Looking for a 256 GB SSD

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maverick786us

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Can someone suggest me a good 256GB SSD or should I blindly go for 840 Pro? 512 SSDs are bit overpriced. I know 840 Pro series are slightly overpriced too, but are there cheap available options too, that are as good as 840 pro in terms of performance?
 
What do you need performance for? If you just want the instant response, then all modern SSDs are capable of providing that. Faster load times? There's virtually no difference between a $70 256gb SSD and the 840 Pro. The only area where you will see differences is in benchmarking, and in massive file transfers (between SSDs).

I would get one of these if the promo code is still valid: http://slickdeals.net/f/7134288-pny-optima-series-2-5-sata-iii-internal-solid-state-drives-480gb-ssd-164-99-ar-or-146-50-ar-w-visa-checkout-240gb-ssd-79-99-ar-or-69-99-ar-w-visa-checkout-more?

Edit: Looks like prices are no longer valid. SSD deals have been popping up relatively frequently, just watch Slickdeals or Hotdeals section.
 
Tsumi said:
What do you need performance for? If you just want the instant response, then all modern SSDs are capable of providing that. Faster load times? There's virtually no difference between a $70 256gb SSD and the 840 Pro. The only area where you will see differences is in benchmarking, and in massive file transfers (between SSDs).

I would get one of these if the promo code is still valid: http://slickdeals.net/f/7134288-pny...sd-79-99-ar-or-69-99-ar-w-visa-checkout-more?

Edit: Looks like prices are no longer valid. SSD deals have been popping up relatively frequently, just watch Slickdeals or Hotdeals section.
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I am a hard core overclocker and gamer. I don't know why people call 840 Pro SSD best. If its best because of performance, or reliability or other factors. I am new into SSD world.
 
It has the highest benchmark scores of consumer SSDs. Does that translate to real world performance differences? Maybe 0.2 seconds of faster OS and game load times over a cheaper SSD. There is a reason SATA II doesn't hurt SSD desktop experience.

If you want the absolute best, go for the 840 Pro. If you don't care about file transfer benchmark numbers, get one of the cheaper alternatives.
 
Tsumi said:
It has the highest benchmark scores of consumer SSDs. Does that translate to real world performance differences? Maybe 0.2 seconds of faster OS and game load times over a cheaper SSD. There is a reason SATA II doesn't hurt SSD desktop experience.

If you want the absolute best, go for the 840 Pro. If you don't care about file transfer benchmark numbers, get one of the cheaper alternatives.
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Don't need the best, want something that is reliable, has longer lifetime something like Circual M4. Don't know what happened to Crucial M3 & M4 SSD? These were one of the hottest selling SSDs an year ago.
 
I've been happy buying Crucial and Sandisk drives lately (last 2 years). They are usually in the middle of price range with no substantial negative history. As people have said you are really splitting hairs when it comes to comparing SSD's of the same generation.

But then again I have a 64GB OCZ Agility 2 that is still in active service and you'd probably be hard pressed to find anyone who would recommend one of those.
 
maverick786us said:
Don't need the best, want something that is reliable, has longer lifetime something like Circual M4. Don't know what happened to Crucial M3 & M4 SSD? These were one of the hottest selling SSDs an year ago.
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Crucial's current lines are the MX100 (budget drive) and m550 (performance drive).
 
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something like Circual M4. Don't know what happened to Crucial M3 & M4 SSD? These were one of the hottest selling SSDs an year ago.
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Crucial has newer models that are better, faster and cheaper than the M4 used to be.

The 256 GB MX100 has been on sale for just less than $100 but typically goes on sale for a little more than $100 with the 512GB version going on sale for roughly double that.
 
I'd stick to recent models that are "fab brands" - that is to say, the company that sells it also fabricates some of their own components and tends to have quality controllers, newer tech, long-term reliability and the like. I have to admit I haven't done any deep research for a year or two, so there are probably others with more in depth knowledge than I.

