500Gb ssd 850 evo
Samsung 850 Evo 500GB MZ-75E500B
The number of benchmark samples for this model as a percentage of all 12,459,956 SSDs tested.
| 850 Evo 500GBSamsung $110Bench 113%, 318,566 samples | 2,308x |
| EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER | Value: 108% - Outstanding | Total price: $1,016 |
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Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD Review
Now that SSDs have been out for a few years, manufacturers have managed to saturate the SATA 6 GB/s interface with as much speed as it’s capable of. With that in mind, attention has been turned to greater longevity, reliability, and energy efficiency. With the new 850 EVO series SSDs, Samsung aims to do just that by utilizing their new proprietary MGX controller and 3D V-NANA flash memory. So, let’s take the Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB SSD for a spin and see what Samsung has in store.
Specifications and Features
Below are the specifications as provided by the Samsung product page. Samsung uses a completely in-house proprietary MGX controller and 3D V-NAND flash memory design. Support for TRIM, Garbage Collection, and S.M.A.R.T. are all present and accounted for. The drive is also backward compatible with all previous SATA interfaces. Samsung claims impressive read/write speeds and IOPS performance of up to 98,000 and 90,000 respectively (4K QD32), we’ll check this out during the testing phase of the review. The 850 EVO series is backed with a 5-year warranty to ensure long-term piece of mind.
| Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB SSD Specifications | |
| Usage Application | Client PCs |
| Capacity | 500 GB |
| Dimensions (LxWxH) | 2.76 x .27 x 3.94 in. |
| Interface | SATA 6Gb/s (compatible w/SATA 3Gb/s & SATA 1.5Gb/s) |
| Form Factor | 2.5 Inch |
| Controller | Samsung MGX controller |
| NAND Flash Memory | Samsung 32 layer 3D V‐NAND |
| DRAM Cache Memory | 512 MB |
| Performance |
|
| Data Security | AES 256‐bit Full Disk Encryption (FDE) TCG/Opal V2.0, Encrypted Drive (IEEE1667) |
| Weight | Max 66g |
| Reliability | MTBF: 2.0 Million Hours |
| TBW | 75 TBW |
| Power Consumption | Active 3.0W Idle: Max. 50mW |
| Supporting Features | TRIM (Required OS support), Garbage Collection, S.M.A.R.T |
| Temperature | Operating: 32 °F to 158 °F |
| Humidity | 5% to 95%, non‐condensing |
| Warranty | 5 Years Limited |
Below, you’ll find the features for the 850 EVO 500 GB SSD as provided by Samsung. All images and descriptions courtesy Samsung.
The engine behind the 850 EVO 500 GB SSD is its 3D V‐NAND technology with TurboWrite and a 2-core MGX controller. Samsung states these new technologies allow the 850 EVO to bring an improved user experience when compared to the 840 EVO. Samsung also claims up to 1.9x faster random write speeds for the 500 GB model. As mentioned above, the 850 EVO series SSDs offer a 5-year warranty and improved endurance numbers over the EVO 840 series.
When the 850 EVOs are in an active state, Samsung touts a 25% increase in power efficiency compared to the 840 EVO series. Because the 3D V-NAND is said to use about half the power of traditional Planar 2D NAND, it’s easy to see how the power efficiency improvements come into play. Samsung’s 3D V-NAND flash memory architecture attempts to overcome the density, performance, and endurance limitations of conventional Planar NAND architecture by stacking 32 cell layers vertically over one another. They choose this method over decreasing the cell’s dimensions and trying to fit itself onto a fixed horizontal space.
