Good SSD recommendations

Shingyboy · 7 May 2016 at 21:27

I have a Samsung 840 SSD which is 250gb that has my operating system on and a few games. I can't store that many games on it because it does not have that much space so I kind of want to invest in buying a SSD so I can put games on it.

So I am a total SSD newbie to be honest, I am not sure what specifications are good and what I am meant to be looking for, what SSDs are overpriced and which SSDs are not worth the money.

I do not mind spending a little extra to get a better SSD, but obviously not a ridiculous amount.

What is a good size SSD to buy right now that would be no too unreasonable in terms of pricing?

s452 · 7 May 2016 at 21:34

most newer SSDs will not give you any noticable day to day performance gains over your 840 (they will in benchmarks though), so go for the popular ones like the samsung one etc.

in terms of capacity, I would go with the price per gig rule, if each gig is about the same price on 2 different capacity SSD across the same model, get the one that fits your budget and needs

opethdisciple · 7 May 2016 at 21:57

Get one of these.

I've installed a few of these for friends their fast and you can use the magician software to clone your existing drive saving you the need to reinstall the o.s.

Then you could format your original SSD and stick it in as a second drive.

abui1806 · 7 May 2016 at 23:20

the Samsung 850 evo 500gb seems like the best choice for the price atm.

Shingyboy · 8 May 2016 at 01:49

opethdisciple said:
Get one of these.

I've installed a few of these for friends their fast and you can use the magician software to clone your existing drive saving you the need to reinstall the o.s.

Then you could format your original SSD and stick it in as a second drive.

Would it not be better to leave my current SSD as OS and then have all the games etc on the second drive?

Do I have to pay for this magician software I have not used that before.

abui1806 said:
the Samsung 850 evo 500gb seems like the best choice for the price atm.

This looks good, not too expensive, I do have a quick question, so I have noticed that the Samsung 850 EVO 1TB can go for about £230 and there are some SSDs just under £200 around like £170-£190, is it because the Samsung ones are just superior? Is it even worth trying to find a decent deal on a 1TB SSD?

abui1806 · 8 May 2016 at 05:35

Shingyboy said:
Would it not be better to leave my current SSD as OS and then have all the games etc on the second drive?

Do I have to pay for this magician software I have not used that before.

This looks good, not too expensive, I do have a quick question, so I have noticed that the Samsung 850 EVO 1TB can go for about £230 and there are some SSDs just under £200 around like £170-£190, is it because the Samsung ones are just superior? Is it even worth trying to find a decent deal on a 1TB SSD?

Samsung is known for their reliability and durability with top notch speed. Sandisk had some deal for their 960GB at only £139 a couple of months back. It was the best deal ever for ssd. For normal use, speed wise, you won't see much difference between samsung or other reputable brands (plextor, kingston, crucial, sandisk, etc) but samsung's durability is proven by having a huge market share.

opethdisciple · 8 May 2016 at 11:42

Shingyboy said:
Would it not be better to leave my current SSD as OS and then have all the games etc on the second drive?

Do I have to pay for this magician software I have not used that before.

The Samsung Magician software is free.

Yes you could use the smaller drive as the OS drive and the new one for games.

Shingyboy · 8 May 2016 at 12:53

abui1806 said:
Samsung is known for their reliability and durability with top notch speed. Sandisk had some deal for their 960GB at only £139 a couple of months back. It was the best deal ever for ssd. For normal use, speed wise, you won't see much difference between samsung or other reputable brands (plextor, kingston, crucial, sandisk, etc) but samsung's durability is proven by having a huge market share.

So if I can find a 1TB SSD cheaply it does not matter if it is Samsung or not then because the speed difference would be negligible?

opethdisciple said:
The Samsung Magician software is free.

Yes you could use the smaller drive as the OS drive and the new one for games.

