Samsung Electronics Samsung 840 Series Solid State Drive (SSD) 250 sata_6_0_gb 2.5-Inch MZ-7TD250BW $160

Quote from MoneyIDontHave : Hell Ya. Ive been waiting for the 830 to drop about $10 more, but an 840 for $160. Didn't even take the time to think about it......Good find OP Oh please do elaborate on why this drive is inferior to the 830

Quote from zhopa : Do you always judge the drives based on how they look?

Google the reviews. The 840 performs below the 830. But the 840 Pro beats the 830. Simple as that. And drive endurance is also tested by many websites. Types of NAND matters and smaller nm means lower endurance. Even Intel engineers, trusted as being one of the most reliable brands out there, admits that to reviewers in their frank discussions. Unlike mechanical drives, you can test SSD drive endurance by running tests. Read/write over and over again.

Thanks OP, was considering this or the 830 and this is a good enough price for me.

According to PC Parts Picker, this is regular price, it just has been kinda inflated the last week or so.

http://pcpartpicker.com/us/part/s...mz7td250bw

TLC is cheaper to make, so ssds based on TLC should be cheaper in the long run. Samsung is one of the unique players since they both make the drive and manufacture the TLC chips.

It's just a manufacturer trying to 'create' another market to make a buck. Specially since the floor seems to have fallen out from under the current memory market. No reason for samsung to canibalize the remaining 830 market, so pricing will be up for a while.

Pros: The SSD 840 Pro performed at the top of near to top of our tests in repeated ocassions. Write speeds of compressed files are simply staggering. Samsung's reliability record is a big plus in our book.

Cons: There were the odd ocassions where the drive performed well behind its predecessor, we hope this can at least be partially fixed via firmware update. Initial price points are a mixed bag.

Quote from munkymonkjr : According to PC Parts Picker, this is regular price, it just has been kinda inflated the last week or so. http://pcpartpicker.com/us/part/s...mz7td250bw

Be careful, the lifespan of 840 is only 1/3 of 830 !!!

I am curious about the whole 830 versus 840 debate. I got in on the Intel 330 180GB for $99. And to be quite honest, the only thing keeping me from opening it is the thought of a $130 256GB 830 or 840. With the 830 quickly disappearing, it looks like I need to focus on the 840 as the only other option...or is the Intel better than the 840?

Quote from feelingshorter : Google the reviews. The 840 performs below the 830. But the 840 Pro beats the 830. Simple as that. And drive endurance is also tested by many websites. Types of NAND matters and smaller nm means lower endurance. Even Intel engineers, trusted as being one of the most reliable brands out there, admits that to reviewers in their frank discussions. Unlike mechanical drives, you can test SSD drive endurance by running tests. Read/write over and over again.

Can you please point me to a website that ran real-world endurance comparison tests?
The real reason why 830 maybe a better drive at this point is that 840 hasn't been around long enough to be tested for stability and such.

Quote from blackrain : I am curious about the whole 830 versus 840 debate. I got in on the Intel 330 180GB for $99. And to be quite honest, the only thing keeping me from opening it is the thought of a $130 256GB 830 or 840. With the 830 quickly disappearing, it looks like I need to focus on the 840 as the only other option...or is the Intel better than the 840?

Intel is better at this point only because it's been around longer, so there is more experience with the drive in the real world.

price went up to $170

bh has been weird lately.

Quote from zhopa : Can you please point me to a website that ran real-world endurance comparison tests?

This.

All the reviews that I've seen comparing the 830, 840 and 840 Pro have run limited endurance tests, gone by what the manufacturer said, and then extrapolated out an expected lifespan of the drives.

And frankly, the lowest lifespan I've seen under normal usage conditions for the 840 is 7 years which I'll grant isn't the 830's 21 years, but do you honestly think you are going to be using the same hard drive in 7 years?

Not to mention that isn't the entire story because that 7 years is how long it would take to wear out the NAND. That doesn't take into account any DSP technology that the drive might have, which could at least double that lifespan, if not significantly more than that.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/633...b-review/4

Went up to $169 now.

I wouldn't touch the 840 model with a ten foot pole, but 840 Pro is the true successor to 830 series in my book, just the price is too high. Samsung is trying to create a new "enthusiast" market segment for their drives this time around so it's not a surprise.

The difference between the vanilla 840 and the 830/840 pro lines is that 840 uses TLC flash memory, the stuff you stick in cheap memory sticks that have 1000-3000 write endurance before they stop working. MLC usually handles around 10,000 writes, while the server grade SLC handles 100,000.

Short story is, typical endurance by type before indirect measures a company may take to reduce the rate of deterioration:

SLC (mostly server SSDs): 100,000 writes.
MLC (830 and 840 Pros): 10,000 writes.
TLC (840 and stuff you attach to a keychain): 3000 writes.

Beta test it for Samsung at your own risk.

Quote from Wierdo-X : TLC (840 and stuff you attach to a keychain): 3k writes.

Which means that with wear leveling you would have to write 275TB of data to this drive before it hit that threshold.

Is the 840 the successor to the 830? No it isn't, that is what the 840 Pro is for. Does that mean that the 840 is a bad drive? Hell no, it is faster and more capable then many drives out there and for its price point it is really the best deal out there.