Current gen SSD vs 4 year old SSD questions

Interresting question, can't answer but will follow because I have an SSD OCZ Agility3 123GB from July 2012 (seconded by an HDD 1TB) only for my Windows OS. So far so good, checked recently and in perfect state (if I can trust those checker integrity tools).

I posted the exact same thing in a few places and have a few responses already if you're interested:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/421630-Current-gen-vs-4-yr-old-SSD-questions

...and on the EDC Anarchy FB group... if you're into Elite Dangerous (it's a closed group so no link) Also on DCS forum, but no responses there yet.

TLDR: No real world difference in speed, M.2 is expensive, buy largest and cheapest SSD you can. Lifespan estimate 10+ years normal use, barring unexpected failure that is... So far choice for me would be down to aesthetics preferences or budget/additional capacity. For roughly the same price of a Evo 960 256 GB with a heatsink (which I'm told NVME need) I can get a 480GB Kinston SSD Now (it just happens to be on special and actually cheaper) ...only thing I have against the Kingston is that my bro had one similar, and it died very prematurely. Oh and it doesn't look anywhere near as cool as an Evo with a black heatsink ;)

1. Yes, SSD's have a limited number of read/write cycles per block, and eventually will 'wear out'.  

There is a thing called "Over provisioning" that most SSD's do, where they keep back some 'extra' blocks, and as older ones wear out, they remap to the new ones.  Every single SSD I've owned (Starting with a 128gb intel that's probably 6 years old now?) still run perfectly. 

A friend of mine did the math back when SSD's first became 'mainstream' and figured out with most ssd's you can write to them 24/7 for like 10-15 years before 'wearing it out'.  Well beyond the standard life of most spindle drives, and probably well beyond its 'useable' lifespan in terms of size.


2.  Most SSD's run on SATA 6gb/S - Some (like the samsung) do some things in software to make the drives even faster.  I'm not 100% on what black magic they use, I just know it works. 

M.2 is a different creature..   You have m.2 that run on a standard stata interface, which really isnt any faster than standard sata SSD's, and m.2 that runs over the PCI express lanes, which, from what I understand can be LOADS faster.   

M.2's huge advantage comes in form factor, your HDD is directly on your motherboard, no "drive" to install in rails, or cables to run.   



3.  Gaming from an SSD.  
I hear lots of people say, "OHMAHGOD DONT GAME ON SSD!" because of drive wear, etc etc. But honestly, from my personal experience, I've seen no reason not to.   Load times are considerably faster for things like level loading, or zone transitions, etc.  The main disadvantage being size!

As you can see from my screenshot here. I have 3 ssd's (about 1tb worth) and a 1tb spindle.

Kingston is a M.2 that stores my OS/some programs.

850 Pro is a 512 that holds more programs and games.
840 EVO was originally storage, but its now holding games :|
The Spindle is for storage of movies, data backups, and.. now. some games :|







DISCLAIMER: 
I'm no expert, this is all information I have from my own research, and from my personal use of SSD's over the last few years.  (My oldest SSD, the intel, is in my gaming laptop).
Some of my info may be wrong, or worded incorrectly. Its 8:14AM, and I've had no coffee yet.

The current write cycles for my samsung drives.

27.6TB to a 512GB drive.   So its been fully written/erased many times. xD

Thanks for replying. Personal experience is what I am after, as most people say the benchmarks mean little to nothing. That is some interesting math regarding lifespan... 

Hmmm... upon actually *reading* some of the manufacturers (Samsung) info for the device, according to them, the 2.5" Evos have much higher TBW or 'Terabytes Written' than the M.2 NVMe (expected lifespan or marketing BS?) ... they also have a 5 year warranty vs 3 years for the M.2

Oh, and no need to worry about early morning posting grief from me, I wrote and posted the original and same message at 7am this morning on DCS forums. And I can barely type even now, as it was a long day :D

I'm not sure about the NVMe drives, as they were well out of my price range last time I went shopping.

Even with them having a lower lifespan, at the rate SSD's are growing in capacity, with cost dropping, having to replace a drive in 3-5 years is not out of the question simply to 'upgrade', not because the drive died.

I've been working with mostly Samsung drives over the past 6 years and never had a problem with them. I've used some other brands for my parents machines (SanDisk, Kingston, Intenso) and only had some problems with 1 SanDisk and 1 Intenso which died with no apparent reason.
The TBW cycles shouldn't be a problem for anyone using these for personal stuff (like gaming, etc.). On my workstation at the office and my personal (which is used for work and personal projects as well) rig at home I collect about 50 TBW anually (due to caching folders for video/audio editing, compiling stuff, etc.) and with the Samsung Pro Line they guarantee for 300 TBW...so I could roughly get 6 years out of one drive and that should be enough. If you don't have that kind of data output the normal EVOs should be more than enough.
I would also look for reports on controller issues for the model you want to choose.

@lag0matic - Where do you get that tool that shows you the write cycles..etc? 

@lord_of_shred Samsung's reputation for quality products is one I respect. I've only seen good things about Evo's which is why I considered them first. As appealing as a cheap Kingston 480GB is and might be the better buy, I'd prefer to buy based on reputation for quality... which is something I should have added as a deciding factor in my second post... but am tired... 

@RedRizla
That's the "Samsung Magician", a tool you can install if you've got a Samsung SSD. Helps with setting up OverProvision, checks Smart status and gives info about the TBW.

@Mot666
Yeah, reputation and track record factors in quite heavy for me since I have to rely on these parts not to fail. Although Samsung had their fair share of misssteps with SSDs also (I remember a not that well designed controller on the original 840 line [before the evos] and a firmware on the 840 EVOs that bricked some SSDs) but if you don't need to buy the bleeding edge and wait for some "longterm" reviews you should be fine.