SSD Opinions Needed

[StormILM]

I know this subject has been spoken of at length here before so this is a bit of a redundant post but I'm nearing a mid-life upgrade of my system as my current HD & OS are showing signs of impending failure after nearly 2 years % 1/2 of very heavy use. I simply want to get a cut & dry opinion on whether an SSD is the best option (regarding general & FSX/P3D use) and also if so, which brand & storage size is best?

[GB]

There are many SSD products on offer now and purchasing becomes tricky, considering the pros and cons of each brand/model. In my case I use an Intel 330/180 GB for the OS and the programs stuff, another Intel 335 240 GB just for FSX and a third Intel 330 120 GB for everything else, together with a really old 1 TB HDD for storing files only. These Intel SSD are now dated and not at the forefront of performance, but they've been very reliable so far. I've tried a newer and higher performing OCZ Vector 460 on my brother's PC but I really can't feel any real life speed difference.

I recommend the replacement of your HDD(s) by an SSD of at least 240 GB for the OS/programs and another one just for FSX. They're much more affordable now (around $ 90-100) and you can purchase higher performance and latest technology if you wish so. I think the Samsung 850 EVO is a reliable unit with respectable endurance and high performance, but also Intel's 535 240 GB units are on offer and they have to be reliable as well, although slower than the Samsung units in benchmarking. Other brands produce good units as well but they are newer and some of them are under a frequent firmware update cycle.


Things to consider before shopping (besides the capacity and brand) :


1. Anticipated Lifespan (most brands give this info as either read/erase cycles or TB written)


2. User's comments (eg reading Newegg user reviews as well as some dedicated "owner's" pages found all over the net.)

3. Product maturity in terms of hardware and firmware revisions, ie sometimes it is better to by an older generation SSD which has had all of its quirks ironed-out. Just consider that from what I've read most SSD fail not by using them, but rather during firmware updating, which becomes a necessity from real life usage problems.

4. The existence of a features' full software "management suite" able to perform firmware updates, drive optimization-trimming, drive data zeroing and status monitoring.

In any case you'll be amazed by the results of replacing your HDD(s) with SSD's and you'll think that the purchase was your best since started dealing with computing.

[StormILM]

Great info. I am leaning towards the Samsung SSD's and reviewing other options as well.

[Dumonceau]

Just made a quick comparison.

To me best value nowadays is with Samsung and OCZ. prices seem to be dropping quite dramatically even!

Johan

[jeansy]

Great info. I am leaning towards the Samsung SSD's and reviewing other options as well.

That's the way I went, 500 for the os drive, with a tera for the flight drive with 2 normal 7200rpm for general downloads and storage

I'll let you know this week how they go when I get the tower back

[Hdguy]

I went with Kingston... They don't test the fastest, but I can't tell the difference. FSX sure does run well on them.

I have one 120 G for the OS and all my software, and have 56 gigs space still avaible. Cost. 55 bucks on sale

I have a second Kingston 240 G for FSX only. Cost was like 80 bucks on sale

Then I have a 2T WD Black, 64MB cache split in half.. First partition is FSX stuff. FEX, GEX,UTX, ASN, etc and VRF sceneries.

The second 1T partition is backups and storage of everything.

[StormILM]

WOW! Plenty of good info to go on here, exactly the responses I was looking for in terms of performance & general information & prices. Thanks to everyone!

[Hdguy]

WOW! Plenty of good info to go on here, exactly the responses I was looking for in terms of performance & general information & prices. Thanks to everyone!

All SSD drives have a lifespan.. I had to go to the Kingston website and plug in my model numbers to get their "Toolbox" Its software that you run that tells all about your SSD drives. Life left, forceware version, avaible updates, etc. BTW.. After 4 months heave use both my SSD drives have 100% life still. So.. Lets say a regular platter drive lasts 8-10 years .. An SSD might last 7-9 years depending on usage...

Also all SSD drives should be Trimmed.. Just happens that Kingston did not have this software avaible for some reason. So I use the free Iobit defragger, that now does TRIM on SSD drives...

I imagine some higher end drives come with a "Toolbox" and some you have to download it from the manufacturers website. Most have TRIM avaible too.

[StormILM]

I did take notice of some of the software utilities from different SSD manufacturers that help perform a multitude of functions (including Trimming). I've read some experts differ on the benefits & shortcomings of HDD vs SSD but seeing that some of the SSD manufacturers offer a 5 year warranty on their products, I feel pretty safe going with them. That said, like most of us, I've been through my share of standard HDD's and agree with most techs that 2 to 3 years fairly heavy use is a pretty good stretch of wear & tear on a mechanical/moving HD. Besides the obvious speed benefits of SSD's, I still feel their longevity properties fair much better than HDD's despite the known degradation over the long term of usage.

To get 5+ years of fairly high performance use with an SSD and PC hardware in general (not counting the possibility one will need to reformat/reinstall the OS and other programs that get corrupted or clogged up over time), I'd say that's a pretty good lifespan expectation.

