SSD Suggestions Needed

[probuddha]

Hello

I have finally decided to upgrade my workstation with an SSD to boost its performance. My current configuration is:-

Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3
AMD FX-6100
Corsair 4GB RAM
Win 7 Pro 64bit

I am overwhelmed with so many brands and options out there and so request your expert suggestion on which brand/ model to go for. The HDD I am trying to replace with an SSD is 160 GB

As far as I understand my MOBO doesn't have SATA 3 interface, so also would like to know whether a SATA 3 SSD would be backward compatible with a SATA 2 interface or should I specifically look out for one with SATA 2?

I am also thinking of putting in extra 4Gig of RAM with the SSD upgrade.

So please let me know which model and brand would be best suited for my PC


Many thanks

 

[probuddha]

Sorry for this post - I found the info I was looking for here

Thanks

 

[Cerb]

Generally, the following are good choices for the money:
Crucial M500, M550, MX100
Sandisk Ultra Plus, Ultra II, Extreme II
Samsung 840 Evo
Intel 530 (a bit expensive, though)

SATA 3Gbps will work fine, just peak at ~270MBps sequentials.

 

[probuddha]

Generally, the following are good choice for the money:
Crucial M500, M550, MX100
Sandisk Ultra Plus, Ultra II, Extreme II
Samsung 840 Evo
Intel 530 (a bit expensive, though)

SATA 3Gbps will work fine, just peak at ~270MBps sequentials.

Thanks Cerb

I was inclined to buying the Samsung 840 EVO but I found at anandtech that it has a bug in it's firmware and is awaiting an upgrade to fix it

Do you know something about this?

 

[probuddha]

Also considering that an Intel 530 Series 240 GB and Samsung 840 Evo PRO 250 GB costs about the same, which one do you think would be better?

 

[Cerb]

For some reason, old data reads pretty slowly. No reason has been proven or admitted, TMK. Samsung is on it, now, whatever it is.

At ~250GB, the MX100, M500, and Ultra Plus are all well-priced, right now. Sandisk's Ultra II is not bad, if you buy from Newegg w/ Visa.

 

[Ranulf]

Also considering that an Intel 530 Series 240 GB and Samsung 840 Evo PRO 250 GB costs about the same, which one do you think would be better?

I would avoid the 840 Evo drives. Supposedly a fix is due this next week but thats a rumor. The 840/850 Pro drives seem fine. I second Cerb's other recommendations.

 

[probuddha]

Thanks for your suggestions. Very appreciated indeed

 

[jhansman]

FWIW, I run a 25OGB 840 EVO, using Rapid Mode, with no issues and blazing speed. Highly recommended.

 

[probuddha]

FWIW, I run a 25OGB 840 EVO, using Rapid Mode, with no issues and blazing speed. Highly recommended.

Thanks for the feedback. I was almost on the verge of buying the 840 Evo today but backed out because of the old data reading issue mentioned in this website.

Did you find any such problem with the 840 Evo that old data were being read very slowly?

 

[probuddha]

I have now narrowed down to the MX100 and the Samsung 840 Pro; the later being priced at about $80 higher

Which one do you think should I go for considering the price-to-performance ratio?

 

[jhansman]

Thanks for the feedback. I was almost on the verge of buying the 840 Evo today but backed out because of the old data reading issue mentioned in this website.

Did you find any such problem with the 840 Evo that old data were being read very slowly?

Negative. No data seems to be read slowly, old or new. My drive performs consistently across all applications, from Photoshop to IE to Word. One thought on your trying to choose-I find it interesting that Crucial still does not have any support/admin/maintenance software for their drives; on the other hand, Samsung keeps improving Magician.

 

[MongGrel]

I would avoid the 840 Evo drives. Supposedly a fix is due this next week but thats a rumor. The 840/850 Pro drives seem fine. I second Cerb's other recommendations.

Why would you do that, all my EVO's work great.

 

[daveybrat]

I personally recommend the Crucial 256GB MX100 drive. Very fast and stable. Been running it for over 2 months now and it's blazing fast and the best bang for the buck price-wise.

 

[VirtualLarry]

For some reason, old data reads pretty slowly. No reason has been proven or admitted, TMK. Samsung is on it, now, whatever it is.

According to PCPer's testing, it depends on temperature.

It appears that "old" data (stored in TLC flash no less) requires so much ECC calculations, that the processors on the SSD heat up, and thermal throttle. Hence, keeping the drive cooler, results in a faster baseline transfer of that "old" data.

