Which 128GB SSD for games

IcE · *Last edited by IcE; 09-21-2012 at 07:09.*

My mechanical is starting to fail so I need a new games drive. I thought about just getting another 1TB drive, but I have a big problem with finishing games because I just have too many. I think it would probably help if I had a space limit so that I can only have so many games installed at once (thus forcing me to actually finish each game without distractions). So just incase anyone was thinking "wat, that's too little space". Also the standard benefits of SSD over mechanical are obvious.

But anyway, should I get the Crucial M4 or The Intel 330? I'm leaning towards the 330 because it comes with a bracket. I can't find a model of the m4 that comes with one. The 830 is nice but I don't really feel like I need top end performance just to run games.

Keep in mind I already have a Vertex 2 for a system drive.

XBEAST · 09-21-2012, 07:34 | posts: 1,438 | Location: Unknown

Well, higher performance can't hurt... Crucial m4 is outdated in terms of performance and costs pretty much the same as newer and faster drives like Samsung 830 or Vertex 4. You might find some good deals selling it under 100 bucks tho. It's also very reliable, usual for Micron products.

Still, I'd recommend something newer. I went with Samsung 830 256GB for system, programs and games. I'd recommend it for high real-world performance, but it's kinda pricy ATM, 128GB bulk version (without bracket) sells for 120$. So now I suggest Vertex 4 128GB, currently selling for 100$ @ Newegg (with bracket) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227791

Black_ice_Spain · 09-21-2012, 08:02 | posts: 4,153 | Location: Spain

m4 outperforms samsung 830 mostly ._., and it has PROVEN reliablity, 128gb one its 90€-95€, i would go with it.

iFRAC7UR3 · 09-21-2012, 08:30 | posts: 359 | Location: Norway

vertex 4 is what im gettting

XBEAST · *Last edited by XBEAST; 09-21-2012 at 08:36.*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black_ice_Spain

m4 outperforms samsung 830 mostly ._., and it has PROVEN reliablity, 128gb one its 90€-95€, i would go with it.

According to TH, m4 falls behind some newer SSDs http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...rk,3269-6.html

I also chose Samsung because of it's track record of reliability. IMO, if you want maximum reliability, go for source companies. Don't even start with 3rd parties like OCZ, Corsair, etc. Samsung and Micron are huge companies, make their own stuff (e.g. Micron use their own memory, Samsung use their own memory and controller), maybe even use handpicked highest quality chips for their products.

Both Crucial m4 and Samsung 830 are very reliable. But 830 is newer and faster. I was planning to go for m4 initially, but that was some time ago. A newer and better product came during that time. That's how things work in hardware world.

iFRAC7UR3 · 09-21-2012, 08:37 | posts: 359 | Location: Norway

the 830`s preformance isnt that impressive really

XBEAST · 09-21-2012, 08:49 | posts: 1,438 | Location: Unknown

Quote:

Originally Posted by iFRAC7UR3

the 830`s preformance isnt that impressive really

That depends on what impresses you. 830 slightly beats Vertex 4 in real-world tests, but falls behind in raw benchmarks.

PhazeDelta1 · 09-21-2012, 12:30 | posts: 9,311 | Location: 90° N

If your concerned about real world performance, then the samsung 830 is what you want. If your concerned about benchmark scores, then the OCZ vertex 4 is what you want.

Loobyluggs · 09-21-2012, 12:39 | posts: 325 | Location: UK

I got a couple of M4's, one of which has my games on it, been working fine since mid-summer.

No issues copying files from them to a WD black drive for Long term storage, in fact, seems faster copying than I expected it to be.

I think for 'real world' performance, there is not much in it between different SSD's if honest - but if you want the fastest, I'm not convinced you are going to get to the chopper in BF3 faster than me.

Black_ice_Spain · 09-21-2012, 13:32 | posts: 4,153 | Location: Spain

Quote:

Originally Posted by XBEAST

According to TH, m4 falls behind some newer SSDs http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...rk,3269-6.html

I also chose Samsung because of it's track record of reliability. IMO, if you want maximum reliability, go for source companies. Don't even start with 3rd parties like OCZ, Corsair, etc. Samsung and Micron are huge companies, make their own stuff (e.g. Micron use their own memory, Samsung use their own memory and controller), maybe even use handpicked highest quality chips for their products.

Both Crucial m4 and Samsung 830 are very reliable. But 830 is newer and faster. I was planning to go for m4 initially, but that was some time ago. A newer and better product came during that time. That's how things work in hardware world.

There is a thread in spanish forum which has different opinion, what are those measurements anyway? They are using this benchmarks i think. Considering same price and proven reliability i would go M4, right now, M4's are cheaper (except 256gb units).

http://cdn.overclock.net/5/52/52a757...0111-54-15.png
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-B...928/iastor.png

Only things a normal person will notice in SSD (okay, they'll notice when windows says transfering files at 500mb/s, but thats only once each... week? and anyways, unless you have multiple SSD or different partitions, the bottleneck will be other HDD, or network, or USB); access time and low-size (4k?) random reads.

Both are good options imo.

chispy · 09-21-2012, 13:45 | posts: 6,410 | Location: Puerto Rico

Crucial m4 ,Samsung 830 or vertex 4 those are the ones you should be looking for in terms of reliabilty , try to avoid sandforce based SSDs , althought some of the inicial bugs has been squatch , i still wont reccomend it. I had 4 vertex 3 for a short period of times and it was a nightmare , BSOD all the time even with new firmware updates. I end it up selling them for quite a cheap price hence i lost quite a bit of money on that deal :/. Now I own Samsungs 830 sSSDs and it has been a dream to work with them , very reliable and cost effective price/performance wise.

thatguy91 · 09-21-2012, 17:23 | posts: 2,745 | Location: Australia

I have a Vertex 4 with the latest firmware (1.5) and it has been working flawlessly for me. I should point out that it actually shipped with the current firmware (1.5).

