Solid SSD Suggestions

[[Ion]]

I'm looking to pick up a SSD for my i7 system to improve its real-world responsiveness. I think that since I also have a 500GB HDD for it, a 64GB SSD would be plenty (enough for Windows, Firefox, Office, Notepad++ and a game or two).

I'm tempted by the Samsung 840 Pro 64GB, but it strikes me as expensive given the capacity. I suppose that for a 120/128GB disk I could spend up to $130, but I'd ideally like to spend $90 or less on a 64GB disk.

Maximum speed isn't my primary concern; instead I'd like to make sure I get something with promising reliability.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

64GB SSDs are not very cost effective. 120/128GB drives seem to be the best in terms of price to capacity. Even the non pro 840 or the 830s would be fine. I got my Samsung 830 for like $90 bucks on newegg. 128GB.

OCZ Vector drive is also good. On sale right now too. Fastest drives on the market.

OCZ Vector Series VTR1-25SAT3-128G Solid State Dr...

 

[[Ion]]

I'm naturally suspicious of OCZ because of their past quality issues--for a drive that I expect to last 2-3 years, would OCZ be OK?

I have a non-pro Samsung 840 120GB that I purchased for my laptop--after I purchased it, I saw that Samsung used the cheaper 1000cycle NAND for it (vs the 3k or 5k on others)--is this realistically something to be worried about?

And if I don't really need the extra space do you still think that 128GB makes sense? I don't have that many games that I play on a frequent basis, and the 500GB disk will certainly be good for my music/pictures/downloads.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I'm naturally suspicious of OCZ because of their past quality issues--for a drive that I expect to last 2-3 years, would OCZ be OK?

I have a non-pro Samsung 840 120GB that I purchased for my laptop--after I purchased it, I saw that Samsung used the cheaper 1000cycle NAND for it (vs the 3k or 5k on others)--is this realistically something to be worried about?

And if I don't really need the extra space do you still think that 128GB makes sense? I don't have that many games that I play on a frequent basis, and the 500GB disk will certainly be good for my music/pictures/downloads.

I have the 128GB Samsung 830 for only a 30GB windows install and nothing else. Everything else is on my 240GB drive or 500GB platter drive and I like that that way. And no the Samsung 840 still performs well regardless of the NAND. They have done a lot of controller tweaks to compensate for it.

 

[[Ion]]

I have the 128GB Samsung 830 for only a 30GB windows install and nothing else. Everything else is on my 240GB drive or 500GB platter drive and I like that that way. And no the Samsung 840 still performs well regardless of the NAND. They have done a lot of controller tweaks to compensate for it.

Performance isn't too important IMO--any SSD will still smoke my Caviar Blue. I'm more worried that it might wear out soon.

Would the Samsung 840 Pro 128GB be a sensible choice, or should I save $20 and get the OCZ or save $40 and get the 840 non-Pro?

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Performance isn't too important IMO--any SSD will still smoke my Caviar Blue. I'm more worried that it might wear out soon.

Would the Samsung 840 Pro 128GB be a sensible choice, or should I save $20 and get the OCZ or save $40 and get the 840 non-Pro?

The 840 non pro would be fine. any of them really. I just wouldn't get a 64gb drive due to the prices on nearly all of them are retarded.

 

[radrok]

Also remember that the more your SSD is filled the less it performs to an extent that it may literally halve the performance.

Getting a 64GB and having it like at 50GB would seriously hinder its performance.

 

[[Ion]]

Also remember that the more your SSD is filled the less it performs to an extent that it may literally halve the performance.

Getting a 64GB and having it like at 50GB would seriously hinder its performance.

The 120GB SSD (111GB usable) I had in my laptop I usually had filled to about 107 or 108GB....

 

[MxPhenom 216]

The 120GB SSD (111GB usable) I had in my laptop I usually had filled to about 107 or 108GB....

jesus! yeah thatll kill performance real quick.

 

[manofthem]

I'm tempted to offer you one of my Samsung 256gb 830s at a killer price I'm a huge fan of the Sammy ssds, never any issue with these bad boys

 

[Hood]

I'm naturally suspicious of OCZ because of their past quality issues--for a drive that I expect to last 2-3 years, would OCZ be OK?

