WD Blue 3D vs Samsung 870 EVO SSD: Which one to choose?
Table of Contents
Both WD Blue 3D and Samsung 870 EVO as SATA SSDs. The WD Blue 3D comes in both 2.5″ and M.2 Form factors whereas the 870 EVO just has the normal 2.5″ variant available in the market.
But, if we talk about the features, both have the same TLC 3D NAND and various other similar specifications. Also, the companies claim the same 560/530 MB/s theoretical read/write speed in both.
All these similarities put the buyers in a confusion and they generally find it tough to make a wise decision. So, I am here again to give you a clear answer. In this article, I will compare all the possible aspects of these SSDs so that you can reach a definite solution. So, without any further delays, let’s get started.
1. Theoretical Specifications (Comparison)
| Specification | WD Blue 3D (1TB) | Samsung 870 Evo (1TB) |
|---|---|---|
| Sequential Read Speed | 560 MB/s | 560 MB/s |
| Sequential Write Speed | 530 MB/s | 530 MB/s |
| Random Read (IOPS) | 95K | 98K |
| Random Write (IOPS) | 81K | 88K |
| TBW | 400 TBW | 600 TBW |
| Interface | SATA/AHCI | SATA/AHCI |
| Form Factor | 2. |
2.5″ SATA |
| Capacities | 250 GB to 4 TB | 250 GB to 4 TB |
| Warranty | Limited 5-Years | Limited 5-Years |
| Check Availability | Amazon | Amazon |
With this comparison, you can observe that both of these SSDs are offering almost similar features. But, the 870 EVO has better reliability because of its 600 TBW as compared to WD Blue’s 400 TBW. However, if we look at the MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure), the WD Blue 3D has 1.75 Million hours and Samsung 870 EVO has 1.50 Million Hours. Overall, with this comparison, these both look almost similar. So, let’s proceed further to find some more differences.
WD Blue (3D) Datasheet
Samsung 870 EVO Datasheet
2.
Synthetic Benchmark Scores (Comparison)
The test PC used an Intel Core i5 8th Gen processor along with a 3200 MHz DDR4 8GB RAM. The software was CrystalDiskMark 8 as usual.
| Parameter | WD Blue 3D 2.5″(1TB) | Samsung 870 EVO (1TB) |
|---|---|---|
| Sequential Read | 471 MB/s | 492 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 453 MB/s | 471 MB/s |
| Random 4K Read | 37.8MB/s | 63.2 MB/s |
| Random 4K Write | 92.1 MB/s | 114.9 MB/s |
| Deep Queue 4K Read | 339.9 MB/s | 347.2 MB/s |
| Deep Queue 4K Write | 324.1 MB/s | 331.7 MB/s |
These all are the average results that were calculated after multiple tests done on the CrystalDiskMark software.
Obviously, these results are not going to be the same everywhere on all the computers. The total speed will vary on the overall specifications of your computer/laptop. Also, the total space filled by your SSD and its storage variant will also impact the overall read/write speed.
If we talk about the results, the Samsung 870 EVO was clearly beating the WD Blue 3D in all aspects.
3. OS and Software Booting (Comparison)
SSDs are known for their great features for reducing the overall software and system booting times. SATA SSDs don’t do a lot in reducing that time but their offerings are surely way better than what you get with the normal HDDs. Let’s see what you can expect from these SSDs.
| Software/OS | WD Blue 3D (1TB) | Samsung 870 EVO (1TB) |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 10 Home (Ready to use) | In 24 Seconds | In 19 Seconds |
| Fortnite (Chapter 2) | 44 Seconds | 39 Seconds |
| Adobe Photoshop CC | 18 Seconds | 14 Seconds |
| Adobe Premiere Pro | 31 Seconds | 32 Seconds |
| Google Chrome | Within 5 Seconds (First Boot) | Within 4 Seconds (First Boot) |
| Blender (Animation Software) | 35 Seconds | 32 Seconds |
Not very big differences but the Samsung 870 EVO is again outperforming the WD Blue 3D SSD.
4. Technical Specifications
You should consider checking the technical specification while doing any SSD purchase or a simple comparison. It will always help you to make a fine decision no matter what the companies have to say about their products. Let’s see the main tech specs of these SSDs and compare them.
| Specifications | WD Blue 3D | Samsung 870 EVO |
|---|---|---|
| NAND Type | Sandisk’s TLC 3D | Samsung’s TLC 3D |
| NAND Layers | 64 | 128 |
| Cache Type | DRAM Cache | DRAM Cache |
| Controller | Marvell 88SS1074 | Samsung MKX |
| Controller Configurations | Dual-Core, 4-Channels | Three-core, 8-Channels |
T. R.I.M. |
Yes | Yes |
| S.M.A.R.T. | Yes | Yes |
| Encryption | Not Available | AES 256-bit Full Disk Encryption |
You can see that although these both are using the TLC (Triple-Layer Cell) NAND, the 870 EVO has more layers and this is an advantage. The DRAM cache is surely better in Samsung 870 EVO and so are is the controller. So, you can say that the 870 EVO is able to perform better because of its faster 128 layers NAND, LPDDR4 DRAM Cache, and three-core controller.
5. Price
The Samsung 870 EVO is definitely providing you with the best features in all terms. We saw that in the sections above. But, as you can imagine, the price of this SSD is also going to be higher. Although, there is not a very huge difference, still, you will have to pay a little bit more to buy Samsung 870 EVO.
The prices keep changing and the biggest deciding factor for the price will be your geographical location.
CHeck WD Blue Price
Check samsung 870 evo price
Conclusion: Which one should you buy?
I would not say you should buy Samsung 870 EVO directly because I know WD Blue 3D is a completely perfect product as well. But, here the Samsung 870 EVO was winning. So, if you want just the performance and Samsung’s reliability, you can go for 870 EVO by paying a little bit more.
However, the WD Blue 3D is available for a cheaper price and still has all the required specifications to compete with the 870 EVO Plus. So, it can be a good fit for the budget builds and upgrades.