Spin · 09-21-2012, 18:04 | posts: 50 | Location: San Francisco

I've been using my 128gb Samsung 830 for months now without a hitch. It's my first SSD drive and I still can't believe what a difference it makes in my enjoyment of my computer. Great product.

Pill Monster · 09-21-2012, 18:09 | posts: 20,448 | Location: NZ

I had a Samsung 830 but returned it for the faster Intel 520.
The other drawcard with Intel was their 5 year warranty - kinda hard to beat that imho...they aren't cheap though.

Oh btw - buying SSD for games is really a waste of time and space unless you play something like Arma2 that uses texture streaming.

Applications and OS are the best things to have on a SSD.

sverek · 09-21-2012, 18:31 | posts: 1,034 | Location: Japan, Soka

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

Oh btw - buying SSD for games is really a waste of time and space unless you play something like Arma2 that uses texture streaming.

Applications and OS are the best things to have on a SSD.

True, but some games take a few minutes to load and have lag spikes when entering new areas or new entity being fetch from disk.

I wanted to go for RAID0 SSD, but settled down with single.

XBEAST · *Last edited by XBEAST; 09-21-2012 at 19:04.*

I did have a chance to play a little with Vertex 4 before buying. Not enough to do more benchies tho.

AS SSD Copy results:

OCZ Vertex 4 256GB (FW 1.5, Intel RST 12something Beta)
ISO: 4.4 s (243.86 MB/s), Program: 7.82 s (179.93 MB/s), Game: 5.98 s (231.05 MB/s)

Samsung 830 256GB (FW CXM03B1Q, Intel RST 12something Beta)
ISO: 2.63 s (407.96 MB/s), Program: 7.50 s (187.61 MB/s), Game: 5.25 s (263.18 MB/s)

IcE · 09-21-2012, 22:32 | posts: 6,985 | Location: Toledo, Ohio

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

I had a Samsung 830 but returned it for the faster Intel 520.
The other drawcard with Intel was their 5 year warranty - kinda hard to beat that imho...they aren't cheap though.

Oh btw - buying SSD for games is really a waste of time and space unless you play something like Arma2 that uses texture streaming.

Applications and OS are the best things to have on a SSD.

I already have a SSD for Windows and apps. This will be my second.

scheherazade · 09-22-2012, 00:51 | posts: 1,908 | Location: NOVA

For loading games, all you care about is read speeds.

Read:
M4 4k read is par with the fastest (actually matters in daily use)
M4 linear read is par with the fastest (mostly useless metric for daily use)

Write:
M4 4k write is par with the fastest (actually matters in daily use)
M4 linear write lags behind the fastest (mostly useless metric for daily use)

Here's some SSD charts if you want to compare.
4k random read : http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/s...Read,2784.html
4k random write : http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/s...rite,2785.html
linear random read : http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/s...Read,2782.html
linear random write : http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/s...rite,2783.html

The truth is that you won't be able to tell any of the drives apart when you're using them.

They're all a lot faster than HDDs for daily tasks, and they're too close to each other for differences to be obvious.

Just buy whatever is on sale...

TBH, if you have enough ram to cache a ton of crap, then you'll only even notice an improvement on the first load.
After that, even an HDD feels similar.
So that approach is always open as an alternative.
(Doing both is nice too...)

-scheherazade

ground_zero298 · 09-22-2012, 04:09 | posts: 459 | Location: michigan

I'd go with Intel or Mushkin. On 128gb at 100gb the drive will slow to a crawl, just a heads up.

Pill Monster · 09-22-2012, 04:21 | posts: 20,448 | Location: NZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by ground_zero298

I'd go with Intel or Mushkin. On 128gb at 100gb the drive will slow to a crawl, just a heads up.

well my 520's have less than 3GB free and they run fine.....why do u say that?

Cyrosis · 09-22-2012, 07:58 | posts: 1,560 | Location: US

:Edit:

Pill Monster · 09-22-2012, 08:03 | posts: 20,448 | Location: NZ

^Guess you discovered what TRIM is?

XBEAST · 09-22-2012, 09:45 | posts: 1,438 | Location: Unknown

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

well my 520's have less than 3GB free and they run fine.....why do u say that?

Over-provisioning. Do you have it setup already?

Pill Monster · 09-22-2012, 09:57 | posts: 20,448 | Location: NZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by XBEAST

Over-provisioning. Do you have it setup already?

There's only about 4GB unusable on my drive...(55.9GB vs 60GB).

And do I have what set up already?

Edit-
If you mean do I have my SSD setup - yes it's been installed for several months.....

XBEAST · 09-22-2012, 10:58 | posts: 1,438 | Location: Unknown

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

There's only about 4GB unusable on my drive...(55.9GB vs 60GB).

And do I have what set up already?

Edit-
If you mean do I have my SSD setup - yes it's been installed for several months.....

I mean do you have OP setup. Is there any unallocated space?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samsung

Over-Provisioning is a feature that helps resize partitions on your SSD to create unused space on the drive, giving the controller room to manage, improve and sustain the performance of your SSD