Does it make sense to upgrade from a SSD to a newer SSD?

[aShufflinZombie]

I'm currently rocking a 128GB OCZ Vertex 4 from mid-2012. It still seems snappy sitting with about 50GB free. While newer SSDs like the Samsung 850 EVO are much faster in terms of benchmarks, does anyone have any experience with upgrading from an older SSD to a newer SSD in terms of daily usage?

Rig:
FX-8320 @3.8 GHz
ASRock 970 Extreme4
8GB RAM @ 1600 MHz
128GB Vertex 4

 

[Brado78]

Solid Sate Drives being fast in general, upgrading to a faster one, may not be practical in how one uses it. An example would be someone who wants to start into video editing or graphic design then yes, If you are using is a a boot drive and to launch a few games from it, then not really. Size also is a thing to consider when upgrading. Going form a Crucial M500 to an 850 evo both being 250gb then no, If you have the funds for a bigger ssd say 900gb -1TB range then ya if your doing a lot of copying and transferring of files. Just as a standard boot drive.. not really save the money

 

[VirtualLarry]

The Vertex 4 is still (I believe), a relatively fast drive.

I would only upgrade if you were going to move to a bigger size.

Edit: A Samsung 850 EVO 500GB or 1TB might be a nice upgrade.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I think of all the options as part of a "bag of tricks."

If you could only manage ~300MB/s for sequential reads with an older SSD drive other than >= 840 Pro/EVO, there's a $30 software offering a RAM-caching solution. If you want bigger capacity, then -- sure -- buy a new SSD.

I try to avoid filling my boot disk beyond 66%. But you don't really need to replace the boot-system SSD: you can merely add another SSD to fill as you add additional programs. And even that could be unnecessary, given other "tricks" that are variations of what I already mentioned.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I recently upgraded from a 4 year old Intel 320 series 80 GB SSD to a Crucial MX100 128 GB SSD.

The Intel scores 357 on the AS SSD benchmark. The Crucial scores 795.

I can't tell the difference and didn't think I would. The only reason I changed drives was due to a failure on the Intel.

I'm probably a typical user, with no unusual usage pattern.

 

[Acidicheartburn]

I'm currently rocking a 128GB OCZ Vertex 4 from mid-2012. It still seems snappy sitting with about 50GB free. While newer SSDs like the Samsung 850 EVO are much faster in terms of benchmarks, does anyone have any experience with upgrading from an older SSD to a newer SSD in terms of daily usage?

Rig:
FX-8320 @3.8 GHz
ASRock 970 Extreme4
8GB RAM @ 1600 MHz
128GB Vertex 4

I have the exact same SSD running as my OS drive on Win 7 in my desktop. I nearly upgraded to a new one when I was having a problem with extremely long log-in times. Thankfully, helpful users here at Anandtech directed me to secure erase the drive using OCZ's SSD Toolbox utility which fixed the problem. Since then I've found the only reason why I would need to upgrade mine is for capacity. The Vertex 4 was a fairly quick mid-tier drive when it came out, its only serious pitfalls being power consumption and an unusually slow sequential read performance for low queue depths and smaller transfer sizes: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5719/ocz-vertex-4-review-256gb-512gb/4

Its even possible the issue had been resolved in the 1.5 firmware (I'm not sure which version Anandtech's test drive was running).

As others have pointed out before, the performance difference from a HDD to a SSD is huge, but differences between most SSD's are mostly negligible except under specific workloads. For every day usage, even a cheap low(er) end SSD would probably suffice for most users. I realize it isn't a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, but I bought a 256 GB 850 Pro for my laptop on Black Friday for ~$140. I got it for the 10 year warranty and the allure of the top notch performance, but realistically I can tell no meaningful difference in every day usage performance between that and the Vertex 4 in my desktop. As such, I really find there to be no reason to upgrade the Vertex 4 outside of a need for larger capacity.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I'm kinda in the same boat with a 128GB M4
Although having the fastest drive is tempting, I think upgrading on space needs is the best plan.
I'll prolly wait for 1TB to become cheaper

 

[abekl]

I've thought about it a bit and decided that I'd upgrade my SATA SSD to a M.2 PCIE SSD, but other than that the performance difference isn't worth it.

 

[Valantar]

The only upgrade that's worth investing in if you already have an SSD (unless you're running some very heavy, non-client type workloads) is for a larger one if you run out of space. The sequential speeds on any modern SSD are good enough to keep you happy, and although there have been improvements in random performance (the most crucial part for client workloads, really), they aren't big enough that you'll notice them. Unless you need more space, keep the drive you've already got.

 

[corkyg]

There will always be a newer, bigger, and faster SSD available. Agree with Valantar, however, technolust rules!

 

[sxr7171]

Not unless it's a PCI-E SSD.

 

[Hulk]

Another way to "justify" upgrading your SSD is if you have a use for the old one. Can you move it to another computer you own and still use? HTPC boot drive or something like that?