SSD on SATA II - Is it worth it? - OCZ Arc 100 128GB review

[STRMfrmXMN]

We all know the benefits of an SSD. It's quieter, it's easy to keep cool and above all IT GOES FAST. 

I needed an SSD because the ancient Samsung 64GB SSD I had in this thing died recently and even that was faster than the 5400 RPM HDD that came in this Lenovo S210 Touch originally.

 

BACKGROUND

 

Anyone buying an SSD is probably going to snoop around the internet, trying to find the best deal they can find within their budget. I had about $70 USD and was looking at 120GB SSDs. My critera:

 

1. It must be able to hit the SATA 2 cap in read/write speeds.
2. It must be under $70
3. Must be from a well known company and have a decent history in reliability.

The first one this drive does without issue. The second one sits this SSD at $69.99 on Amazon - right where I needed it to be.

The 3rd one was sketchy - OCZ's past with SSDs is a colorful one to say the least, however it would appear that they have gotten much better over the years and I decided to take the risk and go with this one.

 

So here we go.

 

UNBOXING

 

Unboxing an SSD usually isn't the most exciting thing in the world but OCZ does it's best to make it one. First of all, the packaging is GORGEOUS in a blue and white color scheme with little silver accents of writing all over it. The flap you untuck to remove the SSD says "There is a faster, more responsive computing experience inside this box." The SSD itself is much the same as the box (below). I don't think the pictures really do this thing justice. It's so freaking pretty.

 

The Box:

 

The SSD:

 

Everything that comes inside:

 

And the entire project going into my laptop:

 

The SSD next to my old ultra-thin HDD:

 

 

PERFORMANCE:

 

As for boot times and application loading processes, there really is no comparison. Some quick, easy to digest numbers:

 

• Opening Google Chrome from boot with an empty tab completely loaded: 1.8 seconds on the OCZ, 3.9 on the HDD
• Boot times on Windows 8.1 from pressing the power button: 9 seconds flat on the OCZ: 16.2 seconds on the HDD
• Malwarebytes scan: 8 minutes on the OCZ, 22 minutes on the HDD

The numbers pretty clearly speak for themselves. Note, this was a cloned drive rather than a fresh install of Windows on the SSD so tests were directly comparable.

 

Of course the SSD is much quieter, although I don't have the proper equipment to test this. 

 

As for numbers on paper, I did a benchmark running CrystalDiskMark (64-bit):

 

It's here that we see SATA 2 becoming the real bottleneck to the performance of the SSD. This thing is still fast nonetheless. But what does ssd.userbenchmark.com say about my SSD?

 

It looks like mine sits just above average in accordance to other people's results. Because I'm on SATA 2 though, my sequentials are the second lowest they've recorded on their site.

 

CONCLUSION:

 

Honestly, I'm not sure what there really is to say. It's more than twice as fast as my old 5400 RPM HDD and even faster than the old Samsug SSD that died before I got this. The real question is whether it's worth it to buy an SSD when stuck on an older platform. SATA 2 does seem limiting but the performance differences are definitely noticeable. s it worth it to use an SSD on SATA 2? I say yes - but note that you don't need to go get yourself an 850 Pro or Sandisk Extreme as you are hindering it's potential performance and getting a much cheaper drive on a budget is a better option.

 

TL;DR: This SSD is great for anyone looking to speed up an older machine or anyone who's on a budget on a newer one. This is well worth it over any other >$70 SSD that I can see.

 

 

UPDATE: this thing is $53.99 on Amazon. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR

[AlexStriz]

I'm not really a fan of OCZ, but I'll admit, that is a very attractive SSD

[Gofspar]

Or.... you could wait to catch a 840 evo on sale.

[NerdNinja]

Hmmm..... That SSD would fit in nice with my planned color scheme.... Hmmm......

 

Anyway nice review! Short and sweet! Enjoy your SSD!

[STRMfrmXMN]

Or.... you could wait to catch a 840 evo on sale.

This is cheaper by a bit and you'll never really notice the difference.

[STRMfrmXMN]

Hmmm..... That SSD would fit in nice with my planned color scheme.... Hmmm......

 

Anyway nice review! Short and sweet! Enjoy your SSD!

The silver and blues are quite powerful in person if that matters.

 

I will do so though. Thanks!

[Gofspar]

This is cheaper by a bit and you'll never really notice the difference.

Uhh... yes you will it has a FUCK ton more IOPS, lol.

[STRMfrmXMN]

Uhh... yes you will it has a FUCK ton more IOPS, lol.

Whatever you say.

[Reacher]

Uhh... yes you will it has a FUCK ton more IOPS, lol.

 

I actually have an OCZ Arc 100 and a Samsung 840 Evo and to be honest you cant really tell the difference between the drives unless you run synthetic benchmarks

[Gofspar]

I actually have an OCZ Arc 100 and a Samsung 840 Evo and to be honest you cant really tell the difference between the drives unless you run synthetic benchmarks

Try using CS6 or Vegas when it builds peaks, trust me it makes a difference. I used a Vertex for a week while my RMA'd EVO came.