Which SSD to buy for reliable everyday use and longevity?

licwid

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Nov 20, 2011
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Hey Guys, I've been doing some reading, and it seems prices have shifted quite a bit over the past week or two, so I'm unsure which SSD is the best value for my needs.

I'm looking for a ~256gb boot drive onto which I can put Windows 7, important programs, and a few games without every really worrying about capacity issues. I currently use around 150GB with all programs on my main drive, and my media on a seperate HDD.

I'm not concerned with having the best performance as most any SSD will be a massive improvement for me. I'm more focused on longevitiy, reliability, and relative value. Based on this I've read that MLC NAND is better suited for me than TLC NAND, is this correct (due to longer life)?

The main SSDs I'm considering are:
$159 - SanDisk Extreme 240GB
$195 - Crucial M4 256GB
$220 - Intel 520 240GB

Am I missing any other good 240-256GB drives in the $150-$225ish range?

Or is it really worth the money for a 840 pro ($250 for a $256gb)?
 
Solution
if your looking at longevity, samsung and intel have the best track record for that. Look into the samsung 830 or the new 840 series. they are in the $180 for a $250.

urdmiz

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if your looking at longevity, samsung and intel have the best track record for that. Look into the samsung 830 or the new 840 series. they are in the $180 for a $250.
 
Solution

licwid

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The 830 was at the top of my list, but prices are up well over that of the 840 pro now, so I ended up having to mark that off of my list for something more affordable.

My understanding with the 840 (non-pro) is that it uses TLC Nand, which actually doesn't last as long as MLC Nand, and is slower. Given that my last 3 HDDs have been in use for 7-9+ years each, I imagine I would notice the difference in these drives longevity eventually, so for now I crossed the 840 off the list too.
 

hytecgowthaman

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my recamend is Buy "TRANSCEND" ram,ssd .reason other manufacturers give only 1year warenty but transcend give "lifetime warenty" so no need to warry about problems. Then cost "no more dealer and distributer " because anyone can "buy directly in TRANSCEND.COM" so cost lower then other.
 

urdmiz

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and those are good reasons, personally the read speeds only matter for the os and the TLC is still new for consumer SSD's but i took a leap of faith as 8 memory modules instead of 16 is a good sign as I know its possible to make large 1TB with TLC in the future which may happen. Newegg last week was selling their last bit of 830s for about $140 each. Good luck on your search
 

licwid

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Are the Sandisk drives that unreliable? From what I've read there haven't been too many issues, and performance is on par with the Samsung 830.

Given that the 840 pro is on sale for $240 right now, I don't think there is any reason to consider more than the Sandisk or the 840 Pro right now. However, I'm leaning towards the Sandisk so long as it will be fairly reliable since it's $80 less, and I doubt I'll eve notice a performance difference.
 

licwid

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I ended up going with the 840 Pro since I found it on sale for $230 shipped, it has a 5 year warranty, a more proven track record, and of course better performance lol.

I did finally find 256gb 830s in stock, but they wanted $205, on Amazon. (newegg has the 128gb 830 in stock currently).
 

The Censor

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Did you get an answer to this? I just got a Sandisk and I hope I got a good drive.

Thanks