Samsung 830 vs Vertex 4 (128gb)

[geenp]

Hi, it's another which SSD thread.

I'm weighing up the Samsung 830 SSD vs the Vertex 4 at 128gb because the Samsung 830 over here has dropped to $129 (from 170+) and is now a decent option for me. I know the Samsung is more reliable and I'm going to weigh up the speed vs reliability benefits eventually but right now I don't really understand the Vertex 4's performance.

I know Tom's hardware did a review on the Vertex 4's performance with the latest firmware and revealed that the performance drops at over 50% usage but I don't understand the full impact of this performance loss. They didn't compare it directly to any other drives and the tests they performed weren't done on the Samsung 830. It's going to be used as a boot drive and will most definitely be more than 50% full. I don't fully understand the benchmarks yet so I was hoping somebody could shed some light over the performance of these two drives? Unless I missed something, the Vertex 4 was not reviewed at 128gb but I did have a look at it on the benchmark section.

Also, does anyone know anything about the Vertex 4's reliability? As far as I can tell there are no know issues with any of OCZ's Marvell/Indilinx drives. I don't do anything critical on this machine so I don't mind trading some reliability for a bit of speed even if not much.

Thanks in advance.

 

[StarTech]

No specifics here, so you can ignore the rest of this post if you want percentages, MB/s or microseconds.

I assume you are moving from a mechanical hard drive. In normal use you will not notice the performance difference either way. Only if you benchmark you will become aware of which one is faster on your system. If I were you I would not make the decision based on performance but no reliability, and in that front you will find most people leaning toward the 830. There are some posts of people that are happy running OCZ drives, but the prevailing opinion is stay away from OCZ. Only time will tell if the latest generation is reliable, but from their past, the OCZ name was hurt pretty bad.

 

[bmaltz]

I know you didn't mention it in your list, but you might consider the Plextor M3 SSD. It's fast, very highly rated by numerous reviews, and comes with a 5 yr warranty (all of which is what sold me on it). Newegg has it for $130 (128GB) (I have no affiliation with Plextor or Newegg - just a happy Plextor camper)

 

[ericloewe]

From what I've read, Samsung 830s are the fastest drives around, beaten only by SandForce with highly compressible data. OCZ has a pretty nasty reputation, though I haven't seen anything other than anecdotal evidence.

All SSDs will be slower writing when nearly full, because of the extra work required to write when all cells are partially full. Read speeds shouldn't be affected, theoretically.

Also, any performance advantage the Vertex 4 might have (which I tend to doubt) is small at best. When the time comes, I'd rather lose a little bit of speed for reliability, so that the time doesn't actually come...

In short, just go with the Samsung 830. I don't think anyone's been let down by one of those.

 

[brshoemak]

I would also go with the Samsung 830, both for performance and reliability. If you check Slickdeals.net it has been as low as $90. Just check the site every now and again or setup a deal alert. That's a really great price for a great drive.

I have a Crucial m4 right now, but the Samsung 830 was about twice the cost when I bought it. If given the option now I would go with the 830, but don't get me wrong, the m4 is no slouch.

 

[geenp]

Thanks for the replies.

I know that the general consensus is that the Samsung 830 is the way to go and I am already leaning towards this drive. What I wanted to know was if anyone could explain the performance differences between the Vertex 4 and the 830 especially when more than 50% full, it seems that the firmware of the Vertex 4 is designed to boost performance when under 50% full and then reverts to normal when > 50% and the drive is not as fast. I know all SSDs don't perform at their best when full but OCZ seems to take a big hit.

I am already 80% sure that I want the Samsung but just wanted to better understand the differences between the drives I'm looking at. I know of OCZ's reputation but thought I'd give it a fair chance. They seem to be doing something different with the Marvell controllers and I thought they deserved a proper look at.

 

[cm123]

I went for Vertex 4 512 even though all the chatter about OCZ - its crazy fast, I'm always the first in each level no matter the game, working with graphics is very smooth - I upgraded from corsair force GT ssd.

I always wonder are benchmarks, most times I look for real life use input - think about the sad AMD with FX-8150, on paper it kicks the butt of most other cpu's, however you bench it on a OS not really tuned for the AMD FX, and of course in turn can't expect smaller software companies to be tuned in for the FX when MS with OS isn't even - then the AMD fans say how it games very well.

Vertex 4 and don't look back -

 

[jwilliams4200]

I cannot believe someone would even consider a Vertex 4 over a Samsung 830. OCZ has shown time and again that they are willing to release products that you cannot count on to work smoothly. Now, with the V4, they have released a product that has had multiple MAJOR firmware revisions in just a few months, and they are clearly doing something complicated that causes the performance to change drastically at >50% capacity. I would not trust even my least important data to such an SSD.

Get the Samsung 830 and don't worry about the V4.

 

[OlafSicky]

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

 

[ronbo613]

I used to have an OCZ Vertex drive, now I have a Samsung 830. I can't come up with a single reason why you should buy a Vertex instead of a Samsung. OCZ always has some kind of marketing claim to make you think(faster, cheaper, etc.), but that's all it is; hype.

