840 Pro 512gb vs 840 Evo 750gb

As the title suggests, I'm currently having a very hard time deciding between which SSD to put into a new laptop. Cost is not an issue, but I am looking for maximum performance and longevity. I'm not a heavy gamer but do game regularly. Also I tend to install way too many games and have way too much stuff stored on my HD (my movie folder is 150GB alone), so larger capacity is a plus. So why am I not going straight for the Evo 750gb?

Well from what I understand, the 840 Pro uses MLC NAND which is supposed to have 3-5x the read/write cycles of TLC NAND used in the Evo. However it seems that unless I'm doing extremely heavy video editing every day (and I don't), a TLC SSD will easily last 10+ years under normal usage, so TLC vs MLC wouldn't make any real-life difference. But it's always the "what if" that kills me...

All the reviews indicate a very close tie in the performance between the 840 Pro 512gb vs 840 Evo 750gb, with the Pro being better in certain categories but the Evo in others. The Evo does have a Rapid mode, which basically boosts it to SLC level SSD speeds, and that's certainly a plus.

I intend to use this laptop for at least the next 5 years if that makes any difference.

Any input is greatly appreciated!

 

Apart from the obvious storage differential, I'd go for the Pro due to the 5-year warranty in that case.

I'm going with 4x 1Tb Evos in a desktop I'm building. Hopefully it's not that unreliable, though it's just an entertainment rig.

I haven't had any 840's of any type go wrong yet, but a mildly concerning number of 830's, particularly Dell-branded ones, have bit the dust for me.

 

Will you also be including Quad titans, a 4960X and a case made out of solid gold to boot?

Damn, you rich.

Anyways i suggest a Raid 0+1 setup, or alternatively buy three and go for Raid 5.

 

Hardware usually is the cheap part if it is for work, unless you are talking about HPC.

On topic, unless you need all that extra 200gb storage, get the pro for the warranty . It is not a cheap investment for personal entertainment.

Get a HDD(internal /external /nas) for movie really.

 

No, just the two Titans and a 4770K.

 

Quoted for truth.

Do you *really* need those 150GB of movies with you at all times?

Between the two, 840 Pro would be my pick, for all the reasons stated above.

 

So far it seems everyone's in favor the 840 Pro for the 2 extra years of warranty. Is there some reliability issue with the 840 series that I need to know about? If we ignore the warranty, would that affect your choice?

And yes you all have a point about the movies, but let's just say having to plug in the external HDD everytime I want to watch a movie is a hassle. But yes point taken.

I was leaning towards the 840 Pro initially anyway just for the MLCs, but that 200+GB if extra storage is definitely tempting...

 

I think you mentioned that cost is not a problem, I think you should experiment with the 840 EVO for the sake of the community <3

just another question, what is the laptop you are using? Is it one with dual+ SATA storage or SATA + msata storage......

As a matter of fact, I find myself running 5 games the most, totalling 100Gb, and 20+ other games just sitting in the steam/origin library doing absolutely nothing, I guess its time for you to store most steam/origin games onto a hdd and copy it through when you need it

FYI, if you are running a sata + msata storage solution, or sata + dvd drive storage solution I'd recommend swapping over to dual storage with msata SSD + hdd, or msata SSD + HDD in optical drive caddy, if its single drive..... I'd go for EVO 1Tb, at least I get to move my laptop from gaming desk to anywhere I like with my favourite/newly downloaded videos (my media storage library is approaching 4 Tb, and no, most all of them are not

 

I have an EVO, i think if there was anything catastrophic would already appeared by now.

 

How long have you owned it?

It took a while for early SF drives to show their ugly side as well...

 

lol when I said cost was not an issue it meant I had enough in my budget to get either one of the drives, so I wanted the best SSD I could get for what I was willing to shell out

Currently trying to spec a Clevo P370SM, so the SSD is going to be for a custom-built rig. My current laptop is a Toshiba Satellite A665 which is an absolute POS -- the HDD (a 5400 rpm 600GB POS) already has over 2000 re-allocated sectors in just 2.5 years and now I don't even turn off the laptop for fear it will never boot up again.

Yes it seems like moving the non-frequently used stuff onto an external HDD is probably the best way to go. I've decided to go with the 840 Pro because the (even if just perceived) reliability/quality is more important to me. The laptop I'm building will not just be for gaming, it will also be used for other productive tasks and even job-related stuff (I'm a chemist, so I do a fair amount of molecular modelling), so reliability is important.

 

Unless you really need to carry everything with you all the time, solution is NAS. You can easily stream movies over wi-fi at home, no need to plug wires everytime, just ethernet when you want to transfer huge files from/to NAS. In addition to my networked files I carry a 2.5" external in my bag for whatever needs (no point storing windows vista.iso files on SSD if I need them twice a year but when I need them it won't be at home/office). If/when I go somewhere I'll just copy couple movies/tv-series from my network either to laptop or the external.

That way 240GB Samsung is enough for my laptop

 

I just noticed the new EVO SSD at Samsung and was looking for info about them and decided to have a look around here and hey, surprise, just what I was looking for!
I have a 256GB Samsung 840 Pro as my Data drive and the original OEM 256Gb Samsung PM830 as the system and boot. I'm looking to replace the PM830 with another pro 840 in the near future and send the PM830 to the other system. I hear the retail 830 is better than the OEM version which has a proprietary firmware - not so good.
Of course I was curious what they (EVO) were about and have quickly found they are the TLC variety - and that isn't a knock against the use of them. I know as much as any of you who don't have one. I do follow the general rule of "you get what you pay for" so I paid up and got the pro MLC over the new mainstream TLC.

I also use a WD passport 1TB for large archive storage space. It works well and is pretty fast with a small footprint, easily portable - not bad for a hundred dollars in comparing price per gigabyte. For my needs this does the trick.

One of the things I thought about was just buying a DVD to hard drive conversion tray. The one problem I kept coming up with was this: If it was stolen or dropped I was out; of course things would be backed up but still an SSD would be out too, especially if stolen.

Another thing to consider is SSD Over-provisioning space. If the files typically don't change then you can fill it up and not need much OP. However, if you fill it up and change the files often you'll need more OP or it'll incur faster wear.

Anyway, my two cents.

 

Yeah, that is a good point.

 

Very valid points. I do the same. But I also am a file hoarder. I download lots of crap and try it out, and never clean up my "downloads" directory so that frequently takes up several hundred GB's. Right now it's only 70GB, but anyhow that's the reason I usually like a 128GB-256GB boot drive and a separate 500GB+ SSD for games, downloads, media, etc. I know I could use an HDD, but I just can't get myself to use them anymore except in my desktop. I could always feel the vibration of the HDD too, and frequently would put my hand to sleep.

 

^good to know there are fellow file hoarders out there