Looking into buying an >500 GB SSD drive. What are the recommendations?

So far I'm liking the Crucial MX100 512GB.

 http://216.52.208.185/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148821

Any SSD will do for FSX. They are all fast enough to make sure your CPU becomes the bottleneck again. But I'd stay away from the Samsung 840EVO and Samsung 840 due to their performance degradation.

 

I just changed my OS SSD from an old Intel X25-M G2 to a Samsung 850 Pro and to be honest I don't notice much difference in day to day use apart from that I now have a lot of free space again. It is nothing compared to the massive difference to the general feel of Windows the upgrade from a HDD to SSD makes. Sure enough, I can clock that a few things that takes a little while goes a little bit quicker on the 850 Pro, but it doesn't feel massively different.

 

The MX100 is a good SSD. I think the new BX100 series of disks are also very good performers for their price. 

Thanks. I ended up buying the Crucial BX100 500GB.

The 840 Evo was fixed with firmware... Is something still happening to these drives I'm unaware of?

I'm using a 500 gig Samsung 840 plus a 500 gig Sandisk extreme pro. The Sandisk was more expensive then the 840 but I don't notice a difference. There so cheap now, any good SSD will do.

Thanks. I got all my components and started building my new rig this weekend.

I'm in the process of setting up windows and installing drivers.

 

- MSI Z97 Gaming 7

- i7 4790k Devils Canyon

- G Skill 16 Gb DDR3 2400

- ASUS Superclocked 970 (sourced from this forum)

- Samsung 830 256gb SSD for OS (previous build)

- Plextor M5Pro 256gb SSD for P3D (previous build)

- Crucial BX100 500gb SSD for FSX-SE

- Western Digital 1TB Black series (previous build)

- Corsair H100 (previous build)

- Fractal Case (previous build)

- Seasonic 750W (previous build)

- Crossover 27" IPS LCD 2560 x 1440 (previous build)

The 840 Evo was fixed with firmware... Is something still happening to these drives I'm unaware of?

Yes, it was 'fixed' with firmware half a year ago. That turned out not to be permanent. Just recently it has once again been 'fixed' with yet another firmware that re-writes data that has grown old on the drive when your computer sits powered on but idle. But if your computer happens not to sit idle over a longer period of time the problem can still reappears and Samsung now provides the ability to manually trigger a rewrite to restore the performance.

 

So even with the latest firmware that Samsung has had a long time to develop there's still an inherent flaw with the way the TLC NAND in the 840 EVO operates that can't be fully mitigated in firmware.

 

Possible to live with? Yes. Good idea to avoid if there's other SSDs that don't have known faults with them that are in the same general price bracket? Yes if you ask me. SSDs are 'cheap' today but its still a fair bit of money we pay for them, so I wouldn't reccomend a flawed product that still costs a considerable sum of money to anyone.

Thanks. I got all my components and started building my new rig this weekend.

I'm in the process of setting up windows and installing drivers.

 

Enjoy your new rig! Should be a very nice performer.

Samsung 850 Pro. Love em. 

Didn't know that about the 840. I'll have to fire up HDTach again

Thanks. I ended up buying the Crucial BX100 500GB.

 

Good choice. I've owned my Crucial M4 SSD since 2011, and it's been rock solid stable. I love it. 

Thanks. I got all my components and started building my new rig this weekend.

...

- MSI Z97 Gaming 7

Q) What made you go for that MSI M/B?

Yes, it was 'fixed' with firmware half a year ago. That turned out not to be permanent. Just recently it has once again been 'fixed' with yet another firmware that re-writes data that has grown old on the drive when your computer sits powered on but idle. But if your computer happens not to sit idle over a longer period of time the problem can still reappears and Samsung now provides the ability to manually trigger a rewrite to restore the performance.

 

So even with the latest firmware that Samsung has had a long time to develop there's still an inherent flaw with the way the TLC NAND in the 840 EVO operates that can't be fully mitigated in firmware.

 

Possible to live with? Yes. Good idea to avoid if there's other SSDs that don't have known faults with them that are in the same general price bracket? Yes if you ask me. SSDs are 'cheap' today but its still a fair bit of money we pay for them, so I wouldn't reccomend a flawed product that still costs a considerable sum of money to anyone.

Enjoy your new rig! Should be a very nice performer.

 

850 Evo here... I take it that as it uses a different NAND and controller it's clear of the issue? From what I can see on the internet, they don't seem to be exhibiting the dodgy behaviour.

 

I understand that the V-Nand cells are bigger in the 850 and less likely to suffer the degradation.

850 Evo here... I take it that as it uses a different NAND and controller it's clear of the issue? From what I can see on the internet, they don't seem to be exhibiting the dodgy behaviour.

 

I understand that the V-Nand cells are bigger in the 850 and less likely to suffer the degradation.

Yes, it seems like the bigger V-Nand cells are working better with TLC. Haven't seen any reports of them failing

(yet..).  I've recently trusted Samsung with my money once again for the 850EVO. There is not much choice if you want a 2TB drive. Think the smaller drives have been out for about 11 months now. I assume a lot of people will be more vigilant for this kind of behavior this time and the 840EVO was already showing symptoms after 11 months.

Yes Samsung seem to be the choice of folks.   My Sandisk Extreme pro gave up a couple of months ago, sent it back,  it took 3 weeks to sort,  they sent back a new one,  yes i'm happy but if i was getting another one it would be the Samsung 850.   I have the 840 and find the Samsung Magician tool great. 

Microcenter is having a sale on the Samsung EVO 950 pro M.2 SSD...I am currently salivating over that one.  granted, it's capped at 512 currently, but should fit the bill for my system.  I have my sim on a Samsung Evo 850 at 1TB.  Wasn't cheap when I bought it but I needed maximum room at the time.  Seeing as though I am only using maybe half that, a transfer to the 950 might be in order.

 

-Jim