The 850 EVO drives offer secure data through advanced AES 256-bit hardware encryption. Through Samsung’s Magician software, you can utilize RAPID Mode to boost performance even further. RAPID Mode allocates unused system memory as high-speed cache, which Samsung claims can boost performance up to 2X.
| Samsung’s innovative 3D V-NAND flash memory architecture breaks through density, performance, and endurance limitations of today’s conventional planar NAND architecture. Samsung 3D V-NAND stacks 32 cell layers vertically resulting in higher density and better performance utilizing a smaller footprint. | |
| Achieve incredible read/write performance to maximize your everyday computing experience with Samsung’s TurboWrite technology. You can obtain up to 1.9x faster performance than the award-winning Samsung 840 EVO. The 850 EVO delivers class-leading performance in sequential read (540MB/s) and write (520MB/s) speeds. Plus, gain optimized random performance in all QD for better real-world performance. | |
| Samsung’s Magician software enables RAPID Mode for up to 2x faster performance by utilizing unused PC memory (DRAM) as a high-speed cache. The newest version of Samsung Magician supports up to a 4 GB cache on a system with 16 GB of DRAM. | |
| The 850 EVO doubles the endurance* and reliability compared to the previous generation 840 EVO and features a class-leading 5 year warranty. With enhanced long-term reliability, the 850 EVO assures long term dependable performance of up to 30% longer than the previous generation 840 EVO. | |
| The 850 EVO delivers significantly longer battery life on your notebook with a controller designed and optimized for 3D V-NAND that supports Device Sleep for Windows at a highly efficient 2mW. The 850 EVO supports 25% better power efficiency than the 840 EVO during write operations thanks to ultra-efficient 3D V-NAND only consuming half the energy than that of traditional Planar 2D NAND. | |
| The 850 EVO comes fortified with the latest hardware-based full disk encryption engine. The AES 256-bit hardware encryption secures data without any performance degradation and complies with TCG Opal 2.0. Easily integrate into Windows with Microsoft e-drive IEEE1667 to keep your data protected at all times. | |
| The 850 EVO’s Dynamic Thermal Guard constantly monitors and maintains ideal temperatures for the drive to operate in optimal conditions to ensure the integrity of your data. The Thermal Guard automatically throttles temperatures down when temperatures rise above optimal critical threshold. This protects your data while maintaining responsiveness to help ensure your computer is always safe from overheating. | |
| In three simple steps, the Samsung One-stop Install Navigator software easily allows you to migrate all the data and applications from your existing drive to the 850 EVO. The included Samsung Magician software also allows you to setup, optimize, and manage your system for peak SSD performance. | |
| Samsung is the only brand to design and manufacture all its components inhouse allowing complete optimized integration. The result – the rock-solid EVO 850, with enhanced performance, lower power consumption with an up to 1 GB LPDDR2 DRAM cache memory and improved energy-efficiency with the MEX/MGX controller – all from the #1 memory manufacturer in the world. |
Packaging/Product Tour
The retail box has a picture of the SSD, model information, and the capacity on the front. Around back, we find a multilingual blurb about where to find additional information on the drive and additional branding. Inside the box, the SSD sits in a plastic bed with the product documentation and support DVD below. If you’re familiar with the 840 EVO, you might remember the casing being a light gray color. The 850 EVO has gone to a black casing similar to that of the Pro series SSDs. The SSD has minimal branding on the top and a sticker applied to the back with additional information on the drive.
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A close-up look at the Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB SSD shows the typical SATA power/data cable connectors and the bits that make it go. The last two pictures below give you an up-close look at the 3D V-NAND flash memory, MGX controller, and the 512 MB DRAM cache memory.
| Power and Data Connectors | 850 EVO Opened Up |
| NAND, Controller, Cache Memory | More NAND |
Testing and Benchmarks
Test System
We have a variety of comparison samples today, which include a Samsung 840 Pro (256 GB) and EVO (500 GB). The recently reviewed 850 EVO (250 GB), 850 Pro (512 GB), and Patriot Ignite (480 GB) will also be included in the comparison group. That assortment of samples will allow us to compare the new Samsung 850 series versus the past generation 840 series and then keep things honest with the Patriot offering.
