Shootouts

The Great High-end SSD Shootout (2014 Edition)

By Kenny Yeo - 28 Jan 2014

Conclusion

One Shall Stand

Eight drives, who will emerge victorious?

2013 was an interesting year for SSDs as we saw many new developments. One interesting trend to note is the reduced reliance on SandForce’s SF-2281 controller. In our previous year’s roundup, six out of ten drives were powered by the SF-2281 controller. This year, however, saw zero SandForce drives entering our mega high-end SSD shootout. It seems that drive makers are realizing that in order to attract users and buyers, they need to differentiate themselves to stand out and that cannot be achieved with the SF-2281’s ho-hum performance, especially in the light of new controllers from Marvell, Samsung, OCZ and now, Toshiba.

Another trend is the increased popularity of drives using Toggle-Mode MLC NAND memory from Toshiba. With the exception of Crucial, Samsung and SanDisk, who each have their own NAND foundries, the rest of the drives were using memory sourced from Toshiba.

Now on to the results and here are the scores of the drives, following which we will provide our analysis on the individual drives. Do note that we have revised the ratings of some of the drives that were previously reviewed to better factor in the newer price points at this point of time, improved performance from newer firmware and a refreshed comparison. This is because the previous review ratings and findings are applicable for products reviewed at that point of time. All revisions have been noted in brackets for proper clarity and accountability.

Score Breakdown
  Corsair Neutron GTX Crucial M500 OCZ Vector 150 Plextor M5 Pro Xtreme Samsung SSD 840 Pro SanDisk Extreme II Seagate 600 Toshiba Q-Series Pro
Performance 8.0 7.5 8.5 8.5  9.0 (adjusted from 8.5)  8.0  8.0 (adjusted from 8.5) 8.0
Features 8.0 7.0 8.5 8.5  8.0 (adjusted from 7.5)  7.5 (adjusted from 7.0)  7.0  7.0
Value 7.5 8.0 8.5 8.5  8.0 (adjusted from 6.5)  7.5  8.0 (adjusted from 8.5)  8.5
Price $335 $255 $310 $300  $350  $310  $289  $279
Overall 8.0 7.5 8.5 8.5  9.0
(adjusted from 8.0)
 8.0  8.0
(adjusted from 8.5)
 8.0

 

If speed is your utmost priority, the Samsung SSD 840 Pro will not disappoint.

The Samsung SSD 840 Pro was our winner because not only was it fast, recording the highest speeds across our benchmarks, it was very consistent in its showing too. And while it may come with zero hardware accessories, it does have Samsung’s own data migration tool and the Samsung Magician software, which lets users easily update firmware and optimize the drive’s performance. Their data migration tool is also extremely easy to use and is a boon for novices who want to switch to an SSD. Hence, while it may be the costliest drive in this shootout, its high price is justified by its wickedly fast performance and features.

OCZ may have made headlines for going bankrupt and subsequently being acquired by Toshiba lately, but the company obviously knows a thing or two about making fast SSDs. The birth of its Indlinx Barefoot 3 controller was forward thinking in many respects and we can see that the Vector 150 was very easily one of the fastest drives in this shootout, even if it often came in second to the Samsung SSD 840 Pro. It was also one of the few drives to come with a 3.5-inch HDD bay adapter and a disk cloning utility for easy setup.

Plextor is a favorite amongst enthusiasts for performance and reliability and the M5 Pro Xtreme, its current flagship, did not disappoint. Overall performance was very good and it easily distinguishes itself as one of the quickest drives. Along with the OCZ Vector 150, it was one of the few drives to come with a 3.5-inch HDD bay adapter and disk cloning utility. Sadly, it was ultimately outclassed by the Samsung SSD 840 Pro.

Our last year’s winner, the Corsair Neutron GTX, was somewhat disappointing as it was thoroughly outclassed by the Samsung, OCZ and Plextor drives. Furthermore, it does not help that while competitors have lowered their prices, Corsair has kept theirs relatively constant. Nevertheless, it is still a solid drive, but know that there are better alternatives around.

SanDisk’s new flagship drive, the Extreme II, has benefited from moving to a Marvell controller. As we have noted in our original review, performance has improved significantly. Sadly for it, it finds itself in the unenviable company of some very fast drives from Samsung, OCZ and Plextor. It does not help that it comes without any accessories whatsoever.

Even though the Seagate 600 cannot quite match the heavyweights in this tightly contested category, all things considered, it is a fine first attempt at a high-end consumer-grade SSD from the storage giant.

Although Toshiba is a newcomer in our local market, we found their flagship Q-Series Pro drive to be somewhat of a dark horse. With its in-house developed TC358790XBG controller and boasting the finest memory chips from its own foundry, the Q-Series Pro offered decent performance and at an attractive price. It will be interesting to see how Toshiba follows up on this next, especially since it has acquired OCZ.

Rounding up our shootout was the Crucial M500. To be fair, while the M500 is Crucial’s flagship drive, it has been positioned by the company as a mainstream drive for the budget-conscious, in fact its pricing reflects that as it is the most affordable drive, by far. If you are on a tight budget, the M500 is highly worthy of consideration. 

Final Ratings
The Samsung SSD 840 Pro

 





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The OCZ Vector 150





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The Plextor M5 Pro Xtreme

 



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The Corsair Neutron GTX

 



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The SanDisk Extreme II SSD

 



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The Seagate 600

 



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The Toshiba Q Series Pro

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The Crucial M500

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