Recommend a 256gb SSD

[falconcry72]

The two I'm looking at (both are about $150):

- OCZ Agility 4 AGT4-25SAT3-256G.RF
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227960

- Samsung 840 Series MZ-7TD250BW
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...114&CatId=5298


I'm new to SSD's. Thoughts?

[ZLTFUL]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tem=20-148-443

Or the Samsung.

I've owned about 35 to 40 OCZ SSDs over the years in some form or another...LOVED them right up until I bought my first Vertex 4...then got it's replacement after it died and it's replacement after it died...and then asked for a refund when the third drive in as many weeks croaked.
Went to Crucial M4s and haven't had a single issue since.

[Drenis]

IMO, neither.

But a Intel SSD and never look back. A 500 series will rock your world.

[zingo]

http://www.pcper.com/

[nick p]

If you end up going with samsung make sure to get the 840 Pro. The true successor to the 830 since the write/read speeds of the regular 840 were nerfed

[ZLTFUL]

IMO, neither.

But a Intel SSD and never look back. A 500 series will rock your world.

Unfortunately, the Sandforce controllers have fallen a long way from the previous generation. Marvell's latest gen controllers have kicked the snot out of them time and time again.
Bear in mind that I currently own 3 3XX series Intel drives and absolutely love them. But the 5XXs have done nothing to maintain the performance/reliability crown Intel has been known for in the SSD market.

I am with nick on the Samsung. The Samsung MDX controller is great but they hamstrung the firmware for the non-Pro drives. The Pro series drives are what they should have been.

[falconcry72]

so can get a good 256gb ssd for 150 bucks?

what are the best models in the $150-200 range?

[ZLTFUL]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tem=20-148-443

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820249025

Those 2 would be my recommendation in your price range. Crucial would be choice #1 for me (in fact, I ordered one this afternoon for my new laptop).
$150 would require you to catch a great sale or look at the refurb market.

[ViperZ]

When I did my research during Christmas, Samsung 840, 840Pro and Crucial M4 had the best reliability numbers, and the best performance numbers. NOT Intel, as I have thought, Intel was close though. I bought a non-Pro Samsung 840, and it's an EXCELLENT drive so far. Super-fast and no problems so far. All I hear about OCZ is that they are very unreliable and people constantly have to update firmware to fix some issues. I just put my Samsung in and it works like a charm.

Here is a great site to compare drive performance. Regular 840 is still way faster than 830. And it costs way less than Pro. Of course, if you have money, get 840 Pro.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/s...marks,129.html

[falconcry72]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tem=20-148-443

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820249025

Those 2 would be my recommendation in your price range. Crucial would be choice #1 for me (in fact, I ordered one this afternoon for my new laptop).
$150 would require you to catch a great sale or look at the refurb market.

Thar Crucial drive has a TON of positive reviews. Looks to be tried and true.

[falconcry72]

When I did my research during Christmas, Samsung 840, 840Pro and Crucial M4 had the best reliability numbers, and the best performance numbers. NOT Intel, as I have thought, Intel was close though. I bought a non-Pro Samsung 840, and it's an EXCELLENT drive so far. Super-fast and no problems so far. All I hear about OCZ is that they are very unreliable and people constantly have to update firmware to fix some issues. I just put my Samsung in and it works like a charm.

Here is a great site to compare drive performance. Regular 840 is still way faster than 830. And it costs way less than Pro. Of course, if you have money, get 840 Pro.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/s...marks,129.html

The Samsung Pro comes with a 5 year parts and labor warranty. That's pretty sweet.

The Crucial is 3 year, which is not bad either.

[billbillw]

SSD prices change like the wind. As of this moment, there aren't really any deals I would jump on. I picked up the Crucial M4 256GB a few weeks ago for $149 shipped. It already had the latest firmware installed. Quite good. Then last Friday, I picked up a Kingston V300 256GB for about $145 with tax using a competitor coupon at Staples. I am very happy with that dive as well. It is actually noticeably faster than the Crucial drive.

You really have to keep up with Slickdeals.net (in the Hot Deals subforum) if you want to get the best deal on an SSD.

In my opinion, the Samsung 840 is a good drive, but since is uses inferior TLC memory, it should be priced lower than the other drives. Yes it does test fast under most circumstances, and it will probably last most people well over 5 years, but for the same money, I'd much rather have and SSD with synchronous MLC.

Be sure to avoid drives with Asynchronous MLC. They are much slower (The Agility series from OCZ and the Kingston V200 both have this type of memory).

Here are a few drives that frequently go on sale at or below $150 (for the 240-256GB size):

Crucial M4
Sandisk Extreme
Kingston SSDnow V300 (not the V200)
OCZ Vertex 3 (MaxIOPS)
PNY XLR8

Samsung 840 (but don't buy unless closer to $130)

Maybe keep an eye on deals for those drives.

[falconcry72]

Awesome, thanks for all the feedback!

This upgrade may be a few months out, so I'll have to look all over again, but at least I'll know where to start.

[falconcry72]

hmm the Samsung 840 pro 256bg is 229 shipped prime at amazon... looks like a beast..

[Lasareath]

I've installed around 35 of these in the past year:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820239046

Right now this is the only SSD I recommend. I have them in my home PCs as well.

[falconcry72]

I've installed around 35 of these in the past year:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820239046

Right now this is the only SSD I recommend. I have them in my home PCs as well.

damn, that thing looks like a beast too. Can you compare it to the 840 Pro?

[billbillw]

damn, that thing looks like a beast too. Can you compare it to the 840 Pro?

It is a step down from the 840 Pro. Right now, everything (except for enterprise stuff) is a step down from the 840 Pro. The 840 Pro is top of the heap. The OCZ Vector, Vertex 4, and Corsair Neutron GTX run close behind.

The Kingston Hyper X that Las linked above is comparable to the Vertex 3 and others that were top of the line about 1-2 years ago. They are still very fast, but not top of the heap anymore.

BTW, the Samsung 840 Pro has been priced as low as $199 from Newegg, within the last 45 days in fact.

If I were you, I'd still try for an under $150 drive. You would be happy with just about any SSD. In real world usage, they all seem very fast.

As long as you avoid the drives that are noticeably slower (ie: those with asynchronous MLC or very slow controllers like in the Crucial V series) I think it just boils down to price per GB. Just do a little research one each one you come across and make sure they don't have a bad reputation for reliability. OCZ had a bad rap for awhile but that may have been mostly because of issues with the Sandforce controllers, which affected every manufacturer that used them. BTW, the issues with Sandforce have all been worked out and now they seem to be just as good as the others.

[Lasareath]

I've never used the Samsung 840, But it sure does look nice. I'm going to order one and try it out!

damn, that thing looks like a beast too. Can you compare it to the 840 Pro?

[falconcry72]

I've never used the Samsung 840, But it sure does look nice. I'm going to order one and try it out!

lol nice! make sure you get the pro, and report back how it turns out!