best budget ssd?

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If you go for the Samsung 840 and are mounting it into a desktop or a notebook with a 9.5mm hdd height, I'd recommend the kit rather than the standalone drive if you are buying them at full price. The kit comes with a USB to Sata adapter, a 2.5 inch to 3.5 mounting brace, a sata cable, screws to hold it all in place, and a hdd spacer for hdd bays in non-ultrabooks (9.5mm) for $10 more than the standalone drive. That being said, you will be more likely to find sales on the standalone drive and the stand-alone drive should fit ultrabooks (7mm) just fine. Just be aware that you may need additional mounting hardware if you go with the stand-alone drive.

Samsung 840 with installation kit...

g-unit1111

Titan
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Here's a couple I would recommend:

- ADATA SXG 9000: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211721

- Seagate 600: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820248016

- Crucial M4: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148443

- Mushkin Chronos: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226371

- Plextor M5S: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820249025

All of these drives use high quality NAND and have a minimum capacity of 240GB for less than $200, and all have won awards from major publications and web sites.
 

pyro226

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Sep 22, 2011
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If you go for the Samsung 840 and are mounting it into a desktop or a notebook with a 9.5mm hdd height, I'd recommend the kit rather than the standalone drive if you are buying them at full price. The kit comes with a USB to Sata adapter, a 2.5 inch to 3.5 mounting brace, a sata cable, screws to hold it all in place, and a hdd spacer for hdd bays in non-ultrabooks (9.5mm) for $10 more than the standalone drive. That being said, you will be more likely to find sales on the standalone drive and the stand-alone drive should fit ultrabooks (7mm) just fine. Just be aware that you may need additional mounting hardware if you go with the stand-alone drive.

Samsung 840 with installation kit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147186
 
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JPNpower

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Jun 7, 2013
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I recommend the Plextor M5s because it's cheap, fast and because I blindly recommend anything Japanese.

I seriously recommend the Sandisk Ultra plus, which is significantly cheaper than most other serious SSDs, and offers pretty decent performance. There was a recent Toms article about it too, still on the top page actually. I'll provide a link below.


Here you go.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ultra-plus-ssd-nand,3502.html
 

footballgamer17

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Jul 9, 2013
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what do u think about the samsung ssd mentioned the comment before yours?
 

g-unit1111

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It's a pretty decent drive. I would go with the 840 Pro if you have the money but that would run an extra $50 - $60 right now. The drives I linked to are all <= $200.
 

lazykoala

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I went with the sandisk ultra plus recently due to its value and the solid review given by toms as well, although I went with just a 128GB model for my needs. Very happy with it thus far, especially the value since the alternatives I was considering (corsair neutron gtx and samsung) were a bit more expensive.