Samsung 960 evo 512gb
Samsung 960 EVO, 960 Pro SSDs: The Full Product Details
After the first day of Samsung's SSD Global Summit, we finally have details about the new 960 series. The 960 series succeeds the 950 Pro with a two-prong strategy that satisfies the needs of both the professional and enthusiast markets. This series brings several advancements of more or less equal importance. Let's dive in.
Technology Advancements
We've tested Samsung's OEM products with the Polaris controller but never managed to locate any concrete details about the architecture. That changed today. Samsung's second generation NVMe controller, Polaris, is a 5-core design that was built to maximize the performance the NVMe specification over PCIe 3.0 with four lanes of connectivity. Samsung's new NVMe 2.0 driver works in conjunction with the hardware to deliver better performance than what we saw on the SM961 (with MLC) and PM961 (with TLC). The new driver further optimizes performance for Samsung NVMe SSDs within Windows.
Samsung is still using 48-layer V-NAND technology with 256Gbit die density on both new 960-series products. This produced some hurdles on the 960 Pro that we will detail in the next section. Samsung has already discussed 64-layer V-NAND at Flash Memory Summit with a projected time to market of 2017. The new flash should be a drop-in replacement in 2017 and give Samsung an easy path to reducing prices while offering higher capacities.
A great deal of thought went into the new 960 series. This is the first time I've ever talked about a product label for more than information, but: This series uses a copper layer in the sticker to aid in moving heat away from the controller. It will be interesting to see a true A to B comparison to determine if a sliver of copper is effective or just a marketing maneuver. Samsung also has a firmware-level protection scheme to combat overheating, called Dynamic Thermal Guard. Using the same base ambient temperature, the 950 Pro can read data for 63 seconds before thermal throttle protections kick in and slow performance. The 960 EVO with the updated feature raises the bar to 79 seconds, and the 960 Pro improves upon that number even more, to 95 seconds.
Samsung 960 Pro
| $329 | $629 | $1,299 |
| Samsung Polaris | Samsung Polaris | Samsung Polaris |
| Samsung LPDDR4 | Samsung LPDDR4 | Samsung LPDDR4 |
| Samsung 48-Layer MLC | Samsung 48-Layer MLC | Samsung 48-Layer MLC |
| NVMe 1.2 | NVMe 1.2 | NVMe 1.2 |
| PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 2280 | PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 2280 | PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 2280 |
| 3,500 MB/s | 3,500 MB/s | 3,500 MB/s |
| 2,100 MB/s | 2,100 MB/s | 2,100 MB/s |
| 330,000 IOPS | 440,000 IOPS | 440,000 IOPS |
| 330,000 IOPS | 360,000 IOPS | 360,000 IOPS |
| 400 TBW | 800 TBW | 1,200 TBW |
| 5-Years | 5-Years | 5-Years |
Samsung's 3-bit per cell V-NAND technology has been so successful at delivering both performance and endurance that the new 960 Pro (with MLC V-NAND) almost exclusively targets the professional market. This series costs significantly more than the 960 EVO (with TLC) but is a no-compromise product that delivers very high and very consistent performance. The 960 Pro is ideal for heavy A/V application use and other high write environments.
In this series, customers pay for increased write performance without the need for an SLC-layer buffer. The rated endurance encroaches on enterprise levels and is class-leading compared to all other NVMe-based solutions shipping today in the consumer/prosumer space.
In order to fit the four NAND packages and the other needed components in an M.2 2280 form factor, Samsung needed to merge both the controller and DRAM die together in a single package with a small footprint. This is a technique Samsung perfected in the 750 EVO (and later in the PM971): a single BGA with controller, DRAM, and NAND in the same chip. Samsung managed to meet the current consumer-standard form factor. It was important to hit the target size in order for the 960 Pro to be a drop-in replacement for products like the Lenovo P700 mobile workstation.
The specifications given to us by Samsung show consistent read and write performance across all three models. Users get a blistering 3,500MB/s sequential read and 2,100MB/s sequential write speeds. There is some slight variation in random performance, but under prosumer workloads we don't expect to see much difference outside of rare steady-state conditions.
The 960 Pro will begin shipping in October and is backed by a Samsung 5-year warranty.