[txnetcop]

I am still using an older OCZ Vertex 4 256GB that was bought in 2012 and still makes FSX with Orbx sceneray run like new. The toolkit says that it is still at 100%. On this old LGA 775 QX9650 crate it makes the 4.2 Ghz speed of the CPU act like 4.2GHz machine!

Reliability/Protection

• Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF): 2 million hours
• Data Path Protection: ECC corrects up to 128 random bits/1KB
• Data Encryption: 256-bit AES-compliant, ATA Security Mode Features
• Product Health Monitoring: Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) Support

Compatibility

• Serial ATA (SATA): Fully compliant with Serial ATA International Organization (Serial ATA Revision 3.0) and ATA/ATAPI-8 Standard Native Command Queuing (NCQ)
• Operating System: Windows XP 32-bit /64-bit; Windows Vista 32-bit / 64-bit; Windows 7 32-bit / 64-bit; Linux; Mac OS X

Additional Features

• Performance Optimization: TRIM (requires OS support), dynamic and static wear-leveling, background garbage collection, Indilinx nDurance 2.0 Technology to extend SSD lifespan
• Other Performance Features: Ndurance 2.0 Technology (reduced write amplification without compression, advanced multi-level ECC, adaptive NAND flash management)
• Service & Support: 5-year warranty, toll-free tech support, 24 hour forum support

If this one croaks anytime soon I have talked with many my tech buddies in the industry and follow Computex religiously. It seems that for raw power the Samsung 850EVO is the best performer for the price followed by the SanDisk Extreme PRO. I wouldn't go with any less than 512GB considering all the addonns available today for FSX or X-Plane.

Here are some of the latest user benchmarks for your reading enjoyment:

http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/

Ted

[Bjoern]

My (now primary) SSD is from A-Data. Not the most prolific brand and sells rather cheaply, but the model I have got good reviews and is just as fast as its more expensive competitors. Kind of like the Dacia among SSDs.

[Dumonceau]

My (now primary) SSD is from A-Data. Not the most prolific brand and sells rather cheaply, but the model I have got good reviews and is just as fast as its more expensive competitors. Kind of like the Dacia among SSDs.

Hey!! Dacia is Volkswagen, remember?

Johan

[Jafo]

Technology has kinda left the Sata 3 SSD long behind.
Their performance is far superior to any platter drive but both are limited by the same interface.

Do some research on M.2 drives.... Samsung is one of the leaders. It's a 'drive'....but looks more like a stick of ram. You'll need ideally a current-spec MoBo ...so the price is 'serious'....but the scope for data throughput is heading towards an order of magnitude beyond anything a SATA interface could even dream of.

I got the first gen of these real M.2 drives....and it's fast. 512G Samsung XP941 M.2 PCIe x4 SSD cost AUD $611 last December.
Depending on the MoBo design they can 'share' a PCIE slot's throughput....and benefit from closer proximity to the CPU...all win-win.
BTW...the chosen methodology was to partition this drive...half OS and half FSX ....can't get much more efficient.
The MoBo is a ASUS X99 Deluxe LGA2011v3 MotherBoard with 32gig of DDR4 and a Intel i7 5960x 3.00Ghz @3.50Ghz LGA2011v3 CPU....
There are also 2x256gig 'normal' SSDs for alternate OS installs, etc.

Next gen [probably just recently released] M.2 drives should be about 10 times faster again than mine....

All that aside...any computer will benefit from any SSD [over a platter]....

[vortex]

I can highly recommend the Samsung SSDs. They are fast, reliable and have always been well-reviewed. They also have the advantage that everything is produced in-house - the memory chips, controller and firmware. The latest SSDs have at least a 5 year warranty (10 years for the Pro version) for peace of mind and Samsung's Magician software works well and gives lots of information.

[Bjoern]

Hey!! Dacia is Volkswagen, remember?

Renault, not Volkswagen. If you want VW technology with an affordable pricetag, get a SEAT or Skoda.

[StormILM]

I rode in and drove a Skoda in South America. Not too bad!

[wombat666]

The OCZ RevoDrive 350 'SSD' drives that I've been considering turn in an out-bloody-standing performance but are not worth A$1200.00 (480G) or A$1600 (960G) in practical terms.
Along with their PCIe Full Height form factor and needing a PCI Express Gen. 2 x8 slot, the cost outweighs the performance.

Samsung's 850 EVO 2TB SSD is priced at A$1200.00 and based on the performance of my pair of Samsung 850 EVO 1TB drives at A$730.00 that will be my next purchase, I hate having and empty drive bay.
And the 5 Years Warranty is a big plus.

