Reddit reviews Samsung 840 Series 2.5 inch 120GB SATA III internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7TD120BW

With shipping it's the same price on Amazon

Also buy a $100 SSD instead of the $250 one they're pushing. They make it just as easy to swap out the HD as they do the RAM, and an SSD will extend your battery life while dramatically increasing the speed of everything.

This is actually cheaper on Amazon, where it's $89.99.

They're cheaper in the MBP (2.5") than the MBA (1.8"), or at least that's what I found when I purchased my MBA SSD.

Seriously, for anyone that's complained of lag in they're older Macbook, I've pointed to upgrading to an SSD first. Makes a big difference in speed and battery. And I've always used Carbon Copy Cloner. Clone old HDD to new SSD, boot in target mode, verify SSD cloned successfully, replace HDD with cloned SSD.

Also, RAM is better handled in OSX Mavericks with Compressed Memory.
http://m.imore.com/os-x-mavericks-preview-compressed-memory-gives-your-mac-room-run

Samsung 840 Series 2.5 inch 120GB SATA III internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7TD120BW
http://amzn.com/B009NHAF06

Samsung MZ-7TD250BW 840 Series Solid State Drive (SSD) 250 GB Sata 2.5-Inch
http://amzn.com/B009NHAEXE

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-120GB-internal-Solid-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06/ref=sr_1_2?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1367623484&sr=1-2

Bam. 100 dollars exactly. Its not a pro, but you won't see the difference, and hell, at least its not OCZ.

This one.

What size is your 840?

The 120gb model's ideal write speeds are actually around 130 MB/s. That is normal. Its literally what the Amazon page suggests it should be.

If you've got a larger model then that is slow and you should look into firmware updates.

SSDs tend to get faster when you have larger drives because it means there are more individual memory chips, which allows for higher bandwidth.

Well, I have yet to meet the two of you on here, however, from what I have seen you both are amazing people. I'm sure you both look absolutely amazing :-) Thank you for this contest, and for being so generous.

gift one: Well,I could use this for my computer; it doesn't run the fastest, and I think this would help it with a nice little boost. I was going to purchase it myself, but I came up a bit short this pay period after taking care of bills and what not.

As for gift two...This is up next in the marvel universe for me.

Again, thank you...and... C'mon...gimme.

it is really easier to just get 2 different large capacity platter drives and two cheap 120 gig SSD drives and use them for the OS.

Samsung 840 series SATA3 128 gig drives sell for $97 on amazon.

Samsung 840 series in 250 gig drives sell for just $169.99 on amazon.

I have reviewed those drives in the past and they are some of the best drives i think out currently and the most reliable. I even got taken on a tour of their fabrication facility and I even use them in my macbook pro and hackintosh.

Non-mobile: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NHAF06/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1426363435&sr=1-1&keywords=samsung+840+120gb+ssd&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

How does this do?
Here is the non-pro version, which has a slighly shorter lifespan and writes data slower.

I have a mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro and have done a few upgrades to it recently that have really helped. The options you have available are: upgrading your RAM, swapping out your hard drive, and removing the DVD drive and replacing it with a hard drive caddy and a second hard drive. RAM will increase performance somewhat and allow you to run more things at once with more fluidity. Swapping out your hard drive will give you more storage space and/or faster read/write times, depending on if you put your money towards storage space or an SSD. The hard drive caddy option is a more intense modification, (though in truth it isn't a hard procedure at all), but it gives you the best of both worlds: you can buy an SSD as your boot drive, and still have tons of storage space on the other hard drive. It's a great mod if you don't frequently use your DVD drive, and for about $30, you can buy a USB enclosure to keep using said drive.

If I had to make one change, regardless of price, I would put an SSD in the computer. It will be by far the biggest performance boost.

But depending on your budget, here are the upgrades I would make:

Smallest: Upgrade to 8GB RAM, $60 or so. This G.Skill RAM is a good place to start. Protip: "Mac Memory" is just a sales tactic to mark up prices. As long as you find RAM to the specifications you're looking for, it will work. Just do a bit of research and make sure other MacBook Pro users have used the RAM successfully.

