SFF.Network [SFF Network] Samsung Announces the 960 PRO and 960 EVO

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
SFFn Staff
May 9, 2015
5,914
4,946
inb4 "labelgate", for when Samsung recalls the SSDs due to self-peeling stickers.
 

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
SFFn Staff
May 9, 2015
5,914
4,946

A comparison in real-life usage between a Samsung 960 EVO, Crucial MX300 and a WD Red Pro 4TB.
Look at that little stick fly ! Although they attribute the performance (in the title) to NVMe, while it's almost all because of PCIe speeds.
 

EdZ

Virtual Realist
May 11, 2015
1,578
2,107
Very tempted to move to an all-SSD setup. Currently running an old 840 Evo 1TB and a 3TB 3.5" HDD. I could eliminate the on-the-fly SSD->HDD backup I do and set up a proper periodic backup to a NAS, which would mean a move to a 1TB m.2 (probably a 960 Evo) and a 2TB SSD (probably an MX300). I don't think I could quite manage with just the 1TB m.2 and reusing the existing 1TB SSD (just the offloaded Steam folder would fill most of it), and using an external drive feels like cheating and would slow things down even further. A pretty pricey sidegrade though, as much as I'd like to get rid of the last 3.5" HDD they still can't be beat for cost/GB.

::EDIT:mad:: Broke down and ordered one. Who knows when they'll actually ship though.
 
Last edited:

Stumbler

Caliper Novice
Oct 16, 2016
23
35
Sooo, the 960 pro 512gb has been on backorder forever so I canceled my order. Saw the 960 evo 1tb was in stock. Pretty happy with the decision.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cmyk78

jeshikat

Jessica. Wayward SFF.n Founder
Original poster
Silver Supporter
Feb 22, 2015
4,969
4,781
Pretty happy with the decision.

I really don't see the reason to go with the Pro over the EVO, because the vast majority of people who benefit from the extra capacity for the price of the EVO versus the performance of the Pro. Especially since the 960 EVO is still stupidly fast.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Phuncz and Stumbler

ricochet

SFF AFFLICTED
Oct 20, 2016
547
345
I really don't see the reason to go with the Pro over the EVO, because the vast majority of people who benefit from the extra capacity for the price of the EVO versus the performance of the Pro. Especially since the 960 EVO is still stupidly fast.

Concur, even my old school Crucial MX300 NAND-based M.2 SSD is stupidly fast... though a NVMe would indeed be faster I highly doubt I would benefit from it nor would justifying a PRO in 90% of real world uses for anyone.
 

Soul_Est

SFF Guru
SFFn Staff
Feb 12, 2016
1,536
1,928
I really don't see the reason to go with the Pro over the EVO, because the vast majority of people who benefit from the extra capacity for the price of the EVO versus the performance of the Pro. Especially since the 960 EVO is still stupidly fast.

Concur, even my old school Crucial MX300 NAND-based M.2 SSD is stupidly fast... though a NVMe would indeed be faster I highly doubt I would benefit from it nor would justifying a PRO in 90% of real world uses for anyone.

Endurance. The Pros can usually withstand double the amount of writes that the EVOs can.
 

ricochet

SFF AFFLICTED
Oct 20, 2016
547
345
Endurance. The Pros can usually withstand double the amount of writes that the EVOs can.

Do mere mortals (normal users) really ever enter this realm? I have never seen or known someone who has had SSD failure do over-writes... is this more common than I know?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Phuncz

Soul_Est

SFF Guru
SFFn Staff
Feb 12, 2016
1,536
1,928
Do mere mortals (normal users) really ever enter this realm? I have never seen or known someone who has had SSD failure do over-writes... is this more common than I know?
It used to be and depended a lot on the usage of the machine. Now, it is more a controller firmware issue and not a NAND flash issue. Hopefully the manufacturer got it right and we don't end up with another OCZ or Samsung debacle.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ricochet

BirdofPrey

Standards Guru
Sep 3, 2015
797
493
Do mere mortals (normal users) really ever enter this realm? I have never seen or known someone who has had SSD failure do over-writes... is this more common than I know?
Not really, no.

When SSDs first came to the market, it was somewhat of a problem, but since then NAND cells have gotten a pretty large improvement to the maximum number of rewrites. Not to mention current drives are fairly well over-provisioned on flash cells (a 1TB drive has more capacity than that, but the controller only ever lets the PC see 1TB of it so it can remap dormant cells) for wear leveling, so endurance can be measured in severals of years under "normal" use.
 

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
SFFn Staff
May 9, 2015
5,914
4,946
Also, with increased capacity, the amount of "allowed" data written increases at the same rate. So the issue with 250GB and smaller drives in the past is now much reduced even more. Unless something is very wrong with your setup, like apps writing constantly to disk because of development not having a clue (for shame Spotify and Firefox !) and you don't fill your drive over 90% and keep re-writing data, you are way in the clear.

Most people concerned about SSD life span tend to forget that mechanical HDDs also have a limited life span, but you rarely see it coming. While the disks themselves could last a while, the mechanical parts often aren't specced for 10 years of operation.
 

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
SFFn Staff
May 9, 2015
5,914
4,946
Yep, endurance is looking pretty good. Enterprise is also loving SSDs, mentioning much beter reliability now that most technical reliability challenges like write endurance, retention and firmware issues have faded away. Sooner or later some drive will undoubtibly trigger another "Deathstar"-like scenario with firmware issues but that's about the worst thing I can think of. Except for shoddy production ofcourse but that is an issue the entire tech industry has.
 

jeshikat

Jessica. Wayward SFF.n Founder
Original poster
Silver Supporter
Feb 22, 2015
4,969
4,781
Yeah, I've noticed lately that most webhosts offer an SSD storage option now, when just a few years ago that was fairly rare on the more affordable plans.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Phuncz and ricochet