Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB & 1TB Drives Tested


Introduction and Specifications

Samsung has been aggressively bolstering its solid state drive line-up for the last couple of years. While some of Samsung’s earliest drives may not have particularly stood-out versus the competition at the time, the company’s 830 series and more recently the 840 series of solid state drives—especially the 840 Pro--have been excellent, both in terms of value and overall performance in their target markets.

Today we’re going to give you a taste of a couple of Samsung’s latest consumer-class solid state drives in the just-announced the 840 EVO series of products. As the name suggests, the SSD 840 EVO series of drives are an evolution of the Samsung 840 series. These drives use the latest TLC NAND flash to come out of Samsung’s fab, along with an updated controller, and also feature some interesting software that can significantly impact performance as well. Take a look at the specifications for the new Samsung SSD 840 series of drives below and then strap yourself in as we take a look at one of the more interesting solid state drives to come across our test bench in quite a while...

Samsung SSD 840 EVO Series
Specifications & Features
Usage Application  Client PCs* 
Capacity  120GB, 250GB, 500GB, 750GB and 1TB 
Dimensions (L* W* H)  100 x 69.85 x 6.8 (mm) 
Interface  SATA 6Gb/s (compatible with SATA 3Gb/s and SATA 1.5Gb/s) 
Form Factor  2.5-inch 
Controller  Samsung MEX controller 
NAND Flash Memory  1x nm Samsung Toggle DDR 2.0 NAND Flash Memory (400Mbps) 
DRAM Cache Memory  256MB (120GB) or 512MB(250GB&500GB) or 1GB (750&1TB) LPDDR2 
Performance Sequential Read: Max. 540 MB/s 
Sequential Write: Max. 520 MB/s (250GB/500GB/750GB/1TB), 410 MB/s (120GB) 
4KB Random Read (QD1): Max. 10,000 IOPS
4KB Random Write(QD1): Max. 33,000 IOPS
4KB Random Read(QD32): Max. 98,000 IOPS (500GB/750GB/1TB), 97,000 IOPS (250GB), 94,000 IOPS (120GB)
4KB Random Write(QD32): Max. 90,000 IOPS (500GB/750GB/1TB), 66,000 IOPS (250GB), 35,000 IOPS (120GB)
TRIM Support  Yes (Requires OS Support) 
Garbage Collection  Yes 
S.M.A.R.T  Yes 
Encryption  AES 256-bit Full Disk Encryption (FDE)
PSID printed in SSD label 
Weight  Max. 53g (1TB) 
Reliability  MTBF: 1.5 million hours 
Power Consumption  Average :100mW*** (Typical) Idle : 45mW (Typical, DIPM ON) 
Temperature Operating: 0°C to 70°C
Non-Operating: -55°C to 95°C 
Humidity  5% to 95%, non-condensing 
Vibration  Operating: Random: 2.17Grms (7~800Hz) 
Non-Operating:  Random: 3.08Grms (7~800Hz) 
Shock  1500G & 0.5ms (Half sine) 
Warranty
Price:
3 years limited
120GB at $109.99 and 250GB at $189.99 currently


If you really spent the time to go through the specifications listed here, you’ll no doubt have noticed that Samsung will be offering drives in the 840 EVO series with capacities ranging from 120GB all the way up to a whopping 1TB. Like other SSDs, performance varies between the different capacities, but overall the 840 EVO series is poised to offer class-leading performance, if Samsung’s numbers hold true in the real-world, of course. Rest assured, we’ll be finding out shortly.

Along with all of those different capacities, Samsung will also be offering various retail products targeting different market segments. There will be standalone drives in all capacities offered for desktop users and for mobile users, Samsung will be offering kits that include migrations software, a USB adapter, and 7mm to 9mm shim as well. All of the actual drives used in the desktop and mobile variants, however, will be similar—it’s only the bundled accessories that will be different.
 

Related content