We really like PCMark 7's Secondary Storage benchmark module for its pseudo real-world application measurement approach to testing. PCMark 7 offers a trace-based measurement of system response times under various scripted workloads of traditional client / desktop system operation. From simple application start-up performance, to data streaming from a drive in a game engine, and video editing with Windows Movie Maker, we feel more comfortable that these tests reasonably illustrate the performance profile of SSDs in an end-user / consumer PC usage model, more so than a purely synthetic transfer test.
The Samsung SSD 850 Pro series drive put up the best overall score in the PCMark Secondary Storage benchmark, but the more affordable SSD 850 EVO series drives were right there beside it, outpacing the OCZ and Crucial drives along the way.