Test Method
All the comparison samples were tested on the Intel Z97 platform using an Intel controller. All the SSDs are Secure Erased (SE) before each and every benchmark run using a method appropriate for the drive being tested. This ensures we get the best results possible for each test run. Here are the benchmarks we run with a brief description.
- Crystal Disk Mark – Run at Default Settings (5 Pass)
- AS SSD – Run at Default Settings
- ATTO – Run at Default Setting with QD Set to 10
- IoMeter 2010 – Run Manually, aligned, and QD32 for the 4K Tests
Before we get started on the benchmark results, a quick look at Samsung’s Magician software is in order. Magician has four different areas with a set of options in each area to help get the most from your Samsung SSD. Under Disk Management, there are a benchmark tool, performance optimization, and a firmware update utility. The System Management area is where you can optimize your operating system to best work with a SSD and set over provisioning parameters. The Data Management area has the secure erase utility, which will return the drive to its original state and destroy all data. Lastly, the Advanced Feature area is where you can setup the RAPID Mode feature and any data encryption you need. The slideshow below displays all the different screens inside the Magician software.
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Beginning with the CrystalDiskMark (CDM) tests, the read results show very little difference between all the samples in the sequential test. The 850 EVO 500 GB did manage to beat out the 850 Pro here though. The older 840 Pro and EVO took the top two spots in the 512K test, but the 850 EVO 500 GB lost out only to the 850 Pro 512 GB drive in the 4K test. The 4K QD32 test again has the older 840 series drives coming out on top, and the two 850 EVO drives just a whisker behind.
Moving over to the CDM write tests, we again have a tightly knit group in the sequential results. Both 850 EVO drives suffered a bit in the 512K test, but rebounded nicely in the 4K test where they were behind only the 850 Pro 512 GB. The 4K QD32 test has all the Samsung drives tightly grouped with the Patriot drive bringing up the rear.
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CDM Read Results |
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CDM Write Results |
The AS SSD read results show the Patriot Ignite drive leading the pack in the sequential test with all the Samsung drives just a tad behind. The 4K test has both 850 EVO drives leading the pack by a pretty good margin. In the 4K-64THRD test, the Patriot Ignite and 850 Pro 512 GB drive flex their muscle with the 850 EVO 500 GB drive coming in just behind them.
The AS SSD sequential write test has the 850 EVO 500 GB drive coming out in the middle of the pack, but it did manage to top the 850 Pro 512 GB drive here. The 4K test showed well for both 850 EVO drives, as they only fell behind the 850 Pro 512 GB drive by a slight margin. The 4K-64THRD test has the 850 EVO 500 GB drive falling behind the Patriot Ignite and both 840 EVO drives, but it did top the 850 Pro 512 GB drive easily.
The access time results show the 850 EVO 500 GB drive winning out over all the other samples in the write test, but losing out to all, but the 840 Pro 256 GB drive in the read test.
Finally, AS SSD provides a scoring system to rate the overall performance. Nothing comes close to the 850 Pro 512 GB drive here, but the 850 EVO 500 GB drive did come in second place in the overall score.
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AS SSD Read Results |
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AS SSD Write Results |
|
AS SSD Access Time Results |
|
AS SSD Scores |
IOMeter’s 2 MB read and write tests show the 850 EVO 500 GB falling in the middle of the pack, but it does fare well against the competition. The 4K test again shows the 850 EVO 500 GB drive hanging right with all the other drives in the write test and losing out to only the 850 Pro 512 GB drive in the read test.
IOMeter 2MB/4K results
In the IOMeter 4K IOPS testing, the 850 EVO 500 GB drive fell just a tad short of advertised speeds, but well within the margin of error. The 2 MB IOPS testing shows the 850 EVO 500 GB drive behind the Patriot Ignite and 850 Pro 512 GB drives in the write test, but beating out the rest of the field. The 2 MB read test has all the comparison sample tightly bunched with little difference between all the samples.