Thanks for reading!
WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo: Which One to Choose?
WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo, what are their differences? Which one is better for you? This post will demonstrate some differences between WD Blue SSD and Samsung 860 Evo.
In addition, an SSD upgrade tool from MiniTool will be shown.
If you are trying to upgrade or replace a hard drive on your computer for getting better performance, usually the SSD is recommended. And now, there are various solid-state drives on the storage market, such as WD Blue SSD, Samsung 860 EVO, Samsung 970 EVO, and so on.
Today, we are talking about WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo. In the following section, we will introduce what they are and what their differences are. Then, you can know which one to choose.
Overview of WD Blue SSD and Samsung 860 Evo
WD Blue SSD
Western Digital provides mechanical and solid-state drive storage devices. In addition to the blue series, it also has black, red, green, purple, and gold series for mechanical drives. WD Blue is a kind of PC hard drive with a blue cover.
Also see: Quick Guide: What do Western Digital Colors Stand for?
This WD Blue hard drive is designed as the main hard drive in laptops and external cases.
It is equipped with a large-capacity hard drive that allows you to install the system, store high-resolution photos, 4K videos, music collections, and other important files.
This hard drive also features data density, which indicates that the travel requirement on the header is minimized and the seek time is also reduced. So, the transfer rate would be increased.
Samsung 860 Evo
Samsung 860 EVO is also one of the best-selling SSDs in the world and it is designed for mainstream PCs and laptops. With the latest V-NAND and a robust algorithm-based controller, the Samsung 860 EVO SSD comes in a wide range of compatible form factors and capacities.
Samsung 860 EVO SSD comes in 5 available capacities which are 250GB, 500GB, 1000GB, 2000GB and 4000GB. So, many users would like to install Samsung 860 EVO SSD on their computer to get more disk space and better performance.
WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo
In this part, we will show you information about Samsung 860 Evo vs WD Blue SSD.
To learn more detailed information, keep on your reading.
WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo: Interface and Form Factor
First, let’s see WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo in interface and form factor.
WD Blue SSD has a SATA 3 interface. It has an external size of 2.5 inches or 3.5 inches. It also has an M.2 2280 form factor, which is very suitable for use on PCs and laptops. However, for ultra-thin devices, M.2 2280 is not suitable.
Samsung 860 Evo has a size of 2.5 inches or 7 mm. It is also equipped with M.2 2280 form factor, suitable for use in a laptop or PC. Samsung also provides an mSATA option for users who are looking to install this SSD on ultra-thin devices. Its interface is SATA 3.
WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo: Data Transfer Rate
The speed of transferring data for SSD is also important. Thus, the next aspect of Samsung 860 Evo vs WD Blue SSD is data transfer rate. The data transfer rate of WD Blue SSD is 6 GB/s. The data transfer rate of Samsung 860 Evo is the same.
Thus, WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo: data transfer rate, they make a tie.
WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo: Read/Write Speed
Speaking of WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo, read/write speed should be mentioned.
The sequential read speed of WD Blue SSD is up to 560 MB/s and the sequential write speed is up to 530 MB/s. The sequential read speed of Samsung 860 Evo is 550 MB/s, and the sequential write speed is 520 MB/s.
In short, in the aspect of read/write speed, WD Blue SSD is a little bit better than Samsung 860 Evo. Reading and writing speed is also affected by other factors, so WD Blue may be slower than Samsung 860 Evo in actual use.
WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo: Capacity
The capacity is a key factor when selecting an SSD. So, the next difference between WD Blue SSD and Samsung 860 Evo is the SSD capacity.
The WD Blue 2.5-inch SSD offers 4 capacities — 320GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB; 3.5-inch WD Blue SSD provides 5 capacities — 500GB, 1TB, 2TB,3TB, 4TB, 6TB.
The 860 EVO 2.5-inch SSD offers 5 capacities including 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB.
In short, WD Blue SSD is a good choice if you need a big capacity.
WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo: Warranty
Both WD Blue SSD and Samsung 860 Evo have a 5-year limited warranty.
WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo: TBW Rate
Another key difference comes in the TBW (Terabytes Writtenrates). Here is a table of the TBW rates that come with both SSDs.
| Size | WD Blue SSD | Samsung 860 Evo |
| 500GB | 200TBW | 300TBW |
| 1TB | 400TBW | 600TBW |
| 2TB | 500TBW | 1200TBW |
| 4TB | 600TBW | 2400TBW |
As for WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo: TBW rate, the Samsung 860 Evo has far better TBW rates than WD Blue SSD that make it ideal for rendering and gaming purposes.
From the above information, you have known some differences between Samsung 860 Evo and WD Blue SSD.
WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo: Which One to Choose
You may also wonder which SSD to choose. The following are the details.
If you are only looking for an SSD for leisure work, then please choose WD Blue SSD. However, if you want to continue a more professional and more suitable option for TBW, then you can choose Samsung 860 Evo. For heavy or professional use, it’s recommended to use Samsung 860 Evo, but the price is slightly higher.
In short, both SSDs are reliable budget choices and perform very well. For which one to choose, it all depends on your needs.
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How to Clone System from HDD to SSD
If you have gotten the WD Blue SSD or the Samsung 860 EVO SSD, you may want to use it to replace the traditional hard drive to improve the performance of the computer. To do that, you can choose to migrate HDD to SSD.
To migrate the system and files from a traditional hard drive to WD Blue SSD or Samsung 860 EVO SSD without data loss, the clone tool is required.
So, the professional SSD cloning software – MiniTool ShadowMaker is strongly recommended.
To clone OS from HDD to SSD, MiniTool ShadowMaker is competent with the Clone Disk feature. And now, we will show you how to migrate the operating system to the WD Blue SSD or Samsung 860 EVO SSD with MiniTool ShadowMaker.
Step 1: Download MiniTool ShadowMaker from the following button
Free Download
Step 2: Install and launch MiniTool ShadowMaker. Then, click Keep Trial to enter its main interface.
