Which to keep: Intel 730, 840 EVO and/or Patriot Pyro?

[wpcoe]

I'm soon going to begin a new Skylake build to replace my Ivy Bridge system. In the current system I have two SSDs with the following history per CrystalDiskInfo:

I also have a new (still in the shrink-wrapped box) Patriot Pyro 240GB.

I have a few options for the new system, based on budget issues:

• install a Samsung 950 Pro 512GB and not transfer any other SSD to the new system
• install a 950 Pro 256GB and transfer one old SSD
• not get a 950 Pro and transfer two SSDs

If I transfer two SSDs, which of the three above SSDs should I put in the new system?

If I only transfer one of the SSDs, which one is best to keep?

 

[zlejedi]

Get rid of 840 Evo - it's buggy TLC drive, and get rid of Pyro - it uses Sandforce controller with asynchronous memory cells.

 

[wpcoe]

Thanks for your thoughts.

My 840 EVO has not been buggy at all, in fact it's been rock solid (and fast) since day 1. However, my concern with it now is the relatively high write count compared to the other two.

Is Sandforce still persona non grata in the SSD market? I haven't read any bad things about it for a while, but then again, I haven't been looking.

Anybody else have thoughts about my OP questions?

 

[hojnikb]

Keep the 730 and sell the other two. Or use them somewhere else.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Keep the 730 and sell the other two. Or use them somewhere else.

This.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Thanks for your thoughts.

My 840 EVO has not been buggy at all, in fact it's been rock solid (and fast) since day 1. However, my concern with it now is the relatively high write count compared to the other two.

Meh. Not that high in absolute terms. The bugs with the 840EVO are supposedly fixed, but it only effect at-rest data anyway. If you're writing that much to it, you probably don't have any data that's getting "stale."

Is Sandforce still persona non grata in the SSD market? I haven't read any bad things about it for a while, but then again, I haven't been looking.

Same old chip, same old problems. Nobody's been complaining about them recently because all the people who complain about computer hardware online upgraded. But you buy old kit, expect old problems.

FWIW, I had a pretty decent time with a couple of Sandforce drives back in the day, after all the early firmware bugs had been worked out. But I upgraded/replaced those drives a couple years ago. Newer controllers/NAND (like in the 730) are just all-around superior.

 

[wpcoe]

Keep the 730 and sell the other two. Or use them somewhere else.

Good to hear. It's currently my data drive so I would just transfer it to new system and end of story.

I've had no problems with the 730, but being a 240GB model, I always feel "SSD envy" with the sequential write speeds in benchmarks.

FYI, the Patriot drive was an impulse buy quite a while ago, probably over a year ago? It was on sale at Frys for something like $90, which was unheard of at that time. Maybe I should just deploy it as a Photoshop scratch disk?