SFF.Network [SFF Network] Samsung announces the 950 Pro

Samsung’s SSD Global Summit is currently happening in Seoul, Korea and the big announcement is the upcoming release of the Samsung 950 Pro SSD. AnandTech has a great overview of the new features. It is the first consumer SSD in the M.2 form factor to feature the NVMe interface combined with 3D NAND. It will initially release in 256GB and 512GB models, with a 1TB model coming early 2016.

Read more here

 

[Phuncz]

Next to the Nova, the most exciting hardware component I've been looking forward to. Also, it's black, finally. Too bad they still had to put the sticker over the chips, so no voiding the warranty if you want to cool it properly. Unless the sticker is a good thermal conductor, which I doubt.

But I'm doubting it will need cooling, the issues with "overheating" was happening when doing benchmarks sustained for a long time at max throughput. Not really going to happen, since it can fill up my 16GB of RAM in about 7 seconds at that speed.

 

[iFreilicht]

I think putting a thick thermal conducting pad on the chips to dissipate heat to the case will be plenty of cooling.

 

[Phuncz]

The problem is this:

That nice matching black sticker on the black chips on the black PCB. It will without a doubt come with the popular words "warranty void if removed". To remove or not to remove, that is the question. Maybe they invested in an aluminium-foil label ? I could see that work

 

[EdZ]

If you want to remove the warranty void sticker. there are ways.

 

[iFreilicht]

If you want to remove the warranty void sticker. there are ways.

Haha I saw the video by Dave this morning and immediately thought of it

That video also has comments saying that Warranty Void Stickers are null and void in Europe because of the consumer protection laws, much like EULAs, but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[Phuncz]

Too bad nobody seems to make those teflon wedges. But in all fairness, I doubt I'd last long, caving in and removing the sticker after a few weeks anyway.

 

[jeshikat]

If you want to remove the warranty void sticker. there are ways.

Nice, my favorite EE and ME channels respectively

 

[veryrarium]

I have always wondered if "warranty void if removed" is naturally interpreted as "warranty void if the sticker is removed and gone" or "warranty void if the sticker has once been removed (and is back on)", and I don't know the answer as English isn't my native language and I'm not so proud of my command of it.
I watched the two videos linked by EdZ, but they both created visible wrinkles while pealing the sticker, so if the phrase is interpreted in the second way, I'm afraid the vendor may refuse the replacement/repair request in such a case?

 

[iFreilicht]

Wrinkles wouldn't be a problem, those warranty stickers are designed to be completely broken if you just peel them off regularly. With stickers on RAM, though, you just have a standard sticker, so if you removed it and put it on one of those sheets that stickers are on before you put them on something (you know what I mean, right), you could put them back on.

The statement itself is rather ambiguous, that's how English is in general, but I would say it implies that the warranty is void once the sticker is removed for the first time and it won't renew when you put it back on.

 

[jtd871]

Do you think that you'd need to resort to the warranty? When was the last time you returned a product under warranty due to an actual defect?

 

[Phuncz]

Just in 2015:
- DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM in my Intel NUC became unstable, luckily I didn't care about removing the labels.
- Swiftech H220 was defective out of the box, luckily I tested it before I added the GPU block, but I didn't need to break a security label for that.
- EK GPU waterblock started leaking after one year, good thing I didn't damage that paper-thin warranty label.

Maybe not everyone, but I've had my fair share of defective gear without user-error.

 

[jtd871]

Fair enough.

 

[BirdofPrey]

I have always wondered if "warranty void if removed" is naturally interpreted as "warranty void if the sticker is removed and gone" or "warranty void if the sticker has once been removed (and is back on)", and I don't know the answer as English isn't my native language and I'm not so proud of my command of it.
I watched the two videos linked by EdZ, but they both created visible wrinkles while pealing the sticker, so if the phrase is interpreted in the second way, I'm afraid the vendor may refuse the replacement/repair request in such a case?

It may help to understand the purpose of such a sticker.

Warranties cover manufacturing defects. Manufacturers don't want to be liable for any damage that isn't their fault so the warranty is void if you tamper with or misuse a product on the grounds that you may have broken it, and they can't afford or are unwilling to replace something the user broke and once you've tampered with their product, it can't be proven that any problems are manufacturing defects anymore.

The sticker exists as a tamper evident device. It generally covers a seam or screw on a case or blocks some other important part, thus, removing the sticker is required to open (ie. tamper with) the product, and the sticker is then used as an easy indicator that this has taken place. Without having put such a sticker on, it would be much harder to prove that you tampered with something.

Given that it should be assumed that the warranty is void once the sticker is removed.

 

[Phuncz]

I think everyone understands that, but what's frustrating is that they put these stickers on M.2 SSDs and RAM on top of the chips, which if anything need cooling more than they need tamper proofing. What could we possibly be tampering with a BGA chip ? They could just as easily have sticked it to the back, allowing the chips to have slightly better cooling out-of-the-box. And if people want to add heatsinks, it wouldn't void warranty. If a heatsink would have been added incorrectly, it would be shown as physical marks anyway.

 

[EdZ]

It's mainly for the barcode: asset control is a big part of enterprise IT, particularly for anything actually storing data. Having the sticker with the barcode exposed makes it a lot easier to scan than having to remove the drive itself everytime. Making it a tamper-evident sticker aids in making sure the barcode you scan reports the same serial number as the drive itself reports to the OS. It also means than when a manufacturer EOLs and disposes of stock, they can just rip off the stickers and prevent whoever the hand the drives over to for disposal trying to resell them as new.

 

[BirdofPrey]

Maybe they don't accept custom heat sinks as proper use of their stuff.
Any excuse to not have to honor the warranty (which costs them money) is a good one for them.

This may be related to the other discussion that came out before this, but it is a bit of a shame they aren't coming out with a double sided version with more capacity

 

[Phuncz]

The 1TB version is expected in 2016, but it will probably also be single-sided with more layers of NAND per package. I can't really say this is a bad thing, I see more future in more layers (more GB/package) than adding more packages. You can always just add more chips but that's not really progress, it's just more "more". Since M.2 has a small footprint, evolution in GB/package is much more important.

But don't fret, we'll probably see 2TB and more in 2016 "on a stick"

 

[BirdofPrey]

As great as progress and future developments are; they are of little use NOW.

I don't see a reason we can't have more packages now just because future packages will have more on them, and having a double sided chip with 1TB now doesn't stop them from having a future product with 1TB on a single side and being able to to a 2TB using both sides.

 

[EdZ]

Double-sided m.2 boards have clearance issues in many laptops. As laptops are currently the largest market for m.2 SSDs, making one that is incompatible with a large chunk of your market would not be a very good idea.