Best SSDs for the Money

[Dim]

A lot of people seem confused as to what makes some SSDs better than others.

Just to help out, I've made this thread. Feel free to correct me if I say something wrong.

What is the Samsung Dilemma

Firstly, the Samsung 840 is a marketing ploy to get more money for Samsung.

The 840 has similar read speeds to the Samsung 830, and write speeds much much lower. It also has 8GB less capacity, though it is $10 less.

The 830 has R/W speeds of 520/330. This is compared to the Samsung 840 with R/W speeds of 530/130. This is compared to the Samsung 840 PRO with R/W speeds of 530/390.

I do not see the 840 pro as worth the premium over the 830. And the 840 doesn't even factor for me, since I like fast writes.

What is Reading/Writing

To be clear, reading includes things like boot up time, application load time, game load time, etc.

Writing includes things like saving, transferring files, and to an extent rendering.

What is the best for the price?

At ~$100, I would recommend the Samsung 830.

At ~$150, I would recommend the Samsung 840 Pro.

Feel free to add your recommendations below. I know the Intel 520 and OCZ Vertex 3/4 destroy, though I'm not certain to what extent.

The Crucial M4 is also a very apt choice, similar to the 830 and reliable.

Cheers.

[christoi]

To be honest, I really don't think SSD performance is that important for the vast majority of users - at least those who use it primarily for a boot drive. The difference in real world speeds between most models is negligible and usually not worth the added costs. This especially applies for write performance, since it's irrelevant for loading times and such. Generally speaking, I would recommend any modern SSD that's cheap with a reasonable reputation for reliability.

For those who use it for rendering, or for transferring large files of course, a faster SSD can be worth the extra costs.

[Dim]

I commonly transfer massive files, and I like the ability to install programs instantly :P

But to be honest, my main point here was that the difference between the 840 ($100) and the 830 ($110) isn't enough to justify getting the 840. You might as well get the 830, it's only $10 less. This is my opinion, even if you don't use writes that much the difference is fairly significant and the drive itself is not much more expensive.

[Dave :)]

The 840 uses different NAND aswell, TLC instead of MLC ( 830, 840 Pro )

For under $100, the M4 gets my vote, been using it on the same firmware 0309 for ages and it's been great. Considering all the firmware issues since, i'm happy i did so.

[Dim]

I would say the M4 and Samsung 830 are on par, really. But the 840 is, in my books, still not as good.

The M4 and 830 might be outdated, but they are very fast and very reliable. They are not baller, by any stretch of the imagination, but they are the best value.

[looney]

you forgot to mention the size of the drives :p

[Dim]

you forgot to mention the size of the drives :p

Input is always welcome :D

[wpirobotbuilder]

The new OCZ Vector is getting really good reviews. They've done away with the Sandforce controllers and developed everything in-house, plus taken a lot of extra time for verification. It's a little pricey, but if you want high performance it's very competitive with the 840 Pro.

If you use you drive as a boot drive, then you'll care much more about read speeds. If you use it for you main drive, you'll want something with blistering read and write speeds.

[Pyromaniacc]

A lot of people seem confused as to what makes some SSDs better than others. Just to help out' date=' I've made this thread. Feel free to correct me if I say something wrong. [b']What is the Samsung Dilemma Firstly, the Samsung 840 is a marketing ploy to get more money for Samsung. The 840 has similar read speeds to the Samsung 830, and write speeds much much lower. It also has 8GB less capacity, though it is $10 less. The 830 has R/W speeds of 520/330. This is compared to the Samsung 840 with R/W speeds of 530/130. This is compared to the Samsung 840 PRO with R/W speeds of 530/390. I do not see the 840 pro as worth the premium over the 830. And the 840 doesn't even factor for me, since I like fast writes.

The 840 offers better random performance than the 830 series so its far from a scam. Sequential speeds aren't always everything unless you're using the drive to specifically work with large files

[FamedKarma]

I'm using a 64GB Crucial M4 and I'm really happy with it, but I'm probably going to have to up to 128GB or 256GB.

[Jamdude]

I got my OCZ Agility 3 120gb for £60, read speed 525mb/s write speed: 500mb/s

[Brunty]

I bought a Crucial 128GB M4 on the recommendation of a friend, while it's the first SSD I've had in a system of mine, I couldn't be happier with it.

I'm using it as my OS drive and for a few key programs, everything else is on separate drives.

[rahulr1]

I would recommend the M4

[DvD92]

I use the Corsiar force 3 120gb for boot-drive. I Had really big stability issues with it till I upgraded the firmware, never had a problem since then. (some of the early Force 3 120gb was recalled)

I have an OCZ Vertex 3 240gb for my games, never had any issues.

[Helltech]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269.html

Should be everything you need to know here.