Step 3: After entering the main interface of MiniTool ShadowMaker, go to the Tools page. Then choose Clone Disk.
Step 4: Next, click the Source module to choose the disk clone source. If you are trying to migrate OS to WD Blue SSD or Samsung 860 EVO SSD, select the original hard drive as the clone source. Then click Finish.
Step 5: Click the Destination module to choose the target disk.
Here you need to select the WD Blue SSD or Samsung 860 EVO SSD as the target disk. Then click Finish. Next, click the OK button.
Step 6: Then you will receive a warning message which tells you that all data on the target disk will be destroyed during the disk cloning process.
Note: If there are important files on the target disk, please back up them first.
Step 7: Then the disk cloning process will begin. Please do not interrupt the cloning process until it is finished.
When the disk cloning process is finished, you will receive a warning message which tells you that the source disk and target disk have the same signature. If both of them are connected to your computer, one of them will be marked as offline. So, you need to remove or disconnect either of them.
In addition, if you want to boot your computer from the target disk, please enter BIOS to change the boot sequence first.
When all steps are finished, you have successfully migrated the operating system from the traditional hard drive to the WD Blue SSD or Samsung 860 EVO SSD.
After that, your computer performance will be improved.
Further Reading:
In the above part, we show you how to clone the system from HDD to SSD free with MiniTool ShadowMaker. In addition to MiniTool ShadowMaker, MiniTool Partition Wizard is also a great tool to clone a hard drive. Here is how to clone the system with MiniTool Partition Wizard.
Step 1: Download and install MiniTool Partition Wizard.
Buy Now
Step 2: After entering its main interface, choose the hard drive you want to clone. Then, click Copy Disk Wizard from Wizard in the action panel.
Step 3: Choose the target drive to copy the content of the source drive to. Then, you will receive a warning message — All data on the disk will be destroyed. Click Yes to continue.
Step 4: On the next page, you can check some copy options, the layout of the target disk, change the size of the selected partition.
Then, click Next to continue.
Step 5: You will receive a warning message — To boot your computer from the destination drive, change the boot order in the BIOS settings. To only copy the hard drive, ignore this warning.
Step 6: Preview and ensure all partitions are being copied to your new SSD. If everything is okay, click Apply. It requires you to reboot the computer and you need to wait for the process to be finished.
Related articles:
- Clone OS from HDD to SSD with 2 Powerful SSD Cloning Software
- How to Clone a Hard Drive to SSD in Windows 10/8/7?
This post has introduced some differences between WD Blue SSD and Samsung 860 EVO, focusing on 5 aspects. Besides, we also have introduced 2 clone tools for you to migrate OS from traditional hard drive to WD Blue SSD or Samsung 860 EVO SSD without data loss.
If you have any different opinions of WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo and MiniTool software, you can leave a message in the comment zone or contact us via [email protected] and we will reply to you as soon as possible.
Western Digital Blue vs. Black vs. Red
by Robert Brandon
We previously discussed Samsung’s different product lines for their SSDs—more specifically, the differences between their QVO and EVO drives.
Despite performing the exact same tasks, there’s some fairly substantial differences between the two, even if it doesn’t matter all too much in the long run.
Western Digital’s (WD) own line of products—endearingly referred to as the “WD Rainbow”—follows this same logic.
While they may lack the prestige of household brands like Samsung, or the go-to budget power of Seagate, Western Digital has been around for quite some time, catering mainly to budget builders looking to get “good enough” performance on a budget.
Over the years, WD has expanded their assortment of products, so it helps to know what should be used for what.
WD Red Hard Drives
Considering the above, you might be surprised to see their line of “Red” Hard Drives (HDDs) being covered first, as—with very few exceptions—these drives are not meant to be used by the average consumer. Ranging from 1TB all the way to a whopping 18TB of storage (which is far more than a day-to-day user needs, and costs a whopping $400), it’s also split into 3 different variants: “Red”, “Red Plus,” and “Red Pro.”
While there are differences between the three, they’re all designed with a specific purpose in mind: Being used in a Network Attached Storage (NAS). Without going into too much detail, a NAS is an external storage device connected to a network, allowing the stored files to be accessed remotely. While there are NAS configurations designed to be used by only a few people, most are used for storing work or business files, and are capable of holding ~15-40TB of data.
Because they’re made with this specific use case in mind, there’s a few design choices that differentiate themselves from their Blue and Black counterparts. The most relevant of these is RPM. HDDS use a spinning platter—the higher the RPM, the faster the drive. With the exception of the (very expensive) Red Pro lineup, the WD Red drives spin at 5400 RPM, trading speed for improved longevity.
Unlike its Blue and Black counterparts, the Red product line also boasts substantial vibration protection. This is due to the fact that they’re often used alongside other similar (or identical) drives when placed inside a NAS—which is often in operation 24/7. This inevitably results in some level of noise and heat, which makes component quality all the more important.
WD Blue Hard Drives
The “Blue” moniker indicates more budget-friendly drives, skewed towards offering reasonable storage space and “good enough” performance.
Compared to the Red offerings, the Blue product line offerings are both smaller and more affordable, with a comparatively meager 8TB drive costing $140.
On the flip side, though, the 1 and 2TB drives have 7200RPM variants, making them ~33% faster than non-Pro Red variants.
The Blue line of HDDs are meant to be an entry-level drive. While they’re not the fastest, they offer a solid blend of capacity and performance at a reasonable price. It’s worth noting that—due to the merging of the Blue and Green lines) the 2TB drive offers both 5400 and 7200 RPM variants—if looking to purchase one, be sure to select the faster of the two, unless you’re on an extreme budget, as the difference in price is ~$3.
Generally speaking, the WD Blue offerings serve their purpose well. While they don’t offer the “best performance” available (speaking in terms of mechanical storage), their combination of capacity and storage at a relatively low price still makes them a compelling choice for the average user—including those who may be more budget conscious.
WD Black Hard Drives
The “Black” drives offered by WD are more performance-oriented than their Blue counterparts.