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IOMeter 4K IOPS Results |
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IOMeter 2MB IOPS Results |
ATTO Disk Bench is widely used by SSD manufacturers to verify read/write speed claims. As you can see, the 850 EVO 500 GB drive had no problems reaching the advertised speeds. If you’re interested in the raw data used to produce the charts, the table below has that information.
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ATTO Read Results |
|
ATTO Write Results |
| ATTO Benchmark Raw Data – Read | ||||||
| 850 EVO 250 GB | Ignite 480 GB | 840 Evo 500 GB | 840 Pro 256 GB | 850 Pro 512 GB | 850 EVO 500 GB | |
| 1K | 18296 | 181065 | 112932 | 141288 | 150176 | 143586 |
| 4K | 311931 | 271175 | 299155 | 357179 | 358916 | 357179 |
| 16K | 395009 | 423133 | 407786 | 516332 | 506626 | 450878 |
| 64K | 542406 | 557104 | 546424 | 553254 | 554393 | 537140 |
| 256K | 548890 | 560378 | 555213 | 556495 | 560378 | 550143 |
| 1024K | 550323 | 561841 | 554109 | 555383 | 561841 | 551579 |
| 4096K | 550323 | 563151 | 554109 | 555383 | 561841 | 551579 |
| 8192K | 550323 | 563151 | 554109 | 555383 | 561841 | 551579 |
| ATTO Benchmark Raw Data – Write | ||||||
| 850 EVO 250 GB | Ignite 480 GB | 840 EVO 500 GB | 840 Pro 256 GB | 850 Pro 512 GB | 850 EVO 500 GB | |
| 1K | 154441 | 60160 | 102436 | 129316 | 152992 | 109348 |
| 4K | 285845 | 277980 | 245768 | 313491 | 337166 | 300174 |
| 16K | 454703 | 471500 | 451387 | 402653 | 481332 | 455901 |
| 64K | 522241 | 537140 | 529091 | 484933 | 519706 | 516332 |
| 256K | 527387 | 543934 | 533963 | 499112 | 529998 | 531313 |
| 1024K | 527637 | 544125 | 534199 | 511305 | 531555 | 530242 |
| 4096K | 526344 | 544125 | 534495 | 490293 | 531555 | 531555 |
| 8192K | 526344 | 544125 | 534495 | 506481 | 532140 | 532140 |
Just to confirm performance, we like to run Anvil’s Storage Utility. Below are screenshots using 100% incompressible data and 100% compressible data. Everything appears to be in order and is inline with the performance we observed in the above benchmarks.
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Anvil’s Storage Utility – 100% Incompressible Data |
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Anvil’s Storage Utility – 100% Compressible Data |
Conclusion
Just as the Samsung 840 EVO series SSDs offered great performance at an affordable price, the new 850 EVO series continues on with that legacy. Currently available at Newegg for $189, the 850 EVO 500 GB SSD is priced extremely well. For example, the Patriot Ignite 480 GB drive we used for comparison sells for the same price, but has 20 GB less storage capacity and doesn’t have any supporting software. So, it’s easy to see the value is definitely here.
You may remember from our review on the 250 GB version of this same SSD that it failed during a secure erase attempt. We mentioned at the time it was probably an isolated incident that most people will never encounter. The 850 EVO 500 GB drive we reviewed today was put through the exact same testing procedure and exhibited no problems at all. It flew right through everything we tossed at it with gusto.
Performance wise, the 850 EVO 500 GB easily met Samsung’s advertised read/write speeds of 540/520 MB/s. The 4K low QD performance was only outdone by the 850 Pro 512 in a couple instances, which is a direct reflection of how well the 3D V-NAND and MGX controller work.
If you’re in the market for a new SSD, the 850 EVO 500 GB unit is well worth consideration based on price and performance. At 37¢ per GB, it’s going to be tough to beat.