Larger: Upgrade RAM and purchase an SSD, perhaps something like the Samsung 840 250GB. $150-300

Larger still: Upgrade the RAM, purchase an SSD, and buy an optical drive bay caddy to hold your previous hard drive as a data drive. $250-350 if you also buy an enclosure to use the optical drive via USB.

Largest: Upgrade RAM, purchase an SSD, purchase a new HDD such as the 750GB 7200rpm WD drive listed in another comment, and buy a drive bay caddy to hold the new HDD data drive. $325-425.

A lot of people seem to be making some broad assumptions, so I'm threadjacking the top post to give some backstory.

Up until last week my wife's desktop PC was a 6 year old Core 2 Duo that I build her back when we were dating. At the time it was top of the line because we wanted it to last a long time, even if she was just using it for WoW and The Sims. To it's credit, it met that need.

She loves games with lots of character custimization, so after watching me play Saints Row 3 she decided she wanted to play it too. I grabbed a copy for her in the last Humble Bundle and she's been having a blast, but her PC could only play it at lowest settings. Now she wants to play Saints Row 4 when it comes out next month, so it was time to upgrade her hardware.

I can't afford to build her a total new system, so I wanted to reuse as much as possible.

• CPU - Obviously needed replacement, and I knew I wanted a current generation Core i5.
  
• Motherboard - Can't put a Haswell on a Bearlake, so that had to go.
  
• RAM - Old ram was DDR2
  
• SSD - While she had an SSD already, it was a first generation OCZ 60GB that was completely filled up. New mobo would have SATA III, so it was time to upgrade to a current gen SSD.
  
• PSU - Old PSU is a modular 500w Enermax, well within the specs of anything I'd be putting on it, and whisper silent to boot.
  
• Video Card - I had a GTX 560 Ti sitting in the closet that I hadn't installed yet.
  
• Optical drive - Nothing wrong with her DVD burner
  
• Case - Cooler Master something, bought back in 2007, but ATX is ATX, no big reason to switch that up.
  
  I set a budget of $650 and started looking for parts. My typical process when building a PC is to read through Bit-Tech.net's reviews for the past three months and find the comparison charts for the best performance parts, and then start looking up the prices for everything in the middle of the chart while also reading reviews to make sure there's nothing about the board that is a total roadblock. This strategy has worked wonderfully for me for the past 10 years, every system I've built has been at a perfect balance of speed for price.
  
  I settled on a Core i5 4670, a Gigabyte Z87, 8GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1866, and a 120GB Samsung 840 SSD. This put me at about $560 before tax.
  
  My own PC has a Fenrir Titan, huge block of copper that makes it quiet as a mouse. The Fenrir made me a believer in the benefits of splurging on a large block cooler, the difference it made in my own system was astounding. My wife's old computer used the stock intel cooler, and it was loud as all hell.
  
  Once again I went to Bit-Tech and started digging through their performance charts, searching for stuff on Amazon. Bit-tech is a UK based site, so a lot of the stuff they review isn't available through Amazon US. On all of their charts the Noctua NH-D14 ranked very high on the chart, and Amazon carried it. I've had very good experiences with Noctua's fans in the past and they've become one of my more trusted cooling sources, so I was game. It didn't look that much larger than the Fenrir, and the customer reviews all mentioned how it didn't suffer from ram clearance issues like a lot of large block coolers do (including the Fenrir). $70 ( + $10 for the LGA 1150 mounting kit) was just within my budget, so I ordered it. When it arrived I measured the case and determined that it would be JUST short enough to fit.
  
  The mounting kit for the Noctua took three days longer to arrive than the rest of the parts, so I started assembling the new components using the stock cooler with the plan to replace it in a few days. I immediately ran into problems with the old Cooler Master case, it was just too cramped for what I needed to put into it, the drive bays weren't compatible with the SSD mounting kit, the old PSU's cables weren't long enough for me to connect the new SSD, the old SSD, and the old HDD, and the case's front panel cables were too thick to route under the board. Luckily, I had another case, a Rosewell all aluminum budget case from another system. It had more space, easier to use drive bays, and better cable management. I transferred all the parts into it and the build went WAY better, there was so much more room in the Rosewell. The system booted up on the first try and everything went smooth.
  
