Now that the 520 is here.. which is the King of consumer SSDs? *Poll*

[Seven]

I really wish the M4 would be included in this poll. Not only is this one of the reliable drives, it would also be a good representative of the Marvel family. Also, it's SATA3, like the other two. Perhaps, also the Plextor M3S.

The M4 isn't included because it's getting a little outdated. The old Intels also should be included in this poll if it's based on reliability.

 

[Shmee]

I would probably vote for the Intel 510 or 520, taking into the account only "king of SSD's."

However, from a price per "kingliness" perspective, I would go with the crucial M4. They seem to be cheaper, plenty reliable, and have good performance, plus it seems they are VERY popular for a reason.

 

[Obsoleet]

The M4 isn't included because it's getting a little outdated. The old Intels also should be included in this poll if it's based on reliability.

Exactly. It certainly was the king of SSDs. It can't be argued though that it's a better drive than the 830 or 520.
If you catch one on sale, it's certainly a great drive.. previously the best drive on the market.

For me the SSD throne has gone as such-

Intel G1> Intel G2> Crucial M4>Samsung 830

It would be G1>G2>510>520 but the pricing is a little too high on the 510/520. Not that the others are cheap, they aren't bargain basement drives either.
Is the 510 more reliable than the M4? Yes. But that's not the only metric. They were/are priced too high considering the M4 is available. The drive was too capacity limited as well.
Same thing today, the 520 is probably the 'best' drive on the market, but once you consider the Samsung 830 is available they aren't the only game in town.

In the G1/G2 days, they were the only consistently fast, consistently reliable drive available. The competition from Crucial by the M4 era and Samsung 830 era put up quality competition.

I would probably vote for the Intel 510 or 520, taking into the account only "king of SSD's."

However, from a price per "kingliness" perspective, I would go with the crucial M4. They seem to be cheaper, plenty reliable, and have good performance, plus it seems they are VERY popular for a reason.

You could make a legitimate argument that Intel holds the throne since the beginning. I tend to lean towards Intel due to my good luck with them, but I pay homage to the M4 and 830. I completely see why they are popular.

 

[Bassthe1st]

For my new build I did extensive search for a 240-256GB SSD. In the end I decided that I wasn't too impressed with the Sandforce reliability and after reading many reviews I came to the conclusion that the Corsair Performance pro was the best drive around, so this is what I got. It was between this, the M3s, the 830 and the M4, but in the end it seemed to be the best integration of the new revision Marvell controller. The M4 was cheaper but older and slower; not that it matters much at that point. The samsung could've been a good choice, but it was much more expensive.

Edit: Here at Futureshop they are selling a 256GB Cricial M4 for 712$, but with their best price policy(and 10% of difference) and since I could buy one for 330$ elswhere, they should be forced to sell it for 292$. That's a steal!

 

[bunnyfubbles]

The 520 is definitely consumer, regardless of its high price due to lack of capacitors. Enterprise drives have not only capacitors, but ones designed/validated in an enterprise environment such as the Intel 710. Intel does not say it's enterprise ready in the literature either.
Intel certainly would love for you to to believe it's above consumer grade. I'd agree Intel's drives are worth a price premium over other brands, but I don't believe this is an enterprise-ready drive.

I never said it was enterprise-ready, just that it was too expensive to be the king of SSDs for consumers

it'd be a completely different scenario if the topic was, 'ultimate enthusiast oriented 2.5" SSD', but for the average consumer I'm going to far more readily recommend a drive like the M4 (especially now that they seem to have received a price cut, putting the 64GB drive @ $80 and the 128GB drive at just a tad over double that)

Could do the same for CPUs. The "king of consumer CPUs" would, at least IMO, be more something like the i5 2500K than the i7 3960X or 2700K. Again, I just view the 520 series as more of the latter.

 

[Obsoleet]

I agree on the 520.. it is too expensive, but its not really an enterprise drive. It's unfortunately in a bad positition, a great drive, with superior competition. I think being an all-Samsung drive puts the 830 above the 520. There's no way to match parts 100% supplied from yourself, vs a competitor that doesn't do the same.
And not just SOURCED.. all R&D was done in-house.

It all worked out for Intel when Samsung was releasing reliable but slow drives, but toss in the towel on making your own controller and you handed Samsung the SSD throne.

 

[slow_poke]

In your opinion bud.
From my own experience the 520 is as solid as they come. Just about 4 weeks now without issue. Thrown everything at them and they keep on going.
They are also showing none of the bad characteristics of previous sf controlled drives, none.

Of course on price Intel will get skunked and this will hurt them in sales till they level out.
But you would be hard pressed to find a better drive performance wise right now.

 

[Bassthe1st]

In your opinion bud.
From my own experience the 520 is as solid as they come. Just about 4 weeks now without issue. Thrown everything at them and they keep on going.
They are also showing none of the bad characteristics of previous sf controlled drives, none.

Of course on price Intel will get skunked and this will hurt them in sales till they level out.
But you would be hard pressed to find a better drive performance wise right now.

Look at that review and you will see it is not that clear cut:

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/storage/34729-intel-520-series-ssd-240gb/

 

[Obsoleet]

In your opinion bud.
From my own experience the 520 is as solid as they come. Just about 4 weeks now without issue. Thrown everything at them and they keep on going.
They are also showing none of the bad characteristics of previous sf controlled drives, none.

Of course on price Intel will get skunked and this will hurt them in sales till they level out.
But you would be hard pressed to find a better drive performance wise right now.

My opinion of what? That single sourced parts = best chances at top reliability? That's not really an opinion if you've ever run a company and had variables out of your control.

That said, I would hope your 520 is solid. It's one of the 2 best drives in the world. It's just taking a back seat to Samsung. Few competitors can stand up to a monolithic entity like Intel, certainly not OCZ or other competitors, but Samsung can.

 

[Twotore]

There's a good review here which also extolls the performance virtues of the new 520.... plus of course, points out the five year warranty which is always worth considering (not sure what the Samsung warranty is, though?).

 

[Obsoleet]

The 5-year is good but you definitely pay for that, but most top shelf drives will last longer than that anyway.. there's no moving parts. The review was interesting but short. Years ago I'd been forced to buy the 520 as I was my G2s (I messed with various OCZ drives before I bought them). Today though Samsung has a equal or superior product at a dramatically lower price.