Click the stamp for an explanation of what this means.
–Dino DeCesari (Lvcoyote)
www.overclockers.com
The Samsung 850 Evo 500GB is a fast SSD, which offers some of the best performance for its price
SSDs are continuously dropping in price, and the Samsung 850 Evo not a new SSD to the market, but with falling prices now competes with some of the budget drives out there.
As Samsung make most of the chips within the market, it's interesting to see how it compares with its competition, while still being aimed at those who want good performance at an affordable price. Now at a cheaper price, does the 850 Evo still hold its own? Read on to find out. Read next: Best SSDs 2016.
Samsung 850 Evo 500GB review: Price, competition and price per GB
The 850 Evo can be found in various different capacity, including 120, 250, 500GB and huge 1, 2TB storage options – no matter your preference, Samsung has you covered. In our case, we were sent the 500GB version from Ebuyer that can be found for £125.99 ($149.99 in the US).
The various different versions can also be found on Amazon, from £50.90 for the 120GB variant to £492.62 for the massive 2TB option.
We compared the Evo 850 to a few other class-leading SSDs, such as the Kingston KC400 SSDNow 512GB that can be found for £132.82, the Toshiba Q300 480GB (2016) that costs £79.99 on Amazon, the Crucial BX200 480GB that can be found at £92.66 and the PNY CS2211 240 GB found at $84.95 (around £58.13) in the US.
When connected to our Windows 10 test rig, we found the 850 Evo to provide us with 465GB of usable storage, resulting in a £0.23 cost per GB – a good price compared to current rivals. Read next: How to build a PC.
Prices change on a daily basis, but these were correct at the time of review:
Samsung offers a five-year warranty with its 850 Evo 500GB.
Read next: Best portable hard drives 2016.
Samsung 850 Evo 500GB review: Technology
The Samsung Evo 850 uses a SATA III 6GB/s interface. The SSD has a few interesting features, such as RAPID mode which significantly increases read/write speeds by leveraging system resources within the CPU and DRAM installed on your computer. The mode has to be enabled through the Samsung’s Magician software which is free to download.
The SSD also features Dynamic Thermal Guard protecting your SSD from overheating in extreme situations and also has AES 256-bit and TCG Opal 2.0 hardware encryption to securely protect your data from hackers - this however needs to be enabled through Samsung’s Magician software and be used on a UEFI-enabled BIOS. More information about the technology used within the SSD and its features can be found on Samsung’s website.
Possibly one of the most interesting features of the 850 Evo is its use of Samsung's very own V-NAND technology. Samsung use triple level cell (TLC) technology, which is known as a cheap way of storing data (bits) on the drive's cells, due to it being able to store three bits of data per cell. Versus single level cell (SLC) for one bit per cell and multi-level cell (MLC) for two bits per cell, TLC is known to be the most unreliable and cheapest to manufacture, where it often has slower and inconsistent read/write speeds.
However, due to the use of V-NAND, creating a separate, vertical layer to the SSD, Samsung is able to provide faster, more reliable speeds whilst not compromising on reliability, which could lead to drive failures.
Those wanting to use the SSD with a laptop should be aware that the quoted power consumption for the SSD is 4.7W whilst active and 0.5W in idle standby.
Read next: Best NAS drives 2016.
Samsung 850 Evo 500GB review: Benchmark performance
We tested the Evo 850 using various benchmarks, notably CrystalDiskMark and AS SSD benchmark, both of which provide accurate, reliable synthetic benchmark data.
Two of the most important results are the 4Kb read/write speeds – this simulates real-world applications by moving small amounts of data which is moved around in random, non-sequential ways. As you’ll be able to see below, we found the Evo 850 to be extremely impressive. This means that in real-world applications, you’ll notice a big improvement in application performance compared to, say, an old mechanical hard drive.
