OCZ Test panel Update - Month 3

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 07/02/2015 08:43 AM | source: | 11 comment(s)

Three months ago we started a two year test, ten of our Guru3D forum members received a OCZ Storage Solutions Vertex 460A SATA3 480GB SSD, and we'll are tracking and monitoring them closely for at least two years. Summer is here, time for another update as we reach the 3rd month.

Thus far all SSDs are functioning and running well, it is quite remarkable to see the actual overview of ten people at the same time, producing roughly the same performance results over and over again. The Vertex 460A SATA3 480GB SSD certainly isn't slowing down and some members already have written multiple terabytes of data on the SSD. Each month each participant will post their status on the SSD in our forums alongside with an overview of SMART info, TB written, lifespan expectancy and of course performance. This is an open project meaning everything gets reported transparently each month in the forum thread with a screen-shot or two running validation and test software. The good but also the bad will be reported. User feedback based on real-world user experiences.

For this month we I will focus on our Ancient Guru, Noisiv. Noisiv already has reached 5 TB of data written (host writes) in just three months, I know crazy number right ? The SMART readouts are 100% as well as life expectancy.

These SSDs are endurance rated for 20GB/day of host writes for 3 years under typical client workloads. So 20GB x 365 days x 3 years = 21.9 TB. I certainly am interested to see how this level of writes will work out long term for Noisiv. but hey, that's what this test is all about.

Below if you click the thumbnails you can see the SMART data of his SSD and performance scores. That's it for this months update, if you like to follow the test-panel you can do so in this forum thread.

waltc3
Senior Member

Posts: 1026
Joined: 2014-07-22

#5113024 Posted on: 07/02/2015 05:39 PM

I recently bought a Samsung EVO 850 250GB drive that's rated for 75TB's (minimum) & warrantied for five years. I haven't looked into these drives as much as I probably should have, but I'm already spoiled rotten by my 8-second Win10x64 boots, and every time I log onto my wife's box I think something's wrong with the boot drive (for a few seconds)...

Obviously, there are some major differences between the Samsung SSDs and most other SSDs...or are there?

Humanoid_1
Senior Member

Posts: 952
Joined: 2009-10-14

#5113059 Posted on: 07/02/2015 06:24 PM

I think the Samsungs are pretty good. I believe it is worth updating their firmware as there were some reported slow down issues over time/use which are meant to have been fixed.

I've actually just fitted both my father's laptops with 500GB 850 EVO drives. So far he is Very Happy with the change. (I did tell him to check with me before buying a new laptop (several times), but he can't resist a "good deal" lol)

Am also trying to buy one for myself to replace my OCZ Vertex 4 256GB. Overall I was very happy with it until recently... I visited my father, set up my PC & booted to windows and it hung... :s

It had in that moment reverted to a RAW state and lost all partition info. Thankfully I managed to use EaseUS free trial to recover all my important data. (I'd just changed almost all my passwords and the spreadsheet was on the drive - nearly lost EveryThing!!!)
- I do backup, but had not had time and never worried about my SSD's reliability before.

I've since reset the SSD's NAND with using their Secure Erase. (not successfully updated the firmware - won't let me so far which is a bit worrying) Re-quick formatted and used flawlessly so far... touch wood.

Should also have my own 500GB Samsung by now... except the last two ebayers I bought from turned out bad (and one when buying for my father):

- 1st refunded 500GB 850 EVO due to their account being hacked and someone selling non-existant SSDs with it (why, paypal won't let them keep the money..???)

- 2nd bought a New Other (no packaging) Samsung 512GB 850 Pro... received a 512GB 840 Pro with Total Host Writes : 6142GB and Power On Hours : 7462 Hardly New -.-"

- 3rd Just after buying/paying for a New Samsung 850 500Gb EVO the sellers ebay account was suspended and ebay told me "Sale should be np wait for it to arrive". Then a day or so later ebay messaged me and told me not to touch the guy with a bargepole + the seller does not respond to my messages lol

So waiting for 2 refunds atm :/

Yes I still Love SSDs <3 lol

Hootmon
Senior Member

Posts: 1227
Joined: 2007-05-08

#5113085 Posted on: 07/02/2015 07:02 PM

...every time I log onto my wife's box I think something's wrong with the boot drive...

