The Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are over, but there are still bargains to be found. This month, we talk about OCZ's new Vector, a special Assassin's Creed III bundle from Samsung, and updated endurance numbers for Intel's SSD 335.
Detailed solid-state drive specifications and reviews are great—that is, if you have the time to do the research. However, at the end of the day, what an enthusiast needs is the best SSD within a certain budget.
So, if you don’t have the time to read the benchmarks, or if you don’t feel confident enough in your ability to pick the right drive, then fear not. We at Tom’s Hardware have come to your aid with a simple list of the best SSD offered for the money.
December Updates

Late last month we discovered that OCZ's Vector gives the company a reason to be happy this holiday season. The title of the story gave it all away: OCZ Vector 256 GB Review: An SSD Powered By Barefoot 3. Almost two years after acquiring Indilinx in an all-stock deal, OCZ finally had a controller of its own, and the first drive employing that controller turned out to be pretty quick. In fact, in our review, it gave Samsung's 840 Pro a run for its money.
We only wish that OCZ were a little more aggressive on pricing. As it stands, the Vector is every bit as expensive as the incumbent Samsung SSD. In a column based on value, like this one, that makes it difficult to usurp the sitting champion.

These days, it's more difficult to impress us with raw performance, though. So many SSDs come so close to saturating the SATA 6Gb/s interface, and, in practical use, are all but indistinguishable.
One area where you might be able to tell the two drives apart is power. Samsung continues to dominate our consumption tests, making it the preferred choice if you're shopping for a mobile upgrade. That combination of amazing performance and low power draw makes the 840 Pro an incredibly efficient storage solution.
The company is going one step further to sweeten the deal for gamers. The 128, 256, and 512 GB 840 Pros come with a free copy of Assassin's Creed III. If you don't have the cash for Samsung's flagship, a few stores still include Far Cry 3 with 250 GB 840s (the non-Pro version).

We have heard about a problem whereby folks are having a hard time redeeming the 840 Pro's game offer. This is an issue specific to purchases from Amazon.com. When you buy an eligible 840 Pro, you get an email with a redemption code. But, according to Samsung, Amazon is sending out all of its codes in lower case. The Ubisoft store (where you redeem the key) is case-sensitive and only accepts capitalized letters. Samsung tells us that it has already asked Amazon to help address the problem. Thanks to Daniel T. for bringing this to our attention!

Even though the high-end space received much of our attention last month, we also want to talk about Intel's SSD 330 and 335 drive. A while back, Intel let us know that the Media Wear Indicator (MWI) S.M.A.R.T. field was bugged on both drive families, explaining why we calculated a low 1,500 P/E-cycle endurance rating in Intel SSD 335 240 GB Review: Driving Down Prices With 20 nm NAND. The company let us know that it updated the SSD 335's firmware a couple of weeks ago to fix the problem.
Hurriedly, we retested and triple-checked our new results. We can confirm that our endurance measurement doubles, confirming the 3,000-cycle rating Intel originally claimed. The SSD 330 hasn't been updated yet, and we're told an update won't be provided until January. We're not concerned, though, since the issue is with the counter, not an issue with the NAND itself.
Some Notes About Our Recommendations
A few simple guidelines to keep in mind when reading this list:
- If you don't need to copy gigabytes of data quickly or load games in the blink of an eye, then there's nothing wrong with sticking with a mechanical hard drive. This list is intended for people who want the performance/responsiveness that SSDs offer, and operate on a specific budget. Now that Intel's Z68 Express chipset is available, the idea of SSD-based caching could come into play for more entry-level enthusiasts, too.
- There are several criteria we use to rank SSDs. We try to evenly weigh performance and capacity at each price point and recommend what we believe to the best drive based on our own experiences, along with information garnered from other sites. Some people may only be concerned with performance, but that ignores the ever-present capacity issue that mobile users face ever-presently. Even on the desktop, other variables have to be considered.
- Prices and availability change on a daily basis. Our picks will be valid the month of publication, but we can't extend our choices very far beyond that time frame. SSD pricing is especially competitive, and a £10 difference can be the reason why one SSD makes the list, while another does not. As you shop, use our list as a guide, but always double-check for yourself.
- The list is based on some of the best U.S. prices from online retailers. In other countries or at retail stores, your mileage will most certainly vary.
- These are new SSD prices. No used or open-box offers are in the list; they might represent a good deal, but it’s outside the scope of what we’re trying to do.
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0 Hidetfossey , 19 December 2012 17:12How come the Sandisk 128GB SSD (not Extreme) does not figure in the listings as it is available at £60 at a few places (and was even listed at £50 in some places over recent days)? Unless there is something drastically wrong with it, it seems to be an ideal entry level system disk.