Computers

Samsung aims to boost adoption of SSDs with speedy new EVO line

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The new Samsung 840 EVO 1 TB SSD is the highest capacity drive in Samsung's new EVO line
The new Samsung 840 EVO 1 TB SSD is the highest capacity drive in Samsung's new EVO line
The new Samsung 840 EVO 1 TB SSD is twice as fast as current 840 models
Samsung's new EVO line of SSDs will come in 120 GB, 250 GB, 500 GB, 750 GB, and 1TB capacities
The new Samsung 840 EVO 1 TB SSD is aimed at the consumer market
The new Samsung 840 EVO 1 TB SSD is the highest capacity drive in Samsung's new EVO line
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We've already seen 1 TB-plus capacity solid state drives (SSDs) from the likes of Smart and OCZ, and today Samsung announced it was joining the club with the addition of a new EVO line to its popular 840 SSD lineup. Samsung says the consumer-oriented 840 EVO models will offer up to 1 TB of storage and boast write times up to three times faster than previous 840 Series SSDs.

Replacing a traditional HDD with an SSD is one of the easiest ways to enhance the performance of an older computer, but many have been holding off on an upgrade due to the storage limitations and cost of SSDs. Samsung is hoping its new EVO line will prompt many to make the jump with 120 GB, 250 GB, 500 GB, 750 GB, and 1TB models on offer.

The storage capacities aren't the only notable improvements of the EVO line, with Samsung also promising bumps in read/write speeds that will see applications launch faster and improve the overall responsiveness of the system.

Samsung's new EVO line of SSDs will come in 120 GB, 250 GB, 500 GB, 750 GB, and 1TB capacities

The 250 GB 840 EVO delivers a sequential write speed of 520 MB/s, which Samsung says is twice as fast as the last generation model, while the 120 GB model offers 410 MB/s sequential write speed, which is three times as fast as the 120 GB 840 Series SSD. In the case of the 1 TB 840 EVO SSD, Samsung promises sequential read/write speeds of 540 MB/s and 520 MB/s respectively.

In addition to the consumer-oriented SATA-based EVO line, Samsung also announced the 2.5-inch NVMe SSD XS1715 with storage capacities of up to 1.6 TB. Aimed at the high-end enterprise storage market, it offers a sequential read speed of 3,000 MB/s, which Samsung says is 14 times faster than high-end enterprise HDDs and six times faster than Samsung's previous SSDs aimed at this market.

There's no word on pricing yet, but the company says its new EVO SSDs will be available in "major global markets in early August."

Source: Samsung

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12 comments
BigGoofyGuy
I think that is way cool. If they price is reasonable - IMO, it should do well.
I prefer SSD over HDD since they use less electricity and faster.
Australian
A lot of these devices that provide high-speed sequential read/write are actually abysmal at random seek read/write. Depending on application it can render the speed advantages useless. Would love to see them publish the random seek times but I suspect they don't for good reason.
Gadgeteer
I didn't realize Samsung SSDs were that slow before. These new "faster" drives are just catching up to other companies' 2012 products.
Nairda
The Samsung 840 Pro ~$250 for 256 Gb has similar specs to Evo.
Would be curious at the comparison of teh two when it comes.
Also wondering why Samsung are not offering a PCI-X version to compete with OCZ.
Nibblonian
So that's why I see the current line of Samsung SSDs on sale everywhere...
In a month or so, anything left in the current line should be even cheaper as "last years model closeout." I would be happy with one of them.
Synchro
@Nairda, NVMe is a PCIe interface for storage (PCI-X is long dead). You didn't think they were getting 3G/sec over SATA did you? http://www.nvmexpress.org
I didn't think the existing 840s were that slow either. This spec page shows 330M/sec sequential write which isn't a third of 410. http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/memory-storage/MZ-7TD500BW-specs It's for a 500G model though - smaller ones may have been slower, but I don't recall them being as low as 130M/sec.
Zaron Gibson
As somebody who just bought 2 840 Pro 256Gb drives to Raid 0 them, I'm a bit pissed that I could have just waited a tiny bit for these which have similar performance and much larger space.
WagTheDog
I bet I'm one of MANY who are simply waiting until SSD prices drop to a FAR more reasonable level. At 10 to 20 times the price of current hard drives, the SSD is just not worth the benefits.
Synchro
@Zaron, get over it, you've got a stupidly fast setup there that you were very happy with when you bought it.
@WagTheDog You're talking as if that price difference comes with no benefit. SSD performance is orders of magnitude better than HDD, while HDD capacity is likely to remain superior for the foreseeable future. SSD prices have been dropping VERY fast over the last few years: http://www.storagenewsletter.com/news/marketreport/when-will-ssd-have-same-price-as-hdd-priceg2
I don't know why anyone would say the 840s were not competitive with OCZ offerings: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269-6.html
Brian Covey
Prices must come WAAAAAYYYY down before this becomes consumer friendly. Right now it is only really viable for notebooks and such. Or, as a small "System" drive. But adoption of these large drives will not be widespread until price drops dramatically.