My goal was the 2x 250GB hard drives were installed in my laptop and switched to RAID 0 were exchanged switched into 1x SSD and 1x1TB HDD to speed on the one hand programs (and the launch of Windows) and the 1TB back to accommodate my photos have. As a goal I have set myself 150 euros for this upgrade and have then scoured several days price comparison portals and read reviews and I have finally for The Kingston SSDNow KC300 with 120GB in conjunction with a HGST 1TB hard drive (Travelstar 7K1000) decided.
Why 120GB? At first I was thinking if I would not rather need 250 (256) GB. But then I looked at my current C partition and have 1year and after (as I have the last time the laptop relaunched) consumes only 55 of 90 GB. On the Patition are Windows 7, Lightroom, Photoshop CS6, MS Office 2010 and halt the whole "small" programs which otherwise needs in everyday life ... The Personal Folders (in which I normally rarely anything save) is with me always on the 2nd partition ... Due to this realization, I decided that 120 GB is the right place and help me not to break the budget.
Although in the price range of 60-80 euros (the remainder of the 150 euros I need for the large HDD), many SSD but the specifications are very different. So I concerned myself with what differences there are and read in addition to the eye-catching and write speed, I then found out that the IOPS 4k value is very important, this tells worth how fast the SSD with many small data bypasses because the reading and write speed is otherwise specified and yes super sounds if you but as 540MB / s reads only for large data applies ... And this IOPS 4k value was also decisive for my decision for this SSD that other SSD's which although fast read and write speeds comparable to specify the KC300 in this price range, however, have often read / write IOPS at 4k a lower value.
The connector is a SATA 6Gb / s, though my laptop has only one SATA 3Gb / s, but this is no problem, the laptop can stop reading the data on the SSD only half as fast ... That's right I have not understood but I was pleased with the SATA 6Gb / s Abwertskompatibel is. The SATA 6Gb / s connector on the SSD was important to me for a very practical reason. I want to use this fact SSD later when I configure a new PC there.
The SSD comes sealed in plastic and after I finally found a pair of scissors to get the thing out of the hated plastic pack I've found that's just one small plastic Frame it up on the SSD which is 2mm thick to the 7mm SSD to 9 5mm (standard height of 2.5 ") to" convert "this also wobbles nothing more, but you do not need more, too ...
The installation was totally without any problems, the first high start I put in the BIOS SATA setting of RAID to AHCI and start the Windows installation from USB stick, and since then I'm thrilled! The speed is phenomenal compared to my 2x250GB HDDs with 5200rpm in Raid 0. The installation of Windows 7 Professional has lasted just under 20 minutes, from a USB stick via USB 2.0 I have data copied to 15MB / s (previously it was 6MB), Windows starts in about 12 seconds and I've got nothing yet optimized. In the Windows Performance test, the SSD achieved a rating of 7.8 out of a maximum possible 7.9 the previous HDD connected in RAID have a rating of 5.9 managed.
I am completely satisfied with the price / performance ratio. Kingstoon is usually the mark on the I access for RAM modules and has me still there never disappointed, now this trust has come true even with SSD's.
Short even to my laptop. As I said I have a MSI laptop GX660R. I've read a lot in forums (after I had ordered the SSD) that the standard BIOS lots / nearly all SSDs does not recognize and even not in AHCI mode, I can now confirm that is recognized but this SSD perfectly and makes no problems, the Bios she was immediately recognized, Windows has correctly recognized when you install and so far I have no problems with it had no longer recognizes the SSD at a time when booting the SSD (which probably often). The controller used is: SandForce SF-2281st
I hope to have you helped with this review and I would be glad if you click on this review to "YES". If there should still be questions, of course, I am happy at your disposal and will try it as soon as possible to answer me.