Is Samsung 840 PRO still the king?...Now that EVO is coming out?

[driedupfish]

EVO is coming out soon with comparable performance and supposedly cost less.

So in terms of cost / performance is 840 PRO still the king?

 

[Germanic]

I would save some money and get the 840 EVO.

Unless you really needed a write intensive SSD, then you should get an 840 Pro.

But for the average user who are enthusiasts/gamers, the 840 EVO would fulfill 100% of their needs (extremely fast read speeds and better write speeds than the standard 840).

For cost effectiveness for the average user: 840 EVO > standard 840 > 840 Pro

For professionals who need the extra write performance: 840 Pro > 840 EVO > standard 840.

 

[Cerb]

So in terms of cost / performance is 840 PRO still the king?

In terms of cost/performance, the 840 Pro never was king. It's a fast drive, and easily the fastest for content creation work, but bang/buck has not been on its side since release, with prices consistently higher than a Plextor M5P, Corsair Neutron GTX, and Crucial M500.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i'm looking forward to the marvell refreshes with the micron 16nm NAND next year

 

[Cerb]

I'm also looking forward to Sandisk's (Toshiba's MLC, I'm pretty sure) upcoming drives, as well. Their ReadyCache, Ultra Plus, and Extreme II have been great new models, after tripping over themselves for a bit. I'm not sure what Hynix is planning, but I doubt they've been sitting on their laurels with upcoming flash, and their own controller company.

What mostly worries me, though, is cost. Even the TLC Samsungs aren't much cheaper than MLC. If TLC were much cheaper, I really wouldn't mind the speed and endurance issues (they're not much concern for many users, as it is, and now they're being cached away), but MLC seems to offer better of everything for only a few bucks more (w/o sales, $10-15 for 256GB, which is <10%), and we already have drives doing the SLC mode thing with MLC. I wouldn't be surprised if MRAM caches gain popularity, at some point, too.

But, even so, any NAND is getting cheaper at a very slow rate, simply too slow for wider adoption. When will we have something that scales well, what will it be, and will one major flash company coming up with it further contract the number of producers? If Samsung's 3D NAND does it, FI, will they squeeze out Hynix, Toshiba, and Micron?

 

[greenhawk]

Being new I would not expect any great value for the new drive for a while.

Though I did read a review on it recently, my personal opinion is the smaller two models are not worth my time. Such a performance drop on write after 9 seconds on the 120Gb drive is just too poor. The 250GB is 7 seconds of constant writing (full speed) is a small issue, but it's sustained is near 300MB/s which is where I expect a current gen SSD to be above.

Of course, I already have a 512GB and a 256GB SSD, so just increasing drive size is the main reason to look at upgrading.

 

[Hellhammer]

What mostly worries me, though, is cost. Even the TLC Samsungs aren't much cheaper than MLC.

The biggest problem with TLC right now is the lack of competition. Samsung has no reason to sell the 840 at significantly lower prices as people will buy it as long as it cheaper than most SSD, which it currently is.

But, even so, any NAND is getting cheaper at a very slow rate, simply too slow for wider adoption.

NAND prices haven't changed much in the last year due to limited supply but apparently the prices are starting to fall now because demand hasn't been as high as the manufacturers expected (i.e. they've built excessive stock and want to get rid of it).

When will we have something that scales well, what will it be, and will one major flash company coming up with it further contract the number of producers? If Samsung's 3D NAND does it, FI, will they squeeze out Hynix, Toshiba, and Micron?

All manufacturers have outlined plans of 3D NAND so I find it very unlikely that one manufacturer could squeeze out everyone else. Samsung may be the first one in the market with 3D NAND but that doesn't mean anything (their first products may only have a few layers and not be very cost effective, whereas others will wait until they can scale the technology to 32-64 layers).

 

[MrX8503]

840 Pro lost its crown to Sandisk Extreme 2.

As for the EVO, its replacing the 840. I assume there will be an EVO pro of some sort down the road.

 

[Germanic]

840 Pro lost its crown to Sandisk Extreme 2.

As for the EVO, its replacing the 840. I assume there will be an EVO pro of some sort down the road.

Both of them being extremely unpopular options due to price inefficiency.

The most bang for buck SSDs are the 840 and soon the 840 EVO.

 

[MrX8503]

Both of them being extremely unpopular options due to price inefficiency.

The most bang for buck SSDs are the 840 and soon the 840 EVO.

Extremely unpopular? People still buy top end SSDs. If I didn't own a lot of M4s I would get an 840 Pro or Sandisk Extreme 2

 

[Germanic]

Extremely unpopular? People still buy top end SSDs. If I didn't own a lot of M4s I would get an 840 Pro or Sandisk Extreme 2

Well maybe the 840 Pro is popular but the Sandisk Extreme 2? Unheard of in my area.

 

[MrX8503]

It's new. Anandtech did a review.

 

[rsutoratosu]

i just got my 4th 840 pro and over all, 8 samsung ssds in different flavor.. it is piss ass fast.. i think faster ssd will show up once next gen sata/disk connection is out