Introduction, Specifications, and Packaging
4TB of SSD Goodness!
Introduction:
Everyone expects SSD makers to keep pushing out higher and higher capacity SSDs, but the thing holding them back is sufficient market demand for that capacity. With that, it appears Samsung has decided it was high time for a 4TB model of their 850 EVO. Today we will be looking at this huge capacity point, and paying close attention to any performance dips that sometimes result in pushing a given SSD controller / architecture to extreme capacities.
This new 4TB model benefits from the higher density of Samsung’s 48-layer V-NAND. We performed a side-by-side comparison of 32 and 48 layer products back in March, and found the newer flash to reduce Latency Percentile profiles closer to MLC-equipped Pro model than the 32-layer (TLC) EVO:
Latency Percentile showing reduced latency of Samsung’s new 48-layer V-NAND
We’ll be looking into all of this in today’s review, along with trying our hand at some new mixed paced workload testing, so let’s get to it!
Specifications (source):
Specs are, well, boring. It’s mostly the same exact story as it was since the 500GB model of the 850 EVO, with a bump in max write power to 3.6W and standby power increases to 10mW on this highest capacity part. Endurance borrows the 2TB model’s 300 TBW rating (Samsung historically rates endurance in capacity pairs, so no cause for alarm there).
Packaging:
Standard Samsung packaging carried forward from previous models. The CD is a bit useless given modern system configurations (What’s a CD, anyway?).
I think there is a demand for
I think there is a demand for high capacity SSDs it’s just the price is nowhere near where it needs to be. As the price comes down, demand goes up as we learned in Economics 101 :). Maybe when we see $0.20/GB. Are SSD prices artificially high? Seems like profit-taking at this point.
At the risk of being
At the risk of being pedantic, saying that demand goes up is slightly misleading. Only quantity demanded will increase when price decreases. Demand also depends on other factors other than price (i.e quality of product, price of other competing SSDs)
Why wouldn’t Samsung want to maximise profits if they’re the only ones with consumer SSDs with 4TB capacity?
Thank you. I’m glad I’m not
Thank you. I’m glad I’m not the only one that cringed a little when I read the original comment.
By demand I did mean quantity
By demand I did mean quantity demanded, the demand curve remains the same. My point was the large SSD demand is there just not at this price.
The 2TB 850 EVO is going for
The 2TB 850 EVO is going for $635(Sale Price) at Amazon, so $1270 for 2 drives and 4TB “total”. That’s around $0.32/GB and what is the performance metrics for 2/2TB drives in various raid/other configurations.
So long as you’re on a
So long as you're on a desktop with Intel RST, almost every performance metric doubles when shifting to a pair of SATA devices. If you need 4TB on desktop, a pair of 2TB would be the way to go, but pay attention to the yet-to-be-fixed performance issues we noted with the 2TB model. It's possible that the 48-layer version of the same capacity fixed that issue, but we don't have a sample to test.
We already have $0.20/GB
We already have $0.20/GB prices for SSDs. Simply go to pcpartpicker and sort by price/GB
I have a couple cheap silicon
I have a couple cheap silicon power SSDs and they are meh at best, then again they are the 120gb version not 480.
But not high quality SSDs in
But not high quality SSDs in large capacities. Obviously the 1TB+ SSD market is pretty pricey still. My point is there will be a large demand once the price becomes more reasonable.
TLC is still relatively new
TLC is still relatively new so not sure if it’s “price taking” so much as Samsung trying to get a reasonable ROIC on all the R&D they took to bring TLC to market in the first place.
I grabbed 2 250gb evos on
I grabbed 2 250gb evos on amazon for 78 each or ~$.31 per gig… hopefully they get down there again. Made for a fun raid 0.
300TBW = the flash is rated
300TBW = the flash is rated for 75 write cycles before kaput(warranty)?
I don’t like the idea of
I don’t like the idea of having TLC. I would be willing to pay a bit more and have the pro version with a warranty of more than 300TBW. Allyn, do you know when will Samsung release the pro version?
That’s wonderful, too bad I
That’s wonderful, too bad I won’t be able to afford it. I can’t even afford the 1 TB EVO yet.
So want, such money, can’t
So want, such money, can’t afford.
I bought the muschkin 1tb
I bought the muschkin 1tb when it first came out. It has been solid for my z97 build. What I’ve seen so far, their 4tb is supposed to be a good deal when it comes out. I’ll pair that with my 950 pro 512gig in my laptop I just purchased. Do believe it’ll be a good replacement for the 7200 rpm drive that’s in there. Maybe it’ll even push the price of this samsung drive down, 4tb ssd with rapid mode with magician would be solid also.