The Samsung 850 EVO 4TB SSD Review
by Billy Tallis on July 11, 2016 10:00 AM ESTMixed Random Read/Write Performance
The mixed random I/O benchmark starts with a pure read test and gradually increases the proportion of writes, finishing with pure writes. The queue depth is 3 for the entire test and each subtest lasts for 3 minutes, for a total test duration of 18 minutes. As with the pure random write test, this test is restricted to a 16GB span of the drive, which is empty save for the 16GB test file.
The mixed random I/O performance of the 4TB 850 EVO is much better than the other large 850 EVOs, putting te 4TB model close to the top of the chart.
The 4TB 850 EVO also manages a large reduction in power usage as compared with the 1TB and 2TB 850 EVOs, making the 4TB much more efficient.
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Unlike the other 850 EVOs, the 4TB never loses performance as the proportion of writes in the test workload increases. Meanwhile, the power draw is essentially constant until near the end of the test.
Mixed Sequential Read/Write Performance
The mixed sequential access test covers the entire span of the drive and uses a queue depth of one. It starts with a pure read test and gradually increases the proportion of writes, finishing with pure writes. Each subtest lasts for 3 minutes, for a total test duration of 18 minutes. The drive is filled before the test starts.
The 4TB 850 EVO is essentially tied for the best mixed sequential read and write performance.
The 4TB 850 EVO averages using slightly less power than the 2TB model, and it is one of the most efficient of the large drives.
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The usual pattern is for performance on this test to resemble a bathtub curve, but the 2TB 850s and the 4TB 850 EVO don't lose as much of their performance during the first half of the test, leading them to bottom out much later than most other drives.
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Adm_SkyWalker - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
At CES Mushkin said they were planning on releasing a 4TB SSD by the end of the year. They are targeting a $500 price point. Unless they scrapped it, this could be a cheaper option before the end of the year.http://techreport.com/news/29583/mushkin-previews-...
http://techreport.com/news/29583/mushkin-previews-...
Kristian Vättö - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
It was a misinterpretation. The $500 price point was for the 2TB drive, with the price of the 4TB being unannounced (likely a double at least).http://www.anandtech.com/comments/9986/ces-2016-ro...
Adm_SkyWalker - Tuesday, July 12, 2016 - link
I should of figured it was to good to be true. Still a competing $1000 drive could convince Samsung to lower their price. Assuming the speed is comparable between the two.aggiechase37 - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
Way WAY WAAAAYYY too expensive. For this price you could get piece together a RAID configuration out of regular HDD and get a decent amount of the same performance AND the added bonus of having redundancy in the case of a drive failure. Can't see who purchases this.Chloiber - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
Not sure why anyone would want to buy this when you can get a 4TB Samsung P863 Enterprise SSD for 300$ more...Taracta - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
Isn't the 25% over-provisioning getting a bit much for these larger SSDs? Does a 4TB SSD really need 1TB over-provisioning to max-out relative performance? Would 10% be enough for these large drives?Billy Tallis - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
That is something I've wondered about and will probably look in to eventually, but it would be pretty time consuming to test and isn't something I can see adding to the routine suite of benchmarks.Impulses - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
Something to ask Samsung tho?Taracta - Thursday, July 14, 2016 - link
Thanks for your reply. I believe that you should just test this 4TB SSD for now to see the impact and another couple of different ~4TB SSDs when available to compare with these results. Forget about the lesser drives, too many and too late.ACE76 - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
hopefully we see more manufacturers release 4tb and greater SSDs...these drives will end the need for platter based hard drives for good...price is too high right now but it should come down over the next 6 months to a year.