[StormILM]

I ended up ordering 2 Samsung 850 Evo's (one @ 250gb for the OS only, and a 500gb for my core program use like FSX & other programs). I decided to get another WD HDD (1TB Blue) strictly for on board storage (I already have 4TB of external storage not including my couple of cloud options which are equally as big). I didn't want to go too big on the SSD capacity to keep speeds up and with the storage drive, I will be just fine. My FSXA install is bloated up to 345gb which is the single largest program I have running but to be honest, on the next install, I will be trimming the size of FSXA way down (more or less sidelining a lot of scenery & aircraft that I do not use much or at all). Also, considering my Dell system is already two & a half years old, I didn't want to go too crazy with more expensive SSD options. I am absolutely satisfied by all reports that the 850 Evo will do a good job with what I have and for my needs. On my future system build plans, I am going to go all SSD as well as other higher end gear but by that time, there will be some newer & hotter CPU's & GPU's out which will be more befitting of my goals. I also figure by then, we may even see some new & exciting movement in the Flight Sim arena that's game changing.

Anyhow, I truly appreciate everyone's opinion and experience shared here, it's been super helpful in my purchase decisions.

Thanks!

[Hdguy]

I ended up ordering 2 Samsung 850 Evo's (one @ 250gb for the OS only, and a 500gb for my core program use like FSX & other programs). I decided to get another WD HDD (1TB Blue) strictly for on board storage (I already have 4TB of external storage not including my couple of cloud options which are equally as big). I didn't want to go too big on the SSD capacity to keep speeds up and with the storage drive, I will be just fine. My FSXA install is bloated up to 345gb which is the single largest program I have running but to be honest, on the next install, I will be trimming the size of FSXA way down (more or less sidelining a lot of scenery & aircraft that I do not use much or at all). Also, considering my Dell system is already two & a half years old, I didn't want to go too crazy with more expensive SSD options. I am absolutely satisfied by all reports that the 850 Evo will do a good job with what I have and for my needs. On my future system build plans, I am going to go all SSD as well as other higher end gear but by that time, there will be some newer & hotter CPU's & GPU's out which will be more befitting of my goals. I also figure by then, we may even see some new & exciting movement in the Flight Sim arena that's game changing.

Anyhow, I truly appreciate everyone's opinion and experience shared here, it's been super helpful in my purchase decisions.

Thanks!

Great Purchases

[Bjoern]

My nine year old Samsung HDD seems to have some file system hiccups lately. Probably time for another SSD. My inner Scrooge McDuck scowls at the 80€ investment for a 256GB one though*.

By the way: I scrwed up the brand for my budget SSD. It's Sandisk, not A-Data.



*Well, at least I get twice as much space for what I had to pay in 2013(?) now.

[jeansy]

Got the tower back today minus the Samsung 1tb ssd and 2nd gpu

Must say with the 500gb Samsung for the os the system is screaming along

Have to wait until the weekend until I get the other bits to install the aim to get a full appreciation

[StormILM]

Okay, all items are in & pretty much ready to begin the process of the switch out of hardware in the next couple of days.

One last bits of SSD user advice I'm seeking here(I should have asked earlier). As noted, I have a pair of the Samsung 850 Evo SSD's, the OS will be going on the small one (250gb) and FSXA on the 500gb (and of course, all the stored files(photos,documents) will go onto the 1tb WD Blue HDD). That being noted, what drives do most of you guys keep things like AV protection, music, photo & word editing, etc type programs on? Considering the limited number of writes that SSD's have & space considerations, just wanted to get a general idea of what's the best. Also, regarding the Page File for FSX, I've read different things about relocating it but to cut to the chase, what's the recommendation?

[Jafo]

Okay, all items are in & pretty much ready to begin the process of the switch out of hardware in the next couple of days.

One last bits of SSD user advice I'm seeking here(I should have asked earlier). As noted, I have a pair of the Samsung 850 Evo SSD's, the OS will be going on the small one (250gb) and FSXA on the 500gb (and of course, all the stored files(photos,documents) will go onto the 1tb WD Blue HDD). That being noted, what drives do most of you guys keep things like AV protection, music, photo & word editing, etc type programs on? Considering the limited number of writes that SSD's have & space considerations, just wanted to get a general idea of what's the best. Also, regarding the Page File for FSX, I've read different things about relocating it but to cut to the chase, what's the recommendation?

Best place for any/all Proggies is on the same drive as the OS...and the same goes for the Page File. Even with 'oodles' of ram [in my case 32Gb of Crucial Dominator DDR4] it's still preferred [by MS and its OS] to have a page file.

Don't get too worried about 'limited number of writes' when expected lifetime under current use [on mine] is 8 years plus....and it has the OS...the proggies AND the FSX install...

[Stefano Zibell]

Samsung 850 EVO, 250gb or more.

Can't go wrong with that.

[flaviossa]

I have two Kingston SSD in my system:
- 1 HyperX 3k 480Gb where Win10 is installed (http://www.kingston.com/br/hyperx/ssd#sh103s3)
- 1 V310 960gb where FSX is exclusively installed (http://www.kingston.com/br/ssd/v#sv310s3)

Both have a 3 years warranty.

I have them about two years now and recommend both. FSX is endeed faster because of them and the S.O. do a cold start in seconds. A must have in current days.