  Fast forward to Friday when the mounting kit arrives. I pull the board out, installed the cooler, and put it back into the Rosewill... and then took the pictures I posted. The rosewill is half an inch shallower than the Cooler Master, so now the block doesn't fit.
  
  Could I buy a different case? Yes, but I probably wont. For starters I'm already $100 over budget after I realized that my wife's Windows 7 copy is 32bit and I had to buy a 64bit install to be able to use all 8GB of ram. Secondly, I love this Rosewill case. I've had it for almost 8 years and this is the fourth system I've put into it. It's extremely lightweight, very sturdy, has great air flow, and is one of the most accessible cases I've ever used. Yes it's cheap (I think it was $35 when I bought it), but it has served me well and I'm not going to toss it just because it's too skinny. I have no issues with bumping out the cover a little to fit this CPU block.
  
  TLDR: Bought the cooler for a deeper but more cramped case, switched cases when I ran into space problems, now the cooler is too tall. Don't have budget or the desire to buy a different case.
  
  

Short answer: yes.

Long answer:

Yes, but there are a couple of factors here. First and foremost, start looking into Solid State Drives. Since you've already got a larger drive for your files, installing the OS on a smaller capacity SSD is a cost effective easy win which will really speed things up. The Samsung 840 series is currently one of the best on the market: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-120GB-internal-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06

Now, putting an SSD into your computer will absolutely speed it up, but you're shooting yourself in the foot by sticking with XP, especially since you don't want to reinstall it. XP has a tendency to deteriorate with age. It just gets slower over time. I suspect that if you reinstalled from scratch, that "pokeyness" you described would be a lot better.

Installing Windows 7 or even 8 (8.1 is coming soon, and is pretty good) would boost your performance by even more, as well as allow you to reap the benefits of a more modern OS.

To address the situation you referenced above -- it would be possible to clone your current drive onto a new hard drive, SSD or spinning media.
Good luck!

So there's a few combinations you can use to go about this.

1. Get a relatively inexpensive, small-sized SSD (Something like the Samsung 840 120GB SSD for less than a 100$ on Amazon). Now you can have your OS & main applications on your SSD for amazing boot times & amazing program load times..generally a better PC experience. That being said, for your games, depending on how many GB's worth of them you have or will have, you could purchase a high capacity SSD like the Crucial Micron m500 or the Samsung 840 EVO (EVO releases next week or so, you can pre-order it now.) Both of these drives come in capacities upto 1 TB. So you can have a massive STEAM library on SSD (For your current games + thinking about future game purchases). Depending on your budget, you could go for a 500 GB SSD or a 750 one if you think 1 TB is overkill or too expensive. (Crucial costs 600$ & the EVO costs about 650$). So the m500 is cheaper than the EVO, but the EVO performs better. This will be your most expensive option, but also the best.
   
   
2. You can keep your OS + Apps on your regular HDD & just buy either the m500 or the EVO for your STEAM library.
   
   
3. You can keep your OS + Apps on your regualar HDD, get a large sized HDD for all your games. Now, get a small mSATA SSD & use that to cache your STEAM HDD. Better performance than getting just getting an HDD, but not as good as an actual SSD. (I don't know if your MoBo supports mSATAs or where you can install them, so you'll have to look this up) If you decide to get one, you can get the Crucial Micron m4 mSATAs. They're good. Get a 64 GB or a 128 GB one. Relatively inexpensive.
   
   STEAM Gauge is a great tool as mentioned by /u/sulliwan . Use that to determine what sized SSD you'd require. You could multiply that number by two to be future-proof. So you can keep adding to your library without having to worry about running out of space.
   
   
   As far as being 'worth-it' goes, I would personally recommend it. It helps a LOT. I have like about 1-2 seconds of load time in some games. Then again, it depends on what kind of games you're playing. I would always get an SSD for games & programs though.
   

If you're willing to spend more money, something that can really speed up your computer is a SSD. Something like this would work.

I'm using this SSD. https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-120GB-internal-Solid-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06

I'll look into getting a better GPU though!

