# The Samsung 830 Series SSD Club



## dr emulator (madmax) (May 26, 2012)

ok so this is the place to share stories about this amazing piece of kit

whether you absolutely adore this drive ,or detest it with the fire of a thousand suns ,i want to hear about it

what problems you've had ,if you managed to figure them out ,or if your just stuck  

and crucially what speeds your getting from the likes of  crystal mark , the included Samsung SSD Magician's speed test or any other ssd speed testing software

if you are reading this forum as a guest you can add your 5 cents by signing up here it'll only take a few minutes 

! First please take a minute or so to read the rules before posting ( lest ye be banned  )



so here's my tell on the Samsung 256GB 830 Series SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" Solid State Drive

so i've been planning on getting an ssd for a while ,but stories of bad controllers (namely  sandforce)had put me off ,

then i heard about the new samsung 830 series with it's 3-core MCX controller ,so i thought i'd get one ,

now when they first came out they were very expensive about £350 or 547.99 US$  ,so i thought i'll wait a while before ordering one ,then after about a month they went down to £339 or 530.77 US$ ,

so i waited another month and they went down again to £300 or 469.71 US$ so i bought one ,(they are currently selling in the uk for £219.99 or 344.43 US$  ) 

as i already had win 7 i thought i'd try it  (i previously had a western digital caviar black reported to be 6 gb/s :shadedshu),

all i can say is wow ,once you experience the speed difference of a samsung black you never want to go back  (to a mechanical drive that is  ) 

everything loads up so much faster ,emulators work faster ,Pcsx2 to name but one of many ,google maps loads faster (after pre caching)

now all i need is for my isp to stop capping my speeds after i download over 3 gbs

so anyway enough waffle


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## manofthem (May 26, 2012)

Sub'd

I have no complaints about my 830 256gb!  It may not be the fastest drive out of the box, as most reviews point out, but it's been a great drive for me thus far. 

I bought mine in March for $300 from Fry's, and I'm looking to grab another one potentially for some RaID 0 love, since they are much cheaper now. 

I'm not home right now, but over the weekend I'll post up some benches with speeds and all that goodness.

Edit: this drive is in sale at Newegg for $250 shipped with promo code "EMCNEHE29", part #MZ-7PC256D (comes with the software Norton Ghost and SSD Magician Software and desktop install kit)


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## dr emulator (madmax) (May 26, 2012)

wow things are so much cheaper abroad o

i'll post some speed tests later with connection to the different ports ,as i'm not getting high speeds at the mo 
(i'm using the marvel controller at the mo),
but to be honest i really don't give a xxxx as it's miles better than my old hd


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## manofthem (May 27, 2012)

Here are a couple of my benches:

3/11/12 a week after I received the drive and installed











5/26/12 today after 2.5 months of use and what-not










It's been good, I assume that the increase in some numbers results from some tweaks. I notice that the 4k-64thrd write speed went down, not sure why...lame.



Edit:

Re-ran the AS-SSD today with slightly different numbers


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## FreedomEclipse (May 31, 2012)

OOO!!! count me in! i just pulled the trigger on an 830 for my HP DM1. fingers crossed that my bios recognises it as OEM bios's have been known to be fussy with certain SSDs

:EDIT:

Time is GMT here mind you, but im definitely in







If the SSD doesnt work. I will most likely try swap it for a Crucial M4 or keep it and put it in my pc for games


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## v12dock (May 31, 2012)

I am always temped to get one


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## manofthem (May 31, 2012)

FreedomEclipse said:


> OOO!!! count me in! i just pulled the trigger on an 830 for my HP DM1. fingers crossed that my bios recognises it as OEM bios's have been known to be fussy with certain SSDs
> 
> :EDIT:
> 
> ...



So how long do you have to wait since it's on back order? That's a real bummer. I did read that the 830 is great for laptops due to their low wattage, thus longer battery life....

I too am awaiting mine, maybe here by Friday. I ordered a second one over the weekend, so I get to try to figure out some raid 0 action. Hopefully it'll be worth it, but I anticipate it not really be worth the money and hassle.


