SSD Question

It's new build time, always a giddy time at the Fum household... well, more for me than my wife, but I digress.

I'm going to jump into an SSD, but wonder what would be better: one newer sata III Plextor ( Plextor PX-128M2S PX-M2 Series Solid State Drive - 128GB, 2.5, SATA III, 6Gbps at TigerDirect.com), or two sata II drives in raid 0 (Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD3-2VTX90G 3.5" 90GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)).

Second question: since two sata drives in raid 0 theoretically has more bandwidth than the sata II port can handle, can/should I use the sata 6GB port on the new board (when the revised P67's arrive)?

I should mention this is going to be a gaming only box built just for the man-cave. I while I realize drives have no impact on actual gaming, F1 2010 takes it's sweet time even with my F3, and I'd like to cut it dramatically down.

Hi Punkster,

Thanks for the reply. It's my understanding that the Corsair 6GB drives are identical to the Plextor in that they both use the same Marvell controller; the only difference being price? Am I missing something?

edit*

I'll also be running another 1GB F3 as a secondary drive for games that don't take too long to load... and hopefully filling it up!

Punkster said:

I don't know if you take reviews as a starting point

I do; and I was considering the Crucial, but the slow writes are depressing and not what I was expecting. Being first to market isn't always best.

*edit*

1000th post!

I would definitely vote for the 90GB Vertex2. I have this exact same SSD in one of my laptops. It performs beautifully. I also have a Vertex1 and two Intels on other systems that are not quite as fast.

The Plextor is a no-name device. I have never heard of it and know nothing about it.

If you plan to Raid two Vertex, I would go for the 6GB ports - although that really only comes to bear when very large records are being handled (which is rare). But be aware that Raid really does not buy you anything because the access times do not change.

Fumz,

The OCZ Vertex 2 SSD drives are great ones to have.

In addition, Newegg is having a 20% OFF Any SSD (48 HOURS ONLY!) with a Maximum discount of $100 per order.

Promo Code: BTEKHHJ26

Promo code expires at 11:59PM PST on 2/23/2011
No minimum purchase required. Limit one promo code per customer. Only avaliable while funds last.

Really, you've never heard of Plextor? They make high end cd/dvd burners and players... or at least they used to before they got bought out. Not sure where they stand now?

I bought a Plextor cd burner about a decade ago that's still quieter and faster than any of the several cheaper ones I've had since... still running like a champ staring down at the pile of NEC's, LG's, and Lite-On's that have long since departed this world.

I can't find a review on it either, but I would imagine it's performance is on par with the Corsair... which I will probably default to if you guys talk me out of the Plextor.

whs said:

The Plextor is a no-name device. I have never heard of it and know nothing about it.

Plextor is a known name in the optical drive market. CD Drives, CD Burners, DVD drives, etc. Been around for a very long time. Used to make fabulous SCSI based CDROM drives for servers.

Brink said:

Fumz,

In addition, Newegg is having a 20% OFF Any SSD (48 HOURS ONLY!) with a Maximum discount of $100 per order.

Promo Code: BTEKHHJ26

Promo code expires at 11:59PM PST on 2/23/2011
No minimum purchase required. Limit one promo code per customer. Only avaliable while funds last.

Hi Brink,

Lol, yeah I got that email yesterday... which is why I'm here today. Seems the Plextor sold out last night.

What are your thoughts on the matter?