It's probably just me but I'm not a big fan of AMD, just always gone with NVIDIA/Intel, I just prefer it. Since you have a bigger price range you might want to check out some of the new Intel 4th Gen Processors

That is if you want to go with Intel. Since you're not as restricted in price as I thought you should definitely get an SSD in your build, probably just 128gb should do the trick for the OS.

And the graphics card is up to you, I have the NVIDIA GTX-660 and it's pretty good, you might want to get a 670 or even a 770, just don't get the 680. It's 100$ more expensive than the 770, and the 770 has about the same performance, if not more.

Now that's probably more than you wanted to know, but I'm here to give advice haha!

If I'm not mistaken (since I'm new here), you can get the SSD cheaper at Amazon here.

Question, I own this SSD. Is it affected by the same issue? I have not noticed any slowdown and I've been using 2 of these things for 2 years now.

I can buy a new one for that...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B009NHAF06/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1426363435&sr=1-1&keywords=samsung+840+120gb+ssd&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

$30 more dollars can get you a 256GB SSD.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009NHAF06/ref=s9_cartx_gw_d0_g147_ir03?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-6&pf_rd_r=0SW552JW4WADABE3BGYY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470939291&pf_rd_i=507846

I was quoting a 120 GB SSD.

This is an amazingly generous contest!

I kinda need to upgrade everything (and am not the one responsible for building my pc - not my specialty), so I guess a SSD would be a decent start :)

Hello, Goodbye~

First off, thanks a ton for the contest! I've personally been wanting an SSD for a while now, and it looks like the Samsung 840 Series SSD is getting really nice reviews. As of this posting it's sitting at $98.87 as well, so it looks like this will be my entry into the contest.

And since I'm not sure if the period was included, or even matters, I'll include both - Hello, Goodbye~ and Hello, Goodbye~.

Oh yeah! Forgot. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-120GB-internal-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1369444804&sr=8-2&keywords=ssd

That's not really that good of a deal considering this Samsung is the same price

this
mainly because its the best budget ssd but i still cant afford it :/

Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately the closest microcenter to me is several hundred miles away so I will be sticking with the A10 and ASRock mobo. I agree that a quad core processor is the safest bet for long-term use of the computer with increasing cpu demands and whatnot.

As for the SSD, is there any reason I shouldn't go with the $97 Samsung 840 series drive?

And for the case, an integrated PSU would be great because I don't have much space in my budget to shell out for a psu. I think I will be sticking with the thermaltake case I have now after all, I'll settle for the front panel 2.0 ports. Those Wesenas look amazing though, I'll definitely look for an opportunity to use one.

Thanks for your input!

1000+ out of 1100 certainly disagree with you

Prior experience assembling normal computers is certainly helpful.
Also, here's the hardware I used to achieve 3.9 mh/s.

1 of these
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Computer-Corp-Motherboards-Z77A-G45/dp/B007QWI9TY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375396364&sr=8-1&keywords=msi+z77-g45a

1 of these
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Celeron-2-60GHz-Processor-BX80637G1610/dp/B00B4BJYVU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375396383&sr=8-1&keywords=celeron+g1610

1 of these
http://www.amazon.com/LEPA-1600-Watts-Crossfire-Certified-G1600-MA/dp/B007W5TV6K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375396400&sr=8-1&keywords=lepa+1600

6 of these
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Mini-Displayport-PCI-Express-Graphic-GV-R795WF3-3GD/dp/B007581QHG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375396424&sr=8-1&keywords=gigabyte+7950

1 of these
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-120GB-internal-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375396482&sr=8-2&keywords=samsung+840

1 of these
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003ZDJ42O/?tag=pcpapi-20

2 of these
http://www.amazon.com/Micro-SATA-Cables-Express-Flexible/dp/B0057M16Q8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375396635&sr=8-2&keywords=pci+risers

1 of these
http://www.amazon.com/Powered-Flexible-Extender-Bitcoin-Mining/dp/B00CQB1RIU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375396667&sr=8-1&keywords=powered+pci+risers

3 of these
http://www.amazon.com/Powered-Flexible-Extender-Bitcoin-Mining/dp/B00CQBCKPY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375396667&sr=8-2&keywords=powered+pci+risers

1 of these
http://www.lowes.com/pd_328959-80752-142430B-DS_0__?productId=3468765&Ntt=shelves&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dshelves&facetInfo=

2 of these
http://www.lowes.com/pd_95021-1621-3733_0__?productId=1114391&Ntt=box+fan&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dbox%2Bfan&facetInfo=

a shitload of these
http://www.lowes.com/pd_292678-1781-45-518UVL_0__?productId=3201639&Ntt=zip+ties&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dzip%2Bties&facetInfo=

And the lid from the cardboard box the motherboard came in. Makes a perfect motherboard tray.

