The Samsung 750 EVO (120GB & 250GB) SSD Review: A Return To Planar NAND

Random Read Performance

The random read test requests 4kB blocks and tests queue depths ranging from 1 to 32. The queue depth is doubled every three minutes, for a total test duration of 18 minutes. The test spans the entire drive, which is filled before the test starts. The primary score we report is an average of performances at queue depths 1, 2 and 4, as client usage typically consists mostly of low queue depth operations.

All the Samsung drives are crowding the top of the chart for low queue depth random read speeds, and the 750 EVO is way ahead of any other planar TLC drive here.

With power usage in the middle of the pack, the 750 EVO and 850 EVO are some of the most power-efficient drives on this test, but drives like the Plextor M6V are still at the top of the efficiency ranking.

Samsung 750 EVO 120GBSamsung 750 EVO 250GBADATA Premier SP550 120GBADATA Premier SP550 240GBADATA XPG SX930 120GBADATA XPG SX930 240GBCrucial BX100 120GBCrucial BX100 250GBCrucial MX200 250GBOCZ ARC 100 240GBOCZ Trion 100 240GBOCZ Trion 150 240GBOCZ Vector 180 240GBPNY CS1311 120GBPNY CS1311 240GBPNY CS2211 240GBPlextor M6V 256GBSamsung 850 EVO 120GBSamsung 850 EVO 250GBSamsung 850 EVO M.2 120GBSamsung 850 EVO mSATA 250GBSamsung 850 Pro 128GBSamsung 850 Pro 256GBSanDisk Ultra II 240GB

In addition to offering great performance at low queue depths, the 750 EVO scales up to reach higher speeds at QD32 than any non-Samsung drive, without power consumption getting out of hand.

Random Write Performance

The random write test writes 4kB blocks and tests queue depths ranging from 1 to 32. The queue depth is doubled every three minutes, for a total test duration of 18 minutes. The test is limited to a 16GB portion of the drive, and the drive is empty save for the 16GB test file. The primary score we report is an average of performances at queue depths 1, 2 and 4, as client usage typically consists mostly of low queue depth operations.

Taking capacity into account, the 750 EVO provides much better random write speeds than any other planar TLC drive, and the 250GB model is competitive against many MLC drives.

The 750 EVO is high-performing for a TLC drive but at the cost of requiring more power than most planar TLC drives and much more than the 850 EVO.

Samsung 750 EVO 120GBSamsung 750 EVO 250GBADATA Premier SP550 120GBADATA Premier SP550 240GBADATA XPG SX930 120GBADATA XPG SX930 240GBCrucial BX100 120GBCrucial BX100 250GBCrucial MX200 250GBOCZ ARC 100 240GBOCZ Trion 100 240GBOCZ Trion 150 240GBOCZ Vector 180 240GBPNY CS1311 120GBPNY CS1311 240GBPNY CS2211 240GBPlextor M6V 256GBSamsung 850 EVO 120GBSamsung 850 EVO 250GBSamsung 850 EVO M.2 120GBSamsung 850 EVO mSATA 250GBSamsung 850 Pro 128GBSamsung 850 Pro 256GBSanDisk Ultra II 240GB

The 120GB 750 EVO shows almost no scaling with queue depth, while the 250GB needs a queue depth of at least two to reach full performance. By contrast, the 120GB 850 EVO shows a little bit of performance scaling from QD1 to QD2 and the 250GB 850 EVO doesn't hit full performance until QD4.