They trade quiet operation for improved performance and durability. On average, Black drives boast read and write speeds ~15% faster than Blue drives of identical sizes.
These improvements leave Black drives as a “step-up” from WD’s own Blue line, as well as from other average industry-standard drives. This increase in performance leaves them as an interim between HDDs and SSDs.
Solid State Drives (SSDs) have seen significant price drops in the last few years. Even brands like Samsung offer 1TB SSDs for around ~$110. WD themselves even offer a “Green” line of SSDs, with the 1TB model costing ~$80. This makes them competitors to the 2TB Black drive offered by WD, which carries a price tag of $85.
While the mentioned SSDs may only have half the capacity of the competing Black drive, they’re still worth considering, as they’ll offer significantly improved performance, longevity, and continue running quietly for their lifespan.
WD Blue vs. Black vs. Red: Which One is Best?
In conclusion, the WD Rainbow is designed to cater to all sorts of different users.
The Red drives are meant to be used in storage arrays, Blue drives are meant to serve as entry-level drives, and the Black drives offer improved performance over a standard consumer HDD, leaving them as an interim between mechanical and electronic storage.
WD Blue vs Samsung 860 Evo: Which SSDs are Better?
Table of Contents
For light use, many find that an HDD is sufficient, but there comes a point when upgrading to an SSD makes a lot of sense. Solid State Drives have no moving parts, which makes them much faster. The speed is also helped by the latest NAND chips. If you are ready to upgrade to an SSD, we have two very popular choices.
Today, we are going to look at the WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo. We will compare their storage capabilities, technology, value for money and more. After we will include a comparison chart and some pros and cons to make an informed decision.
There are just a couple of similarities between the WD Blue SSD and the Samsung 860 Evo, so let’s begin here.
WD Blue SSD vs Samsung 860 Evo – Similarities
Quick Glance
Let’s recap the features of the WD Blue and the Samsung 860 Evo in the comparison chart below.
WD Blue SSD |
Samsung 860 Evo |
|
| Image | ||
| Size | 3.95 x 2.75 x 0.28 inches | 3.94 x 2.76 x 0.27 inches |
| Weight | 2oz | 2.12oz |
| Form Factor | 2.5 inches | 2.5 inches |
| Storage Capacities | 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB | 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB |
| SATA 6.0 GB/s | Yes | Yes |
| Compatibility | Windows and MacOS | Windows, MacOS, Linux |
| Read Speeds | 560MB/s | 550MB/s |
| Write Speeds | 530MB/s | 520MB/s |
| Technology | 3D NAND Technology, WD SSD Dashboard | Samsung Magician software, Intelligent TurboWrite Technology, V-NAND, Data encryption |
| Workload | Up to 500 TBW | 1,200TBW |
| MTBF | 1. 75 million hours |
1.5 million hours |
| Warranty | 5-year limited | 5 years or up to 2,400TWB |
| Price |
Check Price on Amazon |
Check Price on Amazon |
SSD Size
The WD Blue SSD and the Samsung 860 Evo have a 2.5-inch form factor. Although their sizes aren’t exactly the same, there isn’t enough of a difference to influence our decision. The WD Blue SSD is 3.95 x 2.75 x 0.28 inches and weighs 2 ounces. The Samsung 860 Evo measures 3.94 x 2.76 x 0.27 inches and weighs 2.12 ounces.
SATA 6.0 GB/s
You can take advantage of the third generation SATA 6.0GB/s, also known as SATA III, with both the WD Blue SSD and the Samsung 860 Evo.
Storage Capacities
We will be looking specifically at the WD Blue SSD and the Samsung 860 Evo with a 2TB capacity. There is also 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 4TB available.
These are the only similarities so we will now move on to the unique features of the WD Blue SSD and the Samsung 860 Evo.
Differences Between
WD Blue SSD and Samsung 860 Evo
Compatibility
While you can fit the SSDs into a 2.5-inch bay, there are still some differences with compatibility. Bear in mind that you may need to format the SSD you choose depending on your operating system.
WD Blue SSD
This is compatible with both Windows and MacOS.
Samsung 860 Evo
As well as being Windows and Mac compatible, it can also be used with Linux.
The Winner Is- The Samsung 860 Evo
Read and Write Speeds
Although there is a slight difference in the read and write speeds, you will be extremely impressed with both.
WD Blue SSD
You can get read speeds of up to 560MB/s and write speeds of up to 530MB/s.
Samsung 860 Evo
It is a fraction slower with reading speeds of up to 550MB/s and write speeds of up to 520MB/s.
The Winner Is- The WD Blue SSD
Technology
The technology not only helps with the performance of the SSDs but also with the ease of use.
WD Blue SSD
WD 3D NAND Technology is what enables the fast read and write times as well as faster boot-ups and quick application response. It has enhanced power efficiency, using up to 25% less than previous versions. The WD SSD Dashboard is free to download and allows you to monitor the health of your drive.
Samsung 860 Evo
This drive comes with the latest V-NAND Technology. Intelligent TurboWrite Technology helps to provide consistently fast transfer speeds. Finally, the Samsun Magician software lets you manage your drive, get firmware notifications, check performance and know that your data is secure with ES 256-bit encryption.
The Winner Is- A Tie
Read next – Samsung 850 EVO vs 860 EVO: Which SSD Hard Disk is Better?
Workload
Being able to handle heavy workloads makes these SSDs an ideal choice for PC enthusiasts and creative professionals like video editors.
WD Blue SSD
The drive can handle up to 500 TBW (terabytes written). It has an MTBF (mean time before failure) of 1.75 million hours.
Samsung 860 Evo
The TBW is far higher at 1,200TBW. On the other hand, the MTBF is less at 1 million hours.
The Winner Is- A Tie
Read next – Samsung 860 EVO vs QVO: Which SSD Hard Disk is Better?
Value for Money
This difference may not be enough to sway your decision but there is still a slight difference. With some storage capacities, the WD Blue SSD is cheaper, for others the Samsung 860 Evo is cheaper.
