Samsung SM951 PCIe SSD Now Available
by Kristian Vättö on April 7, 2015 1:20 PM EST
We reviewed Samsung's SM951 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD a little over a month ago and it ended up being clearly the fastest client-level SSD, beating its predecessor XP941 by a large margin. Our initial review sample was pulled from a Lenovo laptop as it was the only way to get early access to the drive, but RamCity just received its first batch last week and the drive is now available for purchase.
| 128GB | 256GB | 512GB | |
| Samsung SM951 (RamCity) | $122 | $242 | $469 |
| Samsung SM951 (Amazon) | $160 | $260 | $510 |
EDIT: RamCity will also be selling the SM951 through Amazon and I just got the pricing details. With today's exchange rate it's actually cheaper to buy from RamCity's online store despite the shipping fees, although the downside is longer shipping time (about a week versus free two-day shipping for Amazon Prime members). The SM951 isn't listed on Amazon yet, but the 128GB and 256GB versions will be up early next week once stock arrives to the US.
Since RamCity is located in Australia, the shipping costs to US and other parts of the world are ~$18 with today's exchange rate. The pricing is comparable to the XP941 and overall pretty fair when taking the performance gains into account. As the SM951 is an OEM part, there's no official warranty on behalf of Samsung, but RamCity is giving the drive a three-year warranty.
Currently the 512GB model is out of stock, but RamCity should be receiving another 150 units next week and you're also able to pre-order one today. The 128GB and 256GB units are both in stock and available immediately. I'll also be getting the 'vanilla' versions that RamCity sells in for review as our initial sample has a Lenovo-specific firmware in it and I want to ensure that our scores represent an actual product that's available for purchase.
Additionally, you will likely need an M.2 to PCIe adapter because M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 slots are rather rare (most I've seen have been PCIe 2.0 x2). There are various adapters available online, but personally I've been using Lycom's DT-120 and can vouch for it as it hasn't given me any trouble.
All in all, there are many PCIe SSD coming during this summer and some will undoubtedly be able to challenge the SM951, but for now it's one of the only PCIe SSDs available. Intel's SSD 750 is a serious contender especially for very intensive IO workloads, but if you're looking for 256GB or smaller drive the SM951 is the best option.
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RamCity - Thursday, April 9, 2015 - link
We've had customers boot the XP941 in this mobo for some time. The AHCI SM951 *should* work, but so far I'm seeing limited support for Z97 platforms while the manufacturers get bios updates released.Samus - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
This is stupid old-fashioned expensive because they're still using old process, old-school 64-bit NAND from years ago. There's no reason to not use 128-bit, no reason not to use 16nm, and really no reason not to use V-NAND unless Samsung doesn't have any faith in it.The price premium TWO TIMES over the Evo 850 M2 and that price delta comes down to the NAND, not the controller. It feels like they're clearing out old inventory or something, it's criminal to still be producing 64-bit 19nm dies in 2015 when you have at least three more technologically advanced processes ahead of it at your disposal.
extide - Wednesday, April 8, 2015 - link
Samsung doesnt have a 16nm NAND process, so there is really only 2 better NAND processes (unless you count both gens of V-NAND, but V-NAND gen 1 isnt used in consumer stuff, only some enterprize stuff). Also it's 64/128 Gbit -- not bit.Atari2600 - Wednesday, April 8, 2015 - link
I got a 512GB SM951 from here a few weeks back:https://www.flexxmemory.co.uk
Worth a check to see if they've any in stock.
danjw - Wednesday, April 8, 2015 - link
It is down to $459.99 for the 512GB this morning.aggiechase37 - Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - link
Unless that permanently fix the EVO issue, there is absolutely no reason to buy another Samsung SSD again. Buying Samsung is just asking for trouble.kenburg - Thursday, April 23, 2015 - link
I have an early 2008 Mac Pro (3,1) and am wondering if there is any advantage to buying the SM951 and Lycom DT-120 combo (512GB) over OWC Accelsior E2 (480GB)? The SM951 is only about $40 more.geekfool - Thursday, April 23, 2015 - link
According to Intel, the 750 requires the full bandwidth of PCIe 3.0 lanes, and can not be run in a 2.0 slot, whereas Samsung's M.2 PCIe units are backward compatible withn 3.0 x2, 2.0 x4 and 2.0 x2 slots (using a PCIe slot adapter, at reduced performance levels, natch), making them much more attractive to those of us whose systems' mobos have only one PCIe 3.0 slot -- especially AMD APU-based system owners!Dustproof - Tuesday, May 5, 2015 - link
I have one in an Apple MacBook Pro, it has valuable data on it. Is there a reader to connect this SSD to to retrieve the data?