Which entry level SSD from the following?

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primoo92

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Dec 19, 2017
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Hey everyone! I've decided to buy a budget SSD, however, there are not many options available where I live at the moment. Therefore, I must choose between the following (highly in doubt specially between the two from kingston):

Kingston SSDNOW A400 (SA400S37/120G)
Kingston UV400 (SUV400S37/120G)
Plextor s3c (PX-128S3C)
Silicon Power 55 S (SP120GBSS3S55S25)

Considering their controllers (nº of channels and whether they are dram-less or not), real speed at random tasks (**mainly 4kqd32**), endurance and reliability, which one should I pick?!

All of them are 120GB/128GB version and the goal is to use as boot drive/scratch disk.
OBS,: I don't have much time left to decide T_T

Thanks in advance!
 
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USAFRet


My system has 5 x SSD.
500GB 850 EVO
2 x 250GB 840 EVO
960GB Sandisk Ultra II
120GB Kingston HyperX 3k (original boot drive, from 2012)

The eldest almost 6 years old, the newest 18 months old (current boot drive, 500GB 850 EVO).

Totaling the use of ALL of them doesn't reach to 40TBW. Seriously.
Would I buy that A400? No. But you will see 3 years before you see 40TBW.

Read these for how to manage space on a small SSD:
Win 7 & 8: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1834397/ssd-redirecting-static-files.html
Win 8.1 & 10...
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studmoose

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Feb 27, 2017
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For a boot drive, I wouldn't use anything but a Samsung 850 Pro. The 128 is selling for more than the 256GB drive. The 256GB Pro is $109.99 at B&H and NewEgg. It's professional grade, of a different design than the EVO, and meant to last many years in the field, with a high MTBF.
 
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primoo92

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Dec 19, 2017
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I would too, but it is impossible. It is very expensive here, plus, not available at the moment. Those 4 options above are the only ones I have. Between them, for bootdrive/scratch disk, which one would you pick? After watching reviews, it seems that the A400 is much faster than the UV400, specially in random speed tests, however, the UV400 controller is older and seems to be a safer choice in terms of reliability. About the Plextor and Silicon Power, I have no clue of whether they are worth it or not...
Any hints?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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For a boot drive, none of them.
IMHO, 120/128GB is TooSmall for the boot drive.

Daily, we see people here running out of space on their 120GB SSD.
I moved off my 120GB boot drive about 3 years ago.

However, if I had to choose between those 4...the SSDNOW would be off the list. Simply because of the bad taste that leaves in my mouth, due to Kingstons earlier foolishness with the SSDNow line.

Toss up between the other 3. Flip a coin. Doubtful you'd see any actual performance difference.
 
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primoo92

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Dec 19, 2017
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Thank you very much for answering!
The possibility of running out of space makes me a little bit worried, but I really can not afford the 240gb versions. The O.S. would probably take around 50GB, so it must do handle for now (I have a slightly bigger HDD).
I'm new to the SSD market, could you tell me a little bit about the SSDNOW line issues you've mentioned? Just so I can understand it better.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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When Kingston first released the SSDNow, the V300,, they did a bit of a bait and switch.
The early drives released for review were great. They subsequently swapped innards, and the ones that ended up on store shelves were significantly slower.
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/184253-ssd-shadiness-kingston-and-pny-caught-bait-and-switching-cheaper-components-after-good-reviews
https://techreport.com/review/26664/alleged-bait-and-switch-tactics-spur-kingston-pny-ssd-boycott
https://www.anandtech.com/show/7763/an-update-to-kingston-ssdnow-v300-a-switch-to-slower-micron-nand

So they sourced their NAND from a different supplier, and performance went down.

Now...has that concept continued? Highly doubtful.
As said, this was a few years ago.
But, the SSDNow line just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Burn me once, and all that.

And in light of dozens of other drives, why bother with a known bad actor.
 
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madmatt30

madmatt30

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^ kingston released tbe ssdnow series with one nand & once all the reviews & benches were out there they swapped that nand for slower & cheaper stuff that impacted performance badly.

That a massive no-no.

Out of those drives the silicon power offers the best performance by quite a wide margin.
 
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primoo92

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Dec 19, 2017
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This point definitely adds a lot. Those three links were very useful, along with your answers. Thank you very much, really! It seems the race is now between the left other 3, considering I doubt they would have kept this practice for the new series.
The A400 seemed very good in random 4k and random 4kqd32 speeds, which matter the most to me, but I'm not sure if it is reliable after a few months (haven't seen anything related), plus, its endurance is quite low (40TBW/3 years warranty). I mean, daily 20GB written doesn't seem to be much...is it? On the other hand, Silicon Power S55 seems to fail after a few months (at least there are a lot of complaints), and Plextor seems to have low reading speeds, specially at those random measurements
From your experience, which one would you pick if you had to choose?
 
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primoo92

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Dec 19, 2017
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After you guys' opinions I definitely agree with you about the ssdnow line! Speaking about the Silicon Power S55, I have seen some complaints about it after a few months. Would you say it is reliable? Also, do you have any information about Plextor?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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My system has 5 x SSD.
500GB 850 EVO
2 x 250GB 840 EVO
960GB Sandisk Ultra II
120GB Kingston HyperX 3k (original boot drive, from 2012)

The eldest almost 6 years old, the newest 18 months old (current boot drive, 500GB 850 EVO).

Totaling the use of ALL of them doesn't reach to 40TBW. Seriously.
Would I buy that A400? No. But you will see 3 years before you see 40TBW.

Read these for how to manage space on a small SSD:
Win 7 & 8: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1834397/ssd-redirecting-static-files.html
Win 8.1 & 10: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2024314/windows-redirecting-folders-drives.html
 
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Solution
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primoo92

Commendable
Dec 19, 2017
11
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1,510


Once again, great links! I tend to read everything I can find about mostly anything (that's almost a problem lol) and the content you've shown me is very relevant. I was really worried about this endurance topic, because the market puts these numbers in a way to push us towards bigger capacities, and beginners almost never know the real life meaning of those values. That's no longer a concern now.
Let me take some more advantage of your knowledge. Considering you're done with kingston, between Silicon Power S55 and Plextor, which one would you trust the most for better 4k and 4kqd32 random speeds?
 
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