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Samsung 840pro vs 840 non pro?

  • 02-07-2013 8:39pm
    #1
    af_thefragile
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,171 ✭✭✭


    I'm looking to upgrade my pc and the first thing I wanna do is to add an SSD as I figure out its the hard drive that creating the bottleneck in my PC. I'm looking to get a SSD for my C drive which currently holds the OS + Programmes + Games.
    Now my C drive has used up 250GB of space and about 125GB of that is just steam games. The plan is to move the OS + Programmes onto a 250GB SSD (I currently can't afford anything bigger than that) and then only keep the steam games I'm currently playing on the SSD while the rest (and the ones that wouldn't benefit much from being on a SSD, like some racing games or low demanding games) stay on a separate mechanical drive.

    Apart from the games, I'll also be using the PC for photo and video editing in Photoshop and Premiere Pro/After Effects. To note only the Programs will be stored on the SSD. The project, media, cache and export files will be on a separate disks.

    I wanna know if choosing the Samsung 840pro over the standard 840 would give any significant benefit in performance and durability that I can notice while using my PC daily and playing games and not simply getting a slightly higher benchmark scores?

    Thanks!


Comments

  • #2
    Monotype
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,710 ✭✭✭Monotype


    Off the top of my head, the biggest differences are in random reads and sequential writes. As well as durability.

    Random reads are about 20% better on the pro, iirc. This is probably the most significant factor. Random small files is what you'll be dealing with most of the time and it could be noticeable. However, it's a case of comparing very fast with faster, so it's not going to be night and day.

    Write speeds are worse in the non-pro. Not that big an issue though. The bulk of using your SSD is reading. Think about how often you install a program, or windows (i.e., write to the SSD). Then think about the number of times you open the program or boot windows (i.e., read). Writing log files/temporary files to an SSD is not going to be very taxing, so you're not going to see the speed difference here.

    Finally, durability. The non-pro has a shorter life-span. But with a big SSD like 250GB, you're talking about a lot of writing. Even if you were writing 20GB per day, it should still last a decade and keep going for another few.
    The warranty on the pro is longer as well 5 years vs 3 years. There was also some minor issue with the non-pro in that TRIM is a little slower to restore the non-pro to full performance after a delete - most likely because they want to save on wear and tear. Again, a minor issue and unlikely to have great impact unless you keep the drive very full.

    The verdict: Non-pro is sufficient for the bulk of people. There's a significant price difference that I'm not sure can really be justified. I would put the pro in though if I had a high end build as the advantage could be better than upgrading other components.


  • #3
    af_thefragile
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,171 ✭✭✭af_thefragile


    Its a €70 difference between the two and if the only performance gain I get from the pro is that things load maybe 5secs faster and I get higher benchmark scores then I suppose its not worth the premium. I suppose if I was getting a SSD for Photoshop/Premiere project/media files then it'ld probably make more sense to get the pro version as the faster write speeds and better durability would matter but in that case I'ld just go with a raid array.

    I don't really install many programs after I've installed the few I use so the SSD would almost entirely be used for reading which probably wouldn't have much impact on its lifespan. So I guess for now I should be happy with a non-pro. Cheers!


  • #4
    fl4pj4ck
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,000 ✭✭✭fl4pj4ck


    I faced a similar dilemma and decided not to go PRO. My system is so blazing fast that if I bought the PRO version I would be probably too slow to operate it. :D


  • #5
    af_thefragile
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,171 ✭✭✭af_thefragile


    ^Awesome!


    It appears that my system will now be arriving on monday and I'm fairly busy all of next week so I might not get time to build the system till the next weekend! :( Though as I'm simply transferring the components from one case to another rather than building a whole new PC from scratch, it shouldn't take too long.


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