Samsung 840 SSD 250 GB

[W1zzard]

The Samsung 840 SSD is the first solid-state drive using TLC flash technology, which promises higher data density for a lower overall cost. Our testing sees decent performance that turns into "outstanding" when taking into account performance per dollar and price per GB.

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[Mathragh]

Nice, they did a good job of tuning this SSD for its target audience, even more if you keep in mind the great handicap they have to deal with.

I built the 120GB version of this SSD in 5 systems of friends and family now, because imho the price/performance of this drive is best in class for light consumer based workloads.

I suppose I sound a bit like a marketing advert, but up till now I really think Samsung has been a bit underrated as an SSD manufacturer.

Thanks for the review as always!

 

[Lazermonkey]

I have this drive in my system and it actually performs quite well.

Samsung also has a GREAT reputation with their SSD's.

I picked up my 250GB 840 series for $169.00

Very happy with my Samsung SSD

 

[W1zzard]

I really think Samsung has been a bit underrated as an SSD manufacturer.

I tend to agree. Their retail image has improved since the 840 and 840 Pro were released and I think they are on the right track.

 

[ensabrenoir]

I have this drive in my system and it actually performs quite well.

Samsung also has a GREAT reputation with their SSD's.

I picked up my 250GB 840 series for $169.00

Very happy with my Samsung SSD

ME TOO!!!

Got two of em running in raid 0 actually got over 900 in reads and 450 in writes on my x79 system... Im pleased

 

[EpicShweetness]

I built the 120GB version of this SSD in 5 systems of friends and family now, because imho the price/performance of this drive is best in class for light consumer based workloads.

I agree with this, the specs of the drive speak for themselves, the read speeds are stupid fast but the write speeds are no faster then an average spindle based mass storage. Basically for an average person the read speeds are the most important, and that's were this SSD shines.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

went right under my radar this review, cheers wizzard, i love them i have two non raided as i had issues trying to raid them but they are not much slower then the ocz revo x2 they replaced and perform well.

 

[ensabrenoir]

went right under my radar this review, cheers wizzard, i love them i have two non raided as i had issues trying to raid them but they are not much slower then the ocz revo x2 they replaced and perform well.

Drove me nuts to get it to work......then I actually read the manual... INTEL raid on the first set of sata ports only (asrock x79 extreme 9) Marvel raid o gave me read and writes worse than a single ssd

 

[W1zzard]

but the write speeds are no faster then an average spindle based mass storage

a mechanical hdd will give you about half the sequential write performance of the 840. when you add seeks into the write pattern, the difference will be huge, at least one order of magnitude, if not more.

 

[erocker]

I picked one of these up when it was bundled with Far Cry 3 for $160. I have it loaded up with games and it's been a solid drive.

I haven't even thought about the drive sitting in there until I installed GTA IV for the heck of it the other day. I was impressed how fast the game loaded up!

If anyone wants an SSD to just throw some games on, this drive is very good for the price... That's all in the review.

 

[radrok]

If anyone wants an SSD to just throw some games on, this drive is very good for the price... That's all in the review.

Agreed, no point in going for more expensive SSDs unless there's the need for speed in very specific tasks.

 

[Jacez]

I'm confused. The synthetic tests registered a 260MB/s write speed.

However, transferring a 3GB file took 30 seconds, or 100MB/s.

So, which is it?

 

[Fourstaff]

I'm confused. The synthetic tests registered a 260MB/s write speed.

However, transferring a 3GB file took 30 seconds, or 100MB/s.

So, which is it?

Do you have a bottleneck somewhere?

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

I picked one of these up when it was bundled with Far Cry 3 for $160. I have it loaded up with games and it's been a solid drive.

I haven't even thought about the drive sitting in there until I installed GTA IV for the heck of it the other day. I was impressed how fast the game loaded up!

If anyone wants an SSD to just throw some games on, this drive is very good for the price... That's all in the review.

Bang on +1

 

[RyougiShiki]

There could be one hdd drive included in benchmarks for comparision (for example Seagate ST1000DM003). How can I know what is the difference to hdd? I think there are a lot of people without ssd that want to see if it makes sense to switch to ssd. For now I don't see the point in ssd drives. 2sec less for loading game level or application? It's better to overclock CPU to see similar gain in loading times (plus fps gain in games/applications working faster due to faster cpu).

 

[Jetster]

I picked up one when it was on a rebate sale for $136 I love this drive

 

[Mathragh]

Additional info:

They're torture testing this drive at hardware.info.

So far its held up 2 times its official number of write cycles(1000), with more than 560TB written to it so far. According to their estimate, this would equal more than 136 years of "average" use.

So for people wondering about the lifespan of these TLC drives; they're still robust enough for even quite heavy use.

They've got a livestream up which everyone can view.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

There could be one hdd drive included in benchmarks for comparision (for example Seagate ST1000DM003). How can I know what is the difference to hdd? I think there are a lot of people without ssd that want to see if it makes sense to switch to ssd. For now I don't see the point in ssd drives. 2sec less for loading game level or application? It's better to overclock CPU to see similar gain in loading times (plus fps gain in games/applications working faster due to faster cpu).

Im not meaning to be funny, but you could take the many testimonials on here , everyday use , ssds smash hdds for smile factor and ive done 4x raid 0 hdds which weren't bad I also had a revo x2 in this rig , , its 2x60 gb raid 0 on pciex and these drives compare well to it as a single drive in everyday use plugged via sata 3 obv..

 

[W1zzard]

There could be one hdd drive included in benchmarks for comparision (for example Seagate ST1000DM003).

good idea. any other suggestions what HDD model I should include?

 

[Mathragh]

perhaps one(or more) of the top models, like the caviar black line, and a 15k RPM drive?

 

[erixx]

good idea. any other suggestions what HDD model I should include?

A popular 2012-13 model, not some "fastest HDD" one, but one that we have at home and are considering to replace with a SDD....

 

[W1zzard]

A popular 2012-13 model, not some "fastest HDD" one, but one that we have at home and are considering to replace with a SDD....

and what are those?

 

[Fourstaff]

and what are those?

Caviar Black would be a good start, unless you are going for the "average joe" in which case either Caviar Blue or Barracuda 7200.13?

 

[W1zzard]

I'm thinking about Caviar Blue 1 TB WD10EZEX

 

[Fourstaff]

Add a 2.5" drive while you are at it, there should be a lot of people upgrading their laptops too (I had just done the day before this went up)