• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

I'm clueless! Help me choose an SSD!

Joined
Jun 29, 2015
Messages
48 (0.02/day)
Location
Greater London, UK
Processor Ryzen 5 2600X
Motherboard Gigabyte Aorus B450 M
Cooling Stock
Memory Corsair Vengeance 16GB 3200MHz White
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX 2070 Black Edition 8GB
Storage Samsung 970 EVO 500GB NVME M.2
Display(s) BenQ GW2765 27" 1440p 100% sRGB
Case Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV mATX Silver TG
Audio Device(s) Creative A250 with Subwoofer
Power Supply EVGA 650 G3
Mouse Logitech G403
Keyboard Razer Ornata Chroma, Logitech K780
Software Windows 10 Pro
As the title says. My budget is £140 and I want the best speed and size my money can buy. I'm struggling to navigate my way through all these different types of SSDs and their various prices and all that. Anyone with some know-how got a recommendation for me?
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
1,791 (0.82/day)
Location
Arizona
System Name Space Heater MKIV
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
Motherboard ASRock B550 Taichi
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S, 3x Noctua NF-A14s
Memory 2x32GB Teamgroup T-Force Vulcan Z DDR4-3600 C18 1.35V
Video Card(s) PowerColor RX 6800 XT Red Devil (2150MHz, 240W PL)
Storage 2TB WD SN850X, 4x1TB Crucial MX500 (striped array), LG WH16NS40 BD-RE
Display(s) Dell S3422DWG (34" 3440x1440 144Hz)
Case Phanteks Enthoo Pro M
Audio Device(s) Edifier R1700BT, Samson SR850
Power Supply Corsair RM850x, CyberPower CST135XLU
Mouse Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard Glorious GMMK 2 96%
Software Windows 10 LTSC 2021, Linux Mint
A 1TB Crucial MX500, Samsung 860 EVO, WD Blue, or SanDisk SSD Plus would probably be good if you're looking to upgrade your hard drive. If you are looking for an NVMe drive, something like a 500GB Samsung 970 EVO would be good. All of those are around $120 to $140 here in the US, dunno how much they are in pounds.
 

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman
Joined
Jul 2, 2007
Messages
40,435 (6.61/day)
Location
Republic of Texas (True Patriot)
System Name PCGOD
Processor AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory 16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s) NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s) Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software Windows 7 Pro 64
Samsung 840 Pro, 850 Pro, 860 Evo/Pro.

Crucial MX200, MX300
 
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Messages
9,781 (2.34/day)
Location
Massachusetts
System Name Americas cure is the death of Social Justice & Political Correctness
Processor i7-11700K
Motherboard Asrock Z590 Extreme wifi 6E
Cooling Noctua NH-U12A
Memory 32GB Corsair RGB fancy boi 5000
Video Card(s) RTX 3090 Reference
Storage Samsung 970 Evo 1Tb + Samsung 970 Evo 500Gb
Display(s) Dell - 27" LED QHD G-SYNC x2
Case Fractal Design Meshify-C
Audio Device(s) on board
Power Supply Seasonic Focus+ Gold 1000 Watt
Mouse Logitech G502 spectrum
Keyboard AZIO MGK-1 RGB (Kaith Blue)
Software Win 10 Professional 64 bit
Benchmark Scores the MLGeesiest
The mx500 m.2 & sata traditional are both $110 for 1Tb on newegg right now. You're not gonna find a good or bad 1 TB solid-state drive for a price even close to that. Do you need to add a promo code for the additional $10 off, it's listed in the email deals. I don't know how much in strangely shaped letter L's that is
 

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 6, 2004
Messages
58,413 (8.21/day)
Location
Oystralia
System Name Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
Motherboard Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
Cooling Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
Memory 2x32GB DDR4 3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB @3866 C18-22-22-22-42 TRFC704 (1.4V Hynix MJR - SoC 1.15V)
Video Card(s) Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage 2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
Display(s) Phillips 32 32M1N5800A (4k144), LG 32" (4K60) | Gigabyte G32QC (2k165) | Phillips 328m6fjrmb (2K144)
Case Fractal Design R6
Audio Device(s) Logitech G560 | Corsair Void pro RGB |Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
Keyboard Razer Huntsman TE ( Sexy white keycaps)
VR HMD Oculus Rift S + Quest 2
Software Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
Benchmark Scores Nyooom.
m.2 nvme if you have a native slot or you're willing to spend money on a PCI-E NVME adaptor

otherwise most sata SSD's are very similar, samsung are popular around here for a reason
 

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
28,472 (4.25/day)
Location
Indiana, USA
Processor Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory 32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s) RTX 2070 Super
Storage 500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s) Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s) Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
I'd suggest you decide on what size you want first, then look at what drives are available to you in that size.