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## FreedomEclipse (May 31, 2012)

manofthem said:


> So how long do you have to wait since it's on back order? That's a real bummer. I did read that the 830 is great for laptops due to their low wattage, thus longer battery life....
> 
> I too am awaiting mine, maybe here by Friday. I ordered a second one over the weekend, so I get to try to figure out some raid 0 action. Hopefully it'll be worth it, but I anticipate it not really be worth the money and hassle.



They are getting 127 in on friday. hopefully my order will be among them as i know there was a huge scramble to order these drives the moment the deal went up on HotDealsUK. so if lucky i should have by monday


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## manofthem (Jun 2, 2012)

So I received my new Samsung 830 256GB today from Newegg, and I thought I would take a few pics (from my phone that is) and post them here, just for giggles.

Unboxing basically: 

Newegg of course





The box in its glory









The drive itself in all its glory









And the contents









So I'll try to get it in raid0 this weekend and reinstall Windows.  Hopefully it won't be too much work.  If all goes well, I'll post back some benches of it.


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## FreedomEclipse (Jun 2, 2012)

Mines still back ordered


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## dr emulator (madmax) (Jun 2, 2012)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Mines still back ordered



 £154.94  well i hope ya get it soon 

daam that's cheap


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## FreedomEclipse (Jun 2, 2012)

I just realised i should have censored my post code on that screenshot!  ah well.... I know some of you live around london too - If i see you on my turf then there will be trouble!!!


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## manofthem (Jun 3, 2012)

So I got my 2 830's setup today, installed Windows, and messed around just a bit.  I haven't done that many things, other than turn off defrag and indexing I think.  Anyway, took a few pics of the process and thought I'd share them with the club.

Here are the babies:













And here's Raphael guarding them





So after the installation, here are the bench results.  I'm not sure yet if they are comparable to what they should be, but time will tell. 









So I need to keep messing around and see what these drives can do.


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## mlee49 (Jun 3, 2012)

I have two of these bad boys, one 128GB in my wife's lappy and one 256GB as my main drive. 

I've been supremely happy coming from a 1st Gen non-sandforce ssd. 

Does anyone like the Samsung Magician software that came with it? I personally like it, nice way to have tweaks available.


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## manofthem (Jun 3, 2012)

mlee49 said:


> I have two of these bad boys, one 128GB in my wife's lappy and one 256GB as my main drive.
> 
> I've been supremely happy coming from a 1st Gen non-sandforce ssd.
> 
> ...



The Samsung magician software isn't that bad, though it doesn't really work with raid  0: it won't recognize the drives at all, though it will run certain "tunings" like turning off defrag, index, prefetch...  It is nice to have all the options grouped into one though.


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## FreedomEclipse (Jun 6, 2012)

Unfortunately I got to the end of my rag waiting for Novatech to get new stock in. Its now mid week and their stock status remains from anything like '149 in tommorrow' to ''150 in tommorrow' or '175' in tommorrow' - I even spoke with them via live chat last week and asked about newstock since their status keeps changing, and i was told they would have some on friday or saturday. Friday and Saturday have gone - Either they didnt get enough to forfill my order or they never got any at all.

According to a few members on hotukdeals, when they asked about the stock in livechat, the staff gave them an ETA but even they themselves couldnt 100% confirm that stock would be in that day when they were put on the spot.

AMAZON who ran with a lower price of £139 has pulled the offer leaving only its merchants who keep the price around £220 after saying they were out of stock and would notify when they get an ETA since last week.

I have no confidence in novatech getting stock in this week since amazon cant either so i cancelled my order and went with a 240GB Sandisk Extreme for a few quid more.

Ive been patiently waiting for Novatech, but I really want an SSD. If amazon dispatch later today, I could have it by tommorrow or friday so at least i got something to play with over the weekend.


I wont be joining this club.


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## Athlon2K15 (Jun 6, 2012)

you know TRIM is broken on the Sandisk Extreme right?


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## FreedomEclipse (Jun 6, 2012)

AthlonX2 said:


> you know TRIM is broken on the Sandisk Extreme right?



new sandisk Extreme firmware fixes TRIM

Extreme SSD Firmware Release notes


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## Athlon2K15 (Jun 6, 2012)

SSDReview should be the last place you go for reviews


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## FreedomEclipse (Jun 6, 2012)

AthlonX2 said:


> SSDReview should be the last place you go for reviews



Never read it for the reviews. just the post reguarding the new firmware update. Ive read reviews elsewhere though. 

