The cheap SSDs thread

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VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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Mushkin Enhanced RAW Series 2.5" 480GB SATA III 3D TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDRW480GB $41.99

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www.newegg.com www.newegg.com

Mushkin strikes back against Team Group, in this low-price segment. I haven't personally tried any of these "Raw" series drives, but it intrigues me.

Edit: BTW, isn't "raw" what Windows Disk Management says about a disk volume that is corrupted so much that it loses it's partition table? Is that a message that Mushkin wants to send about it's SSD drives? :p
 
loafbred

loafbred

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May 7, 2000
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I received my PNY CS 900 480gb today from Tiger Direct. It was new sealed retail, shipped UPS in an oversized cardboard box, which is a nice change from the bubble envelopes that both NewEgg and Amazon have resorted to.
 
J

jiffer

Senior member
Sep 14, 2007
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VirtualLarry said:
Mushkin Enhanced RAW Series 2.5" 480GB SATA III 3D TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDRW480GB $41.99
Click to expand...

Check out the 960GB model of this drive for $78.99:

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www.newegg.com www.newegg.com

I bought a couple of them when you posted a similar deal for $77.99. I've been using them as cheap storage drives in combination with smaller, faster 250GB NVMe boot drives. I was planning to use 1TB hard drives for storage but these were just cheap enough to make me decide to spend the extra money for SSDs. I don't have much to say about them except they're faster and quieter than a 1TB hard drive. TLC memory and DRAM-less controllers will probably give you the same performance (average or less) and longevity (good) no matter which brand you get.
 
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Steltek

Steltek

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Mar 29, 2001
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Team Group T-Force VULCAN 2.5" 500GB SATA III 3D NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) T253TV500G3C301 - $51.99 at Newegg


https://www.newegg.com/team-group-t-force-vulcan-500gb/p/N82E16820331321

Not bad for a cheapo drive that actually has a DRAM cache (unusual for drives in this price class) and a decent controller. Only downside is that warranty is only 3 years.

Tom's Hardware gave it a good review here.
 
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spdfreak

spdfreak

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Mar 6, 2000
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Steltek said:
Team Group T-Force VULCAN 2.5" 500GB SATA III 3D NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) T253TV500G3C301 - $51.99 at Newegg


https://www.newegg.com/team-group-t-force-vulcan-500gb/p/N82E16820331321

Not bad for a cheapo drive that actually has a DRAM cache (unusual for drives in this price class) and a decent controller. Only downside is that warranty is only 3 years.

Tom's Hardware gave it a good review here.
Click to expand...

One review I found said it uses all the same components as a MX500. They are quite a bit faster than the other team group drives I have used.
www.tweaktown.com

Team Group T-Force Vulcan SSD Review

T-Force chose the best components for consumer SATA SSDs and delivered a competitive drive.
www.tweaktown.com www.tweaktown.com
 
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VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

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spdfreak said:
One review I found said it uses all the same components as a MX500.
Click to expand...
Wow~! Is that the Vulcan SSD, or the new "Vulcan G" SSD? I'm curious what the difference is.

If this is essentially an MX500, that's a pretty decent deal!
 
Steltek

Steltek

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VirtualLarry said:
Wow~! Is that the Vulcan SSD, or the new "Vulcan G" SSD? I'm curious what the difference is.

If this is essentially an MX500, that's a pretty decent deal!
Click to expand...

It was on par with or beat the MX500 in most of the benchmarks Tom's provided, so it is a good performing 2.5" SSD. It also uses Micron 3 bit flash.

Related,

Team Group T-FORCE VULCAN G 2.5" 512GB/1TB SATA III 3D NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) T253TG512G3C301


Link - $46.99 at Newegg for 512GB or Link - $77.99 for 1TB

The Vulcan G is a newer variant of the Vulcan released in late August 2020 (original Vulcan was released in mid/late 2019); however, I can't find any references to what controller it uses or whether it contains a DRAM cache or not. Given its cheaper price (and the fact that the IOPS quoted on the Newegg site for the Vulcan G are lower than the original Vulcan), I'd say it is likely DRAMless (and thus a downgrade) until proven otherwise, but I'll hold my judgement until I can find a review somewhere.
 
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you2

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2002
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The one thing it lacks is the statistical reliability of the mx500; so if both are of similar price you would be better off with the mx500.

