Ordering a 240-256GB SSD today!

[Xeris]

Hello there everyone! I will be placing an order for an SSD today and I was wondering which SSD is the best bang-for-the-buck right now. I've heard Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe is a good one but I haven't been able to find any reviews on it. Please give me suggestions to which SSD I should get. I appreciate any help!

 

[Coup27]

Samsung 830. Speed, reliability and an SSD toolbox. Every other SSD has a trade off on at least one of them.

 

[Engineer]

Samsung 830. Speed, reliability and an SSD toolbox. Every other SSD has a trade off on at least one of them.

And on sale too ($230 to $240 for a 256GB today)

 

[Emulex]

make sure it has a super-cap and spare flash chip for that size. mandatory.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Crucial M4, Samsung 830 or SanDisk Extreme. All on sale now (not so much the M4, which was $199 for a few days).

 

[Xeris]

Just ordered the Samsung 830. Awesome sale at that link Engineer posted. It should be here by next week Thank you all for your help!

 

[bryanW1995]

That samsung looks to be the best deal on a quality drive right now. Good choice!

 

[Aikouka]

I've been running low on space with my 80GB SSD, so I bought one of the 256GB Crucial M4s that was on sale. I guess we'll see how good it is once I finally get around to installing Windows on it.

EDIT:

Flashing the firmware was fun. It had to be in one of the SATA ports from the chipset. :|

 

[bryanW1995]

You didn't just plug it into one of your sata 6 gb/s intel ports?

 

[Coup27]

You'll want it on a chipset port regardless. 3rd party ports are unreliable and slow.

 

[KentState]

You'll want it on a chipset port regardless. 3rd party ports are unreliable and slow.

I learned that the hard way. Miss read which ones are the Intel 6GB ports on my Z77 board and was getting far less than typically Plextor M3 results. Switched it to the Intel ports and it nearly doubled the performance.

 

[bryanW1995]

One of the biggest letdowns for x79 to me was that intel still only has 2 integrated 6gb/s ports. Hopefully haswell will rectify that.

 

[Psyside]

Forget everything you heard till now, just get Plextor M3pro.

 

[althaz]

Is there any reason to not go for one of the Intel 520 series SSDs over the Samsung? They are faster in some (but not most) benchmarks and where I am they are cheaper as well (by about $50).

Sure, if had an unlimited budget I'd go the Samsung too, but to me the Intel seems to represent better value for money. It's fast, has a good warranty and is unlikely to be troubled by any sort of reliability issues.

 

[greenhawk]

Is there any reason to not go for one of the Intel 520 series SSDs over the Samsung?

only reason is that it is still uses a sandforce chip, even with intel's in house testing / reliability checking.

If avoiding sandforce for some reason, the intel 520 is still on that list.

 

[Xeris]

Is there any reason to not go for one of the Intel 520 series SSDs over the Samsung? They are faster in some (but not most) benchmarks and where I am they are cheaper as well (by about $50).

Sure, if had an unlimited budget I'd go the Samsung too, but to me the Intel seems to represent better value for money. It's fast, has a good warranty and is unlikely to be troubled by any sort of reliability issues.

I got my Samsung 830 256GB for $235

 

[bryanW1995]

I would probably pay a few $$ more for a Samsung 830 over an intel 520, but not $50.

 

[althaz]

It could just be a quirk of location (I'm in Australia) but I thought the same thing - if it was less than $20 difference I'd likely get the Samsung but $50 (and the fact that Intel sponsors a Starcraft player I like) means Intel is the one I'm going for.

 

[Coup27]

I'd gladly pay $50 not to have a SF chip.