So, what's the ssd of choice when it comes to speed & performance?

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sram

[H]ard|Gawd
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Haven't been following lately. I just want to know the best ssd money can buy today for a desktop PC.

And are those PCIe drives worth it?
 
Plextor M5P, but it is only available in Japan at the moment. Should be available more widely later in September.
 
The Samsung 830 is probably the go-to drive still, but there are a lot of options. All the current-gen drives are fast enough that you wouldn't be able to tell any difference between them in real-world use anyway. Just get something reliable at a good price. And don't bother with the PCIe drives, too much hassle and money.
 
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MSRP for the 256GB Plextor M5P is $320, so that ebay price is very high.
 
JoeComp said:
MSRP for the 256GB Plextor M5P is $320, so that ebay price is very high.
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Considering you can get a 256GB Samsung 830 for around $200, I don't know why you'd pay over $300 for that Plextor. It certainly isn't 50% faster.
 
Forceman said:
Considering you can get a 256GB Samsung 830 for around $200, I don't know why you'd pay over $300 for that Plextor. It certainly isn't 50% faster.
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:rolleyes: Considering that you can get a Toyota for $20K, I don't know why you would pay $60K for a Mercedes. It certainly isn't 300% faster.

Seriously, surely everyone knows that some people are willing to pay more for some things. It is not always a linear relation.

Personally, I would not pay $350 for an M5P, but I would pay about $270, which is what the M3P is going for. I expect the M5P will be available for $250 or so sometime this year.
 
A vertex 4 is faster than an M5P... I know that people are scared of OCZ but I have one that works great and it has the same 5 year warranty. It is really fast too.
 
Are all the SSD pretty much equal or are some more realiable than others?
 
I personally like the Mushkin SSDs. In fact when I go to build an app server it will be using Mushkin SSDs.
 
extide said:
A vertex 4 is faster than an M5P...
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And a Plextor M5P is faster than a Vertex 4. They are so close that the Plextor M5P wins on some benchmarks and the V4 wins on other benchmarks.

However, the Vertex 4 only looks good on empty SSD benchmarks. Once you fill the drive with data, it starts behaving badly. It slows down for a while when you cross 50%, then the speed comes back somewhat. But then at random, unpredictable times, the speed will slow way down for a while and then come back. Whatever tricks OCZ played with their firmware to get the V4 to look good in benchmarks makes the performance unpredictable during actual use. Typical OCZ deceptive behavior.

The Plextor SSDs performance is steady and predictable. That certainly trumps the V4 in my book.
 
JoeComp said:
And a Plextor M5P is faster than a Vertex 4. They are so close that the Plextor M5P wins on some benchmarks and the V4 wins on other benchmarks.

However, the Vertex 4 only looks good on empty SSD benchmarks. Once you fill the drive with data, it starts behaving badly. It slows down for a while when you cross 50%, then the speed comes back somewhat. But then at random, unpredictable times, the speed will slow way down for a while and then come back. Whatever tricks OCZ played with their firmware to get the V4 to look good in benchmarks makes the performance unpredictable during actual use. Typical OCZ deceptive behavior.

The Plextor SSDs performance is steady and predictable. That certainly trumps the V4 in my book.
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This^ and you don't have to deal with horrible OCZ CS. I can't believe the 128GB is priced at $130 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820249026
 
JoeComp said:
And a Plextor M5P is faster than a Vertex 4. They are so close that the Plextor M5P wins on some benchmarks and the V4 wins on other benchmarks.

However, the Vertex 4 only looks good on empty SSD benchmarks. Once you fill the drive with data, it starts behaving badly. It slows down for a while when you cross 50%, then the speed comes back somewhat. But then at random, unpredictable times, the speed will slow way down for a while and then come back. Whatever tricks OCZ played with their firmware to get the V4 to look good in benchmarks makes the performance unpredictable during actual use. Typical OCZ deceptive behavior.

The Plextor SSDs performance is steady and predictable. That certainly trumps the V4 in my book.
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And the Samsung 830 keeps up with both of them in real world measures, and is cheaper than the M5P and more reliable than OCZ.
 
rss33 said:
Are all the SSD pretty much equal or are some more realiable than others?
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They all benchmark slightly different but in day to day use...it's really hard to tell them apart.

Buy on best size for the best price.
 
extide said:
A vertex 4 is faster than an M5P... I know that people are scared of OCZ but I have one that works great and it has the same 5 year warranty. It is really fast too.
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Wow. Your new OCZ drive hasn't died yet. Good for you. Useless information -- WAY too small a sample size and WAY too new to draw reliability info on. Warranty is useless for drives. Lose all your data, get a free refurb replacement... the drive is never the issue; the data are and the hassle is.

Don't risk buying OCZ, period. As others have mentioned, their CS sucks.

I'd still buy an Intel 520 if I were buying a new SSD. Either that or the M5P..
 
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Is the Plextor M5P 256GB SSD the only anticipated SSD using the newer controllers coming out in the next month or two (or three at most)? I really need a new SSD to replace my old 128GB SSD very soon but I don't want to wait much longer. Are there any rumors floating around on other SSD's coming to market soon?

My top 3 ratings of the currently available crop of SSD's are (subject to change).

1. Plextor M5P 256GB (should be a little faster than the Anand reviewed 128GB, no?)
2. Samsung 830 256GB Around a year old right? Shouldn't there be a newer one coming?)
3. Intel 520 240GB (Has been a little expensive compared to the rest but still a great SSD).


My main concern is buying a new SSD and having a new one come out right after that (31 days after) at the same price point but with a lot more (synthetic) performance. I know in the real world it's less noticeable but still nice to have. :D
 
Corsair Neutron GTX looks promising (though nothing to amazing at this point). The Plextor doesn't seem to be a big bump over the non-pro version, but it does have a 5 year warranty. That alone trumps the Vertex 4 (and the vast majority of other SSD's).
 
I just asked the SSD editor over at Anand about the best SSD's (opinion) and got this response. Just thought I'd share.
Hi,

Currently my top three recommendations would be Samsung 830, Plextor M3/M5S and Crucial m4. The Crucial is a bit slower than the Samsung and Plextor SSDs but it’s also the cheapest. They all have good all around performance, though. SandForce drives are fast with compressible data but you’ll see a decline in write speed with incompressible data (i.e. SF doesn’t provide that good all around performance).

There is something interesting coming later this month but I obviously can’t talk about it yet. I’ll be attending the event so you can read about it on AnandTech as soon as we have something we can share.

Best Regards,

Kristian Vättö
SSD Editor for AnandTech.com
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Now I just want to know what's coming up this month? :(
 
the Samsung may well be faster than the M4

I just got a 256GB M4 because it was going to be $50~ less (at the time i bought... double check cause it seems the prices bounce around all over the damn place all the time)


but anyways so far the m4 (1 mos on...so not a very long time in honesty) the m4 has been perfect and the speed has been pretty impressive ..but I was coming from a 1TB 7200 RPM hitachi drive so i suppose most any SSD would seem pretty quick.

I wanted a Samsung 830 but I'm very satisfied w/ the performance and reliability (so far) of my Crucial M4.


these are the benchmarks I get w/ the M4



i love the 256GB size have my games (well 5 right now) installed on the ssd still have a 170GB free space.
 
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