Samsung 850 Pro or Intel 730 or...

[Xesiius]

Hello,

I'm looking to buy my first SSD to put into my gaming system and I'm having a tough time deciding on which of these to buy.

It's either I get the Intel 730 480GB for $200 (currently) or I get the 850 pro 256GB for $180. I've looked into both of them, read a lot of good things about Intel, and right now it's priced very reasonably, but looking at the benchmarks comparing the two I see that that the Intel lacks in small sequential read/writes. I also see that the 850 Pro has 150TBW(with 10-year warranty) vs the Intel's approximate 128TB(with 5-year warranty).

I'm not sure exactly what all this means in terms of performance in day-to-day use, so which one would be the better option? Also, does the Samsung's features justify turning down the 2x amount of storage I would be getting with the Intel?

Thanks

P.S. I've also looked at the Crucial MX100 512GB, but it seems it's not nearly as reliable as the previous two mentioned (at least from what I've read).

 

[USAFRet]

I also see that the 850 Pro has 150TBW(with 10-year warranty) vs the Intel's approximate 128TB(with 5-year warranty).

The performance difference you see at anandtech is actually very, very small. You could use two identical systems, one with the Samsung and one with the Intel, and you would not be able to tell the difference.
Opening an application in 3.2 secs vs 3.3 secs.

For a real world comparison/use case of write cycles, my SSD (Kingston HyperX as the C drive) has ~6.9TB total writes in 2+ years of 24/7 use.
Extrapolate that out, and the Intel at 128TB writes = 46+ years.

Consider the Samsung EVO, or the Crucial MX100 (the 'reliability' reports you may have read are probably slanted. That drive is fine)

 

[Xesiius]

Those were among the other SSDs I looked into. I was originally going for the EVO because of its value compared to the others, but all things considered it's looking like it comes down to longevity and reliability since I'd prefer to keep it as long as possible.

All of these drives are around the same price point( excluding 850 Pro, I think that ones out of the decision) and they're also around the same speed, give or take, with the EVO pulling ahead. On top of that, all three guarantee around the same amount of MTTF/MTBF hours. So then it comes down to how much each will write (TBW) and which brand I prefer, right?

The only numbers I could find were Crucial stating 72TB TBW (in specifications) and Intel stating "up to 70GB writes per day for five years" which is about 123TB TBW. A few testers also say that the 840 EVO is anywhere from 78TB~140TB TBW.

Not 100% sure on my evaluations and if this is the only factor to take into serious consideration, but this means it's either the Intel for a bit more endurance plus its 5-year included warranty or the Samsung for a little less endurance, but more speed plus 3-year included warranty?

And yes, I understand I probably won't need them to last half as long as they do, but if they're all around the same price/speed why not get the one that will last the longest?

 

[USAFRet]

Endurance test for current consumer grade SSD's.
http://techreport.com/review/26058/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-data-retention-after-600tb

100's of GB per day, every day, for years. Unless it is being used as a write space for 3D rendering in a movie production environment, you will never, ever see close to that use.

The concept of "SSD's die from too many writes" is waaaaay overblown.
All of the drives you listed will last a long time. If they die, it would not be due to 'too many write cycles'.

 

[Xesiius]

All of the drives you listed will last a long time. If they die, it would not be due to 'too many write cycles'.

Alright. So, disregarding TBW and considering all have somewhat equal price, should I simply go with the one that offers the best warranty and proven reliability (reviews/tests)? If so, which of the three would you recommend? I'm still currently leaning towards the EVO, but I'm not sure.

EDIT: I think I'm reconsidering the 850 Pro as well. It seems it's the most reliable, albeit at a much higher mark-up in price. Which means I'm back to MX100, 840 Evo, 850 Pro, and 730. I'm having a tougher time choosing an SSD than when I chose parts for my computer :lol:

 

[USAFRet]

Either the MX100 or the 840 EVO, in whatever size your budget allows.

By the time they 'wear out'...a 250GB drive will be seen the same as a 1.44MB floppy is today.

 

[Xesiius]

Either the MX100 or the 840 EVO, in whatever size your budget allows.

By the time they 'wear out'...a 250GB drive will be seen the same as a 1.44MB floppy is today.

Ok. In that case, I believe I'm going to go with the 840 EVO 250GB. I was going to go with the 500GB version, but the difference is minimal and still have my 7200RPM 750GB hard drive which should work just fine for secondary storage.

Thanks for your helpful advice and insight.