Samsung 960 EVO
| $129 | $249 | $479 |
| Samsung Polaris | Samsung Polaris | Samsung Polaris |
| Samsung LPDDR4 | Samsung LPDDR4 | Samsung LPDDR4 |
| Samsung 48-Layer TLC | Samsung 48-Layer TLC | Samsung 48-Layer TLC |
| NVMe 1.2 | NVMe 1.2 | NVMe 1.2 |
| PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 2280 | PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 2280 | PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 2280 |
| 3,200 MB/s | 3,200 MB/s | 3,200 MB/s |
| 1,500 MB/s | 1,800 MB/s | 1,900 MB/s |
| 13 GB | 22 GB | 42 GB |
| 330,000 IOPS | 330,000 IOPS | 380,000 IOPS |
| 300,000 IOPS | 330,000 IOPS | 360,000 IOPS |
| 100 TBW | 200 TBW | 400 TBW |
| 3-Years | 3-Years | 3-Years |
The 960 Pro is an exciting product, but we're more enthusiastic about the mainstream-focused (and mainstream-priced) 960 EVO. This product leverages Samsung's 3-bit per cell V-NAND technology to balance performance and cost. Just days ago, we started talking about a new pricing tier for PCIe NVMe and the Intel 600p as the first entry-level NVMe SSD. Samsung has always used the EVO line to combat both entry-level and mainstream products from other companies. The 960 EVO takes arms with the same strategy. This series costs slightly more than the entry-level NVMe 600p but outperforms the drive on every level.
The 960 EVO utilizes only two NAND packages, so surface area is much less of a concern. To aid in minimizing costs, the DRAM and Polaris controller are separated into two packages. The physical layout is identical to OEM PM961 SSD we tested recently in our Samsung 960 EVO Preview with PM961.
Samsung claims peak performance at 3,200MB/s sequential read and up to 1,900MB/s sequential write. The write performance decreases after the SLC buffer, which Samsung calls TurboWrite. The 960 EVO uses a new version called Intelligent TurboWrite, but we don't have much information on the differences. The latest iteration does increase the SLC size and starts at a massive 13GB for the 256GB model. The largest capacity size, 1TB, can fit nearly a full Blu-ray ISO transfer in SLC, a recommendation we often make in our SSD reviews. It's rare for end users to transfer a single file larger than a Blu-Ray ISO.
The 960 EVO delivers more random performance than the 950 Pro, Samsung's only shipping retail consumer SSD. Peak performance for the 960 EVO comes in the largest capacity size, and users get up to 380,000 read IOPS and 360,000 write IOPS (4KB block sizes). That makes the 960 EVO second only to the 960 Pro in performance for (announced) consumer SSDs.
The part that excites us most is the low-cost aspect without severe endurance limits. The 960 EVO starts at just $129 for the 256GB SKU. This series ships in October with a three-year warranty.
New Magic In A Magician Update
Samsung will release a new version of Magician software in October, and it will work with Windows 10. The updated software will feature a GUI facelift that focuses on health, device status, and system compatibility. Existing functions remain for existing products, but the 960 series packs a few more rabbits in the Magician hat.
The first new 960-specific feature is called Secure File Erase. When you delete files from a 960 product through the Magician interface, the software sends a command that ensures the data is destroyed. This isn't a must-have feature for most consumers, but in some circles, deleting data has an elevated level of importance.
The second 960-specific feature in Magician is called Magic Vault. Users can allocate space behind a firewall-like layer where data is stored and accessed only with a user-defined password. Data in this protected area is less vulnerable to virus and hacker attacks.
www.tomshardware.com
960 Pro NVMe PCIe M.2 512GB
The number of benchmark samples for this model as a percentage of all 12,465,786 SSDs tested.
| 960 Pro NVMe PCIe M.2 512GBSamsung $139Bench 285%, 33,384 samples | 636x |
| EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER | Value: 119% - Outstanding | Total price: $1,803 |
Welcome to our freeware PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best upgrades.
UserBenchmark of the month
Gaming Desktop Workstation CPU GPU SSD HDD RAM USBHow it works
- - Download and run UserBenchMark.
- - CPU tests include: integer, floating and string.
- - GPU tests include: six 3D game simulations.
- - Drive tests include: read, write, sustained write and mixed IO.
- - RAM tests include: single/multi core bandwidth and latency.
- - Reports are generated and presented on userbenchmark.com.
