Used 960 PRO vs New 970 EVO Plus

[jiyeon]

Hi, so I'm in the market for a new storage drive since I'm not satisfied with the performance (or lack thereof) that my Crucial P1 is giving me, while it is an NVME drive and it's great for short bursts of moving files around, it's painfully slow in sustained read and writes. Additionally, it tends to bog down my system if I save an Nvidia Shadowplay in the background, which adds to the frustration. As a result, I'm never going QLC again.

 

I've recently found a new drive I've been thinking of, and it's the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, 500GB, for £90 on Amazon. However, while browsing eBay, I've found a Samsung 960 PRO, 500GB, for £88 used.

The 960 PRO in question has 1800 hours powered on, 1.3TB host writes, and 1.6TB host reads on it.

 

I'm inclined to buy the 960 PRO for the longer life endurance/expetancy, seeing as I'll definitely be making use out of the read and writes of either drive, it's just a question of if the 960 PRO will be more in my ballpark.

The eBay listing has a CrystalDiskInfo screenshot of the 960 PRO, here it is:

Spoiler

 

For some context, here are a few key points:

• I own two small YouTube channels, both of which I make videos for every week or two
  • I use DaVinci Resolve to achieve this
  • I tend to move files around often to keep my files organised e.g moving relevant video clips to the appropriate folder(s)
• I already own a pair of 250GB Samsung 850 EVOs
  • Once I get a new OS drives, these 850 EVOs will be used for games and non-sensitive/important files such as pictures and music that are not required to be on my 'professiona' drive
• I use SSDs until they die, so life expectancy is crucial

 

As a final summary, here are my options:

1. New 500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus - £90
2. Used 512GB Samsung 960 PRO - £88

I am open to other options for a new 500GB OS drive, I value life expectancy and read/write endurance over anything else.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Stahlmann]

I'd personally go for the 970 Evo Plus because it's pretty much the same price but new. Buying used is only worth it when you save a serious amount of money in the process imo because there are always risks involved, not to mention you won't have any warranty.

[jaslion]

The sx8200 and 8200 pro would be nice alternatives too if cheaper but the 970 would be my goto

[AndrewZScorpion]

I will always advise against buying used storage, especially when the price is so close.

[Ankh Tech]

also, the mp510 is a choice, usually cheaper, and slightly better

[Doobeedoo]

980 Pro is an option too.