The Samsung 960 EVO (1TB) Review
by Billy Tallis on November 15, 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 960 EVO is essentially tied for second place with the OCZ RD400 and significantly behind the 960 Pro in overall performance on mixed random I/O.
The 960 EVO's power efficiency on this test is not great, but it is a big improvement over last year's 950 Pro.
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The 960 EVO's high performance score comes primarily from its great performance in the pure write final phase of the test. Throughout the rest of the test, the 960 EVO is not as fast as the 950 Pro.
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 960 EVO's mixed sequential I/O performance is the second-fastest among M.2 SSDs and third place overall. Performance is modestly improved over the 950 Pro.
The 960 EVO's power efficiency is better than most PCIe SSDs, but still well behind the 960 Pro.
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The 960 EVO's performance in the pure read first phase of the test is great, but its performance with an 80/20 mix is much worse than the 950 Pro or OCZ RD400. The worst-case performance is also not as good as the RD400 or 960 Pro.
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Gigaplex - Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - link
I think they're trying to say the performance isn't great. Failing means we don't get to see the performance numbers.Dave Null - Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - link
This is indeed frustrating. I was expecting the 960 Pro drives I preordered to arrive last week. Now Amazon is reporting January.Something major must have happened for Samsung to miss its release date so badly, but nobody is reporting it.
Flying Aardvark - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - link
I went with the 600P 1TB instead.. had it for 2 weeks now.. I love it. Being M.2 I didn't buy it for heavy workloads anyway so it won't throttle. But if I needed performance I'd go with the Intel 750 instead of what I got.Phattio - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - link
my 960 Pro 512GB arrives today. ordered from best buy online.Kristian Vättö - Thursday, November 17, 2016 - link
There is a simple explanation: NAND shortage.XabanakFanatik - Thursday, November 17, 2016 - link
Of course! I'm glad you had an article about it. Oh, wait.I'm fairly certain that people need to know that despite your reviews coming out on time that they won't be able to buy the products for months.
zanon - Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - link
Interesting to see the rate at which these continue to progress, and I'm glad Samsung continues to ramp performance aggressively. One thing I wish you could find some way to integrate is at least a summary of reliability features like how a drive handles power loss, and (depending on feasibility if you are mainly testing short-term loaners) maybe some followup a few months down the line with longer term performance/reliability observations. While Samsung has long been at or near the pinnacle of out-of-box raw performance, they've also had a history of playing a bit fast and loose with reliability and support, and I think that deserves some sort of recognition. I have a lot of Intel 730s that replaced or were chosen over Samsung drives of the time after a number of poor experiences with the long term usage 840 series for example, and while the 840s were superior in many respects on paper and Day 1, by Day 100+ and under stress they developed issues that were not immediately apparent.Also, a small typo on the final page, looks like at least one of the $/GB (the 750@1TB) isn't right.
Billy Tallis - Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - link
I am working on some longer-term data and performance retention testing, but the amount of extra equipment that requires means not many drives will get that treatment. Unexpected power loss testing might be more feasible, but for the near future the testbed is too busy for me to add something like this to the routine.The Intel 750 doesn't fit conveniently in the price comparison chart because of its unusual capacities. The prices listed are for the 400GB and 1.2TB models, and the 800GB model isn't listed in the table.
Bullwinkle J Moose - Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - link
Speaking of long-term data retention......If I had 2 SSD's, one unplugged and stored in a closet and one plugged in with power on but idle and unused, would the one plugged in retain data longer even though it is unused????
patrickjp93 - Thursday, November 17, 2016 - link
Yes. There is wear leveling and data refresh in modern SSDs (840/Evo being the exception with cell band drift)