Internals, Testing Methodology and System Setup
Internals
The external housing is a slight revision to what we saw with the 840 EVO. As you might note above, the top and bottom are now flipped. Aside from that, construction feels similar and just as durable as prior models.
We had a chuckle as we cracked these two models open. As Samsung is able to stack dies very efficiently within a single flash memory package, there is really no need for large PCBs full of chips here.
The (tiny) PCB fronts appear identical.
At the rear we see the difference between the two capacities, with the 250GB model (left) having an extra flash package, doubling the number of dies present.
Here is a better angle so we can actually read the part numbers. The MGX controller is used in both models. This controller was optimized by Samsung for client operations.
*edit* We learned after publishing that the 750 EVO is using a revised 16nm flash (the 840 EVO used 19nm). Other than the benefit of reduced cost, we know of no other performance changes over the flash in the 840 EVO. We can confirm that this 16nm planar NAND is the same 128Gbit per die of the prior generation 19nm flash.
One final thing to note is the absense of visible RAM on these products. There is now 256MB of DDR3 integrated into the controller, which makes for even simpler packaging and lower cost.
Testing Methodology
Our tests are a mix of synthetic and real-world benchmarks. IOMeter, HDTach, HDTune, Yapt and our custom File Copy test round out the selection to cover just about all bases. If you have any questions about our tests just drop into the Storage Forum and we'll help you out!
Test System Setup
We have several storage testbeds. A newer ASUS P8Z77-V Pro/Thunderbolt and an ASUS Z87-PRO. Variance between both boards has been deemed negligible when testing SATA devices. Future PCIe and SATA device testing, including this review, take place on a new ASUS Sabertooth X99, which comes equipped with USB 3.1, M.2, and can also handle SFF-8639 devices with the proper adapter.
PC Perspective would like to thank Intel, ASUS, Corsair, Kingston, and EVGA for supplying some of the components of our test rigs.
Hard Drive Test System Setup | |
CPU | Intel Core i7 5820K @ 4.125 GHz |
Motherboard | ASUS Sabertooth X99 |
Memory | 16GB Micron DDR4 @ 3333 |
Hard Drive | G.Skill 32GB SLC SSD |
Sound Card | N/A |
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 750 |
Video Drivers | GeForce Game Ready Driver 347.88 |
Power Supply | Corsair CMPSU-650TX |
DirectX Version | N/A |
Operating System | Windows 8.1 Pro X64 (update) |
- PCPer File Copy Test
- HDTach
- HDTune
- IOMeter
- YAPT
- PCPer Latency Distribution / Latency Percentile
it’ll soon be 10 cents per
it’ll soon be 10 cents per gb! ;-p
I thought Samsung had decided
I thought Samsung had decided to kill of the 120/128GB models as 250/256GB SSDs cost less than 100$.
I don’t see the point of
I don’t see the point of 120gb HDD’s anymore, at least not at only $20 less than a 240gb. Sure, they are just going to be used for boot drives only, but the 240’s always seem to perform better so you’d want to go that route for a boot drive anyway and reap the benefit of being able to put more of your most used apps on it.
They look ridiculous when
They look ridiculous when opened up. I guess we need a different form factor for SSDs.
hehe, I totally agree, 2.5″
hehe, I totally agree, 2.5″ doesn’t make any sense for these drives. Luckily we have m.2
Yeah this is what mSATA and
Yeah this is what mSATA and M.2 are for 🙂
I am almost surprised they
I am almost surprised they didn’t just put an m.2 SATA device in there with a little adaptor.
I don’t know if I can trust
I don’t know if I can trust Samsung after that massive Evo debacle, at least not without waiting a year or two while everyone beta-tests this drive. The three year warranty doesn’t really inspire much confidence either. Kind of puts me off SSDs entirely.
