Samsung 128GB vs Crucial 128GB

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Highcountryrider

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About to build a new system. I'm looking at using one of the two SSDs listed below. They are very close in price. The Samsung appears to have higher sequential read and write speeds and higher IOPS speeds.

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC
SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128B/WW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC

System not for gaming. Light Photoshop and video editing primary use. CPU will be a i5 3570k and will probably slightly OC (4.2Ghz).

Would appreciate any comments regarding reliability, performance, firmware update issues, etc. of these two drives.
 
Samsung if the price is the same. I don't think you can go wrong either way. I have ran OCZ, Kingston w/ Intel controller, Kingston with Sandforce controller, Intel and Crucial SSDs with very little noticeable performance between them all.
 
I`m going to snag the Plextor M5 Pro when it comes out as my next SSD.

Maybe if you can wait until then - it may drive prices down more since it's been tested as the "fastest".
 
The Samsung is a little faster, but not dramatically so. Price the same, get the Samsung, but you might find a deal on the Crucial if you look around - the 256GB was on sale for $160 last week for a while.
 
Forceman said:
The Samsung is a little faster, but not dramatically so. Price the same, get the Samsung, but you might find a deal on the Crucial if you look around - the 256GB was on sale for $160 last week for a while.
Click to expand...

This^ If you're trying to save a few dollars, wait for an m4 to hit ~$160. If you're ready to buy now and you don't mind spending a bit more to get a little more performance then the best value (good price, good quality, good performance) is the Samsung 830, and the best SSD (best quality and performance, 5 year warranty) is the Plextor M3P or M5P. As others have mentioned, you probably won't "feel" any kind of difference between them and my previous statement is more about numbers than "real life experience".

Edit: Samsung 830 256GB @ $188.99 + FS - http://www.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=SAMSSD256

Edit2: I must have gotten lost in Forceman's post. Forgot that you only want 128GB.


ToddW2 said:
I`m going to snag the Plextor M5 Pro when it comes out as my next SSD.

Maybe if you can wait until then - it may drive prices down more since it's been tested as the "fastest".
Click to expand...

I just wanted to add that they're already priced at 128GB @ $124.99 - 256GB @ $230.99 - 512GB @ $452.99
I'd also like to add that Anandtech SSD reviews are worthless and it's no mistake that they're the only reviewers of the M5 Pro where it came up a little short. Anand disables EIST/Turbo, while Kristian (Plextor reviewer) leaves them enabled, meaning there's no consistency and the variables that are not being tested are not being controlled aka no apples to apples like [H] does with everything.

/rant
 
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I would suggest at least a 256GB drive also, especially if you intend to edit videos.
 
MissJ84 said:
This^ If you're trying to save a few dollars, wait for an m4 to hit ~$160. If you're ready to buy now and you don't mind spending a bit more to get a little more performance then the best value (good price, good quality, good performance) is the Samsung 830, and the best SSD (best quality and performance, 5 year warranty) is the Plextor M3P or M5P. As others have mentioned, you probably won't "feel" any kind of difference between them and my previous statement is more about numbers than "real life experience".

Edit: Samsung 830 256GB @ $188.99 + FS - http://www.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=SAMSSD256

Edit2: I must have gotten lost in Forceman's post. Forgot that you only want 128GB.

I just wanted to add that they're already priced at 128GB @ $124.99 - 256GB @ $230.99 - 512GB @ $452.99
I'd also like to add that Anandtech SSD reviews are worthless and it's no mistake that they're the only reviewers of the M5 Pro where it came up a little short. Anand disables EIST/Turbo, while Kristian (Plextor reviewer) leaves them enabled, meaning there's no consistency and the variables that are not being tested are not being controlled aka no apples to apples like [H] does with everything.

/rant
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. From reviews I've just read the Plextor M5 Pro seems great. It does have a new generation Marvel controller. I think the Samsung 830 has it's own proprietary controller and the Crucial M4 also has a Marvel controller. Other than size my main concern about switching to a SSD as an OS boot drive would be how reliable it is. Weren't there some concerns about Marvel controller SSDs or has that been solved?
 
Aesma said:
I would suggest at least a 256GB drive also, especially if you intend to edit videos.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. I would really like a 256GB drive, especially since it seems that the higher capacity the SSD is the better the performance. Just have to try and justify the cost difference. My video editing is very limited, mostly home movies.
 
Forceman said:
The Samsung is a little faster, but not dramatically so. Price the same, get the Samsung, but you might find a deal on the Crucial if you look around - the 256GB was on sale for $160 last week for a while.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I missed a Newegg 24 hour special on the 830 128GB a week or so ago that had it at $80 US. Have to learn how to pull the trigger a little faster.:(
 
Highcountryrider said:
Thanks for the reply. From reviews I've just read the Plextor M5 Pro seems great. It does have a new generation Marvel controller. I think the Samsung 830 has it's own proprietary controller and the Crucial M4 also has a Marvel controller. Other than size my main concern about switching to a SSD as an OS boot drive would be how reliable it is. Weren't there some concerns about Marvel controller SSDs or has that been solved?
Click to expand...

The Crucial (2xnm Sync NAND) has the same Marvell 88SS9174 controller as the Plextor M3/M3 Pro (2xnm Toshiba Toggle Nand). The Samsung (2xnm Samsung Toggle NAND) has a proprietary controller like you mentioned, while the M5 Pro (Toshiba 19nm NAND) has the same controller as the Vertex 4, but the M5 Pro is the first to publicly use the Marvell 88SS9187. There were never really any problems with the Marvell controller, outside of a BSOD issue with the Crucial m4 less than a year ago, but they fixed that quickly and it was related to the firmware, not the controller.

If you're looking for a reliable drive, any of the three brands being talked about here are fine. Plextor, which can be more difficult to find info on, also has a low average annual failure rate, sitting at 0.59%.
 
Samsung and crucial need more originality in their SSD names.
 
Pulled the trigger this time! 3 hour sale on Newegg. Samsung 830 256GB SSD (bare drive only) for $170. Works out to about $0.66 US per GB. This exceeded my budget by about $50 but will now have a 256 GB vs a 128 GB drive. Hope all the good reviews about this drive prove to be accurate. Thanks to all for your input.
 
Highcountryrider said:
Pulled the trigger this time! 3 hour sale on Newegg. Samsung 830 256GB SSD (bare drive only) for $170. Works out to about $0.66 US per GB. This exceeded my budget by about $50 but will now have a 256 GB vs a 128 GB drive. Hope all the good reviews about this drive prove to be accurate. Thanks to all for your input.
Click to expand...

Glad to see you went with the 256GB instead of the 128GB, despite your limited space needs :)
 
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