Some brands worth looking into are Samsung, Crucial/Micron, Intel, SanDisk (I think?) and Toshiba/OCZ (OCZ is now fully owned by Toshiba and sells high end SSDs and stuff under the OCZ name). Samsung has topped the benchmarks for the past few generations (though others have provided stronger competitors more recently) and they just came out with the newest top of the line - the 850 Pro. However, if you don't want to pay for that premium, I'd look into plenty of others. For instance, AMD has recently partnered with Toshiba/OCZ for Radeon R7 series SSDs, and they're all getting excellent reviews especially for the price.
 
maverick786us said:
I am a hard core overclocker and gamer. I don't know why people call 840 Pro SSD best. If its best because of performance, or reliability or other factors. I am new into SSD world.
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Reliability and good price to performance/size ratio.
 
The AMD SSDs are OCZ SSDs with an AMD sticker, and don't seem to be available just yet. Samsung shocked us all by putting a ten year warranty on their new 850 line, but it has a sky high price to match, costing twice as much as the budget SSDs, which is just too much; you won't be able to tell the difference between a 256GB Crucial MX100 and a 256GB Samsung 850 Pro unless you are doing some really extraordinary things that home users just don't do.
 
I would definitely go for a 256GB Crucial MX100 if you can find one for under $90 (such as these now expired deals: 1 2 ) , or a 250GB Samsung EVO if you can get it for less than $110 (this one will be a tougher find, less frequently dropping to $110 for below)
 
evilsofa said:
Crucial's current lines are the MX100 (budget drive) and m550 (performance drive).
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With the exception of the 128gb model, the MX100s are basically the same speed as the M550 for all intents and purposes. Especially if you're talking about the 512gb model. They benchmark nearly the same. The M550s are in a weird place right now--there's really no reason to buy one over the "budget" MX100s.
 
Sandisk are good. They make nand. They are usually cheap. I haven't seen any wide spread issues with their ssds ever.

Nothing wrong with going for a samsung Evo or Crucial drive if they are cheaper.
Don't bother buying a "faster" drive these days though. Unless you plan on spending heaps on pcie
 
Samsung 850 Pro for the best ssd in market, with the longest warranty, but its expensive. Sandisk Extreme Pro is also a good option for a top ssd.

Sansung 840 Evo a good ssd for the money, has been out for more than 2 years and been rock solid.

Crucial MX100 to me the smartest buy atm, specially for how cheap is the 512GB, and call it for couple of years until we see all manufacturers moving toward sata express.
 
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bpizzle1 said:
With the exception of the 128gb model, the MX100s are basically the same speed as the M550 for all intents and purposes. Especially if you're talking about the 512gb model. They benchmark nearly the same. The M550s are in a weird place right now--there's really no reason to buy one over the "budget" MX100s.
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The only reason would be if you go for the terabyte model, which sadly does not exist for the MX100.
 
I like performance & long warranties and for SSD good ranom read so I opted for that side when selecting a new SSD (840P since it came out). Also use an Intel 80gb G2 & Crucial M4 256gb (same size as my 840P) in other systems. 80gb->840p was noticeable but were talking generations. 840P to Crucial M4 -- in day to day tasks and games I can't tell the difference benchmarks really only, or maybe if I was doing larger renderings or movies ???

I want to try the new Intel PCIE SSD next, and see if that's a noticeable improvement :D also want to play around a bit with those for MySQL.
 
I have the following:

Samsung 830 128GB
Crucial M4 256GB
Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB
PNY Optima 240GB
Seagate 600 480GB
Toshiba Q Series 256GB

The 830, M4, and 3K were my first SSDs. All of them still in service ~2 years later.
The rest very purchased here and there during sales, and all of them are still going strong.
I notice zero difference between all of my SSD systems except that they HAVE an SSD.

For outstanding price : performance, I highly recommend the Seagate 600 and PNY Optima.

My next SSD is going to be a Sandisk Ultra Plus -G25 128GB for another laptop. That will be the very last system between all my home and work systems to go all SSD.
 
They may not be the fastest any more (and as indicated earlier, the difference is less than .2 seconds in some cases), but nobody regrets buying an Intel SSD. Even in the early days, their reliability was second to none.
 
DejaWiz said:
For outstanding price : performance, I highly recommend the Seagate 600 and PNY Optima.
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I agree. I have the Seagate 600 in my personal desktop and have had zero issues with it. I've seen the Seatage 600 480GB as low as $159AR.

I've used the PNY Optima in several builds for my brothers and friends and price/performance it's great. Routinely on sale under $90 for 240GB.
 
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