Samsung 840 Pro SSD review

Ven0m

2012-12-12 09:42

Thanks for the review. There are so many good SSDs to choose from - Vector, then Plextor, now 840 Pro. Too bad that these faster models are significantly more expensive than the regular ones.

#4477579

Arbold

2012-12-12 12:25

You should have included a bench of the Samsung 830 256gb.

#4477603

warlord

2012-12-12 13:00

You should have included a bench of the Samsung 830 256gb.

why who cares it's old and slow in comparison with 840 pro, vector, corsair neutron and others...nobody will bother buying 830 anymore end of life...

#4477604

Hilbert Hagedoorn

Administrator

2012-12-12 13:02

You should have included a bench of the Samsung 830 256gb.

Actually we asked, Samsung wasn't able to provide a 830.

#4477614

warlord

2012-12-12 13:21

Actually we asked, Samsung wasn't able to provide a 830.

excuse me for questioning because i don't know :stewpid:every time you bench you are using again the hardware and not taking results from previous reviews.?

#4477702

telc

2012-12-12 15:51

Picked one up earlier today....sweet

#4477703

Anarion

2012-12-12 15:52

This page, first test: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/samsung_840_pro_ssd_benchmark_review_test,10.html http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?ct=articles&action=file&id=1460 840 Pro is missing from the graph (or named wrongly).

#4477708

CronoGraal

2012-12-12 16:07

why who cares it's old and slow in comparison with 840 pro, vector, corsair neutron and others...nobody will bother buying 830 anymore end of life...

Because they'll be on sale now that the 840 is out? And the performance is probably comparable, not like it's a completely new ball game.

#4477723

Hilbert Hagedoorn

Administrator

2012-12-12 16:34

This page, first test: ).

Thanks man, fixed.

#4477918

makaveli316

2012-12-12 21:18

why who cares it's old and slow in comparison with 840 pro, vector, corsair neutron and others...nobody will bother buying 830 anymore end of life...

You won't even notice substantial difference in real world performance if you compare the 830's and the 840's. And yes, a lot of people bothered buying 830, especially the 256gb which at the moment has ridiculous price.

#4477920

LesserHellspawn

2012-12-12 21:20

I'm on a 256GB 830. Yes the 840 pro is better, but the 830 still outruns the non-pro 840. The 830 series flew a bit under the radar, with very few reviewers looking at them. Yet in the few reviews that exist, it's a very strong performer. The one thing that made me choose Samsung over the more known ones was lack of failure. The 830 simply run, and so did the 470 before that. Nearly all other brands had notorious failure series, even Intel.

#4477935

Mufflore

2012-12-12 21:40

Thanks for the review. There are so many good SSDs to choose from - Vector, then Plextor, now 840 Pro. Too bad that these faster models are significantly more expensive than the regular ones.

I would avoid the Vector, it uses system memory as a cache, yet it doesnt beat the 840 Pro, that doesnt use system memory as a cache. If your machine crashes, you may suffer data loss with the Vector. With my current SSD (Vertex 2), I have not once had to run scandisk since I installed it, and I often make my machine crash through tweaking. Prior to getting it, I have had tons of times I needed to run scandisk, and have hosed my OS a few times! If I had a Vector, I might be in serious trouble. Why risk it when you dont need to. edit: pls ignore the above, its rubbish. I'm sure I read it somewhere...

#4477956

Agent-A01

2012-12-12 22:13

I would avoid the Vector, it uses system memory as a cache, yet it doesnt beat the 840 Pro, that doesnt use system memory as a cache. If your machine crashes, you may suffer data loss with the Vector.

No it doesnt. It has its own onboard memory of 512MB/1GB. The 840 Pro also uses 512MB for cache. They are no different in that regard. The only drives that do not use a dram cache is sandforce. You are not going to lose data because one has dram cache or not. Once the system writes to the nand, its not going to be unwritten if the system crashes. Ive had my 2 256gb Vertex 4s in RAID 0 for afew months now and have had plenty of crashes when i was doing ram timings and cpu clocks. No data loss at all. Vertex 4 is indilinx 2 controller, vector is barefoot 4 controller which is based off of indilinx. and wait for firmware updates. Itll get faster no doubt, just as the vertex 4 saw huge improvements from firmware. Dont forget all the drives that died from the first firmware for the 840 pro.

#4477966

Mufflore

2012-12-12 22:29

No it doesnt. It has its own onboard memory of 512MB/1GB. The 840 Pro also uses 512MB for cache. They are no different in that regard. The only drives that do not use a dram cache is sandforce. You are not going to lose data because one has dram cache or not. Once the system writes to the nand, its not going to be unwritten if the system crashes.

Not true See this page http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/samsung_840_pro_ssd_benchmark_review_test,5.html

In the photo above we zoom in a little at the DDR3 memory cache chip from Samsung.

They have onboard cache, there is no mention of system ram being used. The Vector does use system ram as a cache, check some reviews! edit: hmm, its hard to clarify what it does actually use. It has a DDR3 controller but it looks like it will have its own memory. Not sure about this yet, soz for the exclamation. edit2: yeah, I'm an idiot 😳

#4477975

slow_poke

2012-12-12 22:42

Vertex 4 uses a Marvelle controller, they just like to call it indillix.

#4477978

clawhamer

2012-12-12 22:45

Thanks for the review, excellent as always. I’ve been running 128gb 840 pro for a few weeks now as my OS drive and although hard to measure it is noticeably more responsive then the M4 it replaced. I’m picking up another 128gb to again replace the M4 which is a dedicated Steam drive. No issues to report with the 840 pro, has worked flawlessly so far...

#4477994

PhazeDelta1

2012-12-12 23:07

Vertex 4 uses a Marvelle controller, they just like to call it indillix.

Lol GTFO. OCZ has never used Marvell for their controllers on any of their SSDs. Ever. They have always been Sandforce controllers up until they acquired Indilinx. Also, Indilinx and Marvell are 2 completely different companies and are in no way associated with one another.

#4478009

-Tj-

2012-12-12 23:34

^ No he is kinda right, its Indilix hw with marvell bits inside.. At least that's what i've read in one Vertex4 review.

#4478018

PhazeDelta1

2012-12-12 23:46

Indilix hardware with Intel and Micron parts.

#4478019

Mufflore

2012-12-12 23:47

No it doesnt. It has its own onboard memory of 512MB/1GB. The 840 Pro also uses 512MB for cache. They are no different in that regard. The only drives that do not use a dram cache is sandforce. You are not going to lose data because one has dram cache or not. Once the system writes to the nand, its not going to be unwritten if the system crashes. Ive had my 2 256gb Vertex 4s in RAID 0 for afew months now and have had plenty of crashes when i was doing ram timings and cpu clocks. No data loss at all. Vertex 4 is indilinx 2 controller, vector is barefoot 4 controller which is based off of indilinx. and wait for firmware updates. Itll get faster no doubt, just as the vertex 4 saw huge improvements from firmware. Dont forget all the drives that died from the first firmware for the 840 pro.

Soz to bring this up again, but there may still be an issue with the Vector. I'm wondering if you know about this... The Vector has its own DDR3 controller for caching, so could still lose data stored in the DDR3 on a power down unless the cache can be committed to the SSD in time, or it has a battery backup. Do you know if there is any protection in place to prevent data loss?