I'll cut to the chase on this one: In coordination with Samsung at last week's CES meeting, we're giving away a 256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD, which we originally wrote about in this post.
The 256GB model of the 840 Pro SSD is built on 21nm manufacturing process (vs. the 27nm process of the 830) and hosts 32 NAND dies on 8 packages (32x64Gb / 8 = 256GB), and as we continue to go through die shrinks on the flash, we'll see wafers / respective dies continue to grow in density. I'll save the in-depth stuff for our "How SSDs are made" article, but the short version is that SSD technology continues to impress us with each generation.
We're still waiting on a review sample for official testing, but the advertised specs seem promising: An advertised max 4KB random IOps of 100k/90k (R/W) would be excellent in a gaming environment if it holds even remotely true, given games' propensity to deal in thousands of 4K-64K I/O operations per session.
Initial launch of the 840 series SSDs saw controversy surrounding the review sample firmware, but we've independently confirmed that the firmware shipping on customer-facing drives is solid and has resolved all previous concerns; we can recommend these drives confidently, and have done so in a few of our SSD guides.
How do I win, already?!
Enough talk. We're giving away one 256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD, as showcased below by Samsung's "SSD Angels" (with whom we met at CES - they replace laptop HDDs with SSDs and use cloning software for data persistence). Similar to our previous contest, the winner will be determined based upon comments on this post. Here's the prompt:
In a comment below, tell us what you'd like to learn more about. What articles would you like to see on the site? What topics do you want us to explore and write about?
The best answer to this question, as deemed by GN staff, will win an 840 Pro SSD. Participants may be from the US, Canada, and UK (except where prohibited by law - get with the times, Rhode Island). The contest will come to a close at 11:59 PM on February 1st, at which point the recipient will be notified.
You do not need to register an account - you can post as a guest account. We will use your email address (as entered in the box below or as tied to your user account, if registered) to contact you if you win. We will not use your data for anything other than this contest. You do not need to tick the "notify me" box below; we will do so manually if you win.
Maddie and George, of Samsung's SSD Angels.
Let us know if you have any questions. It's a solid drive. Ha. I'm funny. Oh, and a 256GB SSD for free? Not a bad deal.
- Steve.