The most important specs here to take note are the 6Gbps SATA interface and all-important TRIM support.  Crucial also provides field-upgradable firmware and a solid 3-year warranty.  Using Crystal Disk Info, here are the drive's detected SMART and other parameters:

 

Here are Crystal DiskMark test results with a standard 3Gbps SATA controller:

But of course, this is a 6Gbps SSD, so we must test with a 6Gbps controller - AMD's AWESEOME SB850 on a Gigabyte 890FX motherboard.  Here's what we got:

Hah, we're not done yet.  We tried the same drive on an LSI 9260-8i 6Gbps SAS RAID controller, and this is what happened:

 

 

Well, that's going to be a tough act to follow.  Next, we look at everyone's de-facto choice for SSD, the OCZ Vertex 2:

Unlike other manufacturer's whose largest capacity drives usually perform the best, the Vertex 2 middle-tier has top specs: 

For this article, we tested the 100GB model, their most popular one.  Crystal Disk Info:

And here are it's test results with the latest v1.24 firmware:

As most of us know so well, sequential numbers mean little to real-world, daily computing performance.  It's the 4K random writes that really slow us down.  OCZ really tweaked their firmware to maximize this performance at the expense of sequential writes.

Third in our roundup is the Samsung 470-Series 256GB SSD.   

Their website has no useful tech specs, so let's just show you the Crystal Disk Info:

Samsung performed very well, sequentially, but not as good as the OCZ:

Lastly, we come to the newcomer to the bunch, the Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 128GB SSD:

 

WD SiliconEdge Blue 128 GB SATA Solid State Drives ( SSC-D0128SC-2100) Physical Specifications   Capacity 128 GB Interface SATA 3 Gb/s Form Factor 2.5-inch Drive RoHS Compliant 6/6 User Sectors Per Drive 250,069,680 Performance Specifications   Target Performance Interface Burst Speed 3 Gb/s Sustained Read Speed Up to 250 MB/s Sustained Write Speed Up to 170 MB/s MTBF 1,400,000 hours Error Rate (non-recoverable) < 1 in 1015 bits read Operational Lifespan Read Unlimited Write 35 GB/Day Physical Dimensions   English Height 0.40 Inches Depth 3.9 Inches Width 2.75 Inches Metric Height 9.5 mm Depth 98.9 mm Width 69.86 mm Power Management   DC Input Voltage 5V Read (Peak Watts) 2.00 Watts Write (Peak Watts) 3.5 Watts Sleep (Idle Watts) 0.60 Watts Environmental Specifications   Shock Operating Shock 1000 G, Half-sine, 0.5ms Duration, 50g Pk, MIL-STD-810F, Method 516.5, Procedure I Temperature (Metric) Standard Temperature (c) 0° C to 70° C Non-operating -55°C to 125°C Humidity Operating 8% to 95% Non-condensing Altitude (English) Operating 80,000ft, MIL-STD-810F, Method 500.4, Procedure II Vibration Operating 16.3gRMS, MIL-STD-810F, Method 514.5, Procedure I, Category 24

This newbie has got some growing up to do:

 

Conclusion:

The OCZ Vertex 2 is still the choice for an OS boot drive because of its balanced performance especially the 4K random writes and reads.  But the Crucial C300 is closing fast, really fast.  With the combination of native 6Gbps coming soon to more and more chipsets, and improvements in firmware, the Crucial is poised to take the crown from the OCZ.  Unless, OCZ brings 6Gbps support!  Now what if you're NOT looking for a boot drive?  Well, the C300 becomes the clear winner in that case.