Samsung 840 Pro 128GB - Too much, or not enough?

Hey, guys -

While I've decided on the 750GB (w/ 8GB SSD Memory) 7200 32MB Cache SATA Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid Drive to store all of my games, I was also considering an SSD to install Windows 7 Professional on - specifically, the Samsung 840 Pro 128GB SSD. Would the Samsung Pro be enough to hold Windows 7, iTunes app and music, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Image Ready (and their .JPEP/.PNG/.GIF/etc. files)? Should I consider upgrading to a 250/256GB SSD instead (maybe the 840 or M4, since they're less expensive?) Would I Notice the difference if I went with a non-pro 840 or an M4?

 

If your PC can handle 2 drives then I would seriously consider the 128gb drive purely based on price. Like you said, you basically keep all your games on the Momentus XT (which are the biggest consumers of space). The level load times probably won't be quite as good as if you had them on the SSD but it will be sufficient. However, Photoshop loves SSDs, especially as a scratchpad so you might feel a bit cramped having it on the Momentus XT.

Having the smaller SSD also has a few disadvantages. You basically have half the drive endurance of the 256gb models simply because there are half as many NAND cells to level the wear. Performance may also be a bit lower as not all the NAND channels may be populated (that being said, I think the hit is pretty low with the 128gb samsung pros). You will also have less consistent Random Write performance (mostly databases on your SSD will be affected) as there are less blocks available to the controller and the aggressive TRIM usage required may introduce latency spikes.

However, should you go for a 256gb drive then you gain more breathing space at extra cost. This is mostly beneficial if you keep the entire Adobe Suite on the SSD as it will greatly speedup your workflow (a system like Work on SSD, Play on HDD). The Crucial M4 is very well proven and reliable so you cannot go wrong, the same cannot be said about the 840 regular. The TLC NAND within the 840 results in slightly better overall Read performance (mostly also due to smaller lithography and powerful MDX controller) while taking a Write performance hit (TLC takes longer to reprogram). I wouldn't pick the 840 simply because the TLC NAND is still very unproven.

If you like the M4 then you can also consider the Plextor M5s which has the same controller but is a bit cheaper. As far as I know, it even uses the same Micron Synchronous 25nm NAND. The only performance difference I will point out is that the Random Read performance on the M5s is faster than the M4 ( resulting in slightly snappier interface and boot times) but the Random Write performance is about half.
If you can find it, the Samsung 830 is perfect as the 256gb Drive simply due to cost vs performance. It is slightly faster than the M4 overall but has a slightly higher power consumption.

 

Thanks for your advice! I think I will go ahead and shell out the money for a 256GB SSD, I've heard the M4 is very reliable and that's really important, so I might go with that one. Would you happen to know how much faster the Samsung 840 Pro would be than the Crucial M4? Like would it be a noticeable difference?

 

The numbers indicate that the 840 pro has roughly a 8-10Mb/s 4K Random Read edge over the M4 (about 40%). This is significant because this metric implies that the 840pro will offer better system snappiness and boot times. That being said, I've noticed that there was minimal if any improvement to boot times on Windows 7 according to Techpowerup. The 840pro has the advantage (typically around 30% better) in other areas (such as sequential transfers) as well but you probably won't notice as much due to the fact both drives come close to saturating the SATAIII link already. The 840pro also has lower power consumption than the M4 but this will amount to about 15-20 minutes at best. The biggest thing you will notice will be cost as the 840pro is significantly more expensive but it comes with a 5yr warranty vs the 3yr Crucial one.

 

Perfect! Thank you so much for all of your advice, this definitely made it easier for me to narrow down my options.