Write Speeds for OS/Application Installs-only drive

[ombadboy]

Hey Guys,

I am considering replacing my (old) OCZ Vertex 2 60GB -which has served me well- with a new(er) SSD.

I am considering the 128GB variants of Samsung Pro 840 and OCZ Vector. However, I am questioning whether I should go for more capacity and lower WRITE speeds, if WRITE speeds are not that important for an OS-only drive.

I can find the 250GB Samsung 840 for about the same price as the two above. The major difference is the write speeds being nearly half, but as I mentioned earlier, are write speeds that important for an OS + important installs drive?

A sidenote, I currently have an Asus P6T Deluxe V2 mobo, which only supports SATA II, but will be upgrading once Haswell are out (so I'll also get a SATA III compatible mobo).

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[ombadboy]

I've also seen people suggest the 830 due to the fact that the 840 Basic uses TLC (which is, and i quote, 'iffy') but they seem hard to get hold of

 

[Dereck47]

I am considering the 128GB variants of Samsung Pro 840 and OCZ Vector. However, I am questioning whether I should go for more capacity and lower WRITE speeds, if WRITE speeds are not that important for an OS-only drive.

I can find the 250GB Samsung 840 for about the same price as the two above. The major difference is the write speeds being nearly half, but as I mentioned earlier, are write speeds that important for an OS + important installs drive?

4K Write speeds are the most important benchmark for an O/S drive:
http://thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/beginners-guide/the-ssd-manufacturers-bluff/

 

[RetiredChief]

Concur with dereck47 (good link) and explains what I have been saying for some time -
There is Very little real life, day-2-day difference between the better SSDs.
.. Boot time, excluding post, maybe a second or two.
.. Program load time, give me a break, your going to see a diff between say 20 millisec and 30 Millisec program load
.. Outside of reading in, or writing to, there is NO diff in how fast the Program runs, nor in games FPS (There may be a SMALL diff when reading in a map).

My recommendation has not changed
For Price-to-performance: Crucial M4 or Samsung 830.
Why not the 840 (non-pro), I'm waiting a little longer to verify reliability as samsung moved to a NEW NAND chip, a tri-cell version.
The the 840 pro - Only if you have the extra bucks laying around.
My main reason for switching the 256 Gig M4 -> 256 gig 840Pro was not the performance, it was Power Consumption.

I have:
3 x M4's and 3 x 830's never could tell which system had which.
1 256 gig 840 pro, jut stuck in my laptop to replace the M4. Overall AS SSD score jumped from around 700 -> 1100. Hugh jump, but did performance jump by same %age - NOPE only a small boost in overall performance.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

I agree with Dereck47 and Retired Chief

My usual comment is that modern 3rd generation solid state drives form a fairly tight performance cluster. You would have to run a synthetic benchmark to be able to measure any performance difference. It would be different if the user were a rocket scientist or professional doing some sort of heavy duty enterprise level work.

The Samsung 840 uses a new triple level cell (TLC) memory which authors of ssd reviews have not seen before. Some concerns were expressed about the longevity and architecture of the memory. The reviews suggest the number of times data can be written to a cell is less than the estimate for flagship models like the 840 Pro which uses different memory. A few of the newer reviews used formulas to estimate the life expectancy of the memory in the 840. Their estimates indicate that if 10GB of data is writtent to the ssd every single day, then the 840 should last in excess of 5 years. A user could increase longevity and write performance by using the Samsung SSD Magician utility to increase over provisioning. It may take a few years to come up with an accurate assessment.

I think the point to remember is this is the first time Samsung has released to different models aimed at two different markets. The 840 Pro is their high performance model while the 840 is an affordable mainstream model intnded for ordinary everyday use.

I maintain the ssd database listed in the sticky at the very top of this forum section. Here is the link:

http://www.johnnylucky.org/data-storage/ssd-database.html

Scroll down to the brands and models you are interested in and follow the links to the technical reviews.

 

[ombadboy]

Thanks for the replied guys..

It seems the 830 is out of the question, as I can not find it anywhere (in UK/Europe) and the places I did find it, are asking for 2x the cost of the 840 pro..

I find the 256GB 840 Pro are a bit on the steep side.. So I am looking seriously at the 840 Basic..

Are there any alternatives to the 840 Basic in the same price range with MLC instead of TLC?

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Yes, there are alternatives. If you go to the ssd database that I mentioned in my previous post you will see that the type of controller and memory is identified for each model.

The current trend is to not purchase ssd's equipped with SandForce controllers. The SandForce controllers are getting old. SandForce has not come out with a new controller in over 2 years.

 

[RetiredChief]

The Crucial M4.
As I stated, You could not tell which of my systems have the M4 and which has the 830. The M4 is older than the 830 and has a very good track record for reliability and low user problems. DO NOT get the Crucial M5.
Plextor is a good choice, but normally higher priced than M4. Both use the marvel Controller.