Aside from size the main factor is how it connects to the system and the protocol the drive uses to communicate.

Here is a quick breakdown of connection types and protocols:

Connection|Protocol|Notes
SATA|AHCI|The good ol' SATA connection. Most SSD drives using this connection max out the SATA connection, so they all perform very similarly.
M.2 SATA|AHCI|These go in an M.2 slot, but use a SATA just in a different form factor and the AHCI protocol, and therefor are no faster than a standard SATA SSD. They are nice for cutting down cable clutter though.
M.2 PCI-E|NVMe|These drives also connect to an M.2 slot, but use the NVMe protocol and PCI-E to communicate. These are usually capable of much faster sequential transfers. The difference in most real world use isn't drastic over a SATA SSD though.
 
Joined
Oct 28, 2018
Messages
565 (0.29/day)
Location
Zadar, Croatia
System Name SloMo
Processor G4560
Motherboard MSi H110-PRO-D
Cooling LC-CC-95 @ Arctic Cooling fan
Memory 2X Crucial DDR4 2400 4GB
Video Card(s) Integrated HD 610
Storage WD 500 GB + Seagate 500 GB + Toshiba 3 TB
Display(s) Lenovo D221
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) Manhattan Flex BT Headphones, Encore P-801 stereo speakers
Power Supply Corsair CX450M
Mouse microsoft office mouse
Keyboard Modecom mc-800m
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores gorstak @ hwbot.org
mlc ssd's will work longest, tlc's are sufficient for most users and also faster...I'd find an mlc one, with high capacity, and invest into an asus mobo, which comes with ramcache app, or, any mobo and 3rd party ramcache app, such as primocache. If not, get a samsung drive and turn on rapid mode in it's software, but it will reduce the ssd's life span.
 
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Messages
9,762 (1.91/day)
Location
Jakarta, Indonesia
System Name micropage7
Processor Intel Xeon X3470
Motherboard Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. P55A-UD3R (Socket 1156)
Cooling Enermax ETS-T40F
Memory Samsung 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3
Video Card(s) NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800
Storage V-GEN03AS18EU120GB, Seagate 2 x 1TB and Seagate 4TB
Display(s) Samsung 21 inch LCD Wide Screen
Case Icute Super 18
Audio Device(s) Auzentech X-Fi Forte
Power Supply Silverstone 600 Watt
Mouse Logitech G502
Keyboard Sades Excalibur + Taihao keycaps
Software Win 7 64-bit
Benchmark Scores Classified
nope, just buy the bigger one that you can get with that money
 

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
28,472 (4.25/day)
Location
Indiana, USA
Processor Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory 32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s) RTX 2070 Super
Storage 500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s) Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s) Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
mlc ssd's will work longest, tlc's are sufficient for most users and also faster...I'd find an mlc one, with high capacity, and invest into an asus mobo, which comes with ramcache app, or, any mobo and 3rd party ramcache app, such as primocache. If not, get a samsung drive and turn on rapid mode in it's software, but it will reduce the ssd's life span.

There is a lot wrong in this statement.

TLC drives are not faster than MLC. QLC is slower than TLC, TLC is slower than MLC, and MLC is slower than SLC. Most consumer drives are either MLC or TLC, QLC is just starting to come into the consumer market, and SLC is pretty much not in the consumer market at all. TLC drives use several tricks to perform as good as MLC drives in most situations, but there are times when the TLC drive will be slower. However, I wouldn't worry about it, and TLC drives are perfectly good options.

Using a RAM cache is not recommended for any data that you don't want to loose. The performance improvement isn't worth the risk of data loss.

Samsung rapid mode is also just a RAM cache, and it will not reduce the life of the SSD at all.
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2015
Messages
2,960 (0.90/day)
Location
Long Island
The thing is ... If you picked 3 SSDS randomly and used them in your everyday tasks, you'd never be able to tell the difference unless doing things like animation, rendering or video editing. Look at a SSD teview , peruse the tests and ask yaself how many of those things you do on a daily basis. But before getting started, you need to know what types your MoBo will accept and then perhaps your choice on what slot you want to use. Also, how big uis your steam / gaming library . If the plan to fit all on the SSD ?

For smaller storage needs, a 1 TB SATA 860 EVO will likely be just over budget at £155 . If storage needs are large, a 500 GB Samsung Evo w/ 2 TB Seagate FireCuda SSHD works well. All have 5 year warrantees
 
Top