Which SSD?

[seanpull]

So I'm in the market for an SSD, and I can't seem to decide which one. Right now it's between the Kingston HyperX 3K and the Plextor M5S. On AnandTech, I can compare the two drives in a number of tests, the only problem is, the tests are pretty much split, and I don't know which ones matter the most. See with a GPU test, I know exactly what I'm looking at, but here, I don't. I mean for example, in the benchmark titled "32KB transfer - 2GB sequential read - QD4", the Plextor beats the Kingston 422,812 kb/s to 38,932 kb/s. That's such a huge margin, but then in every single write test, the Kingston destroys the Plextor. Basically, the Plextor kills the Kingston in reading, and the Kingston kills the Plextor in writing. Which one is generally more important? Why are benchmarks sometimes so much different for a 16KB transfer compared to a 32KB transfer? Thanks for your input.

 

[hiporc]

it depends on what kind of test they run and how full the ssd is. some ssd's excell when empty but are gardbage when above haf full compared to others. take a look at this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69_jA_j7ZvM&feature=plcp hope this helped

 

[inzone]

I would ay that the Samsung SSD would be a better choice since it's one of the top performing SSDs on the market.
As far as QD4 and QD10 what that means is QD4 is more of a storage type of usage and the QD10 is more of an OS type of usage.
Reading is when the drive is being read by the cpu for the program that is on the drive and writing is when files are placed on the drive.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

^ +1 For the Samsung 830.

256GB version on sale for $160.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/887983-REG//BI/865/KBID/1173

SSD chart.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269-6.html

 

[mysteryos]

+2 for the Samsung 830

Its price is a little higher than its competitors, however no-one can beat it in the reliability field.

Also, ask yourself the question of how many times will you read/copy files that are more than 2gb in size(that's where the sequential read/writes apply), on your ssd. The answer is very little. The numbers that you should keep an eye on in the benchmarks are random read/writes.

 

[seanpull]

After doing some research, it seems that the 830 is a great performer, but with the new controller, the M5P has a significant lead in write speeds, and opening applications. So, my question is, will the Plextor really feel faster than the 830? I mean the benchmarks say it's significant, but is it similar to the fact that when a noise is 10x louder, it's perceived by humans as twice as loud? Does that analogy make any sense?

 

[seanpull]

And one more thing, the Plextor has a 512MB DDR3 cache, and the 830 only has a 256MB DDR2 cache. Again, will I notice a difference?

 

[mysteryos]

In real world applications, not really.
From what i see from price comparisons, the plextor M5P 128gb is 20% more expensive than the samsung 830 128gb
So performance per price point wise, the samsung 830 wins.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

In all honesty you would never notice a difference between any SATA 3 SSDs in a side by side comparison. Only in benchmarks. If you are not as concerned with price then the Samsung 840/840 Pro is out now and quite a bit faster than the 830.

Review.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/840-pro-ssd-toggle-mode-2,3302.html

Summary:

" This makes the 840 Pro the fastest, most efficient SSD we've seen to date. "

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Synthetic benchmarks are called synthetic for a reason. They are not real. The synthetic benchmarks were specifically designed to grossly exaggerate very very minor differences in solid state drives. At best they are only a very rough approximation of real world performance. There are several synthetic benchmarks to choose from. SSD companies choose which synthetic benchmark they want to use and manipulate the settings to present their ssd's in the most favorable light. In reality the typical consumer will not notice any performance differences between modern SATA 3 6Gb/s ssd's.

The Samsung 830 Series solid state drive are highly recommended. Samsung has a stellar track record. Performance and quality are excellent. Technical reviews have been very favorable. There have been no major issues or problems.

Tom's Hardware usually lists "daily deals" over at Logic Buy. The link is usually on the home page in the news section. Logic Buy also has a special page just for hard drives and solid state drives. This morning the Samsung 830 SATA 3 6Gb/s 256GB ssd is available for $159.99 and free shipping:

http://www.logicbuy.com/deals/samsung-830-series-256gb-ssd/38304.aspx

I maintain the ssd database listed in the sticky at the very top of this forum section. Here is the link:

http://www.johnnylucky.org/data-storage/ssd-database.html

Scroll down to the brands and models you are interested in and follow the links to the technical reviews.

anort3 - The Samsung 840 Series solid state drives are brand new. They were released a few weeks ago on September 24. Although technical reviews were very favorable I recommend waiting 6 months before purchasing. It is a good idea to wait and see if any issues or problems develop. I'd also wait for prices to drop. Since it is a new ssd the prices are high.

 

[seanpull]

This why I love Tom'sHardware. Informed people who really know what they're talking about. Thanks so much guys, I've decided to go with the 256GB Samsung 830 for $160. Combined with your input, user reviews, and tech website reviews indicate that the 830 has stellar performance and reliability, and at $160 for 256GB, it's a steal. Again, thanks everyone.

 

[inzone]

Always nice to catch a sale and that sale is outstanding , to be able to pick up a SSD like that for under $1 per gb.

 

[hiporc]

Over 9000 for samsung