Samsung 830, 840 or 840 Pro Differences - Help Please!

[felixx]

Hi, I'm building a gaming setup and I'm planning to have an SSD and a HDD, I'm pretty settled on getting a samsung but I'm not completely sure what the differences are between the 830, 840 and 840 pro.

Could anyone please advise me on which to buy and maybe also what size to get if I'm putting the OS and games on the SSD and everything else mainly on the HDD, thanks in advance! :]

 

[jonjonjon]

get aleast a 256GB if you plan on trying to install an os and games on it. even then depending on how many games you have you will have to manage the space.

the 830 is samsung's the last generation ssd. the 840 pro is its new replacement for the 830. the regular 840 is a more mainstream drives and uses TLC nand instead of MLC nand thats used in the 830 & 840 pro. the TLC endurance is overblown. in all reality you wouldnt be able to tell the difference between all 3 in normal usage unless you are benchmarking. if money is no object get a 840 pro. without knowing your budget it's hard to give advice on what you should get. get the biggest well reviewed ssd you can afford.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/532?vs=665
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/678?vs=665

 

[RealBeast]

Today I would go with an 830 in the largest size you can afford, the 256Gb 830 would be ideal.

The 840 Pro has better numbers but is very new and not proven as far as reliability. Anand even had some real major issues with the pre-release firmware bricking the drives. You will not notice any real world difference between any of them, or for that matter with most any other drive, but right now the 830 is one of the most reliable high quality drives available.

 

[felixx]

so get a 256 or 512 830? thanks guys :] would a 128 be too little room if i were to see a good deal on one?

 

[Soda-88]

so get a 256 or 512 830? thanks guys :] would a 128 be too little room if i were to see a good deal on one?

128GB is fine if you don't mind managing your free space instead of just installing games on it and forget about them. I've got 60GB Vertex with OS, Diablo 3 and CS:GO on it because I play those 2 the most. All the other games I keep on HDD RAID0 and I just move them on SSD when I feel like playing them more often.

Note that some of the games don't really benefit from loading faster (mainly team games such as Dota2, because the game starts when the slowest player loads). On the other hand, games like Diablo 3 benefit greatly since the SSD removes the annoying FPS lag every time you load a new level.

Also, don't forget to leave ~20% space free on your SSD to prevent write amplification destroying your P/E cycles and reducing performance.

 

[inzone]

The ideal size for a primary OS drive in a SSD would be the 256gb and that gives you the room to add games and some programs without haveing to monitor the space. Don't forget you don't want to go past 80% capacity or the performance will start to be affected and that's for all SSDs.
You can get a 128gb SSD if you want to but you will be limited to just a couple games and the bulk of you stuff will have to be on your secondary drive. You also don't want to go past 90gb of spce used so it will rake more effort on your part to manage the space. If that's something that you want to do then by all means you can shop for a 128 gb SSD.
The 840 pro would be the best choice for a SSD and I had the 830 but now I have the 840 pro and it's running great. Because SSDs are so fast you can barely notice the difference between the 830 and 840 pro , so if price is a concern then maybe you can get a really good price on a 256 gb 830 instead of a 128gb 840 pro. I would not consider the 840 with TLC as the write speeds are very slow and would probably be very noticable.

 

[felixx]

256gb 830 it is :] thanks alot guys, really appreciate it