RE: What about load times? by Figaro56 on Friday, February 25, 2011
The Crucial C300 256GB drive for $100? Dream on!

You can buy one brand new today for $420 shipped at amazon.com. You under estimate the C300, it's still a valid product and $100 is just a ridiculous comment.
Figaro56
RE: What about load times? by vol7ron on Friday, February 25, 2011
brand new != used

with a used drive, you've already cut into warranty and you've reduced its lifespan (as negligible a point as it may be).
vol7ron
RE: What about load times? by Figaro56 on Friday, February 25, 2011
Then you had better buy a new one then. No one is going to sell their originally priced $600 Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB SSD for $100, especially after this review.

There is a margin of real world performance improvement with the Vertex 3 true, but certainly not so superior over the C300 as to make someone crazy enough to sell an 8 month old $600 SSD for $100 as it's "obviously" not obsolete it's just 2nd best. That's just retarded.

These SSD drives have an incredible life span so cutting into the life span over 8 months of use is nebulous. The warranty is only there for warm fuzzies, if it works it works.
Figaro56
RE: What about load times? by jimhsu on Friday, February 25, 2011
I suppose IM's response is a joke considering the OP's question of whether an ultra-fast drive is faster than the super-fast drive that he already has.

(For the record, I bought the C300 256GB for $400 in newegg's awesome 20% off sale).
jimhsu
RE: What about load times? by vol7ron on Friday, February 25, 2011
I took it as a joke too, but still you're not going to get top dollar if you're selling a used device. A person would rather go get a refurb.

Also, didn't the C300 have many problems that crept up? Not saying it hasn't been solved and the problems weren't rare, but I though a few weeks after Anand got their version, it died - and a few others died as well (betas and productions). For whatever reason, I decided to stay away from Crucial for that reason; not permanently, but in the short run.

I'm more curious to see with what Intel has to offer. Even if they don't introduce a compression algorithm, I like their wear-leveling better - it should require less additional spare NAND and be cheaper in general. And, of course, I like to see how Vertex 3 fares with TRIM as it approaches the capacity limit.
vol7ron
RE: What about load times? by Figaro56 on Tuesday, March 01, 2011
The infamous firmware issue of the Crucial drive was solved, I've never had a problem. This C300 is a very fast SSD and I'm more than happy with it. When an SSD comes along that is actually twice as fast in every bench mark as my C300 256GB SSD then I might feel as though it's obsolete, but we're not there yet.
Figaro56
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