We tested a 500GB Seagate 7200rpm hard drive which can be found for £38.95, and it was, unsurprisingly, completely outclassed in every single aspect by the Evo 850. When we looked at the 4K-64 read/write benchmarks, we noted the huge differences between the hard drive and the SSD, where the Seagate managed only 1.8/1.3 MB/s respectively, whilst the Evo 850 had an incredible 381.2/321.9 MB/s speed. These small tasks (such as moving small files around in your computer) make it hard for a HDD to perform at a high speed, showcasing why you need to buy yourself an SSD if you haven’t got one already.
Interestingly enough, we did find the Evo 850 was outperformed by the other SSDs in a few tests, including the 0 Fill Random Read 4Kb tests, with the Evo 850 scoring only 35.5 MB/s versus the Kingston SSDNow KC400512GB with 87.5 MB/s. However, this was the only time we found the Samsung Evo 850 to be truly outclassed, meaning the drive performs extremely well across the board.
Moving on to our copy and compression tests through AS SSD’s benchmarking tools, we found the Evo 850 performed extremely well in its compression abilities. As you’ll be able to see from the graph below, we didn’t notice any glitches, inconsistencies, or random spikes through our tests. In comparison, we found Samsung's competitors to have certain spikes or have a greater variance between their read and write speeds.
The copy benchmark showcases the ability of the drive to copy a certain file size whilst performing a certain operation, for example whilst copying a game. The Evo 850 didn’t really shine, like it did in our previous benchmarks, but did provide consistent results.
Samsung 850 Evo 500GB review: Should I buy the Samsung 850 Evo?
We would definitely recommend the 850 Evo 500GB to anyone looking to either upgrade from a traditional hard drive or thinking about upgrading from their older generation SSD. The results speak for themselves, and through its impressive and consistently class-leading benchmark scores we would consider the Evo 850 is still one of the best SSDs money can buy.
www.techadvisor.co.uk
Samsung 960 EVO SSD (500GB) NVMe M.2 Review and Unboxing
The new Samsung 960 EVO series is one of the Samsung’s best performance and budget consumer SSD in the market next from its predecessor 850 EVO which is SATA drive, this is also the first time Samsung release an EVO series for M.2 drives which holds the latest technology of Samsung the 3D V-NAND and Polaris Controller, it takes advantage of the PCI-e lane interface or M.2 port that give huge jump in speed and surpasses the speed of traditional SATA port as medium of storage. The advertise speed of this SSD are 1.8GB/s of write speed and 3.2GB/s of write this is times 4 compare to the speed of 850 EVO which only reach 550MB/s of read and write speed.
The reason why 960 EVO series is more affordable than the 960 PRO series is that it uses the TLC configuration which lowers the potential performance and endurance of the drives rather than the expensive MLC found in 960 PRO. And to cope-up with the lost in performance and endurance Samsung equips the SSD with TurboWrite or what they call Intelligent TurboWrite, it uses a slice of small storage in your drive and act it as a high-speed SLC buffer for incoming writes and read. The 500GB version holds a 4GB dedicated space for TurboWrite Cache.
What we have now is the 500GB version of Samsung 960 EVO series with the Model number MZ-V6E500, we will be comparing the speed of this card to the 850 EVO 500GB later in the post. It works on motherboard that has a M.2 slots, if you have older motherboard and has no M.2 slots you can also buy an expansion pack that you can connect directly in your PCI-e slot. Both shows the same performance. We are using ASUS Hyper M.2 X4 Mini Expansion card to use our Samsung 960 EVO 500GB, the expansion card is cheap and you can buy one from ebay.
It’s my first time to have a M.2 ssd and I was amazed how small is the SSD really are, the actual length of the card is actually smaller than a PISO coin. If the sticker is peeled of, it shows the 4 chip in the card which are the Polaris Controller, DRAM Cache and 2 x NAND chip in front, the back is covered with a warranty sticker. you also have to be careful on holding the card as it can be damage from electric discharge.
