Samsung has added a new member to its highly-regarded SSD 840 range that promises to bring faster speeds and more storage capacity. The new SSD 840 EVO uses 19nm Toggle 2.0 TLC NAND memory, an updated multi-core MEX memory controller, and a new feature called 'TurboWrite' to deliver two and even three times the write performance of its non-Pro SSD 840 predecessor, depending on the model.
Whereas the SSD 840 range topped out at 500GB, this new range will be available in capacities of 120GB, 250GB, 500GB, 750GB and 1TB. Performance gains are more noticeable on the smaller drives. For example, the SSD 840 120GB drive was rated at 130 MB/s writes and 86K/32K 4K random IOPS, but the new SSD 840 EVO can achieve 410 MB/s write speeds while also boosting 4K random read and write IOPS to 94K/35K.
Gains are pretty sizeable on the larger models, too. Specifically, the 250GB unit sees a bump from 250 MB/s to 520 MB/s sequential write speed, and the 500GB model achieves the same mark up from 330 MB/s.
The gains can be attributed to Samsung's write buffering technology which uses some of the drive's three-bit-per-cell NAND in a simulated SLC mode. Sequential read speeds remain mostly unchanged, and there are some slight improvements to random read and write performance. Below is a quick comparison chart.
Performance comparison | SSD 840 | SSD 840 EVO | |||||
120GB | 250GB | 500GB | 120GB | 250GB | 500GB / 750GB / 1TB | ||
Sequential [MB/s] | Read | 530 | 540 | 540 | 540 | 540 | 540 |
Write | 130 | 250 | 330 | 410 | 520 | 520 | |
Random (4KB, QD1) [IOPS] | Read | 7,900 | 7,900 | 7,900 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
Write | 29,000 | 29,000 | 29,000 | 33,000 | 33,000 | 33,000 | |
Random (4KB, QD32) [IOPS] | Read | 86,000 | 96,000 | 98,000 | 94,000 | 97,000 | 98,000 |
Write | 32,000 | 62,000 | 70,000 | 35,000 | 66,000 | 90,000 |
No pricing details have been officially announced. According to TechReport, the 840 EVO is slated to replace the standard 840 series and should be priced accordingly – that's somewhere around $110, $190, $370, $530, and $650 for the 120GB, 250GB, 500GB, 750GB, and 1000GB models respectively.