Samsung Goes 6 Gb/s: Is The 830-Series SSD King Of The Hill?

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Samsung's 830 is a late entry to the 6 Gb/s SSD market, but the company claims impressive performance. Can it unseat the incumbent SandForce-based drives? Let's just say this new offering shakes up the SSD world in a major way. Other vendors, beware.

Test Setup And Firmware Notes

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Test Hardware
ProcessorIntel Core i5-2500K (Sandy Bridge), 32 nm, 3.3 GHz, LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost Enabled
MotherboardASRock Z68 Extreme4, BIOS v1.4
MemoryKingston Hyper-X 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1333 @ DDR3-1333, 1.5 V
System DriveOCZ Vertex 3 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s
Tested DrivesCrucial m4 64 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 0001
Row 5 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 510 250 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 1.7
Row 6 - Cell 0 Intel SSD 320 300 GB SATA 3Gb/s, Firmware: 1.7
Row 7 - Cell 0 Crucial m4 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 0001
Row 8 - Cell 0 Crucial m4 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 0002
Row 9 - Cell 0 Crucial m4 512 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 0001
Row 10 - Cell 0 Crucial RealSSD 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 0006
Row 11 - Cell 0 OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.06
Row 12 - Cell 0 OCZ Vertex 3 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.06
Row 13 - Cell 0 OCZ Agility 3 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.06
Row 14 - Cell 0 OCZ Solid 3 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.06
Row 15 - Cell 0 Corsair Force 3 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 1.2
Row 16 - Cell 0 Corsair Force 120 GB SATA 3Gb/s, Firmware: 2.0
Row 17 - Cell 0 Adata S511 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 311A
Row 18 - Cell 0 Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 319A
Row 19 - Cell 0 Patriot Wildfire 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 319A
Row 20 - Cell 0 Kingston SSDNow V+100 128 GB SATA 3Gb/s, Firmware: CJRA
Row 21 - Cell 0 Western Digital VelociRaptor 300 GB (WD3000HLFS) SATA 3Gb/s
Row 22 - Cell 0 G.Skill FM-25S2S 64 GB SATA 3Gb/s, Firmware: 02.1
Row 23 - Cell 0 Seagate Momentus 5400.6 500 GB SATA 3Gb/s
Row 24 - Cell 0 Intel X25-M G2 160 GB, Firmware: 1.7
Row 25 - Cell 0 Samsung 470 256 GB SATA 3Gb/s, Firmware: AXMO
Row 26 - Cell 0 Samsung 830 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: CXMO
Row 27 - Cell 0 OCZ Vertex 2 (32nm) 120 GB SATA 3Gb/s, Firmware: 1.32
Row 28 - Cell 0 Kingston HyperX 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 320A
GraphicsPalit GeForce GTX 460 1 GB
Power SupplySeasonic 760 W, 80 PLUS
System Software and Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
DirectXDirectX 11
DriverGraphics: Nvidia 270.61 RST: 10.5.0.1022Virtu: 1.1.101
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Benchmarks
Tom's Hardware Storage Bench v1.0Trace-Based
Iometer 1.1.0# Workers = # Logical CPUs, 4 KB Random: LBA=16 GB, varying QDs, 128 KB Sequential: QD=1
ATTO BenchmarkLBA=2 GB, QD=2 & 4, varying transfer sizes
PCMark 7Storage Suite

Firmware Notes

Performance can change noticeably with a firmware update. We'll try to update our benchmark library when a new firmware version is released.

You'll notice that 256 GB Crucial m4 scores are different than what was posted in Second-Gen SandForce: Seven 120 GB SSDs Rounded Up because we've updated to firmware 0002. Overall, we see little performance change, which is why the other m4 capacities haven't been retested.

Andrew Ku
44 Comments Comment from the forums
  • pbrigido
    With all of these fast SSDs coming to market, I can only hope that the competition starts to drive down prices soon.
    Reply
  • I still opt for the M4 in all the enthusiast builds I do!

    It boils down to reliability, not one hiccup on M4 yet (or any crucial drive Ive installed), 4/5 Sandforce drives I have installed have had some form of callback problem to resolve once deployed, mostly requiring firmware updates, but a few failed drives as well!

    Mind you, still better than the early Corsair force Series I used, every single one failed! Stopped using them quick!

    Am tempted by OCZ, once they have reliability on their side I will give them a go again!
    Reply
  • Would love to see an article addressing Sandforce controller problems people have been experiencing.
    Reply
  • mark_hamill
    Would love to see an article addressing Sandforce controller problems people have been experiencing.
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    Looks like a really nice SSD. Samsung has one of the best validation proceses along with Intel and Crucial so I really don't expect people to have issues like they do with OCZ drives. Now the real question how much will it be on the egg?

    I saw this quote below in the summary and laughed as nobody in there right mind would use a basic MLC drive in a database server. So Samsung tuned the drive for what it will be used in ,desktops, good.
    "Although we'd probably think twice before picking this as our first choice for a database server, it does just fine in an enthusiast's machine."
    Reply
  • kikireeki
    When will we be seeing articles like: SSD price slashed 50%?
    Reply
  • JohnnyLucky
    great review. now we just have to wait and see how the ssd will hold up over the long haul. If it is anything like the 470, then it should be problem free.
    Reply
  • alikum
    Make it $1 per GB at least
    Reply
  • beenthere
    We'll see how this series of Samsung SSDs fair. The previous gen was a nightmare of problems so I don't think Samsung's validation process is any better that the rest of the SSD suppliers - which is sad when Samsung controls everything including NAND production. It's amazing that we still have SSDs NOT readt for Prime Time.
    Reply
  • AppleBlowsDonkeyBalls
    beenthereWe'll see how this series of Samsung SSDs fair. The previous gen was a nightmare of problems so I don't think Samsung's validation process is any better that the rest of the SSD suppliers - which is sad when Samsung controls everything including NAND production. It's amazing that we still have SSDs NOT readt for Prime Time.
    Proof? I think you just pulled this out of your ass or from someone's that told you some story. The 470 series was VERY reliable.
    Reply