My SSD died, so I need a new one. A quick poke around suggests that the Crucial MX100 256GB or the Samsung 850 Pro 128GB are my best bets (I can get them for the same price, in NZ). Anyone know more than me and want to give some advice?

I can get by on 128GB but 256GB makes life a lot easier, as I dual-boot and triple-boot, so 128GB tends to be more like 60GB each OS, becoming somewhat limiting. However, the 850 Pro seems to be faster and more reliable/have more endurance.

EDIT
I previously had the Samsung 830 128GB.

EDIT2
I can get the MX100 256GB, 850 Pro 128GB, and 840 Evo 256GB for the same price in New Zealand. I didn't realize I could get the evo for the same price, but I'd now be looking between the 840 and the 850 as my options. Same sort of tradeoff seems to apply though, speed/endurance of the 850 vs size of the 840.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Aug 10 2014, 11:38 pm by Jack.

The 850 Pro is based on new tech, so there isn't much testing to confirm its reliability. But it's a grand way to spend over $1/GB on an SSD if you really want to.

256GB MX100 for $95: $105 - $15
250GB 840 EVO for $130: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726/

Comparison for the above two drives: http://ssdboss.com/ssds/Samsung-840-EVO-vs-Crucial-MX100

Drives with cross-die redundancy and power loss protection:

256GB Crucial M550 - $144: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IRRDHUI/
160GB Intel 320 Series - $140: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004TFXBPS/

Comparison for the above two drives: http://ssdboss.com/ssds/Intel-320-vs-Crucial-M550

I got the 500Gb Samsung Evo.

You really should just go for $ per gigabyte, and get a size you're happy with. Performance for these drives really doesn't matter. Are you really going to notice (or care) that certain levels in a game might load 3 seconds faster with one drive over another?

The jump from HD to SSD is massive. After that, differences between SSDs are much less noticeable. I replaced the 64Gb idilinix barefoot-based SSD with this Samsung EVO and honestly I can't see any difference in performance between them (note that my mobo is from 2007 so limited to SATA2, which probably has a bit to do with it as well).

Woo the 850 Pro. That's why I like Samsung. I think the greatest thing about it isn't even that it's the fastest SATA SSD to date (like Lanth said, speed doesn't really matter anymore) but its 10 year warranty. That's a good move (if the tech keeps up with that promise) to generate trust in the new memory type they developed: A 3-dimensional flash memory that is apparently (a lot) more durable and more energy saving than previous memory techs.

From what I read they still have minor problems though: Some weird chirping and unoptimized firmware, which is to be expected for a brand-new product. But despite Samsung not being famous for serious firmware bugs I wouldn't buy it just yet. Give it a few months time and they'll probably be the new default recommendation for speed and quality builds.

That being out of the way my recommendation would be the
- Samsung 840 Evo if you're looking for some peace of mind or
- a Crucial or even cheaper SSD if you're out to get away as cheap as possible.

I'm not aware of any notorious products (nor am I particularly informed about that aspect) but as always read customer reviews before you buy, so you are able to spot a bad model / batch, which probably happens with every brand from time to time.

Bought the 250GB evo, thanks for your help guys. My 830 is within the warranty too so I might end up with two depending on how things go.

QFT.

I'm buying the $50 120 GB ssds as they come on sale to replace laptop HDDS and put in new computers as a system drive.