Thanks mate I did not know about this.

opethdisciple · 8 May 2016 at 20:24

I've been calling it Magician software, when actually I mean the Samsung Data Migration Software. Same link as above.

LoopyOrc · 9 May 2016 at 16:23

How are Sandisk in the SSD rankings? Generally good?

Shingyboy · 9 May 2016 at 16:36

LoopyOrc said:
How are Sandisk in the SSD rankings? Generally good?

I have personally seen mixed opinions on them, I would love to know also if they are worth the money.

Disco_P · 9 May 2016 at 20:50

LoopyOrc said:
How are Sandisk in the SSD rankings? Generally good?

Shingyboy said:
I have personally seen mixed opinions on them, I would love to know also if they are worth the money.

I have a sandisk ssd plus 120GB which is their most basic model in a sandy bridge i5 laptop. It's seriously quick now, no noticeable speed difference between it and my desktop.

Shingyboy · 9 May 2016 at 23:44

Disco_P said:
I have a sandisk ssd plus 120GB which is their most basic model in a sandy bridge i5 laptop. It's seriously quick now, no noticeable speed difference between it and my desktop.

How long have you been using it? have you ever ran into any reliability issues at all?

Disco_P · 10 May 2016 at 01:04

About 6 months, no issues. SanDisk are one of the biggest flash manufacturers so they know what they are doing.

SirJinks · 10 May 2016 at 09:36

Always under the impression Sandisk were pretty good although not marketed with the same effectiveness as makes like Samsung and Crucial. Anandtech always rated the Sandisk equivalent of the Samsung Pro drives as pretty much on a par with the Samsung. I've been using a Sansidk Extreme Pro II for a few years and haven't had any problems. Honest opinion - outside of benchmarks and in real world usage "pro" editions probably aren't worth the premium in terms of speed, I'd save some pennies and go with the Samsung 850's or Crucial BX line.

ToXiC-82 · 10 May 2016 at 11:14

Maybe I've just been unlucky, but I have a SanDisk 960Gb Ultra II which has died within 2 months of use. Purchased on Black Friday from another online store, didn't get around to installing it and a fresh Windows 10 until the beginning on March. Over the last few days the PC started reporting 'no boot drive found' and the SSD is not found by the BIOS any longer.

I've tried troubleshooting and have assumed at this point after trying different power and SATA cables and ports on the motherboard (both confirmed good with other drives) that the controller in the drive is dead. Luckily it was not a drive with important data on (aside from Windows and games) so no major stress.

Previously I had used a 256Gb Samsung 840 Pro with zero issues. Just food for thought!

Shingyboy · 10 May 2016 at 22:42

How are the OCZ and Intel SSDs? worth it or not?

Disco_P · 10 May 2016 at 23:50

Intel have legendary ssd status. Great performance and reliability with a price tag to match.

OCZ used to be the worst. They made a product with a Sandforce controller that later down the line had a major issue and caused most of the drives to fail. This bad reputation led to bankruptcy and acquisition by Toshiba (another flash giant). Now they are solid with a highly praised rma service.

Shingyboy · 11 May 2016 at 01:45

Disco_P said:
Intel have legendary ssd status. Great performance and reliability with a price tag to match.

OCZ used to be the worst. They made a product with a Sandforce controller that later down the line had a major issue and caused most of the drives to fail. This bad reputation led to bankruptcy and acquisition by Toshiba (another flash giant). Now they are solid with a highly praised rma service.

There seems to be so many choices that are all pretty decent, I think I am looking at most likely the Samsung one but if you were to pick a ssd which one would you pick?

Disco_P · 11 May 2016 at 20:20

Honestly? The cheapest.

I'm fairly sure that I would never perceive the difference between 2 sata 3 drives. Heck, some on this forum say that the new 2GB/s NVME drives aren't noticeably faster.

Warranty and RMA procedure are differentiating factors that I care about. Having said that there are frequently 480GB drives selling for £80 that I would buy in a heartbeat.