Steltek said:
It was on par with or beat the MX500 in most of the benchmarks Tom's provided, so it is a good performing 2.5" SSD. It also uses Micron 3 bit flash.

Related,

Team Group T-FORCE VULCAN G 2.5" 512GB/1TB SATA III 3D NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) T253TG512G3C301


Link - $46.99 at Newegg for 512GB or Link - $77.99 for 1TB

The Vulcan G is a newer variant of the Vulcan released in late August 2020 (original Vulcan was released in mid/late 2019); however, I can't find any references to what controller it uses or whether it contains a DRAM cache or not. Given its cheaper price (and the fact that the IOPS quoted on the Newegg site for the Vulcan G are lower than the original Vulcan), I'd say it is likely DRAMless (and thus a downgrade) until proven otherwise, but I'll hold my judgement until I can find a review somewhere.
Click to expand...
 
Steltek

Steltek

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you2 said:
The one thing it lacks is the statistical reliability of the mx500; so if both are of similar price you would be better off with the mx500.
Click to expand...

Speak of the devil and he shall appear (for a few bucks more):

Crucial MX500 500GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD, up to 560MB/s - CT500MX500SSD1 - $52.99 Amazon.com

Have to order with Frustration Free Packaging to get this price. Additionally, if you order with an Amazon Prime card, you get an additional 10% back on the card, making final price $47.70 plus tax.
 
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Steltek

Steltek

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Mar 29, 2001
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PNY CS900 2.5" SATA III SSD - 480GB, 550MB/s Sequential Read Speed, 500MB/s Sequential Write Speed - SSD7CS900-480-RB - $39.99+tax shipped at Tigerdirect Business

Link
 
VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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Patriot Burst 2.5" 480GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) PBU480GS25SSDR $38.99

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www.newegg.com www.newegg.com

Finally! The $40 price-point has been busted, for 480/512GB-class SATA 2.5" SSDs!

If a source of these can stay below $40, they will become my go-to drive for builds.
 
spdfreak

spdfreak

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Mar 6, 2000
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This is a good deal... T-force Vulcan 512 for 46.00. As discussed earlier in this thread, these appear to be the same components as a MX500.

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com www.newegg.com
 
VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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Team Group CX2 2.5" 512GB SATA III 3D NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) T253X6512G0C101 $40.99

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www.newegg.com www.newegg.com

Not a bad deal. I don't know what the difference is between the EX2 (*Elite) and CX2 (*Classic).

They mention a "beginner" in the description of the CX2, and also SLC cache, so possibly it is DRAM-less.
 
J

jiffer

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Sep 14, 2007
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500GB seems to be the sweet spot for some of these deals. The 1TB model isn't on sale at this time.

Following a hunch, I checked the price for the Samsung 500GB EVO at Amazon since Amazon seems to be matching some of Newegg's prices. Sure enough, it's on sale there too for $53.99.

Tell NewEgg you want that price protection now. lol

Edit: The price at NewEgg is now $53.99 (Shell Shocker).
 
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R

Rage99

Junior Member
Nov 8, 2020
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jiffer said:
500GB seems to be the sweet spot for some of these deals. The 1TB model isn't on sale at this time.

Following a hunch, I checked the price for the Samsung 500GB EVO at Amazon since Amazon seems to be matching some of Newegg's prices. Sure enough, it's on sale there too for $53.99.

Tell NewEgg you want that price protection now. lol

Edit: The price at NewEgg is now $53.99 (Shell Shocker).
Click to expand...
I completely agree. I've purchased two of the 860 EVOs in the last week. I'm hoping the 1 TB goes on sale for BF.
 
balloonshark

balloonshark

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Jun 5, 2008
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Saw this for $73 on slickdeals. Sale ends in 10 hours. I have no experience with this brand.

Mushkin Enhanced RAW Series 2.5" 960GB SATA III 3D TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDRW960GB

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com www.newegg.com
 
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J

jiffer

Senior member
Sep 14, 2007
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balloonshark said:
Saw this for $73 on slickdeals. Sale ends in 10 hours. I have no experience with this brand.

Mushkin Enhanced RAW Series 2.5" 960GB SATA III 3D TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDRW960GB
Click to expand...
I have a couple. They've been on sale a couple of times before for $78-79. (You can see them in this thread.) They're SSDs and they work. Probably somewhere between average and below average in performance for an SSD since they're DRAM-less, but they're a lot faster than a spinning hard drive. I'm just using them as storage drives, not boot drives.
 
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