Looking for the right SSD in Q2 2018

[Abad]

Hello Friends,
My pocket allows me up to 512GB and I was waiting for reviews on the 970 evo and the EX920 before I came to this: The best SSD is still the Toshiba RD400. Although this comes from 2016, but if you factor in performance, durability, cost and warranty, its unbeatable. How does a stick from 2016 technology still compete with 2018 technology? But its no rocket science. The reason is that it uses the faster and more expensive MLC cells instead of the new cheaper and slower TLC cells. To get MLC for the price of TLC is a steal right?
But then I read some reviews on newegg and some other sites that OCZ RD400 sticks go south sooner than others like Samsung. This made me pause. What do you think?

 

[PliotronX]

While it is conventional wisdom that MLC is more durable (survives more write cycles), Samsung generally uses 3D TLC which improves life over planar TLC and their caching routines deliver performance roughly that of MLC. The controller, type of NAND, and use of DRAM for cache result in wildly different results. The 960 series introduced a heatspreading label that helps with thermal throttling where from what I have read, the RD400 runs very hot so a heatsink is almost mandatory. Prices are also higher on the RD400 last I checked. You can even save a few more bucks by going for the Samsung PM961 which is the OEM 960 Evo.

 

[Abad]

While it is conventional wisdom that MLC is more durable (survives more write cycles), Samsung generally uses 3D TLC which improves life over planar TLC and their caching routines deliver performance roughly that of MLC. The controller, type of NAND, and use of DRAM for cache result in wildly different results. The 960 series introduced a heatspreading label that helps with thermal throttling where from what I have read, the RD400 runs very hot so a heatsink is almost mandatory. Prices are also higher on the RD400 last I checked. You can even save a few more bucks by going for the Samsung PM961 which is the OEM 960 Evo.

Thanks for the info Pliotronix,
I don't think I'll go for OEM stuff (No software, no support, etc). The RD400 beats the 960 and 970 EVOs (and the EX920) hands down. Besides, on Amazon its the cheapest of them all. Its going for 199.99$. Lest someone out there had a true bad experience with RD400, then I'm going for it.
Advise, anyone,

 

[PliotronX]

Are you getting them backwards? If saving money is the goal, you won't notice a differemce in use but every review I can find shows the opposite:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/10833/the-samsung-960-evo-1tb-review/6

http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compar...g-960-Evo-NVMe-PCIe-M2-250GB/m142093vsm200373

 

[UsandThem]

The RD400 beats the 960 and 970 EVOs (and the EX920) hands down.

I'm not so sure about it beating the Samsung drives "hands down".

https://www.anandtech.com/show/9799/best-ssds

It certainly wins in some of the tests, and is a very good drive. After reading reviews on the RD400, if it fits your needs, go for it. It's about as cheap as it ever was right now (must be coming out with a newer model soon).

 

[Abad]

Are you getting them backwards? If saving money is the goal, you won't notice a differemce in use but every review I can find shows the opposite:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/10833/the-samsung-960-evo-1tb-review/6

http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compar...g-960-Evo-NVMe-PCIe-M2-250GB/m142093vsm200373

No. Look, start with 199.99 and you end up with the 970, RD400, and EX920.
Factor in 5 years warranty and 300TB endurance writes. We just lost the EX920.
Then look at this:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/samsung-970-evo-ssd-review,5573-3.html