Mixed Random Read/Write Performance

For full details of how we conduct our Iometer tests, please refer to this article.

Iometer - Mixed 4KB Random Read/Write

In mixed 4KB random performance the 2TB Pro shows rather significant gains over the 512GB model. I was always surprised how poorly the 850 Pro performed in this test, so it's good to see Samsung paying attention to this, especially since the performance increase comes with dramatically improved power efficiency.

Iometer - Mixed 4KB Random Read/Write (Power)

Samsung 850 Pro 2TB

The 512GB Pro had performance and power issues once over half of the IOs were writes, but the 2TB model shows quite optimal performance scaling.

Mixed Sequential Read/Write Performance

Iometer - Mixed 128KB Sequential Read/Write

In mixed sequential workload performance of both the 2TB Pro and EVO is further improved with the Pro topping the chart. The 2TB EVO is again more power efficient than the 1TB model, whereas the 2TB Pro consumes only a little more power than the 512GB model (this was expected because large sequential IOs utilize multiple dies and with 2TB having more NAND there are more dies drawing power).

Iometer - Mixed 128KB Sequential Read/Write (Power)

The improvement has been in the critical 60/40 and 40/60 distributions. Quite a few drives have an infamous "bathtub" curve where performance severely degrades, but the 2TB Pro and EVO are fairly consistent though all distributions. It's great to see Samsung improving mixed performance because typically it has been an area that has been forgotten in client SSDs, but under real world workloads IOs tend consist of both reads and writes.

Samsung 850 Pro 2TB
Sequential Performance Idle Power Consumption, ATTO & AS-SSD
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  • leexgx - Thursday, July 23, 2015 - link

    with the 2TB drive they should be good up to 2-6PB of written data at least (the 150-300TB is for warranty purpose past that they will not cover it) the Pro drive would be recommended if you know you're going to be doing lots of writes as tends to keep on going till it fails with 0 errors (EVO does not bold as well under mass data loads when exceeding its endurance spec)
  • Topweasel - Friday, July 24, 2015 - link

    In the worst case at 14nm with the 840 Pro they saw ~800TB of writing before they acted up. They should easily see more than that with 40nm MLC 3d nand. 300TB is great way to to beat everyone else at the warranted writes and still only offer a warranty that covers 10% on the low of its projected use allowance. The 2 TB version is probably good for damn near 10 PB of writes (could be a lot more not using a calculator to figure out its true longevity).
  • fokka - Saturday, July 25, 2015 - link

    since your average modern ssd will manage much more than 300tb anyways, upping the (guaranteed) durability from 150 to 300tb doesn't really take much and might as well be considered a marketing move. not that it's a bad development.
  • Ubercake - Thursday, July 23, 2015 - link

    Even without the 3D V-NAND tech, when Samsung upped the warranty to five years on their 850 EVOs (compared to 3-years on the 840 EVOs) and still kept prices competitive, I was sold on their drives. If a company backs any of this PC tech for five years (and even 10 years on the 850 PRO series!) or more, their on the short list for any of my builds.
  • colinstu - Thursday, July 23, 2015 - link

    the length of their warranties sold me too. I've been recommending them to friends to. One of those friend's 840 Pro however has been having some problems, attempting to do an RMA, Samsung only said they'd send out a refurbished drive (and never an upgraded model). This has put quite a sour taste in my mouth with Samsung (sadly). I don't know if Intel or others are any better with their RMA SSDs, but I sure hope so.
  • hansmuff - Thursday, July 23, 2015 - link

    It's common practice to send out refurbs for RMA replacement. For items under 30 days old, sometimes you can get a new replacement, depends on the manufacturer.
    What do you mean by upgraded model? Did he want an 850Pro for his 840 or something?
  • sustainednotburst - Friday, July 24, 2015 - link

    did a RMA recently and in the email there was a notice that said they give New units within 90 days of purchase as long as you provide the proof of purchase.
  • BillyONeal - Thursday, July 23, 2015 - link

    To be fair, SanDisk did the 10 years thing first on the Extreme Pro; Samsung may just be responding to that. The number of drives returned for warranty, even among drives that actually fail, is likely extremely low.
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 23, 2015 - link

    Hmm, already got a 1TB EVO... Chances are I'll find a better deal (GB/$) on a second one by the end of this year than on the 2TB. I wish these had been out for a while already, if it were $700 or less already I would've picked one up instead of the 1TB I got recently (for $340). Trying to ditch HDD for anything but backups, but it'll come down to how much storage my photography ends up gobbling thru the year.
  • melgross - Thursday, July 23, 2015 - link

    The article is wrong about 1TB drives not being around at $1,000 and above. There were plenty of those drives.

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