Too easy...

eclap
Senior Member

Posts: 31497
Joined: 2005-01-08

#5113252 Posted on: 07/02/2015 11:57 PM

Too easy...

Hahaaaa

Catroqui
Senior Member

Posts: 741
Joined: 2006-01-25

#5113347 Posted on: 07/03/2015 03:09 AM

Too easy...

Epic! LOL

slyphnier
Senior Member

Posts: 694
Joined: 2009-11-30

#5114764 Posted on: 07/04/2015 09:42 PM

Obviously, there are some major differences between the Samsung SSDs and most other SSDs...or are there?

samsung indeed great performer ssd even though they can get slight slowdown overtime that nothing to worry about

but i still root intel for their reliability, performance wise they wont be as good as samsungs, but for os drive, i prefer reliability that perform stable

not saying that samsung ssd not stable, but i hear samsung ssd crash/bsod etc. more than intel ssd

snip3r_3
Senior Member

Posts: 2985
Joined: 2004-12-17

#5115183 Posted on: 07/05/2015 06:20 PM

Humanoid_1
Senior Member

Posts: 952
Joined: 2009-10-14

#5115225 Posted on: 07/05/2015 07:48 PM

I personally don't recommend the EVO series. The firmware fix wasn't a real fix, but a temporary "refresh" algorithm to rewrite old data. It was also only applied to the retail EVO series and none of the OEM/vanilla 840 drives.

Interesting, I'd got that feeling somewhat from some comments I'd seen around, but honestly thought they'd have sorted it by now. (partly why I put it in the "meant to be fixed" - being a little hopeful I guess + trusting in Samsung)
- interesting about the 840 thing there

I've not had time to dig into SSD reviews they way I like to this time round... which would be best recommended atm in the 500GB size?

xIcarus
Senior Member

Posts: 941
Joined: 2010-08-24

#5115508 Posted on: 07/06/2015 09:15 AM

I've not had time to dig into SSD reviews they way I like to this time round... which would be best recommended atm in the 500GB size?

Well you generally can't go wrong with Intel SSDs, even if they tend to be more expensive. Hardly heard bad things about them.
I own a Kingston HyperX 3k 240GB, it's fitted on my laptop and it's looking solid. My brother has one as well, same story.
My other laptop (will give the other one away to my mother) has an ADATA 240GB SSD, it seems to work really well but it's only 2 months old so I cannot comment on performance over time.
My desktop still has an old Corsair Force 3 SSD 60GB, it's 4 years old. It seems to have degraded quite badly but I can't be sure of this until I format it, reinstall OS + drivers. I have the feeling that the Intel Rapid Storage stuff isn't working properly. Keep in mind, this SSD is part of the first generations of SSDs where reliability was just getting addressed. Nonetheless, it works quite well.

snip3r_3
Senior Member

Posts: 2985
Joined: 2004-12-17

#5115570 Posted on: 07/06/2015 11:03 AM

I've not had time to dig into SSD reviews they way I like to this time round... which would be best recommended atm in the 500GB size?

To be honest, IMO the best all around SSD is still the 850 Pro. It is MLC so it shouldn't have an issue like the TLC EVOs. They are also extremely popular and seem to be working just fine (and a very long warranty). Even though I was affected with my laptop having one of the TLC drives, I might still pick up a Pro series due to performance.
Otherwise, the MX/BX series from Crucial is also good if you want a large drive on a tighter budget, but they aren't as fast and have a shorter 3 year warranty. I have a few of them in company workstations and they have been solid so far, but there has been posts on a few minor issues that were or weren't resolved via new firmware (I haven't checked since I don't have any issues with them). Intel doesn't really have a competitive client drive anymore, but I am still running a 530 flawlessly as a system drive. I feel that SSDs have mostly reached the point where they are fast enough that the differences between them are trivial unless you are using professional/server applications that really stress the IO system. Reliability is more important.

Humanoid_1
Senior Member

Posts: 952
Joined: 2009-10-14

#5117644 Posted on: 07/08/2015 07:08 PM

Good call, I've been noticing Intel getting more and more recommendations over the last few years. Time to give them another look!

Will check out some reviews of the newer Intel and those 850 Pro drives. Should keep me happy (and have enough room for the huge games these days) until I do a complete system upgrade some time next year. - looking forward to a good SSD next gen jump at that point!

Thanks for the tips

Post New Comment

Click here to post a comment for this news story on the message forum.