SSD Choices

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limitedaccess

Supreme [H]ardness
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May 10, 2010
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Helping a friend buy a SSD. Looking for something in the 180-256gb range. Here is whats on sale/available here -

Crucial M4 256gb - $165
Samsung 840 - $160 (+ FC3)
Sandisk Extreme 240gb - $160
OCZ Agility 3 240gb - $130
OCZ Agility 4 256gb - $150
Intel 520 180gb/240gb - $160/$190

Looking for some thoughts on which one to pick.

Samsung 830s (never really went on sale here) and the 840pro are too costly from a gb/price perspective.
 
Unless there are special needs, from that list I'd go with the Crucial m4. It is not the fastest, but it is fast enough for general use that most people will not be able to tell it from any other SSD on the list. Most important is that it has been out for a while and all serious problems have been corrected (make sure you update the firmware if it comes with an old firmware version).

The Samsung 840 may also be a good choice (for all but the heaviest write workloads), but it has not been out long enough for me to recommend it without reservations.

If your budget can stretch to $200, then look at the 256GB Plextor M5P. It is on sale at amazon now for that price. Plextor SSDs are high quality -- they do extensive testing on every SSD they produce, and their quality control is excellent.

Avoid OCZ at any cost.
 
I was leaning towards the M4 as well. I figured the reliability and ease of use (versus Sandforce especially, less worry about performance degradation, compressible/incompressible, etc.) was probably more important than blazing edge speeds (especially just benchmark speeds) to the average user.

Looks like the M4 and 840 are both sold out online however. Might have to risk it and line up early on the 26th or go with the Sandisk. On the plus side it would knock the M4 price down to $160 due to saving on shipping. Although wondering if the more mature firmware now on the SF-2281 combined with the toggle nand might make the Sandisk a worthwhile alternative (who I believe have one of the better reliability reputations among the SF-2281 drive makers?).

Personally I bought at M4 128gb (at $80) having held out for a 830 sale (nothing came up here), but I was more aware of what I needed and valued in regards to my likely usage pattern. Also in this case the 840 was $15 more expensive, so the competition was mostly SF-2281 drives (Intel 330, Sandisk Extreme, and Kingston Hyper X).

In terms of the Plextors I think preferably he wouldn't want to stretch that high in terms of $/gb.
 
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