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Vertex 3 or Intel 510 SSD for iMac 2011

vigu360

vigu360

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 21, 2009
90
0
Canada
Hey guys finally decided to upgrade to SSD on my 2011 iMac, which one do you guys think will be the best to use Intel 510 or Vertex 3?
 
vigu360 said:
Hey guys finally decided to upgrade to SSD on my 2011 iMac, which one do you guys think will be the best to use Intel 510 or Vertex 3?
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From my reading of the forums it's sounding like people are getting better read/write speeds out of the Vertex 3.
 
If you plan on doing firmware updates the 510, if not, the Vertex 3.
 
Badger^2 said:
WTH are you using it for?
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My machine acts as a server for multiple apps, and while those apps are running I usually do development, photo editing and video editing. So was thinking for the above needs SSD might be a better solution to speed things.
 
daneoni said:
If you plan on doing firmware updates the 510, if not, the Vertex 3.
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So basically Intel 510 is more stable down the road, but will the updates increase the SSD speed ? What if OCZ is also able to provide firmware updates in the future?
 
vigu360 said:
So basically Intel 510 is more stable down the road, but will the updates increase the SSD speed ? What if OCZ is also able to provide firmware updates in the future?
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That's a big 'what if' because: what if a new SSD came out that was faster than the OCZ now? Are you really going to notice the difference in read/write and is the firmware update a big deal to you? I would get the OCZ because they're fast and proving to be a dominant player in the SSD market.
 
Dresevski said:
That's a big 'what if' because: what if a new SSD came out that was faster than the OCZ now? Are you really going to notice the difference in read/write and is the firmware update a big deal to you? I would get the OCZ because they're fast and proving to be a dominant player in the SSD market.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I think I'll go with Vertex 3.
 
vigu360 said:
So basically Intel 510 is more stable down the road, but will the updates increase the SSD speed ? What if OCZ is also able to provide firmware updates in the future?
Click to expand...

No i just meant the 510 allows you to update the firmware regardless of your OS. The Vertex 3 requires a Windows computer + a spare AHCI SATA port. Either one can work well or badly.

Updates can indeed increase speeds slightly, reduce power draw, fix bugs etc.

vigu360 said:
Can you point me the reasons for going with M4?
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Cheaper and it's within the speed range of the Vertex 3 and 510 in some aspects.
 
OWC Mercury extreme 6Gb. Made in the USA and one of the fastest drives on the market. My first gen OCZ has died 3 times and they have terrible customer service.
 
Battlefield Fan said:
OWC Mercury extreme 6Gb. Made in the USA and one of the fastest drives on the market. My first gen OCZ has died 3 times and they have terrible customer service.
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Hmmm that's the concern I have. OCZ has good benchmarks but in day to day usage Crucial or Intel seems a better option to go with. With Intel having support for firmware updates and 5 year warranty and a well known chip provider we can't go wrong with them I guess.


I have around 150GB of data in my hard drive now, so not sure which size to get and how to manage the user folder and OS? is there a guide / format that I can take a look at? I mean which folders gets in SSD and HDD
 
vigu360 said:
Hmmm that's the concern I have. OCZ has good benchmarks but in day to day usage Crucial or Intel seems a better option to go with. With Intel having support for firmware updates and 5 year warranty and a well known chip provider we can't go wrong with them I guess.
Click to expand...

Intel 510 is quite slow:
http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2011/20110505_2_Intel510--ssd.html

I don't know about Crucial latest SSD's but the old ones sucked pretty bad:
http://macperformanceguide.com/SSD-RealWorld-SevereDuty.html

OCZ uses off-spec (cheap) flash memory:
http://blog.macsales.com/9438-not-all-ssd’s-are-created-equal-the-story-continues

vigu360 said:
I have around 150GB of data in my hard drive now, so not sure which size to get and how to manage the user folder and OS? is there a guide / format that I can take a look at? I mean which folders gets in SSD and HDD
Click to expand...

I suggest everything, except big media files and libraries, on the SSD. Some people suggest putting the home folder on the hard drive, but it contains preferences, caches and application support data which is accessed while launching and using apps, so you want it on the SSD.

All iTunes, iMovie and iPhoto can all be reconfigured to access their libraries on a HDD.
 
Last edited:
Warbitrary said:
Intel 510 is quite slow:
http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2011/20110505_2_Intel510--ssd.html

I don't know about Crucial latest SSD's but the old ones sucked pretty bad:
http://macperformanceguide.com/SSD-RealWorld-SevereDuty.html

OCZ uses off-spec (cheap) flash memory:
http://blog.macsales.com/9438-not-all-ssd’s-are-created-equal-the-story-continues



I suggest everything, except big media files and libraries, on the SSD. Some people suggest putting the home folder on the hard drive, but it contains preferences, caches and application support data which is accessed while launching and using apps, so you want it on the SSD.

All iTunes, iMovie and iPhoto can all be reconfigured to access their libraries on a HDD.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the points, and my reseller has said that they cannot install any other SSD other than from Apple, so I won't be able to upgrade and I don't want to do it myself. Hope Apple changes the policy in SSD upgrade
 
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