Benchmarking, for our initial speed benchmark we are going to use the Samsung Magician, let’s compare the result with the 850 EVO 500GB and see how the speed difference from 960 EVO 500GB. We are also using the following PC specs, Windows 10, Intel i7-3770 @ 3.40GHz (clock at 4.00GHz), 32GB of RAM, Extreme Board DZ77GA-70K Motherboard and also used the Hyper M.2 X4 Mini Expansion Card.
As expected the speed is magnificent, even we are using a 3rd gen processor it works very well as what they advertise – the speed of Samsung SSD 960 EVO 500GB is really 5 times faster than its predecessor, it reach 2,864MB/s for read and 1,786MB/s for write while the Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB leaving behind at 548MB/s for read and 520MB/s for write.
Let’s do another benchmark from a third party benchmark tool, we are going to use the CrystalDiskMark 5.2.1, this time it will show more results like Sequence Q32TI, 4K Q32TI, Seq and 4K. The left result is for 960 EVO 500GB and right side is for 850 EVO 500GB.
The result shows increase in speed in terms of read while drop a little in write and it looks like 850 EVO wins the result in 4K Q32TI Write speed in which 960 EVO only scored 161.2MB/s and 850 EVO scored 182.7MB/s.
Compatibility, if you have plan on booting your Windows 10 or 7 OS on this SSD in a motherboard that doesn’t have a M.2 slot, well its impossible. Booting OS on this SSD will not work if you only using PCI-e expansion card for your M.2 card, it is good for storage only – in my case I am using Intel Extreme Board DZ77GA-70K the 960 EVO will not appear on the boot menu. There will be no problem for newer motherboard as it support NVMe technology.
Boot Time when installed as primary OS, we will be having the result after we done reformatting our rigs, will show the result here right away! We will also test this SSD in real life application.
There are 3 variant of Samsung 960 EVO – from 250GB, 500GB and up to 1TB, each card has different performance for 250GB write speed is 1.5GB/s, for 500GB its 1.8GB/s and for 1TB its 1.9GB/s.
So, where to buy this Samsung 960 EVO M.2 NVMe SSD? Well, you can purchase online in ebay, see the following link and prices we hand picked for you.
Samsung 960 EVO 250GB:
Samsung 960 EVO 500GB:
Samsung 960 EVO 1TB:
What’s in the box? You will be getting 1 x instruction manual and 1 x 960 EVO 500GB. See our unboxing video below.
The new Samsung 960 EVO series is one of the Samsung's best performance and budget consumer SSD in the market next from its predecessor 850 EVO which is SATA drive, this is also the first time Samsung release an EVO series for M.2 drives which holds the latest technology of Samsung the 3D V-NAND and Polaris Controller, it takes advantage of the PCI-e lane interface or M.2 port that give huge jump in speed and surpasses the speed of traditional SATA port as medium of storage. The advertise speed of this SSD are 1.8GB/s of write speed and 3.2GB/s of write this is times 4 compare to the speed of 850 EVO which only reach 550MB/s of read and write speed. The reason why 960 EVO series is more affordable than the 960 PRO series is that it uses the TLC configuration which lowers the potential performance and endurance of the drives rather than the expensive MLC found in 960 PRO. And to cope-up with the lost in performance and endurance Samsung equips the SSD with TurboWrite or what they call Intelligent TurboWrite, it uses a slice of small storage in your drive and act it as a high-speed SLC buffer for incoming writes and read. The 500GB version holds a 4GB dedicated space for TurboWrite Cache. What we have now is the 500GB version of Samsung 960 EVO series with the Model number MZ-V6E500, we will be comparing the speed of this card to the 850 EVO 500GB later in the post. It works on motherboard that has a M.2 slots, if you