Edit: Forgot to mention the important bits. Windows 8, catalyst 12.8, cgminier 3.1.1

setx GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT 100
setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS 1
color 02
timeout /t 45
cgminer --scrypt -o coinotron.com:3334 -u user -p pass --no-submit-stale --gpu-fan 80 --gpu-reorder --thread-concurrency 22400 --lookup-gap 2 --gpu-engine 1125 --gpu-memclock 1250 -w 256 -I 19 -g 1

If you'e willing to shell out the extra $10. I'd personally recommend the corsair tx650m PSU Modular reduces clutter therefore better airflow. also easier customization because you can take the cables you don't want out. My boyfriend had a rosewill and personally thinks it's a piece of shit.

I'd also recommend staying with the EVGA card. I'm also biased toward EVGA but they have amazing products that have never failed me once and great performance. Up to you though

I also really like g skill ripjaw

I also have this SSD And highly recommend it, Unless you care about the extra 8 gigs

EDIT: I also forgot to mention that if you're going to microcenter anyway they have a really sweet deal where you can get like $50 off a motherboard if you buy it in conjunction with the cpu

SSD will make the most difference for any build. I know you are trying to be budget, but they are getting cheaper. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-120GB-internal-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1377367383&sr=8-4&keywords=128gb+ssd

$89

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-120GB-internal-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06

I found this.

I'm planning on getting a new graphics card, ASUS GTX760, and I want to know if I made a good choice. Here are my specs:

Component | Source
:--|:--
HDD | WD Blue 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache
SSD (OS) | Samsung 840 Series 2.5 inch 120GB SATA III internal Solid State Drive
CPU | Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155
RAM | Corsair Vengeance 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3 1600 MHz PC3 12800 240-Pin DDR3 Dual Channel Memory Kit
PSU | Corsair CX750 Builder Series ATX 80 PLUS Bronze Certified Power Supply
MOBO | Gigabyte LGA 1155 Intel B75 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX DDR3 1600
Case | Cooler Master HAF 912 - Mid Tower Computer Case with High Airflow
GFX Card | powercolor ati radeon hd 5850 (I don't know exactly which one because it was a gift, but this should be enough information.)

Should I download this bugfix if I'm using this 840?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NHAF06/ref=pe_309540_26725410_item

I would do the following:

• Buy a refurbished Asus X401A with an Intel Celereon B980 for $290
  
• Buy a Crucial m4 64GB SSD or a Samsung 840 128 GB SSD
  
• Replcae the HDD with the SSD
  
• Have fun!

Yes, you're using intel Haswell!! From the looks of the components you've selected I'm going to assume you don't plan to overclock your CPU, ram looks good (since you're running two dimms), and the PSU looks like it should work great for a single GPU. The only thing I'd be tempted to add is a boot SSD.

Here are some SSD's I'd recommend:

• intel 520 series 60gb SSD --> Amazon
  
• Corsair Neutron Series 64gb SSD --> Amazon
  
• Samsung 840 Series 120gb --> Amazon I'd recommend this SSD

If you don't care about internal space, getting a SSD would be a better(and more noticeable) upgrade for your laptop.

Hello, Goodbye~. Thank you kind sir for the contest! Pass by mine HERE!
I would BLOW YOU (maybe?) if I got this bad boy but just in case ill link a couple more stuff from my wishlist:

OH YEAH!

UMMMM UHUMMM!

yes, those were sexual noises, this is the last

(edited: forgot the phrase :$)

Check it out: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NHAF06/?tag=pcpapi-20

There are much better/faster SSDs at a similar price.

For example, The Kingston is far better.