Storage Which 500+gig SSD would you get?

Wonder if you can help me decide on a new SSD?

I am currently watercooling my main system and due to lack of room in the TJ08-E, I am having to get rid of my storage hard drive. My main system drive is a 256gig Samsung 830.

My storage drive has a round 300gig of stuff stored on it (mp3's, installers, photo's etc) and I need an SSD to transfer it to, so that it can affixed to the back of the motherboard tray next to my 830.

Ideally I want to get Samsung to match aesthetically, but it's not vital. The options that I see are:
1) 500gig Samsung 840 basic at £309
2) 512gig Samsung 830 at £330 (added this one as it has the same brushed aluminium finish as the 830)
3) 512gig Samsung 840 pro at £414
4) 512gig OCZ Vector @ £400

Now I can afford any of these, but is it worth my while spending an extra £100 just for a bit more speed and and extra 12gig of storage?

If I will really notice the difference then I'll spend the extra money, but if it wont make much difference for what I am using it for then I'll just go for option 1.

Thanks in advance.

 

If you're not going to be installing apps, then go for the cheap 840. It should be plenty fine with mostly static data there is no need to worry about performance too much. Though I have to wonder, why not just get a 2TB 2.5" hdd or whatever, they are a whole lot cheaper.

 

2) 512gig Samsung 830 at £330 I've heard bad things about the 840 drives

 

I can vouch for the 830, its been fast and reliable for me so far.

 

Not very helpful I know, but my 2 cents are: I wouldn't. At the moment at least. Prices are still too high.

I'd off load some of the media to cheap external mechanical storage. Preferably network attached storage of some description.

 

Sorry what now?@? SSD storage drive? just get a eSATA external drive and spend the money on something with more tangible benefits, like pro audio or a big IPS screen. The only reason I could think of considering such a drive would be for HD video compression work and the like. Even a network drive would be good for pure storage tasks.

I mean do you already have:
SLI 690 GTX water cooled cards?
30" Dell Ultra X3?
Studio line Headphones? HiFi? 60" TV?

then why not

 

Yeah data like mp3s, installers, photos etc do not take advantage of nor need the speed of an SSD to work. So logically, spending £400 on an SSD purchase for simply aesthetics may perhaps be a questionable choice.

You need to ask yourself if two pretty SSDs in a row, and the convenience of not having to use external media is worth £400 to you.

For me I know I'd use external media or NAS, but if you want to choose between those options, it would be the 840 for sure. You don't need the speed so much. But if you specifically want faster write speeds to copy installers/photos/media onto the drive, then the 830 at best.

 

Thanks for the reply. I thought this would probably be the case. I can't get a 2.5" hdd as I am fixing it to the back of the motherboard tray with double sided tape and it needs to be an SSD for thickness - Something like this

 

What have you heard about the 840's?

 

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2282016

Reasonably high failure rates with the early 840s! May be fixed by now though

 

I already own an 4tb external hard drive which I use.

I'll be honest, I like having the 2nd drive as I often re-install windows and it's handy having a drive of installers and my music.

I didn't think the extra speed would be that beneficial for me, so I think I'll plump for the 830 as it will match for looks.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

Interesting, but having read a few posts, it does appear that it was an early firmware issue. As I'm not too fussed about and extra 12gig, I might just plump for the 500gig 840 basic then.

 

You could get a NAS and use that as storage.

 

Been rocking a 840 for a while now, haven't had any problems so far, might just be the early ones like you said.

 

Yes, it was a bug in the pre-release firmware. It was fixed before any disks were shipped to retail stores.

The 840 uses TLC memory, which is slower and less durable than MLC, but also cheaper. The durability is very likely enough for any use though. As for performance, check this article: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2013/01/08/the-ssd-catchup/1

The 830 is still the best deal, but unfortunately they are discontinued and very hard to find.

 

In the end I didn't go for any of those four. I did go for an 830, but one that is faster at writing than the basic 840, fractionally slower at reading - this one