 

[bbhaag]

According to PCPer's testing, it depends on temperature.

It appears that "old" data (stored in TLC flash no less) requires so much ECC calculations, that the processors on the SSD heat up, and thermal throttle.

Interesting. Since it's temperature dependent could other drives that use the same basic tech be affected or is it dependent on the way Samsung laid out there drives internally?
Do you have a link VirtualLarry? I'd really like to read it.

 

[Cerb]

Interesting. Since it's temperature dependent could other drives that use the same basic tech be affected or is it dependent on the way Samsung laid out there drives internally?
Do you have a link VirtualLarry? I'd really like to read it.

Ditto.

Even if it's the controller throttling due to temperature, it's still speculation that the data has issues in so little time, unless the slowness correlates to higher read error rates than not running slower (if so, it would be a huge problem for other devices with Samsung TLC, as well).

 

[Stupid puters]

Just got the EVO 250 on "sale" for $140(cdn) last weekor 2, i thought, wow, sale ends today, I'm gonna grab it... then the "sale" carried on and newegg and everyone else started selling it for 140 as well. I felt suckered, a little, but the below the belt shot was when i recently found out about this older data read speed problem. Now I'm mad.
However, I looked at the regular puter sites today, and all the EVOs are back to their normal high prices... which leads me to believe that they've fixed the problem or thereabouts.

Or at least that's the hope, i still got some time to exchange it.. hopefully not for the same model lol.

 

[Ranulf]

Interesting. Since it's temperature dependent could other drives that use the same basic tech be affected or is it dependent on the way Samsung laid out there drives internally?
Do you have a link VirtualLarry? I'd really like to read it.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Editor...ptible-flash-read-speed-degradation-over-time

Why would you do that, all my EVO's work great.

See above. I have an 840 evo that was slated to become my OS drive for my 8350 system when I finally got around to it. Until its fixed or more is known, having to every month or so "refresh" the drive or defrag it isn't appealing to me. The upside is it appears that no data has been corrupted in the tests done of various sites and by end users.

 

[Stupid puters]

It took this long for people to notice apparently right? For whatever reason - I've seen some vague explanations. Well the OS is the oldest thing on the drive, I think people might have noticed the drastic load time increase. As well as when the drive is accessing OS files. Logic say/Confucious say wtf man?

 

[Cerb]

It took this long for people to notice apparently right? For whatever reason - I've seen some vague explanations. Well the OS is the oldest thing on the drive, I think people might have noticed the drastic load time increase. As well as when the drive is accessing OS files. Logic say/Confucious say wtf man?

Even at the slowed reading pace, it's still going much faster than a typical HDD, and outside of doing updates and rebooting just after them, files for the OS are hardly a bottleneck. IMV, people upgrade everything else w/ the SSD, and attribute all of it to the SSD, when more CPU threads, faster cores, more RAM, and a fresh OS install all speed things up a bit, too.

 

[probuddha]

Thanks for your all suggestions guys.

I have zeroed it down to the MX100 256 Gig, but the only concern I have is with the availability of their after sales service here in India.

I have recently upgraded my RAM with another 4gigs, so a total of 8 GB of Corsair Vengeance RAM and an FX-6100 CPU. I think just installing a good SSD will do wonders for my PC. The only drawback with my rig is the unavailability of a 6 GB/s SATA controller

 

[probuddha]

Just to update you all - I went out on a limb and ordered the MX100 256 GB

I got an additional 10% off on eBay with the total cost coming to $119

Hope it works out well for me

 

[h9826790]

Why would you do that, all my EVO's work great.

I have the 840 Evo as well. I can confirm this bug exist at this moment.

I don't know is it affecting all 840 Evo. However, you may try to get a 6 months old large file (e.g. a movie), and then copy it to other HDD, or simply duplicate itself. You may then realise the copy process is very slow (e.g. could be less than 100M/s).

For OS, since it's benefit from the high IOPS but not high sequential read speed. Most likely the user won't feel any different under normal daily use. This bug basically only affect old large files.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I used to recommend the Samsung 840 pro's until mine croaked and I had to jump through a bunch of hoops to get them to honor their warranty. I switched to intel because they also have a 5 year warranty and their rma process is pretty straight forward. And comparing apples to apples my intel 520 loads windows faster than my 256gb 840 pro did. I now have my desktop, log in included, in 19 seconds.