What is the best consumer-grade SSD?

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May 9, 2018

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4 Options Considered

Best consumer-grade SSD?	Price	Sequential Read Performance	Sequential Write Performance
87 Samsung 860 EVO	$344.00	540MB/s	510MB/s
83 Crucial MX300	$268.94	499MB/s	499MB/s
-- WD Blue 3D	$279.99	524MB/s	469MB/s
-- Samsung 850 Pro	$208.49	498MB/s	458MB/s

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score 15 · Answer 1

Samsung 860 EVO

Top Pro

One of the fastest consumer-grade SSD on the market

With sequential write speeds of 510MB/s and read speeds of 530MB/s, the 860 EVO is one of the fastest SSDs on the market and probably the fastest SSD for consumer-grade PCs and laptops. See More

Top Con

Data migration tools are Windows only

Mac and Linux users have to figure out their own ways of migrating data. See More

Specs

Sequential Read Performance:540MB/s

Sequential Write Performance:510MB/s

Top Pro

Should be usable for quite a long time

The 860 EVO version is rated for 150 TB of writes before it becomes unreliable. This means that this SSD will last for a long time and for most people it will probably never become obsolete considering the fact that most people won't be writing more than 10GB in a day. See More

Top Pro

Exceptionally long warranty

The Samsung 860 EVO has an exceptionally long five-year warranty. See More

Top Pro

The usage can be customized using the Windows-only software that comes with the SSD

The 860 Evo comes with Samsung’s Magician software that lets you tweak drive settings to increase performance or extend the SSDs life. See More

See All

score 12 · Answer 2

Crucial MX300

Top Pro

Excellent performance when saving files

The MX300 has Dynamic Write Acceleration, a caching solution that creates a large buffer to significantly increase the drive’s write speeds. This allows the MX300 to reach write speeds of up to 499MB/s on average (Crucial advertises write speeds of 510MB/s) which is more than enough for most people. See More

Top Con

Relatively short warranty

The MX300 has a three-year long warranty. This is a bit short especially considering how some SSDs have five-year warranties. See More

Specs

Sequential Read Performance:499MB/s

Sequential Write Performance:499MB/s

Interface:SATA 6.0Gb/s

Sizes:2TB; 1TB; 500GB; 250GB

Top Pro

Good solution for people who value privacy and want to secure their data

The MX300 supports AES 256-bit hardware encryption, making it great for people who want to keep their data private and encrypted. See More

Top Pro

Can be used for quite a long time

The MX3300 offers an endurance of 220 TB of writing. In other words, you can completely fill this SSD with files, wipe it, and fill it again 220 times before it becomes unreliable. This means that the MX300 can be used for quite a long time especially considering the fact that most users won't be writing more than 10GB even on a busy day. See More

Top Pro

Very power-efficient

The MX300 is one of the most efficient SSDs on the market. It consumes up to 50% less energy compared to some other options. See More

See All

score 5 · Answer 3

WD Blue 3D

Top Pro

Good performance for the price

At $279.99 for the 1TB version, it's one of the cheapest SSDs that offer the kind of performance offered by the WD Blue. Most SSDs at this price range usually are 5%-10% slower in both read and write speeds. See More

Top Con

Relatively short warranty

The WD Blue 3D has a three-year long warranty. This is a bit short especially considering how some SSDs have five-year warranties. See More

Specs

Sequential Read Performance:524MB/s

Sequential Write Performance:469MB/s

Top Pro

Great performance when loading files and applications

With sequential read speed of 524MB/s, it's one of the fastest SSDs as far as reading goes. See More

Top Con

Not a good choice for people who want to encrypt their files

WD Blue 3D does not support hardware encryption for files. As such, it's not a good choice for people who want to keep their files encrypted and secure. See More

See All

score 1 · Answer 4

Samsung 850 Pro

Top Con

Expensive

The Samsung 850 Pro is designed for heavy usage such as video editing work. It provides excellent write speeds but at a considerably higher price. See More

Top Pro

The default software used to modify the usage of the SSD is very easy to use

The SSD comes with data migration software for Windows as well as tools performing maintenance, checking the health of the drive and updating firmware. See More

Specs

Sequential Write Performance:458MB/s

Sequential Read Performance:498MB/s

Top Con

Poor consistency

Top Pro

Amazing performance

According to over a thousand benchmarks performed on user benchmarks.com, the SSD averages a read speed of 498 MB/s and a write speed of 458 MB/s. This is more than enough for most users and will provide excellent performance for any gaming PC. See More

Top Con

Data migration tools are Windows only

Mac and Linux users have to figure out their own ways of migrating data. See More

Top Pro

Extremely long warranty

The Samsung 850 PRO has a 10-year long warranty. This really shows the belief Samsung has in this SSD. See More

See All

score 1 · Answer 5

What is the best consumer-grade SSD?

4 Options Considered

Samsung 860 EVO

My Recommendation for Samsung 860 EVO

My Recommendation for Samsung 860 EVO

One of the fastest consumer-grade SSD on the market

Data migration tools are Windows only

Should be usable for quite a long time

Exceptionally long warranty

The usage can be customized using the Windows-only software that comes with the SSD

Crucial MX300

My Recommendation for Crucial MX300

My Recommendation for Crucial MX300

Excellent performance when saving files

Relatively short warranty

Good solution for people who value privacy and want to secure their data

Can be used for quite a long time

Very power-efficient

WD Blue 3D

My Recommendation for WD Blue 3D

My Recommendation for WD Blue 3D

Good performance for the price

Relatively short warranty

Great performance when loading files and applications

Not a good choice for people who want to encrypt their files

Samsung 850 Pro

My Recommendation for Samsung 850 Pro

My Recommendation for Samsung 850 Pro

Expensive

The default software used to modify the usage of the SSD is very easy to use

Poor consistency

Amazing performance

Data migration tools are Windows only

Extremely long warranty

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Crucial BX100

My Recommendation for Crucial BX100

My Recommendation for Crucial BX100

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