WD Blue SSD
The 2TB capacity is a little cheaper, although probably only around $10-$20 cheaper. It comes with a 5-year limited warranty.
Samsung 860 Evo
Aside from the slightly higher cost, this also comes with a 5-year limited warranty of 2,400TWB, whichever occurs first.
The Winner Is- The WD Blue SSD
Read next – Samsung 970 EVO vs 860 EVO: Which SSD Hard Disk is Better?
Pros and Cons
The last thing we want to include is some pros and cons of the WD Blue SSD and the Samsung 860 Evo before our final decision.
WD Blue SSD
Pros:
- Fast start-up times, even with older computers
- Amazing speeds
- Free Acronis True software available for cloning
Cons:
- There isn’t a great deal in terms of instructions
Check Price on Amazon
Samsung 860 Evo
Pros:
- It’s easy to switch from an HDD to this SSD
- It’s a good choice for gamers and Mac users
- It comes with 256-bit data encryption
Cons:
- There have been a few software issues
Check Price on Amazon
The Final Verdict
It’s a very difficult choice between these popular SSDs.
There were some things that the WD Blue SSD and the Samsung 860 Evo had in common, such as their straightforward installation and the significate difference in performance. The WD Blue SSD had faster read and write times on paper but in practice, there was no noticeable difference. We felt that the overall winner today was the Samsung 860 Evo. It’s a bonus that it is also compatible with Linux, but the real advantage was the superior software that comes with the Samsung 860 Evo.
Comparatif WD Blue 1 To contre Samsung 860 QVO 1 To
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WD
Blue 1 To
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Samsung
860 QVO 1 To
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L’avis de 01net.
com
Note de la rédaction
Vitesse de lecture
4.5 / 5
Duplication
178.7 Mo/s
199.58 Mo/s
Lecture Séquentielle
521.3 Mo/s
538.8 Mo/s
Lecture ATTO 8192 KB
554.1 Mo/s
563.15 Mo/s
Lecture 4K QD32
380.
7 Mo/s
347.5 Mo/s
Vitesse d’écriture
4.5 / 5
Écriture ATTO 8192 KB
505.29 Mo/s
533.31 Mo/s
Ecriture Séquentielle
501.7 Mo/s
512.6 Mo/s
Ecriture 4K QD32
314.
5 Mo/s
316.6 Mo/s
Offre logicielle
2.5 / 5
Logiciels fournis
Equipement
Accessoires fournis
Appréciation générale
3.5 / 5
Appréciation du testeur
Les plus
- + Bonnes performances
- + Prix attractif
Les moins
- — Prix élevé
- — Pas d’accessoire fourni
- — Durée de vie réduite
Fiche technique
Résumé
Le WD Blue est un SSD de milieu de gamme en 250 Go, 500 Go ou 1 To. Doté de mémoire TLC, il atteint selon nos mesures des débits de 521 Mo/s en lecture et 501 Mo/s en écriture (test CrystalDiskMark). Son endurance est élevée : 400 TBW.
WD propose… | Lire la suite
Le SSD 860 QVO de Samsung utilise la nouvelle mémoire flash QLC (Quad Level Cell) pour offrir un très bon rapport capacité/prix. Il atteint selon le constructeur des débits de 550 Mo/s en lecture et 520 Mo/s en écriture. Sa durée de vie est de 360 TBW pour… | Lire la suite
Caractéristiques techniques
Type de stockage
Interne
Interne
Capacité de stockage
1000 Go
1000 Go
Format
2,5 pouces
2,5 pouces
Interface
Serial ATA III
Serial ATA III
Mémoire cache
512 Mo
Logiciels fournis
WD SSD Dashboard (à télécharger)
Samsung Magician Software et Data Migration (à télécharger)
Accessoires fournis
Type de mémoire
TLC (Triple Level Cell)
QLC (Quad Level Cell)
Vitesse en lecture annoncée
545 Mo/s
550 Mo/s
Vitesse en écriture annoncée
525 Mo/s
520 Mo/s
Contrôleur
Marvell 88SS1074
Samsung MJX
Dimensions et poids
Largeur
Epaisseur
0.
7 cm
Profondeur
0.7 cm
Volume (cm3)
49 cm3
49 cm3
Voir la fiche technique
Voir la fiche technique
Acheter au meilleur prix
Meilleurs prix
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Comparez !
WD Blue 1 To…
…Contre
Samsung 860 QVO 1 To
Je compare
…Contre
Kingston A400 480 Go
Je compare
…Contre
Western Digital WD Blue 3D NAND 500 Go
Je compare
…Contre
SanDisk Ultra 3D 500 Go
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Samsung QVO vs.
EVO: SSD differences explained
Samsung makes some of the best SSDs (solid-state drives) on the market, so if you’re looking to speed up your storage, it makes perfect sense to check out this brand. However, it can be hard to tell which Samsung SSD to pick, simply because Samsung’s naming convention doesn’t give anything away.
Contents
- It all comes down to flash memory type
- Samsung QVO vs EVO — the differences explained
- Samsung QVO vs Samsung EVO — which one is better?
- Samsung QVO vs Samsung EVO FAQ
Many of us are left wondering: What’s the difference between the different SSD lines? Which model wins in a battle of Samsung QVO versus Samsung EVO? The drives vary in a few ways, from pricing to performance and longevity. In this guide, we’ll delve deeper into the differences between the Samsung QVO and Samsung EVO SSDs.
It all comes down to flash memory type
For a long time, Samsung offered two types of SSDs — the Samsung Pro and the Samsung EVO.
In 2020, the company also launched its third line of SSDs, dubbed the Samsung QVO. While all three are available to consumer-level PC builders, the Pro SSDs are the most expensive, while the other two types are more affordable.
The main difference between these three brands stems from the type of flash memory they use. SSDs use non-volatile flash memory, which is a type of memory that can store data for long periods of time and doesn’t require constant power. All three Samsung SSD lines use NAND (which stands for “Not And” and is an electronic logic gate) flash memory to persistently store data, but the exact technology varies between all three.
