Samsung 830 vs Vertex 4 (128gb)

[richaron]

All new OCZ's are reliable.

You've run into the AT hipster brigade

 

[ericloewe]

All new OCZ's are reliable.

You've run into the AT hipster brigade

If you believe that, make sure your next SSD is an OCZ and remember to tell us how it's working. I'm sure most of us would gladly be proven wrong on this matter.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

Sandisk Extreme 240 is faster than Samsung 830 with same reliability

 

[richaron]

If you believe that, make sure your next SSD is an OCZ and remember to tell us how it's working. I'm sure most of us would gladly be proven wrong on this matter.

I've been running OCZ agility & vertex 3's with no problems for a while now. I do keep up to date with problem reports, plus I can tell when I'm reading kids spew what they consider gospel.

What is your experience with newer OCZ SSD's?

 

[ericloewe]

I've been running OCZ agility & vertex 3's with no problems for a while now. I do keep up to date with problem reports, plus I can tell when I'm reading kids spew what they consider gospel.

What is your experience with newer OCZ SSD's?

No personal experience, just enough negative comments to scare me away from OCZ. It's unthinkable that everybody has a bad experience, but I'd rather skip them for now and go for something that doesn't have as much negativism surrounding it.

Unfortunately for them, they need at least one generation that is next to flawless before they can improve their reputation - even if it is undeserved. As long as competitors (Samsung and to a lesser extent Intel) have near impeccable reputations, they just looks bad.

 

[biostud]

You're not going to notice any speed difference in real world usage from the sata3 SSD's, but you'll definitely notice if your drive crashes. Reliability >>>>>>>>> 3-4% difference in benchmarks.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Ocz vertex 4 is faster but I wouldn't buy it due to reliability.

 

[zod96]

What about corsair's new GS SSD drives?

 

[cbaat]

Let me first make a disclaimer: I have not personally owned an OCZ drive or the 830. However I have been doing a TON of research over the last few weeks, and I'm going to buy an 830 (most likely today). Here is what I have observed:

Real-world testing is the most reliable indicator of reliability, and that takes time to establish. Consider:

* In the past, OCZ SandForce drives have been well known to have extreme reliability problems. The frequency of such problems pushes beyond mere anecdotal evidence.
* Current OCZ "Indilinx"/Marvell based drives (Vertex 4) may or may not be more reliable, but they have not been in the marketplace very long, so it is just too soon to be sure either way.
* Samsung 830 has been out since I believe September or October last year, so there has been already around 9 months of real-world testing, during which time it has earned an outstanding reputation.

So given these two facts:
1. The Samsung 830 is, for all practical purposes, at least as fast as anything else, and
2. The Samsung 830 has earned a remarkable reputation after extended real world usage,
I cannot see any reason to go with anything other than the 830.

Also a quick remark on the Intel 520: Many people are, probably rightfully, suspicious of SandForce based drives, but we also know the amount of time Intel has spent testing--the question then being, is the end result reliable or not? Time will tell is the best answer. That being said, I would encourage anyone considering a drive to read end user reviews, such as those on Newegg for example. Personally, I was considering the Intel 520 because it has a 5 year warranty versus the Samsung 830's 3 years. However fellow customers' comments have made me certain I will go with the Samsung, and here is why: When reading such reviews, you have to not just look at the rating numbers, but you have to read page after page after page of actual comments. Here is what I found, personally. On the Intel 520, there were many comments where people have had a good experience so far, but there were several notable comments where the drive clearly worked well for a few months and then failed. On the other hand, on the Samsung 830 reviews, the only negative comments were from people who were clearly using it wrong, seemed to not know much about computers, or were upset because they ended the free game coupon promotion. But there were no reviews I saw that indicated reliability problems. For me that was pretty convincing.

 

[Skypix7]

I agree with everyone here who says the 830 is your best bet. Prices are coming down, but the primary factor is how stable the drives are.

I bought three Corsair Force GT drives (2x240GB and 1x90GB). I've RMA'd both the 240s. The 90 seems stable though I'm using it strictly for backup, and will probably update the firmware then sell it as it's pretty puny for storage and too small for my OS, which has filled all but 40GB of my Samsung 256 already!

I bought one 830 SSD...and have bought 4 more! I replaced the 500GB HDD in my laptop, have my desktop OS on it, as well as 3 data drives. It's fast, it's stable as hell (be sure you run the software that comes with it -- SSD Magician -- and optimize the drive for Windows (if that's your OS), and you'll never look back.

Before I replaced the Corsair 240 with the Samsung 830, I had 300 blue screens in 5 weeks time. It just wouldn't stay stable. Updated the firmware, made it a data drive, and it kept disappearing from Windows Explorer. RMA'd it, reinstalled it, put data on it, and it started disappearing again. Removed it, put in the other 240, it kept disappearing. I've sent that one off now for RMA and will just get rid of those drives.

Samsung has made a real winner. Soon as the price drops a bit more, I"m getting a 512 and cloning my OS onto it. I've also made an 830 as an external drive for my laptop. I do a lot of photo shooting professionally and after a long day in the field, taking 1/5 of the time to save my photos to the laptop drive, then copy to the external drive, is a huge life saver when you're tired and want to go to bed because you're shooting the next morning.

Seriously, it used to take me two hours plus to run a days shoot through the HDD process. Now it's like 20-30 minutes, and that makes a huge difference.

