High-end SSD Roundup - 10 SSDs tested!

High-end hardware calls for blazing fast storage devices to output results at blistering speeds. Using a conventional hard drive as primary storage would bottleneck performance in scenarios where speedy read and write operations are critical— for example, audio and video capturing/editing, 3D modelling, image editing, and so on. In such cases, using a high-end SSD works wonders. Older generation SSDs with SATA 3GB/s interface are more than twice as fast as regular hard drives. The new SATA 6GB/s interface and with high-speed controllers have changed the ball game, yet again. Plug a SATA 6GB/s SSD to a 3GB/sport on the motherboard and then connect it to a 6GB/s port—you’ll see a vast difference in transfer speeds. We tried it and noted a difference of 45 percent in speed with the same drive. The average read and write speeds of a 6GB/s SSD, when connected to a SATA 6GB/s port is around 510MB/s and 490MB/s, respectively. When connected to a SATA  3GB/s port, which has half the bandwidth of the average read and write speeds it dropped to 270MB/s and 260MB/s, respectively.

10 SSDs compared

SSDs are available in capacities ranging from 64GB to 256GB. The ideal capacity for your PC depends on the amount of storage space required by the operating system and applications you use. For example, a 64GB SSD is ideal for a basic home PC, whereas a 128GB SSD is good for a gaming PC in which a lot of storage space is required to install games. Nowadays, with even entry-level motherboards featuring SATA 6GB/s interface, opting for a SATA 6GB/s SSD is a smart choice. If you want plenty of storage space without compromising on the performance and spending too much money, you can use an SSD as the primary drive and a high-capacity hard drive as the secondary storage. Such a set-up would be ideal, if you want to store your entire collection of music and movies on your PC. However, in the case of an office PC, where you just need to store documents and files related to work, even a 64GB SSD should suffice.

Upgrading your laptop’s storage by replacing the hard drive with an SSD is a very smart upgrade. You’ll find an improvement in the boot time and the speed at which applications load. Also, the battery life will improve because SSDs consume less power than hard drives, due to the absence of moving parts. In this comparison, we compared high-performance SSDs with SATA 6GB/s interface. We tried our best to round-up all the brands in the market, and we got our hands on 10 speed demons. Here’s a look at the entire group followed by the two best SSDs of the lot.