NAND flash memory typically comes in the following types:
- Single-level cell (SLC) NAND is typically the most expensive of all, but it tends to have a high endurance. It stores 1 bit of data per memory cell.
- Multi-level cell (MLC) NAND is often less expensive than SLC while still offering great longevity. It can hold 2 bits of data per memory cell.
- Triple-level cell (TLC) NAND offers a higher storage density than the previous two, but it also tends to have worse performance and longevity. It holds 3 bits of data per cell.
- Quad-level cell (QLC) NAND is perhaps the cheapest of all four types. Unsurprisingly, it also offers the shortest lifespan of the four. Following the trend, QLC NAND stores 4 bits of data per cell.
- 3D NAND refers to stacking multiple NAND chips within a single SSD. It offers much higher storage density, but it’s not practical in consumer builds due to higher costs and power requirements.
Samsung QVO vs EVO — the differences explained
Knowing that QVO, EVO, and Pro all use different NAND technologies, we can examine how this affects their performance. As you can tell from our quick explanation above, the difference in NAND flash memory means that we can expect different things from each drive.
Samsung EVO SSDs use TLC NAND (3 bits per cell) while the new QVO line uses QLC (4 bits per cell). For reference, Samsung Pro SSDs are made with MLC NAND (2 bits per cell), but below, we will focus on the differences between EVO and QVO.
Price
The Pro SSDs remain the most expensive that Samsung has on offer. In comparison, both the EVO and the QVO are more reasonably priced. Of the three of them, the new QVO drives are by far the cheapest.
The Samsung 870 EVO is an excellent drive and is usually priced betweeen $120 and $170 on Amazon for 1TB of storage. The cheaper equivalent of that drive, the Samsung 870 QVO, usually comes with a price tag of around $100 to $130.
Although prices may vary between models and, of course, storage capacities, QVO drives are generally much cheaper than EVO. With that said, the lower price comes at a performance cost.
Storage size
While EVO drives are more expensive than QVO, it’s the new QVO line of SSDs that wins in terms of storage capacity. While different models offer different capacities, comparing two similar products from each line (870 EVO and 870 QVO) gives us an accurate idea of what we can expect in terms of storage space.
The Samsung 870 EVO comes with either 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB of storage at most. The newer 870 QVO has a larger capacity right out of the gate, with the smallest drive offering 1TB, followed by 2TB, 4TB, and lastly, a whopping 8TB. This makes it one of the largest consumer-level SSDs available on the market.
Realistically, most of us will not need 8TB of SSD storage. Such a massive SSD is also expensive, with Amazon prices hovering around the $850 mark (although you may snag it for as little as $710 on a discount). However, if we’re looking at the possibilities alone, QVO drives offer higher capacities.
Longevity
The lifespan of an SSD is measured in terabytes written (TBW), which tells you how many terabytes of data you can write to the SSD before it reaches the end of its lifespan and eventually breaks down.
You probably guessed by now that QVO drives generally offer a shorter lifespan than their EVO counterparts. Looking at Samsung’s product pages gives us an idea of how much we can expect from each drive.
We will only compare the SSD sizes that both models can offer, ignoring the smallest EVOs and the largest QVO.
Once again, let’s compare the Samsung 870 EVO and the Samsung 870 QVO:
- 1TB disk size: 600 TBW for the EVO, 360 TBW for the QVO
- 2TB disk size: 1,200 TBW for the EVO, 720 TBW for the QVO
- 4TB disk size: 2,400 TBW for the EVO, 1,440 TBW for the QVO
While the above differences in TBW are huge, they may not mean all that much for regular users. It’s worth noting that the exact numbers vary from drive to drive, and just because an SSD is given a warrantied TBW of 1,440 doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t break down well before reaching that threshold. All it means is that it’s still under warranty and may be replaced by the manufacturer. Similarly, some SSDs continue functioning well beyond their expected lifespan.
With all that said, as a general rule of thumb, you can expect the Samsung EVO to last longer than the Samsung QVO, but don’t forget the disclaimer above: A lot of it comes down to circumstance.
Performance
Read and write speeds are very important for SSD users. After all, you’re investing in a more expensive drive in order to see a huge improvement from your standard hard drive (HDD.) However, performance is yet another factor where EVO and QVO tend to differ.
As Samsung QVO uses QLC NAND, it’s the slowest of all flash memory types. On paper, this may not mean much. According to Samsung, both the 870 EVO and the 870 QVO offer 520MBps write speeds and 550MBps read speeds. However, this is with the use of Samsung’s Intelligent TurboWrite technology.
TurboWrite accelerates write speeds, temporarily boosting the speed at which the SSD can move data, almost simulating the speeds of technically better NAND types. However, there is a maximum data capacity that Intelligent TurboWrite can function for. After around 42GB to 72GB of transferred data, the speed goes down to what can typically be expected of that particular technology.
As a result, while the QVO will keep up with the EVO during Intelligent TurboWrite, it will fall behind in terms of speed once that’s used up because TLC memory is typically significantly faster than QLC memory.
Usage
Taking all the above factors into consideration might make you think that the Samsung EVO wins in each and every way, and while this is true, it’s not quite as simple as that.
As you can tell by the different capacities offered by these SSDs, it’s likely that Samsung intended for them to be used for different purposes. Samsung QVO drives are bigger, but due to their slower speeds, they’re better used for storage than for the purpose of tasks that require constant read and write actions.
Image source: Micron
Many users may decide to buy a smaller TLC SSD for their operating system and some of their most-used programs and then go with a cheaper QLC drive for storing files and software that doesn’t need to load quite as quickly. In general, as shown on the above graph from Micron, the Samsung QVO line will excel at read-intensive workloads but will lag behind when it comes to write-intensive tasks.
Samsung QVO vs Samsung EVO — which one is better?
While enthusiasts tend to search for the best processors and the greatest graphics cards, SSDs are more often overlooked and bought on a basis of read/write speeds and capacity.
However, as you can tell, there is more to it than meets the eye, and similarly-priced drives may sometimes perform differently.
