Samsung 840 vs 840 Pro vs 830. A brief comparison
After our article where I encouraged everyone to buy an SSD to improve the performance of their PC a friend of mine asked me for some advice on which one to get, currently my best bet are the Samsung SSDs but with their new revision, the 840, I lost track of the models, so today I want to share this table where we can see the maximum transfer rates and the illustrative price at amazon at today’s date.
| Max transfer rates in MB/s | Samsung SSD 840 (128GB) | Samsung SSD 840 (250GB) | Samsung SSD 840 Pro (128GB) | Samsung SSD 840 Pro (256GB) | Samsung SSD 830 (120GB) | Samsung SSD 830 (256GB) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sequential Read | 530 | 540 | 530 | 540 | 520 | 520 | |
| Sequential Write | 130 | 250 | 390 | 520 | 320 | 400 | |
| amazon.com ($) | 99,50 | 149,99 | 139,99 | 235,55 | 136,00 | 210,64 | |
| amazon.co.uk (£) | 77,99 | 129,99 | 105,96 | 178,36 | 119,31 | 180,00 | |
| amazon.es (€) | 87,53 | 151,20 | 121,59 | 198,95 | 128,48 | N/A |
To decide which has a better relation of price considering the speed I tried to get a measure of the averaged transfer rates divided by the price per GB. This is an arbitrary measure and should not be considered more than to get a grasp of the pricing for the different products in the family. I love statistics.
| Samsung SSD 840 (128GB) | Samsung SSD 840 (250GB) | Samsung SSD 840 Pro (128GB) | Samsung SSD 840 Pro (256GB) | Samsung SSD 830 (120GB) | Samsung SSD 830 (256GB) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TR averaged | 330 | 395 | 460 | 530 | 420 | 460 |
| price/GB ($) | 0,83 | 0,60 | 1,09 | 0,92 | 1,06 | 0,82 |
| TR/priceGB (higer is better) | 397,99 | 658,38 | 420,60 | 576,01 | 395,29 | 559,06 |
| price/GB (£) | 0,65 | 0,52 | 0,83 | 0,70 | 0,93 | 0,70 |
| TR/priceGB (higer is better) | 507,76 | 759,67 | 555,68 | 760,71 | 450,59 | 654,22 |
| price/GB (€) | 0,73 | 0,60 | 0,95 | 0,78 | 1,00 | N/A |
| TR/priceGB (higer is better) | 452,42 | 653,11 | 484,25 | 681,98 | 418,43 |
As the 830 model is getting difficult to find and the prices seems to get high due to low stock and still high demand, I would recommend my friend to expend a few more money and get the 256GB of the 840, as the Pro and the standard versions have a similar pricing for GB and their transfer speeds, of course the Pro version is way better but pricey.
Understanding the Technology Differences
The most important distinction between the 840 and 840 Pro is the type of NAND flash memory used. The standard 840 uses TLC (Triple-Level Cell) NAND, which stores three bits per cell. This makes it cheaper to produce but inherently slower at writing and has a lower endurance rating — each cell can sustain fewer write cycles before degrading. The 840 Pro uses MLC (Multi-Level Cell) NAND with two bits per cell, which is faster, more durable, and more consistent under sustained write workloads.
For a typical desktop user who reads far more data than they write (booting the OS, loading programs, browsing), the TLC-based 840 performs nearly identically to the Pro in day-to-day use. The sequential write speed difference (130 MB/s vs 390 MB/s on the 128GB models) only manifests during large file transfers or sustained write operations like video editing or database workloads. Random 4K read performance — which determines how snappy Windows feels — is comparable across all three models.
The 830 occupies an interesting middle ground: it uses older 27nm MLC NAND with a proven Samsung controller, offering reliability that has been validated over more than a year of real-world use. Its write speeds sit between the 840 and 840 Pro, and it benefits from firmware maturity that the newer models have not yet achieved. If you can find one at the same price as a standard 840, the 830 is arguably the safer purchase for users who prioritize long-term reliability over peak throughput numbers.
Who Should Pick Which Model
- Casual users and laptop upgraders: Samsung 840 250GB — best price per gigabyte, fast enough for OS and application loading, and the lower write endurance is irrelevant for typical consumer workloads that write 10-20GB per day at most.
- Power users and content creators: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB — the write speed advantage pays dividends during video rendering, large game installations, and virtual machine disk operations.
- Budget-conscious buyers: Samsung 830 120GB — if available at clearance pricing, it offers MLC durability and proven firmware stability in a smaller capacity that works perfectly as a dedicated OS drive paired with a spinning disk for storage.
I add the following widgets of the green colored SSDs where you can see their updated prices.
If you are considering buying any of these SSDs on amazon consider doing it through our links or you can try our own wishlist manager to track their price drops and see its price evolution in a graph. Big Thanks!