There's a reason these drives are selling in such huge quantities: they're solid, reliable, plenty fast, and, as long as Seagate doesn't get ahold of the product and screw it up like I hear they did Samsung F4 HDD drives, these should be winners for years to come.

My laptop and desktop now open windows 7 pro 64bit in 30 seconds from button push to ready to work. It used to be minutes...minutes!

Don't hesitate. I can't speak for OCZ because I've only read tons of nasty things about them. Why spend all those hours trouble shooting things that may or may not seem like the drive? Since I installed the Samsungs, I have had not one bit of trouble with either of my systems...that's about 6 months now. Not a single blip!

I don't work for Samsung, I paid for all my drives, and I keep wanting to buy more as the price comes down because it's so good to be able to depend on something.

Good luck

 

[Coup27]

I've had an 830 myself for a fair while now and have nothing but praise for it. I am so confident in them that I will be deploying 12 of them at work in their new computer system so every users computer will have an 830 in them and no HDD.

 

[Tinty]

Just want to say that i have just ordered two 256gb and one 128gb samsungs 830s.
I ordered them because yesterday my ocz vertex 2 120gb died, with the known issue with the controller, in that it goes into spasms or something and the drive is no longer seen by the bios. The ocz forums are filled with similar tales and i suppose i can count myself lucky in that i had the drive for quite a while longer than most users. The drives controller does not like instant power loss or sleep mode and i was in the process of trying to lower voltages on my cpu when i got a bluescreen and the drive dissapeared. Now from what i read, the drive would be able to be restored if sandforce wished us to be able to do it. But they don`t, as they are afraid of making public their algorithms or something and will not release restoring software to the public.
This is the reason i will never buy another sandforce controlled drive!
With regards to the samsung, i have read nothing but good things about them in the last 24 hours and from what i read, they are one of the most reliable out there on the market today and at least on a par with intel.

 

[Skypix7]

You won't be sorry Tinty. Since I installed 830s as my OS drive, two data drives, my laptop OS drive and as an external drive, going back 7 months I think now, I have had not one single issue. Not one! Not even a program crash. I'm beginning to think that a lot of the problems with computing in general with high powered GUI desktops over recent years has had to do with the relatively sluggish transfer of data from HDD to the CPU and memory. Just an uninformed guess but I've had none of the big and little things that used to plague even normal "healthy" computer use for the last 29 years I've been computing!
Samsung has really got a winner...you can tell by how many people are buying them and how fast the prices are dropping. Can't wait to get a 512GB drive...a few months ago it was over $700, now down around $500...and should keep dropping as they sell more.
Meanwhile my Sandforce drives with their slightly faster speed? No longer used. Sold on Ebay and glad to take the loss and be rid of them.

 

[TemjinGold]

Wow there seems to be a TON of people on this thread that believe:

1) All Vertexes are the same.
2) Vertex 4 = Sandforce
3) Because Samsung 830 is better than insert Sandforce drive, the Vertex 4 is crap.
4) Because everyone else says there is no real world difference, that must be true even though I'm willing to wager the majority of you have never actually tried drives out side by side.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not here to advocate for the Vertex 4. I just can't believe how much FUD is going on in this thread.

OP: To answer the question you had that no one bothered with, I believe below 50%, the Vertex 4's algorithm has it acting like an SLC drive, hence the crazy speed even compared to Sandforce. Once it crosses the 50% threshold though, it reverts back to being what it really is--an MLC drive. This is because SLC writes once per cell while MLC writes multiple times per cell. Below 50%, there is enough space for the drive to only write once per cell, hence it can perform like an SLC drive.

 

[jwilliams4200]

The FUD is thanks to OCZ's terrible record, and also to OCZ's unwillingness to even give a general idea to people of how the Vertex 4 works.

OCZ has a terrible quality record, and they have apparently done something weird with the V4 firmware. Your explanation of what they have done is only speculation. Personally, I think your explanation is correct in general, but quite misleading in specifics (although that is just a guess, since OCZ refuses specify the behavior of the drive).

What is clear is that the behavior of the Vertex 4 can deviate hugely from the empty-drive benchmarks once you partially fill it up and actually start using it for real work. If you look on the web for benchmarks that are not just running on an empty, fresh Vertex 4, you will see widely varying results, even if you just look at v1.5 firmware tests. The performance is erratic depending on the exact condition of the drive. And no, despite what OCZ sometimes claims, it is not just a matter of waiting a few minutes for the V4 to finish some one-time housekeeping. As far as I can tell, once the V4 gets more than 50% full, it will slow down at random times (not just once) to do some sort of extra housekeeping. It is impossible to predict exactly when the V4 will slow down. It will slow down once you cross 50%, but it will also slow down at other times.

It really is not worth it to deal with the V4's erratic, unpredictable behavior. The difference in performance between the Samsung 830 or Plextor M3P (M5P) and the Vertex 4 is not large. Even in the few areas where the V4 is faster when empty, the V4 can be MUCH slower when it has been filled up. Why should anyone bother with the V4's unpredictability, when they can get a Plextor M3P or Samsung 830 that is fast and consistent in performance?

 

[TemjinGold]

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[orbust]

LOL cm123 went for Vertex 4 over samsung. He deserves to have his data wiped

Looks like he also bought into "Windows Ultimate"..... LOL