On paper, it’s hard to deny that the Samsung EVO line of SSDs will perform better and may enjoy greater longevity than the Samsung QVO. On the other hand, many users won’t notice much of a difference in day-to-day tasks, and unless you’re in a big hurry, you likely won’t mind whether it takes you 30 seconds or 3 minutes to transfer a big file.
The biggest difference between the two drive brands comes down to their use cases. If you’re looking for an SSD to install your operating system on, you’re probably better off buying a smaller Samsung EVO, such as the 970 EVO that we were once very impressed by or the cheaper 860 EVO. However, if you just want bulk storage with faster speeds than typical HDDs, you’ll most likely be satisfied with a Samsung QVO.
Samsung QVO vs Samsung EVO FAQ
- Which is better: 870 EVO or 870 QVO?
- Is Samsung QVO good enough?
- Is EVO a TLC or MLC?
Which is better: 870 EVO or 870 QVO?
Judging strictly by performance and longevity, the Samsung 870 EVO SSD will be better than the 870 QVO.
It’s typically faster without slowing down after a certain storage cap the way that QVO does, it should offer a longer lifespan, and it still comes with ample storage for those who want a larger drive.
Is Samsung QVO good enough?
Samsung QVO SSDs are some of the most budget-friendly and easily accessible drives on the market. While they are not quite as good as EVO, they still have much to offer and are by no means bad. The average user may not easily notice a difference between the three Samsung drive types (Pro, QVO, EVO).
Is EVO a TLC or MLC?
Samsung refers to the EVO SSDs as “3bit MLC.” However, that just indicates that it is indeed a triple-level cell (TLC) drive because MLC only refers to NAND flash memory types that store 2 bits of data per memory cell. In other words, the Samsung EVO SSD is a TLC.
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Samsung 870 QVO review: high performance and huge capacity — Samsung
Tiffany Garrett
Samsung
Source: Windows Central
Samsung is back with its second generation Quad-Level Cell (QLC) SSD to provide high capacity SSDs that also combine good performance and attractive price.
And since it’s Samsung, we’re already interested because Samsung makes the best SSD you can buy.
870 QVO isn’t about performance here, it’s a more down-to-earth SATA 3 offering. But its goal is clear: drive hard drives closer to extinction.
Part of the 870 QVO is a whopping 8TB capacity, although that particular model won’t be available until August. Until then, capacities from 1TB to 4TB will be available from June 30th. And you know what? It is very good.
With Black Friday on the horizon is also an imminent opportunity to look for deals on the Samsung 870 QVO. Pricing typically starts at $130 for a 1TB model, and there’s already savings on that before we even get to Black Friday. Any good deals are worth picking up. Another important thing to look out for is the ability to get more capacity than usual through discounts.
You never have too much storage space.
Goodbye HDD
Nokia 870 WHICH
Lower limit: Proof that SSDs are the future, and it’s already here.
Pros:
- Good overall performance.
- Insane capacity up to 8 TB.
- Three year warranty.
- Excellent companion.
- Attractive price.
Cons:
- 8 TB option delayed until August
- 1 TB model is missing compared to the rest
Record to 530 MB / s Random reading to 98,000 input operations per second to 88,000 input operations in second 9007 9007 Samsung V-NAND 4-bit MLC (QLC) Controller Samsung MKX Cache 1 GB LPDDR4 4 (2 GB 1TB) 2 90 LPD20012 4 GB LPDDR4 (4 TB)
8 GB LPDDR4 (8 TB)Guarantee Three years Event 360 TB (1 TB)
720 TB (2 TB)
1.
40 TB (4 TB)
2,880 TB (8 TB)WHICH vs. HP 870
competition
1 TB. However, the performance should be fairly stable over the entire range.
870 QVO is a SATA 3 SSD like the competing products listed below, although it is also the only QLC SSD in this comparison. SATA SSDs are at their performance limit right now, but the 870 QVO is on the high end of what you can expect nonetheless.
Nokia 870 Samsung 860 EVO WD blue Crucial MX300 Samsung 850 EVO Read 560 MB / s 550 MB / s 560 MB / s 530 MB / s 540 MB / s write 530 MB / s 9007 3 / s 530 MB / s 510 MB / s 520 MB / s QLC drives have more value compared to other types of SSDs such as TLC, and we are starting to see how this technology is applied to some really large capacities.
The 870 QVO will have a maximum capacity of 8TB, though that version won’t launch until August. 870 QVO starts at just $130 for 1TB, 2TB for $250 and 4TB for $500. 8TB does not currently have a confirmed starting price.
How to change the default apps in Windows 10
Nokia 870 WHICH
performance
Source: Windows Central
For these tests, I compared the new 870 QVO with the 1TB Samsung 860 EVO already installed on my PC. The 860 EVO is a couple of years old but still in good working order. The rest of the PC contains a Ryzen 5 3600X and 16GB of DDR4 3200MHz RAM.
Why do this? It’s important to look at the 870 QVO in a small context, because as good as it is, if you’re still using an older Samsung SSD like the 860 EVO, it’s not necessarily worth «upgrading». The 870 QVO is not the best comparison to the 860 EVO, but the latter is still on sale and is still a great SSD.
Source: Windows Central
First, CrystalDiskMark 7.
The 870 QVO is on the left, the older 860 EVO is on the right. The results are almost identical, although Samsung’s claimed write speeds for my sample aren’t entirely accurate. Without specifying exactly which drives in this range have the best performance, this could also be exactly as expected. The key here is «up to», but even compared to the factory figure of 520MB/s, the 1TB model falls short here. However, the read speed is up to par and slightly faster than the older drive. Source: Windows Central
The ATTO Disk test follows a similar pattern. The 870 QVO is inferior in read performance, especially for large files, but write performance is almost the same for both.
And to top it off with a hat-trick, Samsung Magician’s built-in benchmark supports both of these, albeit at slightly faster read speeds for the 860 EVO.
Source: Windows Central
Also, I was able to burn a 3.65 GB file on 870 QVO for 7.94 seconds when copying from a PCIe 4.
