Samsung Releases 970 PRO and EVO m.2. SSDs
Before we begin with the press release, our samples are delayed in shipment, I expect to post the first review within the next 24 hours. Samsung today announces their Samsung 970 PRO and EVO, the third generation of its industry-leading consumer solid state drive (SSD) lineup.
The Samsung 970 PRO and EVO are designed based on the M.2 form factor standard and with the latest PCIe Gen 3x4 lane interface. The 970 series maximizes the potential of NVMe bandwidth, delivering unparalleled performance for processing large volumes of data, including 3D, 4K graphics work, high-end games and data analytics.
The 970 PRO enables sequential read speed of up to 3,500 MB/s and sequential write speed of up to 2,700 MB/s , while the EVO features sequential read speed of up to 3,500 MB/s and sequential write speed of up to 2,500 MB/s . The sequential write speeds represent an enhancement of up to 30 percent over the previous generation , thanks to Samsung’s latest V-NAND technology and the newly designed Phoenix controller. The 970 EVO, in particular, utilizes the Intelligent TurboWrite technology, which uses a large buffer size of up to 78GB to enable faster write speeds.
In addition to the advancements in performance levels, the 970 PRO and EVO deliver exceptional endurance and reliability. Featuring a five-year warranty, or up to 1,200 terabytes written – 50 percent higher than those provided for the previous generation – the 970 PRO and EVO are built to last. The Dynamic Thermal Guard technology safeguards against overheating by automatically monitoring and maintaining optimal operating temperatures, while a heat spreader and new nickel-coated controller further lower the SSD temperatures.
The 970 PRO and EVO also provide greater system design flexibility for the high-performance computing systems. Offering a variety of high capacity options in a compact M.2 form factor – including the single-sided 2TB EVO model – the 970 series enables convenient storage expansion across a wide range of computing devices.
The 970 EVO will be offered in 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities, and the 970 PRO in 512GB and
1TB capacities. The 970 PRO and EVO will be available for purchase worldwide starting May 7, 2018, with manufacturer’s suggested retail prices starting at $329.99 and $119.99 USD, respectively.
Key Specifications
Category |
970 PRO |
970 EVO |
|
Interface |
PCIe Gen 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3 |
||
Form Factor |
M.2 (2280) |
||
Storage Memory |
Samsung 64L V-NAND 2-bit MLC |
Samsung 64L V-NAND 3-bit MLC |
|
Controller |
Samsung Phoenix Controller |
||
Cache Memory |
1GB LPDDR4 DRAM (1TB) 512MB LPDDR4 DRAM (512GB) |
2GB LPDDR4 DRAM (2TB) 1GB LPDDR4 DRAM (1TB) 512MB LPDDR4 DRAM (250GB/500GB) |
|
Capacity |
512GB and 1TB |
250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB |
|
Sequential Read/Write Speed |
Up to 3,500/2,700 MB/s |
Up to 3,500/2,500 MB/s |
|
Random Read/Write Speed |
Up to 500,000/500,000 IOPS |
Up to 500,000/480,000 IOPS |
|
Device Sleep |
5mW |
||
Management Software |
Samsung Magician Software |
||
Data Encryption |
Class 0 (AES 256), TCG/Opal v2.0, MS eDrive (IEEE1667) |
||
Total Byte Written |
1,200TB (1TB) 600TB (512GB) |
1,200TB (2TB) 600TB (1TB) 300TB (500GB) 150TB (250GB) |
|
Warranty |
Five-year Limited Warranty* |
||
* Five years or TBW, whichever comes first
Samsung 2018 QLED TVs will support 120hz Freesync and VRR - 04/05/2018 12:58 PM
Samsung announced it will release QLED televisions (I am not talking about monitors here) in 2018 that are going to support variable refresh rate technology (VRR) which is possible with HDMI 2.1, as w...
Samsung Launches the Notebook 5 and Notebook 3 - 04/02/2018 05:41 PM
Samsung Electronics today announced the Samsung Notebook 5 and Notebook 3, completing the Notebook portfolio. With a seamless, fluid design and embedded with the latest hardware balancing speed, power...
Samsung will double NAND production in China, Toshiba invests $1 billion in 3D NAND Fab - 03/30/2018 07:06 AM
As we reported a few weeks ago, pressured by the Chinese government in an aim for market stability, Samsung now plans to double NAND production. Samsung will invest $7 billion in the next three years ...
Samsung Exynos 7 Series 9610 - 03/22/2018 08:19 AM
Samsung announced the availability of its latest application processor (AP), the Exynos 7 Series 9610. The Exynos 9610, built on Samsung’s 10-nanometer (nm) FinFET process, elevates the mult...
Samsung To Offers 8TB PM883 6Gbps SATA SSD and 16Gb-64GB DDR4 RDIMM - 03/21/2018 07:50 AM
Samsung announced that it is rolling out its PM883, the highest density datacenter SATA drive, at eight terabytes (TB). Samsung's new solid state drive (SSD) offering is the industry's first datacen...
Senior Member
Posts: 236
Joined: 2006-11-13
How is this even legal? They promised IEEE1667/Microsoft Edrive from the start for the Samsung 960 EVO and Pro and we still don't have a working implementation. We finally got a half-baked solution with the latest firmware, but it doesn't work with boot-drives so it's mostly useless for 99% of us. Now we have a new series where we supposedly have working IEEE1667/Microsoft Edrive from the get-go? Like seriously?
Senior Member
Posts: 4085
Joined: 2003-03-03
Don't be. It seems that the performance difference is negligible, but the power consumption is quite a bit worse than the 960 EVO.
So basically it's just a way to catch up to the WD Black / Sandisk Extreme SSD, but failed to deliver on the power part.
Personally I'd go with the WD/Sandisk, since the performance difference is minimum, but the power consumption is way ahead of Samsung.
Don Vito Corleone
Posts: 39979
Joined: 2000-02-22
Member
Posts: 22
Joined: 2017-07-21
Pricing on these drives is quite reasonable given their reliability and solid performance. I don't care if they aren't the cheapest or fastest in raw numbers if they just work when you use them. Simplicity is worth a lot these days.
Senior Member
Posts: 172
Joined: 2015-01-28
I just got a 960 EVO. So sad to hear this.