They say the Vectors were extensively tested for reliability, but you'll see a certain percentage of DOAs, just like the Vertex 4's (mine lasted 15 days). I now have a Crucial M4 128 that's very reliable, but only middle-of-the-road fast. My next will probably be a Corsair Neutron GTX 240, very reliable, very fast, no issues that I can determine, and since it's not the absolute fastest, they are reasonably priced ($199/240GB - $129/120GB).

 

[[Ion]]

jesus! yeah thatll kill performance real quick.

It probably does. When I install the new SSD, I'm going to wile the 320GB HDD and put it in the optical drive bay and offload my music/pictures there. That ought to help a bit.

I'm tempted to offer you one of my Samsung 256gb 830s at a killer price I'm a huge fan of the Sammy ssds, never any issue with these bad boys

Well, LMK if you decide to

I'm naturally suspicious of OCZ because of their past quality issues--for a drive that I expect to last 2-3 years, would OCZ be OK?

They say the Vectors were extensively tested for reliability, but you'll see a certain percentage of DOAs, just like the Vertex 4's (mine lasted 15 days). I now have a Crucial M4 128 that's very reliable, but only middle-of-the-road fast. My next will probably be a Corsair Neutron GTX 240, very reliable, very fast, no issues that I can determine, and since it's not the absolute fastest, they are reasonably priced ($199/240GB - $129/120GB).

Well, I think that some infant mortality is to be expected in PC hardware. I'm OK with that. I'm less OK with a drive that will die every six months for the duration of the warranty.

 

[mosheen]

I just got a new kingston v300 120gb.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

I like Sandisk Extremes....I have 2 Sandisk Extreme 120's in RAID0 and they are fast....seem fairly reliable...seem to have excellent reviews as well...nobody else here on TPU seems to have em...not sure why....they are faster then a lot of the crap I see here on TPU people always rave about like M4's

 

[Hood]

I'm less OK with a drive that will die every six months for the duration of the warranty.

The Corsair Neutron GTX drives get very good reviews from users, and haven't required a firmware update (so far). Also to be considered is customer service, Corsair has the best on the planet (so people often say), others not so much.

 

[Peter1986C]

My Kingston SSDNow V300 has a capacity of 120GB (like 118ish GiB (what Windows displays)), is fast (in a consistent way) and it costed 90 euro (bare drive, because a seperately bought bracket turned out cheaper for me). It has not needed any firmware updates thus far (it has been in use since January).
A 60 GB version would be cheaper, but still cost like 70-90 dollars and be full quicker than you think (albeit only putting games on it that are truely benefitting from an SSD over a HDD, thus being selective in what to install where).

From the sticky thread on SSD reviews:

Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB SSD Review
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=35102
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2097/
http://www.rwlabs.com/article.php?id=754
http://thessdreview.com/our-reviews/kingston-ssdnow-v300-ssd-review/

@jmcslob: Crucial M4 SSDs have been fairly cheap for a long while, although they have "slow" writing speeds (compared to more modern SSDs) they are still fast enough in terms of reading speeds to be an upgrade (especially for those like me, who are on SATA II). Plus, they provide a bit of overprovisioning (by my knowledge) so for some that might be a plus.

 

[Ghost]

Plextor M5 Pro or Plextor M5S, depending on which one fits your budget. Both are fast and very reliable. M5 Pro is on par with 840 Pro, also gets 5 year warranty.

Plextor M5P Series PX-128M5Pro 2.5" 128GB SATA III...
Plextor M5S Series PX-128M5S Solid State Drive - ...

 

[Hood]

SSD Bottleneck

As I understand it, in a modern multi-core PC, the CPU is the fastest component, especially when overclocked, next is RAM (maybe 250X slower), then writing/reading to and from the SSD/HDD (100,000 to 200,000 times slower). So if you have a fast overclocked CPU and 2400 MHz RAM, you still spend most of your time waiting for the drive.
As for SATA III 6 GB/s, the fastest SSDs are now pushing it's limits, so the only way to increase throughput there is to use RAID 0 on 2 or more drives (which may not be worth the trouble unless you do a lot of intense content creation professionally).