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Several factors enable such high speeds. First is
that these drives use the M.2 interface and NVMe
protocol. This removes the inherent speed limit of
SATA, which maxes out at around 550MB/s.
Samsung also packs in its latest V-NAND
memory technology for even higher data densities.
V-NAND is a form of 3D NAND and this latest
version moves from 32 layers to 48 layers. This has
allowed Samsung to offer the 960 Pro in a
maximum capacity of 2TB, which has never before
been possible on an M.2 drive. The result is it
monsters every test you could imagine and, unlike
some far more expensive, specialist SSDs, it isn’t
only fast according to a few criteria – it’s a complete
all-rounder. It also has a healthy five-year warranty.
But all that performance is totally overkill for
most users. Load times for games, Windows and
other applications are hardly improved over far
cheaper SSDs. So a slower drive with
more capacity for the same money is
likely to be a better option.SAMSUNG 960 PRO 512GB
Based on Samsung’s older 32-layer V-NAND
technology, the 850 Evo is a SATA drive so can claim
maximum read and write speeds of 540MB/s and
520MB/s respectively. Even then it’s not the fastest
SATA SSD around, but with random performance
figures of 98,000IOPs read and 90,000IOPs write,
it comfortably outpaces most other SATA drives.
Being a TLC drive, it uses a form of SLC caching,
but the sustained write speed on the 500GB and
larger drives is still fast enough to nearly max out
the SATA interface. The 120GB version does drop to
as low as 150MB/s, though.
As with other Samsung Evo drives, the 850 Evo
has a three-year warranty while the 500GB is rated
to last for up to 150TB total written data. To put that
into perspective, our three-year-old 750GB 840 Evo
still only has 17TB total data written to it.
All told, the Samsung 850 Evo is still the single
best option for those on a budget but
who don’t want to compromise too
much on performance.SAMSUNG 850 EVO 500GB
Samsung’s new 960 Pro SSDs are the fastest you can buy.
They can hit sequential speeds up to 3500MB/s read and
2100MB/s write. That’s 1000MB/s and 600MB/s faster than
last year’s 950 Pro drives and way beyond any other SSDs.
The Samsung 850 Evo line has been the champion of
mid-range SSDs ever since it first arrived last year. That’s
because it strikes a near perfect balance of performance and
value, making it ideal for gaming PCs.90 % 95 %
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