SSD shootout: pricey HDD replacements do battle
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Considering that solid state discs -- although still noticeably more expensive that traditional HDDs -- are quickly plummeting in price, it's about time a brief roundup was executed in order to pinpoint which SSD was best for you. Granted, CustomPC's evaluation only included a handful of options, but the in-depth testing process found a few glaring losers and even fewer runaway winners. As expected, reviewers used a number of read / write testing applications to judge the speed differences and real-world performance increases on seven SSDs ranging from 8GB to 32GB in size. Coming out on top was Samsung's 32GB drive, which proved both "quick and silent" in their testing; however, the 18GB STEC Zeus-IOPS proved the hands-down winner in terms of sheer speed. 'Course, we highly doubt many of you will be snagging the latter after witnessing its £7,050 ($14,461) pricetag, but a number of slightly slower performers including PQI's Turbo Plus 2.5 could very well provide the boost you desire without (totally) breaking the bank.