 

[geenp]

Thanks again for the replies. My question about the performance differences is still mostly unanswered but since the response is overwhelming in favour of the Samsung, I will just ignore the OCZ. Thanks again.

 

[n0x1ous]

ignore OCZ. reliability is a joke. Doesnt matter about performance differences when you will RMAing drive after drive. The Sammy 830 is the def the way to go and if you want a sandforce drive then intel. also both have great toolboxes

 

[Nirude]

I had the OCZ ordered on Amazon (830 was out of stock) when I saw this topic, cancelled after some thinking. And gonna wait for some more 830.. I appreciate your thoughts but I think some more detail is required on why the Vertex 4 is unreliable (and I'm not talking about OCZ or Vertex 3).

 

[tweakboy]

ignore OCZ. reliability is a joke. Doesnt matter about performance differences when you will RMAing drive after drive. The Sammy 830 is the def the way to go and if you want a sandforce drive then intel. also both have great toolboxes

The performance is same on both, but I wouldn't trust OCZ at all as they all break down. Going with Sammy you know pretty much it wont break down for years. Components and it can live for years and years....10x

If your going OCZ, its going to break down at one point with BSODs and memtest errors, then you will kick yourself in the head. Best thing, get a Sammy and live life freely without worries.

:thumbsup:

 

[Dark Shroud]

Samsung 830 & Plextor M3 drives are the way to go for boot drives right now. They're just as fast as Sandforce where it counts. And far more reliable. The companies also put out software toolboxes, my only complaint about Crucial M4 drives.

 

[tweakboy]

Toms hardware did a test. Sammy 830 and others. Fastest was Crucial 16.8 seconds boot time.

Photoshop CS6 launch. 2 seconds. A expensive Sammy is just that,,, a expensive sammy. Why didnt they cut the price on the 512GB ,,,,,,,, ,, bad move by them...

Im here with my SATA 2.0 conn. lol 260Mbps is better then 150mbps which are my Sammy F4's

 

[moonbogg]

Love my 256gb 830. Have a vertex 2 and I went through hell to get it working again. I'll never go with an ocz again.

 

[nanaki333]

i've had a vertex 1 fail twice, vertex 2 fail once, agility 2 fail twice, and vertex 3 fail once. i do have a vertex 4 i've been testing and it's been reliable thus far. then again, it's only been about 3 weeks. based on my track record though, doesn't seem to matter what controller is involved, ocz drives are just prone to failure.

i have an intel 520 in my home desktop that's been reliable. also went through several intel and crucial M4 drives in raid0 with no problems. also had plextor that never had a problem.

 

[tweakboy]

Thats a disaster nanaki333. Talk about resiliency.. you didn't give u after 1 broke you still went with OCZ then another broke and so on.. no more OCZ how about that.

Grab 830 512GB for 700 dollars , 650 dollars if your lucky if your rich that is, or your a rich dads son....OCZ blows in reliability and stability. Both drives are fast and you wont see a diff..

Get the Sammy 830 for 700 dollars and M4 512GB 399.99 to the door. Doesn't make sense to pay 300 dollars more to be a samsung......

Photoshop CS6 x64 opens in 2 seconds. System boot up used to be 4 minutes I had accidently broken the readyBoot. Now I dont need readyboot ,, as SSD disables that as well as couple other things...

Crucial and Samsung for reliability and speed. Always grab latest firmware. You will not see the 300 dollar diff between the 830 512GB and M4 512GB on bootup and app launch,,,,,, games etc.

 

[nanaki333]

Thats a disaster nanaki333. Talk about resiliency.. you didn't give u after 1 broke you still went with OCZ then another broke and so on.. no more OCZ how about that.

Grab 830 512GB for 700 dollars , 650 dollars if your lucky if your rich that is, or your a rich dads son....

i like testing SSDs. i have quite a few brands of all shapes and sizes.

 

[tweakboy]

Thats cool nanaki33 ................ SSDs are sexy and light and thin,,,,,,, technology pownz!

 

[Arachnotronic]

I had the OCZ ordered on Amazon (830 was out of stock) when I saw this topic, cancelled after some thinking. And gonna wait for some more 830.. I appreciate your thoughts but I think some more detail is required on why the Vertex 4 is unreliable (and I'm not talking about OCZ or Vertex 3).

It's all FUD. I've used countless Vertex 4s/Agility 4s in machines for my clients, friends, and family and they work beautifully.

 

[tweakboy]

It's all FUD. I've used countless Vertex 4s/Agility 4s in machines for my clients, friends, and family and they work beautifully.

You might have gotten from a good batch!

 

[jwilliams4200]

It's all FUD. I've used countless Vertex 4s/Agility 4s in machines for my clients, friends, and family and they work beautifully.

Unfortunately, your word proves nothing, since even if it could be trusted (which it cannot, since any bad words about OCZ would be a conflict of interest to your business), your sample size is too small to be statistically significant.

 

[geenp]

Lol ok, ok. I've got it, no OCZ. They've really got their work cut out reversing their bad rep.