OCZ Agility 4 SSD 120GB, SATA III, 6Gbps, $79.99 at Dell SOHO (AR + IS + Free Shipping)

Dell SOHO has the 120GB OCZ Agility 4 SSD for $79.99, which includes a $30 instant savings, $20 rebate, and free shipping. Link is:

[EDIT: First link was not working--this alternate search link works.] http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?k=A6130856

Regarding the free shipping, you will see that when you put this >$49 item in your cart. It's not clear when this free shipping offer ends.

[EDIT: Ok, rebate PDF is now working.] The rebate supposedly runs from 23-29 July, but I only found details in HTML format (when you attempt to click on the link for the rebate in PDF format, you get an error). Since you can also do it online, I don't think this is much of a problem.

Note that this uses the Indilinx Everest 2 controller, which is a change from the Sandforce-dominated market.

The product page is www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-agility-4-sata-iii-2-5-ssd.html.

Even though this uses asynch MLC NAND, it supposedly is not so much affected by incompressible data (perhaps due to the Indilinx controller vs. a Sandforce?). I don't know the reality of this--at least this is what the OCZ product page says!

No, it does not have ultimate, cutting edge performance, and soon enough I'm sure we'll hear all about it from certain forum members. But real world, perceived performance for the average Joe should be fantastic.

Hmmm, the link seems to not be working any more. So here's an alternate search link that brings up the product:

http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?k=A6130856

EDIT: Second edit here--this solution works even for a fresh browser start.

Use coupon code PQ1QC87GXFWFCH to knock some more off (not sure how much). Code expires on 7/29

ir0nw0lf said:   Use coupon code PQ1QC87GXFWFCH to knock some more off (not sure how much). Code expires on 7/29
Knocks another $10 off.

I second that...would love to pull the trigger if I could find another coupon!

**EDIT** - It turns out that that same coupon can now be used for $40 off...it doesn't have a link to the rebate, but clicking the original link can get you to the PDF and it looks like it will still work.

Thanks, Solandri, for pointing out that review! So it's not totally cutting edge performance, but certainly decent, and not as much affected by incompressible data as other asynch NAND drives.

Assuming you were able to get this for $70 after having used the coupon, an interesting solution would have been to buy two, and put them in a RAID0 striped config. So for $140 total after all discounts, you would have a 240GB solution with absolutely blistering performance that would blow away even the top end, 240GB sync and toggle NAND drives.

verbage said:   Thanks, Solandri, for pointing out that review! So it's not totally cutting edge performance, but certainly decent, and not as much affected by incompressible data as other asynch NAND drives.

Assuming you were able to get this for $70 after having used the coupon, an interesting solution would have been to buy two, and put them in a RAID0 striped config. So for $140 total after all discounts, you would have a 240GB solution with absolutely blistering performance that would blow away even the top end, 240GB sync and toggle NAND drives.

BTW Agility 4 drives do not support TRIM in raid.

expired said:   Whats faster Agility 4 or Vertex 3? Does the Vertex 3 support trim in raid?

Without linking to a review from what I've read.

It's a tradeoff. The Agility 4 is gimped a bit more relative to the Vertex 4 compared to the 3s. (approx 500MB/s RW vs 400MB/s R 300MB/s W) (The 3s are both around 500MB/s RW) Both the Agility and Vertex 3 have more raw transfer speed compared to the 4. The Vertex 4 is down like 25MB/s RW compared to the Vertex 3.

The Indilinx (4) controller excels in IOPs reads vs Sandforce (3) (95k vs 60k) This gives it much better random access speed.

They will trade benchmarks and overall come out with similar performance

Ehh. Just read the review.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5719/ocz-vertex-4-review-256gb-512gb

Edit: No OCZ drives support raid trim. I think only the new Intel Drives support it.

also sandforce chips will sorta "cheat" benchmarks..

read the first page of the first review posted for details

this doesnt have a sandforce chip so there is no sudden 1/3-1/2 the regular performance crap going on.

imo with all the problems they were having with some of the sandforce based ones This is a Plus.

its not bleeding edge but seems about top tier mainstream product.

I'd still prefer a Crucial M4 or samsung 830 series for reliability.

final word: I'd buy If I needed one this is a good deal for something thats 90% as fast in real life as the fastest.

Schmide said:   BTW Agility 4 drives do not support TRIM in raid.
Schmide, I think this is/was more of a driver issue than a hardware issue. In fact, I remember reading a while back that support for TRIM in RAID0 via Intel's RST driver was imminent. So I just took at look now to get up-to-date with this. It is now indeed possible, but for limited situations, and it's not entirely mainstream yet. But the point is that this seems to be just off on the horizon. Do a Google search on "rst 11.5.0.1149", and you'll see lots about this.

Secondly, my understanding is that TRIM is less important for current generation SSDs than it was for early generation ones. These modern SSDs will still maintain great performance even if the resident operating system does not support TRIM.

Finally, everywhere I have read, the performance of two small SSDs in a RAID0 setup greatly surpasses the performance of a single, larger SSD despite not having TRIM support in such a config.

Anyway, I'm happy to learn more about this, and for certain, if any of my comments above are incorrect, I'm happy to be corrected so we all learn here.

Just go to

http://ocztechnology.4myrebate.com/

enter code OCZ-11419

$20.00
AGT4-25SAT3-128G
842024030676