Samsung 830 Series 512GB SSD Review

The Samsung 830 Series 512GB is an impressive solid state drive directed firmly towards the performance enthusiast user. From my point of view it is very refreshing to identify a manufacturer aiming to compete against the profusion of Sandforce 2281 powered drives, saturating the market today.

The included extras are both significant and practical, Symantec's Norton Ghost 15 for instance can help ensure an upgrade scenario is as painfree as possible. Samsung also provide a USB to 2.5 inch SATA converter cable for instantaneous drive mirroring capability. We also really like the chassis design and materials used, as it reflects the premium status.

The performance of the 830 Series 512GB drive is satisfying, scoring almost 520 Mb/s in some of the sequential read tests. In fact, read performance generally was right up at the same level of the leading Sandforce 2281 powered drives. In real world terms you would be hard pressed to acknowledge any performance variables between this drive and the leading Sandforce units. Write performance isn't quite at the same level, although 400 Mb/s should be more than enough for the majority of everyday demands.

This 512GB drive is the flagship model, offering huge storage capacity for demanding enthusiast users. The price in the United Kingdom is around £675 inc vat, which is quite competitive. If this is too rich for your blood, then check out the full range here, just be aware that the 64GB and 128GB models are slightly less imposing when it comes to writing data.

Pros:

• Controller is very good.
• fantastic read performance.
• bundle is loaded.

Cons:

• It is slower than the leading Sandforce 2281 drives.
• 64GB and 128GB models won't be as fast as this.

Kitguru says: A great drive from Samsung and well worth shortlisting.

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