$250 SSD Choice

[fourdegrees11]

Going to order one of these tomorrow

Mushkin Reactor 1 TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226596

Sandisk Ultra II 960 GB
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820173013

OCZ Trion 100 960 GB
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0106AO1SK/?tag=pcpapi-20

PNY CS2111 960 GB
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178767

Patriot Blast 960 GB
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220939

I'm leaning towards the Mushkin right now. I dont keep up with the storage world other then always hearing Samsung 850 is the best (not worth $66 more to me). So I'm looking for opinions on these drives. I'm less concerned with out-right speed then reliability.

The use will be games, and all other programs/apps. I already have a 120gb SSD that my OS is on, and a 2 TB HDD that will be relegated to bulk media/file storage.

 

[Erithan13]

Out of those I'd take the SanDisk first as it has solid reviews and a good reputation for reliability, I've not known SD to be untrustworthy for storage. OCZ Trion should be avoided as it's a poor performer and the reliability is in serious doubt according to the reviews.

The others are smaller brands in that middle ground of being neither awful nor fantastic. SanDisk wins as I see it.

 

[Glaring_Mistake]

Don't know of any statistics regarding reliability of any of them so it is a bit difficult to recommend any of them based on that parameter.

However I would lean towards the Mushkin given that the others are either slow outside of their SLC-caches (SanDisk, OCZ and Patriot) or select whichever NAND and controller that they can get cheapest (PNY).
And it has a bit more capacity as well.

Plus it uses a common controller and NAND so it shouldn't be too terrible in terms of reliability.
Remember however that backup is always important regardless of how low the risk is that the SSD will stop working.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

IIRC Mushkin had a bad rep for reliability in the last few years. I cannot speak about their current generation drives, but I personally would be wary.

 

[Cerb]

I'd get the Sandisk Ultra II. It's generally been a solid drive series (it has been out for awhile, now), and performance ranges from about as good as, to better than (better if using it like a regular drive, and not stressing the SLC cache), typical MLC drives from 2-3 years ago (over time, definitely better than most Sandforce drives).

That particular OCZ seems to be having issues with dying early.

 

[shabby]

I vote for none of the above.

 

[fourdegrees11]

The mushkin has a decent anandtech review, not sure if that holds any weight. Haven't really came across any doa user reviews. I also like that mushkin is assembled in the US.

Sandisk has a few doa reviews reviews, which makes me weary.

The other drives are on the list because of price, it doesn't sound like they're worth considering.

 

[Beer4Me]

Despite the naysayers, the PNY CS2111 SSD is very fast and reliable. I have one in my ESXi build in my sig.

 

[tnt118]

Interesting that the Samsung 850 Evo 500 GB is far more competitive on price than the 1 TB.

Edit: You may have seen the 850 Evo comes with Assassin's Creed: Syndicate. If by chance that was on your wishlist that would partially help make up the difference in cost.

 

[fourdegrees11]

No that game doesn't interest me. $250 is what I have for this purchase, and I'm really not interested in a 500gb drive for my setup.

 

[Puffnstuff]

This morning the 1tb evo dropped to $316, however of the aforementioned drives I would go with the sandisk. SD is being acquired by western digital which means their support structure will back any purchase from them. I'm looking at the same drives myself and am hoping that the prices will drop over the next week or so. I have since learned that the SD is a TLC drive and the mushkin is a MLC drive which is more appealing to me.

 

[Coup27]

SanDisk.

 

[fourdegrees11]

Despite the naysayers, the PNY CS2111 SSD is very fast and reliable. I have one in my ESXi build in my sig.

I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the PNY!

it is powered by a Silicon Motion SM2246EN and Micron L95B NAND flash memory. With this combination, the endurance rating is very high. The Samsung 850 Pro, which has a 10 year warranty, is only warrantied up to 150TB…this SSD with a 2+2 year warranty is rated for up to 600TBW which is very impressive and nice to see.

http://www.thessdreview.com/our-reviews/pny-cs2111-xlr8-ssd-review-480gb

EDIT: Ordered

 

[Puffnstuff]

That PNY does have a 4 year warranty if you register right after you buy it and it also has MLC memory. That 600 tb write is the best I've seen so far and it seems to be a good deal too. I was hoping that prices would drop post X-mas and I'm going to keep an eye out in the meantime.