- - Identify the strongest components in your PC.
- - See speed test results from other users.
- - Compare your components to the current market leaders.
- - Explore your best upgrade options with a virtual PC build.
- - Compare your in-game FPS to other users with your hardware.
- - Share your opinion by voting.
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Group Test Results
- Best user rated - User sentiment trumps benchmarks for this comparison.
- Best value for money - Value for money is based on real world performance.
- Fastest real world speed - Real World Speed measures performance for typical consumers.
ssd.userbenchmark.com
Samsung 960 Pro NVMe PCIe M.2 vs 970 Evo
| Effective Speed Effective SSD Speed | 233 % | 285 % | Faster effective speed.+22% |
| Read Avg. Sequential Read Speed | 2135 MB/s | 2146 MB/s | +1% | |||
| Write Avg. Sequential Write Speed | 1385 MB/s | 1535 MB/s | Slightly faster write speed.+11% | |||
| 4K Read Avg. 4K Random Read Speed | 56.9 MB/s | Faster random read.+22% | 46.8 MB/s | |||
| 4K Write Avg. 4K Random Write Speed | 143 MB/s | +1% | 142 MB/s | |||
| Mixed Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed | 1087 MB/s | Much faster mixed IO speed.+30% | 835 MB/s | |||
| 4K Mixed Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed | 76 MB/s | Faster random mixed IO.+16% | 65.3 MB/s | |||
| SusWrite Avg. Sustained Write Speed | 408 MB/s | 1382 MB/s | Hugely faster sustained write speed.+239% |
| Read Peak Sequential Read Speed | 2514 MB/s | 2637 MB/s | +5% | |||
| Write Peak Sequential Write Speed | 1475 MB/s | 1927 MB/s | Much faster peak write speed.+31% | |||
| 4K Read Peak 4K Random Read Speed | 66.2 MB/s | Faster peak random read.+21% | 54.5 MB/s | |||
| 4K Write Peak 4K Random Write Speed | 199 MB/s | +3% | 194 MB/s | |||
| Mixed Peak Sequential Mixed IO Speed | 1301 MB/s | Much faster peak mixed IO speed.+31% | 994 MB/s | |||
| 4K Mixed Peak 4K Random Mixed IO Speed | 91 MB/s | Faster peak random mixed IO.+17% | 78 MB/s | |||
| SusWrite Peak Sequential Sustained Write 60s Average | 481 MB/s | 1894 MB/s | Hugely faster peak sustained write speed.+294% |
Market Share
Based on 12,465,786 SSDs tested.| Market Share Market Share (trailing 30 days) | 2.08 % | Hugely higher market share.+593% | 0.3 % | |||
| Value Value For Money | 269 % | 366 % | Much better value.+36% | |||
| User Rating UBM User Rating | 68 % | +3% | 66 % | |||
| Price Price (score) | $78 | Much cheaper.+44% | $139 |
| Capacity Capacity | 250GB | 512GB |
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The 970 Evo is Samsung’s third generation NVMe PCIe SSD for high-end consumers and professionals alike. It employs the latest Samsung Phoenix controller and their latest version of TLC 3D NAND (now 64-layers) which is cheaper but with slightly lower endurance and weaker write consistency than the MLC NAND found in the 970 Pro. The 970 Evo comes in a M.2 form factor and four sizes: 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB. The $120 250GB 970 Evo has an advertised sequential read speed of up to 3400 MB/s (200MB/s faster than the 250GB 960 Evo) and a sequential write speed of 1500 MB/s which drops to 300 MB/s once the 13Gb of SLC cache has been exhausted (this is similar to the sustained write performance on the 960 Evo). Further benchmarks are required before we can attest to its overall performance in the real world. The anticipated modest performance improvement between generations is expected to maintain Samsung’s front running as the premium SSD brand. Samsung now offers a warranty of 5 years across the suite of 970 SSDs and specifically a generous write endurance of 150 TBW on the 250 GB 970 Evo, thereby challenging the need for the 970 Pro MLC variant. [May '18 SSDrivePro]
MORE DETAILS