have older motherboard and has no M.2 slots you can also buy an expansion pack that you can connect directly in your PCI-e slot. Both shows the same performance. We are using ASUS Hyper M.2 X4 Mini Expansion card to use our Samsung 960 EVO 500GB, the expansion card is cheap and you can buy one from ebay. It's my first time to have a M.2 ssd and I was amazed how small is the SSD really are, the actual length of the card is actually smaller than a PISO coin. If the sticker is peeled of, it shows the 4 chip in the card which are the Polaris Controller, DRAM Cache and 2 x NAND chip in front, the back is covered with a warranty sticker. you also have to be careful on holding the card as it can be damage from electric discharge. Benchmarking, for our initial speed benchmark we are going to use the Samsung Magician, let's compare the result with the 850 EVO 500GB and see how the speed difference from 960 EVO 500GB. We are also using the following PC specs, Windows 10, Intel i7-3770 @ 3.40GHz (clock at 4.00GHz), 32GB of RAM, Extreme Board DZ77GA-70K Motherboard and also used the Hyper M.2 X4 Mini Expansion Card. As expected the speed is magnificent, even we are using a 3rd gen processor it works very well as what they advertise - the speed of Samsung SSD 960 EVO 500GB is really 5 times faster than its predecessor, it reach 2,864MB/s for read and 1,786MB/s for write while the Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB leaving behind at 548MB/s for read and 520MB/s for write. Let's do another benchmark from a third party benchmark tool, we are going to use the CrystalDiskMark 5.2.1, this time it will show more results like Sequence Q32TI, 4K Q32TI, Seq and 4K. The left result is for 960 EVO 500GB and right side is for 850 EVO 500GB. The result shows increase in speed in terms of read while drop a little in write and it looks like 850 EVO wins the result in 4K Q32TI Write speed in which 960 EVO only scored 161.2MB/s and 850 EVO scored 182.7MB/s. Compatibility, if you have plan on booting your Windows 10 or 7 OS on this SSD in a motherboard that doesn't have a M.2 slot, well its impossible. Booting OS on this SSD will not work if you only using PCI-e expansion card for your M.2 card, it is good for storage only - in my case I am using Intel Extreme Board DZ77GA-70K the 960 EVO will not appear on the boot menu. There will be no problem for newer motherboard as it support NVMe technology. Boot Time when installed as primary OS, we will be having the result after we done reformatting our rigs, will show the result here right away! We will also test this SSD in real life application. There are 3 variant of Samsung 960 EVO - from 250GB, 500GB and up to 1TB, each card has different performance for 250GB write speed is 1.5GB/s, for 500GB its 1.8GB/s and for 1TB its 1.9GB/s. So, where to buy this Samsung 960 EVO M.2 NVMe SSD? Well, you can purchase online in ebay, see the following link and prices we hand picked for you. Samsung 960 EVO 250GB: Samsung 960 EVO Series 250GB (platinummicro - 83092) - $160.99 Samsung 960 EVO Series 250GB (customersatisfactionguarante - 1515) - $207.00 Samsung 960 EVO 500GB: Samsung 960 EVO Series 500GB (thekeykey - 166865) - $266.49 Samsung 960 EVO Series 500GB (buck_hot - 457) - $276.99 Samsung 960 EVO Series 500GB (memoryc_deals - 2248) - $288.95 Samsung 960 EVO 1TB: Samsung 960 EVO Series 1TB (thekeykey - 16865) - $508.49 Samsung 960 EVO Series 500GB (antonline - 200610) - $530.72 Samsung 960 EVO Series 1TB (memoryc_deals - 2248) - $559.38 What's in the box? You will be getting 1 x instruction manual and 1 x 960 EVO 500GB. See our unboxing video below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShKUBCYmA6Q
Samsung 960 EVO SSD (500GB) NVMe M.2 Review and Unboxing
Samsung 960 EVO SSD (500GB) NVMe M.2 Review and Unboxing
2017-01-15
Erwin Bantilan
gamingph.com