Either it ships with the new firmware or i can just manually update it. eitherway there is a fix and broken trim aint gonna be a problem.

the only problem here is if the Sata controller on my DM1 can get the full speed out of it.


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## erixx (Jun 6, 2012)

+1 in the club with a sammy 830!

I like Samsung more and more... cameras, tv's, sdd... and their final touch, care, software, manuals, and looks, more European than Asian, as even Asus cannot get a proper one-corporate look through their productlines and make applications that look as and ARE reliable.

I also like the ninja...

I do not like Norton, it sits everywhere in your system... I migrated my windows with a simple freeware application.


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## FreedomEclipse (Jun 6, 2012)

erixx said:


> I migrated my windows with a simple freeware application.



Free Acronis for WD users?


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## erixx (Jun 6, 2012)

gimme a sec... 

OK, as I just installed it for a one time use and uninstalled it, I was not 100% sure of it's name. Found it in my downloads folder.... It is Eseus Todo Back Up that unadvertisedly includes a disk clone option, it is just click, click, click, done.

Link http://download.cnet.com/Easeus-Todo-Backup-Free/3000-2242_4-10964460.html


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## FreedomEclipse (Jun 6, 2012)

Ive used Easeus to recover files from a wiped hard drive, but ive not used them to clone drives. I much prefer Acronis, and theres a free version of the program for WD hard drive owners and it also clones in a matter of clicks.


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## manofthem (Jun 6, 2012)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Unfortunately.......
> I wont be joining this club.



You will be missed. 

I hope the new drive works well for you. I didn't know about the trim issue, but as long as the fw takes care of it, then it's all good.  Maybe next time an 830 will work out.


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## puma99dk| (Jun 6, 2012)

i should get my 128gb version of the 830 series tomorrow or latest at friday ^^

got it for a really nice baring so i couldn't resit not to buy it x:


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## manofthem (Jun 6, 2012)

AthlonX2 said:


> SSDReview should be the last place you go for reviews



This is a real question:  What's the problem with ssdreview?


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## dr emulator (madmax) (Jun 22, 2012)

dam i doubt i could get some of the speeds you guys have got  

i was going to run some speed tests but something farked up and win 7 wouldn't let me log in properly ,so after several reboots and similar forum searches i decided to format . 

i have updated the bios to the latest ,so i hope it's going to be ok, only time will tell 
i'll also be doing some emulation tests with games i own(ps2) so that should be interesting


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## manofthem (Jun 22, 2012)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> dam i doubt i could get some of the speeds you guys have got
> 
> i was going to run some speed tests but something farked up and win 7 wouldn't let me log in properly ,so after several reboots and similar forum searches i decided to format .
> 
> ...



Was that the mobo bios?  Have you tried the 830 firmware?  Both of my drives came shipped with the latest firmware so I haven't had to update it.  But through the Magician software it looks to be fairly simple.  

I have my 2 830s in raid0 right now, but I don't think I'm going to keep them that way for long, not sure if it's worth it honestly.

When you get it running all beautifully, post up some of yours screens of your speeds


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## Athlon2K15 (Jun 23, 2012)

RAID0 isnt worth it with SSDs until TRIM works.TRIM will work with Windows8 and INtel RST11.5


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## pigulici (Jul 22, 2012)

well, I just installed my new samsung 830 256gb, the question it is :it is worth to let the Magician to stay on, it is doing something imortant, or just to use this software from time to time?


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## manofthem (Jul 22, 2012)

pigulici said:


> well, I just installed my new samsung 830 256gb, the question it is :it is worth to let the Magician to stay on, it is doing something imortant, or just to use this software from time to time?



No, you don't need to run it everyday or keep it running. the drive will work fine without it

I'd run the Magician software to do a few of the optimizations if you didn't already, and to update firmware.


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## pigulici (Jul 22, 2012)

Ok, so I will not run everyday,thank you.


