What is the SSD of choice right now?

[LeonardK]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm looking for about 500gb in Solid State capacity.

 

The use-case is heavy IO of very large amounts of data at times. I work as a developer in 3D animation.

 

Right now I'm looking at the 840 by Samsung: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-SATAIII-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TD500BW/dp/B009NHAF3I/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1370720284&sr=8-3&keywords=samsung+840

 

There is also the pro series(http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-2-5-Inch-SATA_6_0_gb-MZ-7PD512BW/dp/B009NB8WTI/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1370720326&sr=8-3&keywords=samsung+840+pro), but I don't really see the benefits. If I should be seriously considering this let me know please.

 

I'm sure that there are alternatives that might be more suitable and or cost effective.

Should I consider going for two drives instead of one?

 

Which SSD would you put in your pc right now?

 

Thanks guys!

[Hyp0xia]

Samsung 840 Pro 512GB sounds like the way to go for you. It'll have significantly better write speeds than the standard 840, 12GB additional capacity, and a five-year manufacturer warranty compared to three years on the standard 840.

[felixbearpig]

the diffrance is the pro write speed is 520 Mbps and the non pro is 330Mbps

[Vic9mm]

Probably the Samsung you mentioned are the ones being held as great right now but of course any SSD you will see a huge improvement in overall performance VS mechanical HDD. If I were buying one today it would be the Samsung non PRO 500GB.

[MJOLNITR VIPER]

I would say just get the 840 pro if you want 1 drive as the transfers are faster, but the 840 has more space per $.  I would have to say get 2 250GB 840's and run them in raid 0.

[Eric1024]

If your use case is very heavy IO, then you're definitely going to want to spend the extra to get the pro series.

 

The difference between the standard 840 and the 840 pro is the type of flash they use. The 840 uses TLC or triple level cell flash memory, meaning that three bits are stored per cell, where as the 840 pro uses MLC or multi-level cell flass memory, meaning it only stores two bits per cell. The difference is that you'll get much better write speeds with MLC flash (aka the 840 pro) as well as much better write endurance.

 

Flash memory cells can only be written to a limited number of times before they basically degrade and become unusable. The number of times that a cell can be written to is determined mainly by the type and quality of flash memory being used. MLC flash cells/memory, for example, can be written to many more times than TLC, and SLC flash (or single level cell, one bit per cell) can be written to even more than MLC flash. The problem with SLC flash is that it's prohibitively expensive and generally reserved for enterprise products.

 

With your heavy IO workload, you'll be writing to the drive a lot more than the average user and a lot more than what the 840 (non-pro) was designed for. This basically means that the drive will die much more quickly than the 840 pro. For this reason, as well as the faster write speeds of the 840 pro, I think it would be the better drive for you.

[KBGaming]

For professional work, I'd look at Intel's or Samsung's. But the 840 Pro looks like the way to go.

[LeonardK]

Huh interesting.

You all seem to be in agreement. Good thing I asked...

 

Are there any other alternatives with similar performance, life-time and capacity as the 840pro by other manufacturers which I should consider?

[Eric1024]

OCZ's Vector is a good alternative for maximum performance. Intel's 520 series is a good option as well for extra write endurance over time, as Intel cherry picks the flash they use in those drives.

[LeonardK]

I feel like such a noob asking this, but I'm wondering if I will run into any compatibility issues or bottlenecks between these new drives and my motherboard.

 

Here is my current one: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P6T_WS_Professional/

 

It's a high-end one, but it's from 2009.

 

I'm contemplating building a new main system minus my gtx 680 anyway and having the old one as a back-up in case of problems during a job, so it wouldn't be a very big deal.

Still nice to know though.

[Humbug]

^^That motherboard does not have and of the newer SATA 6Gbps ports. It only has the older SATA 3Gbps ports. It will work fine and you will still see massive improvement over standard HDD performance.

But your new SSD won't reach it's maximum speed potential until you pair it with a 6Gbps port.

[Eric1024]

Like @Humbug said, you won't get sequential transfers over 300MB/s (limit of sata II 3Gb/s ports), but that will still be a massive improvement over any HDD you have for sequential workloads, and several orders of magnitude better for random workloads.

[Christian]

I say Samsung 840 Pro. It's got MLC flash as mentioned above so basically it will last longer and therefore be cheaper in terms of money and time in the future (I.e. replacing 840 drives vs not replacing 840 Pro). Running 2x 256GB in RAID 0 would give you some amazing speeds, but ensure you have at least one backup on mechanical drive (1TB), especially due to RAID.

[Damdinkhorol]

+1 for Samsung 840 Pro,.

2xSamsung 840 is good but bit risky,. :)