I agree with you, and we will
I agree with you, and we will leave data on these for safe keeping / future retests, but Samsung specifically pointed out to me that the 750 EVO will not see a repeat of the slow down issue seen on the 840 EVO. I believe them for four reasons:
I have two 840 EVO 250 GB
I have two 840 EVO 250 GB running as extra drives on this system (with an 850 EVO 500GB as system drive) and I still see the slowdown after the firmware fix. Every 3-4 months or so I have to run the Advanced Performance Optimization in Magician, the firmware itself is not enough for older files.
Now I have hammered these drives a bit using them as temp/caching for torrents etc. but still…
Random writes from torrent
Random writes from torrent writing will slow down drives for reasons other than the fixed issue – you're fragmenting the flash itself. Performance optimization forces a defrag of the flash (in addition to rewriting everything), which explains the recovery you are seeing.
But who on earth would buy a
But who on earth would buy a 120GB SSD at today’s prices? I wouldn’t even touch a 250GB drive now, the cost per GB has fallen so much, but at least that should be the new entry level, just drop the 120GB unit and do the cheapskates a long term favour.
120GB actually still works
120GB actually still works when you consider typical desktop folks using mostly productivity apps, especially if they have the bulk storage handled by their home NAS. Can't disagree on that $20 difference to double the capacity though. It's almost a no brainer decision.
“Lets compare those prices to
“Lets compare those prices to what we saw for the 840 EVO launch back in July of 2014”
You mean 2013.
Fixed. Thanks!
Fixed. Thanks!
Even more interesting pricing
Even more interesting pricing wise is launch 840 Evo 512 GB vs 950 Pro. 950 Pro is less for like 5x performance in 2.5 years. Can we get another 5x in next few years?
How do you feel about raid 0
How do you feel about raid 0 with 2 (or 4 because of price) 750’s
These should do just fine in
These should do just fine in RAID-0, and a 4-SSD array of these would be 1TB for $300. Also, it might actually outperform a single 950 Pro when it comes to low latencies seen in SSD RAID.
I wish companies would stop
I wish companies would stop cranking-out these cookie-cutter SATA-limited drives and start focusing on PCIE nvme.
I’d love to replace the slow PM951 m.2 PCIE drive that shipped in my new XPS15 with an 850 Pro, but the price per GB is still too high.
Some competition would be nice to drive prices down, and really, every SSD these days pegs SATA, so why keep ‘innovating’ in that space?
It’s all in the name of
It’s all in the name of driving down $/GB. I agree that we would all like to see m.2 PCIE nvme $/GB come down as well, but I think a lot of the more casual users and OEMs are just looking for the lowest $/GB, and with SATA maxed out that’s more than enough performance for that class of user.
They cant drop SATA as then
They cant drop SATA as then the market shrinks by a massive amount, probably 90%+, blame intel for choosing to not provide nvme bios updates for older chipsets.
Maybe I missed it, but will
Maybe I missed it, but will there be an M.2 form factor?
“I don’t see the point of
“I don’t see the point of 120gb HDD’s anymore,”
“But who on earth would buy a 120GB SSD at today’s prices? I wouldn’t even touch a 250GB drive now,”
“I wish companies would stop cranking-out these cookie-cutter SATA-limited drives and start focusing on PCIE nvme.”
“Maybe I missed it, but will there be an M.2 form factor?”
Guys-go back to page 1-
“Samsung will drop the 120GB capacity of that line and replace it with a new OEM / system builder destined 750 EVO:”
These drives are mainly for OEM’s-And they pay much less than we do.I’d much prefer to see a 120 GB SSD in a $300 lappy than
5400 RPM Spinning rust….
It’s not certain yet what availability of these drives will be in retail……………………………………….
The 120GB are really for
The 120GB are really for legacy computers. Some older hardware is limited in the amount of storage it can recognise. I just installed a 120GB 750EVO in my old Netbook. I use Lubuntu and a limited number of applications, I still have 112GB free as it stands, largely because I don’t put movies or music on my netbook.