SSD for Visual Studio: Intel X25-m G2 or OCZ Vertex

Solution 1:

Another thing to consider is that SSDs can, in general, be faster the more free space there is on the drive. From AnandTech: "You should buy the largest drive you need/can afford". For example, if you have 55GB of programs/data on the SSD, the 80GB Intel drive would (probably) retain more of its performance compared to the 60GB OCZ Vertex. (This is because an SSD should add free space to its pool of spare area, which ultimately improves the write amplification ratio, as summarised here.)

And as AnandTech (and the other review sites) discuss, it's only in rare situations that the Intel drives' relatively low sequential rates are a problem; the fast random read/write performance is more important most of the time.

Solution 2:

I can't say about Intel because I've not tested it, but currently I have a OCZ Vertex Series 120 Go, and I don't regret it, I can use visual studio instead of notepad !

Solution 3:

In this article from AnandTech (July 22, 2009) I find different information : "Intel X25-M G2: Dissected and Performance Preview". It contains many benchmarks, on all of which Intel wins hands down, and concludes by:

The X25-M G2 appears to be everything Intel said it would be. It's anywhere from 0 - 40% faster than the 1st gen drive in these low level tests. I would expect to see a 0 - 10% improvement in the real world depending on applications.

Solution 4:

I just got the OCZ Agility Series 60 GB SSD with Windows XP - my random read time went from 25 ms to .2 ms. It is currently around $125 after rebate, and it appears that everything on my lenovo T60 (just 2 gig RAM) is snappy, despite the fact that it is loaded down with Corporate software. It even makes eclipse run well with large projects.

The OCZ drives have a built-in garbage collection which does much the same thing as TRIM, which makes it possible to use on Windows XP.

I'm not that familiar with the Intel, but the OCZ drives are great.