Samsung’s NVMe SSD flagship, the 960 Pro, is one of the fastest consumer SSDs on the market, currently second only to Intel’s 900P Optane SSDs. This PCIe SSD offers high-end performance at a premium price and therefore, as the name suggests, is may be more suited towards professional users. Our real world benchmarks show that the 960 Pro has read/write speeds in excess of 4 times faster than the Samsung 850 Pro which is the next best SATA SSD. Compared to the now two year old NVMe 950 Pro the 960 Pro offers significantly higher write throughput and is less susceptible to thermal throttling. The 960 Pro is based on a denser version of Samsung’s V-NAND (3D) technology, featuring more layers of memory cells. The 960 Pro also features an upgraded and faster 5 ARM Polaris controller, compared to the 950 Pro’s 3 ARM UBX controller. The smallest capacity for the 960 Pro is 512 GB, which may make it prohibitively expensive for some. Fortunately, for those that still want the superb NVMe performance, the 250 GB Samsung 960 Evo offers a more affordable choice, albeit with lower sustained write speeds when compared to the 512 GB 960 Pro. The 960 Pro is based on MLC (2-bit) V-NAND whilst the 960 Evo is based on the slightly lower enduring TLC (3-bit) V-NAND, and this accounts for Samsung’s reduced warranty for the 960 Evo (3 years/200 TBW versus 5 years/400 TBW for the 512 GB versions of the 960 Evo and 960 Pro respectively). Unlike the 960 Evo, the 960 Pro doesn’t have an SLC cache which results in more consistent sustained write speeds. [Nov '17 SSDrivePro]
MORE DETAILS
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Group Test Results
- Best user rated - User sentiment trumps benchmarks for this comparison.
- Best value for money - Value for money is based on real world performance.
- Fastest real world speed - Real World Speed measures performance for typical consumers.
Welcome to our freeware PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best upgrades.
UserBenchmark of the month
Gaming Desktop Workstation CPU GPU SSD HDD RAM USBHow it works
- - Download and run UserBenchMark.
- - CPU tests include: integer, floating and string.
- - GPU tests include: six 3D game simulations.
- - Drive tests include: read, write, sustained write and mixed IO.
- - RAM tests include: single/multi core bandwidth and latency.
- - Reports are generated and presented on userbenchmark.com.
- - Identify the strongest components in your PC.
- - See speed test results from other users.
- - Compare your components to the current market leaders.
- - Explore your best upgrade options with a virtual PC build.
- - Compare your in-game FPS to other users with your hardware.
- - Share your opinion by voting.
ssd.userbenchmark.com
Samsung SSD 960 Evo 500GB Review
We liked what we saw when we tested Samsung's SSD 960 Pro nearly a month ago, however availability for the company's new flagship M.2 NVMe SSD has been spotty at best. It's been a rather long wait for enthusiasts and while it should be possible to order a 960 Pro, the drive is currently out of stock in all capacities on Newegg and strangely the 1TB variant isn't expected to show until January 2.
The 960 Pro's class-leading M.2 NVMe performance, excellent endurance ratings, and five-year warranty positioned it as the fastest consumer-grade SSD power users could hope to get their hands on. The only drawback to Samsung's new series so far appears to be the price and while not outrageous by any means, a cost of $0.64/GB for the cheapest model is still expensive.
Remedying this concern, Samsung has unleashed its more affordable 960 Evo series, which is also made in a smaller 250GB capacity. The crazy thing here is that the 250GB model costs $130, taking the cost per gigabyte for this series down to ~$0.50. That's still pretty pricey compared to TLC SATA drives such as the Crucial MX300, but we also expect the 960 Evo to have a performance advantage.
Like the 960 Pro, the 960 Evo is powered by Samsung's Polaris controller coupled with Samsung's 48-layer V-NAND. Although the 960 Evo has been outfitted with TLC memory instead of MLC, the claimed impact on performance is minor with sequential read speeds dropping from 3.5GB/s to 3.2GB/s and write throughput going from 2.1GB/s to 1.9GB/s.
In other words, you'd be paying over 20% less for the 960 Evo than the Pro and yet the impact on performance could be considerably less than that. The new Evo series should also compare strongly against Crucial's TLC-based MX300, which claims sequential read speeds of 530MB/s and write speeds of 510MB/s. With that, we're keen to see what Samsung's TLC NVMe SSD brings to the table.
Watch our video review of the 960 Evo or read on for the full written review...
