Shell Shocker SSD's

**ChiefBoatsRet** · 07-23-2012, 12:17 PM

For those waiting to pull the trigger on a SSD. Today (7/23) shellshocker on Newegg OCZ Agility 120GB sata3 $69 after rebates, a very good price.

**Dimitrius** · 07-23-2012, 12:56 PM

Do you have one Chief? How does it perform?

**ChiefBoatsRet** · 07-23-2012, 02:04 PM

I have an OCZ SSD and it performs as advertised, but to take full advantage of sata 3 (6GB) you need a Mobo that supports it. I pulled the trigger on another brand shellshocker SSD for $79 last week and thought I did well and now this, it always happens . For Arma it takes away any stutter and the game runs smoother because it loads from the SSD drive faster, but do not expect an increase in frame rates. I was an early adopter of the SSD and never owned larger than a 64 GB drive until I just bought a 120GB drive much cheaper than I paid for the 64GB. I use my SSD for the OS, Arma and essential apps and use my 1TB HDD for everything else. Memory is dirt cheap now too, I have 16 Gb of G Skill Ripjaw for around $80. I am slowly getting my rig ready for Arma 3.

**Dimitrius** · 07-23-2012, 02:19 PM

I've got 24 gigs and an i7 930. Two 6 gig Sata ports and 2 USB 3.0 ports.

I'm good on frames, but I'm curious to see how the game performs if I move from a 1 TB 5400RPM to a SSD. I just need to get to Microcenter or find a good deal on Pricewatch or MWAVE.

**Toptonic - Butler** · 07-23-2012, 06:40 PM

I was looking at the vertex 4. Thinking I may pull the trigger next week or maybe the week after...

**QuickShotSims** · 08-04-2012, 12:22 PM

Are all the SSD's the same now? which ones should i stay away from and which 2 are top to be looking at? I am going to be ordering from newegg.ca i think as i might get better prices then my local even with shipping

Thanks

**Namebot** · 08-04-2012, 01:07 PM

The are not all the same. The most obvious differences are the controller(sandforce, marvell, intel, indillix, jmicron, etc) they use and the type of flash(synchronous, asynchronous, toggle). The ones you will find suggested most are the samsung 830, crucial m4, plextor M3. The OCZ SSDs have a bad reputation as they seem to have had problems with firmware causing major show stopping issues. Also their write performance degrades when pushing data that cannot be compressed. The newer 4 series of OCZ drives may be better off than the older ones.

**BleedingKnee** · 08-04-2012, 03:41 PM

If you do get an SSD, make sure you put windows on it. Replacing your 'game' drive with an SSD will not net you the gains. In fact, the best move is to install win afresh on the new SSD.

**DeF** · 08-05-2012, 08:27 AM

Originally Posted by BleedingKnee

If you do get an SSD, make sure you put windows on it. Replacing your 'game' drive with an SSD will not net you the gains. In fact, the best move is to install win afresh on the new SSD.

Definetely a must for SSDs however some games do perform much better on an SSD like ArmA 2, most flight simulators, RAGE, and pretty much any game that does texture streaming. However in the case of games like BF3, CS:GO, LoL, Civ 5, SC 2, and more you will see barely any improvement.

**mangeface** · 08-07-2012, 01:35 AM

I've got 2 OCZ Agility 3s. One is 120GB (for ArmA 2) and the other is 60GB (for DCS, Lock On and BF3). Both perform as expected. Still won't put my OS on them. I've got a Kingston HyperX for that.

**Acreo Aeneas** · 08-14-2012, 01:03 AM

Originally Posted by Toptonic - Butler

I was looking at the vertex 4. Thinking I may pull the trigger next week or maybe the week after...

I would not consider it right now if you value the performance of the drive and intend on filling it beyond 50% full. The latest 1.5 FW switches the drive to a "storage mode" once you hit 50% capacity. The only solution now is to find the 1.5 Beta FW or use a older FW.

Samsung 830 is pushed because of Samsung's outstanding reliability factor. The 830 does have a quirk: garbage collection is a post process, not during use. So write/read speeds suffer over extended use until you let the drive idle for a time.

Intel would probably be the most "Apple" of choices. In that, you install it and forget worrying about it. Performance leader, solid build quality, expensive, and no problems to speak of really.

Personally, I ended up buying a Kingston HyperX 3K 240 GB SSD @ $230.