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.
Performance is on par with the OEM SM951, with the 512GB 950 Pro rated at 2500MB/s read and 1500MB/s write for sequential. The 256GB comes in a little slower, at 2200MB/s and 900MB/s. The drives are PCIe 3.0 x4 and will require a M.2 port running at that PCIe gen and lane allocation to reach full speed. Being consumer products though, they will have warranties through Samsung and should be available from a variety of retailers, addressing two of the big issues with the SM951. It also comes with a very nice looking matte black PCB.
Samsung is saying the 256GB and 512GB model drives will be available next month, priced at $200 and $350 respectively.
I’m really excited for these drives for SFF because not only are they much faster than SATA drives, they’re much smaller and don’t need any cables either.
Thoughts? Discuss them here