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## andrewsimpsom2 (Aug 24, 2012)

*will this work with inspiron e1505/6400*

hi to all new poster,

i have an insiron 1505/e6400 laptop and have just purchased this samsung drive. will this drive work with my system, i dont mind if its not reaching its potential if it works.

i have windows 7 32bit and 2gb of  memory but upgrading to 3gb soon.

thanks in advance.

andy


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## mlee49 (Aug 25, 2012)

andrewsimpsom2 said:


> hi to all new poster,
> 
> i have an insiron 1505/e6400 laptop and have just purchased this samsung drive. will this drive work with my system, i dont mind if its not reaching its potential if it works.
> 
> ...



Andy, 

You'll need to find out if your hard drive is a SATA or IDE connection type. After that, you may need to see if the drive can fit(physically) into the hard drive slot to replace your existing one.

More than likely, it will work but cover your bases first


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## Phusius (Aug 25, 2012)

My 256GB SSD 830 has been up and running for 8 hours now.  Super fast, must faster at installing Windows then my old Crucial... very impressed.


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## manofthem (Aug 25, 2012)

Phusius said:


> My 256GB SSD 830 has been up and running for 8 hours now.  Super fast, must faster at installing Windows then my old Crucial... very impressed.



That's good to hear you got it, way to go good choice.  It's nice, huh


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## Phusius (Aug 25, 2012)

manofthem said:


> That's good to hear you got it, way to go good choice.  It's nice, huh



Much better overall, the polished black wood frame on it is gorgeous, I almost didn't want to put it in my case.  MagicTune is awesome, one click tune took care of everything for me, no worrying about manually disabling superprefetch or anything. 

Glad to be apart of this club.


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## erixx (Aug 25, 2012)

MagicTune? In the latest versions it is called Samsung SSD Magician


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## Phusius (Aug 25, 2012)

erixx said:


> MagicTune? In the latest versions it is called Samsung SSD Magician



That is what I meant goofball!


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## andrewsimpsom2 (Aug 25, 2012)

mlee49 said:


> Andy,
> 
> You'll need to find out if your hard drive is a SATA or IDE connection type. After that, you may need to see if the drive can fit(physically) into the hard drive slot to replace your existing one.
> 
> More than likely, it will work but cover your bases first



thanks for your reply mlee4, its a sata connection and i know the form factor is right, its more that my laptop is sata1 i think and the samsung drive is sata3 and my machine does not support ahci so that was my query so hoping this will solve the problem i have.

i have an ocz octane s2 which the laptop keeps freezing and then no boot device or media message is displayed after auto restart, so i have gone for the more expensive samsung drive to see if this will  cure my issue?

thanks

andy


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## FreedomEclipse (Aug 25, 2012)

andrewsimpsom2 said:


> thanks for your reply mlee4, its a sata connection and i know the form factor is right, its more that my laptop is sata1 i think and the samsung drive is sata3 and my machine does not support ahci so that was my query so hoping this will solve the problem i have.
> 
> i have an ocz octane s2 which the laptop keeps freezing and then no boot device or media message is displayed after auto restart, so i have gone for the more expensive samsung drive to see if this will  cure my issue?
> 
> ...



It might do.

that Samsung 830 is a lot lot lot better then that crappy Octane SSD.



::EDIT::

On second thoughts, the 830 might not be such a great idea depending on what version of Windows you are using,  your mobo might not support AHCI but Windows 7 has its own 'TRIM' so thats not much of a problem. 

Since you mention that your system only supports Sata 1, Im guessing you could be running Windows XP. Windows XP does not natively support TRIM.

I as far as im aware there are only a few SSDs out there that have their own form of TRIM or 'garbage collection' These are Kingston SSDNow V200+ and possibly OCZ Vertex 2/2E's. so it might be worth picking up one of them if you are on a XP machine but want all the benefits of an SSD. (dont quote me on the OCZ though, Its just what ive heard from other websites. Though I did own a Vertex 2E but my mobo supports Sata II/III and more importantly AHCI)


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## Phusius (Oct 6, 2012)




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## manofthem (Oct 6, 2012)

Phusius said:


> [url]http://i.imgur.com/RcKDp.jpg[/URL]



That's for posting, looking good. Your score is great for an 830, higher than mine, either of them 
I'll rerun this afternoon.


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