Need help deciding on sub $200 SSD

[MikeyLSU]

Was looking for an ssd for under $200 in the 250GB range. I had originally planned on the samsung 840,but have since wondered how reliable it is. The pro version is a little too expensive for me.

I am currently considering the Intel 520 250GB. Looks to be $180,is there something else I should go with?

 

[Coup27]

Why have you since wondered how reliable it is?

 

[MikeyLSU]

just seems the more I read about it, it is not as likely to last 5+ years like the pro version or the 830 models.

As far as performance, it appears to be good. I really only have a limited knowledge of ssd hardware though. And coming from a 7200 rpm HDD, this will be my first ssd purchase.

 

[jwilliams4200]

$180 for a 240GB Intel 520 is a hell of a good price. Where do you see that? amazon and newegg want $225 and $244.

The 256GB Plextor M5Pro is still $200 at amazon.com (it usually costs more, but has been on sale for a few days now). That is an excellent SSD.

 

[Coup27]

just seems the more I read about it, it is not as likely to last 5+ years like the pro version or the 830 models.

How long it will last is directly related to how much you will write to it. With a hard drive, in theory it can be written to indefinitely. This is not the case with an SSD. You can only write to the NAND a certain number of times until they fail. However contrary to most of the FUD out there, this number is more than enough for a consumer SSD. Have a read of this article:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6459/samsung-ssd-840-testing-the-endurance-of-tlc-nand

The cheapest the lowest endurance NAND on the market today is TLC and that is what is used on the 840. Both the 830 and the 840 Pro used MLC. As you can see though, even with 10GiB of writes per day, the SSD will still last 11.7 years. I don't even write 10GiB per month to my SSD so an 840 would last me longer than I would intend to keep it before upgrading to something faster.

Please do not dismiss the 840 or TLC NAND based on FUD you have read elsewhere. Read the article and decide for yourself based on your usage how long it would last.

 

[MikeyLSU]

thanks for the insight, what do you think is better for the same price? the intel 520 or the samsung 840? They appear to be pretty similar.

 

[Coup27]

I would get the 840. Looking at the benchmarks you would not be able to tell the difference between them but the 840 is Samsung's latest generation of SSD where as the Intel 520 is in effect a generation behind. The 520 also uses a SandForce controller which have had enormous reliability problems over the last couple of years. These problems are supposedly fixed now but Samsung's track record is far superior to that of Sandforce.

 

[MikeyLSU]

One more question. I'm going to look further into prices, but I'll go with the 840 all other things being equal.

I'm going to be building a new system and am going to get an i5 3470 or something similar. I'm not looking to over clock and will get a cheaper mobo. I was looking at a b75,will that be sufficient for this ssd? It has SATA 3

 

[Coup27]

Yes it will, but I think you're making a mistake. All Intel 7 series motherboards support native 6Gb/s SATA port(s) so in that respect, the SSD will work the same on any of them (H77, Z75, Z77, B75, Q75 or Q77).

Is there a reason you are choosing B75 instead of H77? B75 is targeted at small to medium businesses and against H77 you lose support for Intel SRT, 2 USB2 ports but more crucially you only get 1 6Gb/s SATA port where as on H77 you get 2.

 

[MikeyLSU]

Mainly because of the price. The H77 normally is between 20-30 more. Since I wasn't going to over clock I was just trying to go cheaper. I don't have any plans on more than 1 ssd, I already have a 2 TB drive for storage. And the USB max is fine for my use.

 

[Coup27]

If you are sure you will only ever need a single 6Gb/s then save the cash and use B75.

 

[MikeyLSU]

thanks for your help Coup, went with the 840 after I saw it went on sale today for $140+$4 shipping at B&H. That was just way too good of a deal to pass up.

 

[Coup27]

Good stuff. There's a new firmware out for the 840 series so make sure you install the SSD Magician and update the firmware on it. Unfortunately they haven't released the firmware on a bootable ISO

 

[Brutus04]

anything Intel...