The King of the TLC Hill
As just mentioned, the 960 Evo series really isn't that different from the Pro series we looked at last month. The only real change being the use of TLC NAND flash, rather than the costlier MLC NAND.
The use of TLC memory brings three key differences for the Evo series: probably least concerning is the reduced endurance rating, though the slightly lower performance isn't that worrying either, whereas the cost savings will likely be of interest to many of you.
Compared to MLC which stores two bits per cell, TLC stores three bits per cell to improve density (capacity), but in doing so reduces performance and most crucially endurance. The 960 Pro 512GB model for example sports an endurance rating of 400 terabytes written and that figure has been halved for the 500GB Evo model. As such, the warranty period offered by Samsung has been reduced from five years to three.
Putting 200TB worth of writes into perspective, over a three-year warranty period you would have to be writing 182GB per day to reach the advertised limit of safe writes. That's an insane amount of data and you'd be filling the entire drive every few days at that rate. In my opinion, it would be unrealistic to suggest that typical users would write so much data in an average week.
I installed a Samsung 950 Pro 512GB SSD in my main work PC about six months ago and in that time I have written just 1.4TB of data. Most of the heavy lifting is done by my NAS, but this still isn't a low figure and it means I've written just under 8GB of data per day on average. From what I've seen, power users working exclusively from their SSD struggle to reach 50GB per day, so 182GB per day should be extreme overkill unless you are running an enterprise data warehouse or something of that nature.
Moving on, the 960 Evo comes in three capacities: the smallest 250GB model is priced at $129 or $0.51/GB, the 500GB model that we have costs $249 which works out to be $0.49/GB, and the 1TB model will set you back $479 or $0.47/GB.
Samsung claims that under typical load the 1TB drive will consume 5.7 watts, 5.4 watts for the 500GB model and 5.3 watts for the 250GB model. Those are similar ratings to the 960 Pro series.
All three versions of the 960 Evo measure only 80mm long just as we saw with the 960 Pro series, meaning they adhere to the M.2 (2280) form factor. The drives weigh between 8.3 and 9.0 grams with the 1TB version naturally being the heaviest. All three models boast the same 3.2GB/s read speed though the write performance varies. The 250GB model is rated at 1.5GB/s, the 500GB model at 1.8GB/s and the 1TB model at 1.9GB/s.
As expected, the drives also vary when looking at input/output operations per second. The 250GB model is good for 333,000 IOPS read and 300,000 IOPS. The 500GB model is rated at 330,000 IOPS read and write while the 1TB model is said to be capable of 380,000 IOPS read and 360,000 write.
The 960 Evo series provides the same data encryption features as all other Samsung SATA SSDs. Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) security technology will help keep data safe at all times. It includes an AES 256-bit hardware-based encryption engine to ensure that your personal files remain secure. Being hardware-based, the encryption engine secures your data without performance degradation that you may experience with a software-based encryption. It's also compliant with advanced security management solutions (TCG Opal).
New Software All Round
Samsung has finally made its NVMe 2.0 driver ready. Neither the 960 Pro or 960 Evo series have been publicly available of course, but reviewers testing the 960 Pro required a minor operating system modification to disabled a command called Force Unit Access (FUA).
Samsung says this command is a conservative approach taken by Microsoft to ensure data integrity in case of sudden power loss. From Windows 8 onwards, Microsoft already incorporated an automatic FLUSH command (for NTFS file formats) to ensure data integrity, but it simultaneously maintained the much older FUA command activated in the standard drive settings.
This redundancy means that write speeds are significantly inhibited due to unnecessary write verification processes. By manually disabling the FUA command, the write performance reached the expected levels. However, as Samsung points out manipulating drive properties is not very user-friendly, so the new Samsung NVMe Driver 2.0 does this automatically while also ensuring basic system compatibility. For example, this driver makes it possible to use the 960 Evo series with Windows 7.
We'll be testing the 960 Evo 500GB drive with the Samsung NVMe 2.0 driver and we will also be re-testing the 960 Pro to update results where need be.
Samsung has also announced that there will be a new and improved version of the Magician software, though sadly it won't be available until the end of November. What we do know, or have at least been told, is that this will be a complete re-design of the Magician software.
Samsung says it will offer consumers an easy way to manage their SSD thanks to a host of new convenient features and a more intuitive user interface that offers an overview of critical drive information and handles firmware/driver updates.
www.techspot.com