0 SSD and slightly longer than 8.40 seconds when copying from another SATA drive. I also noticed that the 870 QVO runs at a consistently lower temperature than the 860 EVO on the same PC. None of the drives get exactly hot, but less heat is always a plus. This is especially nice considering the 860 EVO sits directly behind a pair of 140mm intake fans, while the 870 QVO is tucked away in the drive bay at the back of the case.
So what is the performance result? Other than the write speed of the 1TB version, which doesn’t match Samsung’s claims, it’s pretty good. And even in this case, the actual write speed is unlikely to be bad. Being able to write over 3TB in seconds is still fast enough for most consumers.
The real reason 870 QVO exists is to offer a bunch of storage devices with good performance, and at that scale it certainly achieves.
You have to buy
Samsung 870 WHAT?
Source: Windows Central
This one falls into several categories, but I’ll start with who shouldn’t Buy one.
If you’re looking at this drive and you think it will be a good upgrade to your current SSD, hold on to your money. At the moment, buying a SATA SSD as an upgrade to another SATA SSD is not the best way to spend money. Google Assistant for Windows 10 PC
However, if you want to upgrade your storage device from HDD to SSD, this is a very good choice. Similarly, if you’re building a new build or just looking for good quality SSDs with plenty of capacity. For high capacity drives, the 870 QVO offers excellent value for money. For now, hard drives may still be cheaper, but the gap will narrow over time.
4 of 5
It’s always easy for us to recommend Samsung SSDs, and for good reason. You get not only good performance, but also reliability, a good warranty, a reasonable price, and even now a useful and very handy companion app that will help you keep an eye on the health of your SSDs.
However, the entry-level 1TB model is probably not what you want.
Its rated endurance is nearly half that of the 860 EVO from two years ago, with no performance upgrades. The 870 QVO is there to provide high quality SSD storage, and the 2TB, 4TB, and possibly 8TB models are definitely the ones to look out for. The 8TB model will go on sale in October. Mass Storage
Nokia 870 WHICH
New from Samsung ready to ditch hard drives forever The
870 QVO is a great high capacity SSD and while the biggest capacity will cost a lot of money, the road to hard drive replacement is finally on the way.
- From $110 at Amazon
Speed up Samsung SATA SSDs with Samsung Rapid Technology
This content has been written by a website visitor and has been rewarded.
Until a few years ago, most of us had SATA III SSDs in our computers and pleased us with tremendous speeds of loading the OS, games and fast system response compared to conventional hard drives. But technology advances, and in 2022, SATA III SSDs have become a second choice in terms of speed, and their use is limited to budget PCs or additional storage scenarios where access speed is not so important.
Today, the SSD market is ruled by M.2 drives with PCI Express interface. The speeds that they develop are not even close to the SATA III and M.2 SSD models that have become the standard for high-performance PCs used for games or active file work. I have two Samsung SATA III SSDs in my PC: a 120GB Samsung 850 EVO and a 1TB Samsung 860 EVO, and when I found out that there was a technology to speed them up, I couldn’t help but check it out on practice.
recommendations
The technology is called Samsung Rapid and the essence of its work is to use a large amount of RAM as a cache for the operation of SATA III SSDs, eliminating their weaknesses — low sequential read and write speeds, as well as random speed of work with small data.
Samsung Rapid works with Samsung 850, 860 PRO, 860 EVO, 860 QVO, 870 EVO, 870 QVO drives and has a number of limitations — it does not work for RAID arrays and does not work for disk partitions with file systems other than NTFS.
Samsung Rapid also does not allow you to create Windows restore points and hot-swap an SSD. And one more unpleasant limitation — work with only one drive. In order to install Samsung Rapid, you need to download and install the Samsung Magician utility from the Samsung website.
Samsung Magician utility is very useful even without enabling Samsung Rapid technology, it provides complete information about Samsung drives, allows you to test the speed of drives, as well as their monitoring and cryptographic encryption. Another very useful application of Samsung Magician is the diagnostics of SSD memory cells, which displays a map of the state of the cells: good ones will be marked in blue, bad ones, if any, in red.
Finally, Samsung Magician allows you to enable Over Provisioning technology, which reserves a certain disk space on the SSD for use by its controller for the needs of the drive itself. The technology allows you to increase the performance of the SSD, improve stability and extend its service life.
As you can see, the utility is very useful and it makes sense to keep it constantly running, and if it also speeds up the SSD due to caching with Samsung Rapid technology, it will be generally great. In order to enable Samsung Rapid technology, go to the «Performance Optimization» tab, where «Standart Mode» is enabled by default.
By switching the slider to «Custom Mode» we can enable Samsung Rapid technology.
Unfortunately, the utility does not allow you to enable caching for two Samsung drives at once, despite the excess RAM, which I have installed 32 GB.
I’ve enabled caching for and on a 1TB Samsung 860 EVO and will run all the tests. After turning on Samsung Rapid, you will be prompted to reboot, and if after that you go to the task manager, we will immediately see that caching ate several gigabytes of RAM, which immediately, from the moment Windows started, was occupied by about 4.3 GB, and allocated — 6.7 GB.
Samsung Rapid starts with a slight delay to avoid conflicts and slowdowns that sometimes occur when Windows starts up too full.
Tests
Now you can start testing and further on the screenshots, the first result will be the work of the SSD by default, and the second — with Samsung Rapid technology enabled. I started with the popular CrystalDiskMark utility, without which no SSD testing is complete.
The results are impressive and give the impression of a fast M.2 PCI Express SSD. The increase in speed reaches 10 times or more.
The ATTO Disk Benchmark utility shows a similar increase.
Another representative test of the SSD can be done with HD Tune Pro by selecting the test mode with a large file, which I set to 21500 MB. The screenshot clearly shows how the speed jumped when working with the first 4 GB of the file, which fit into the cache located in RAM.
Now it’s time to move on to practical tests that are of interest to every gamer, but which I did not find in any Samsung Rapid testing, namely, measuring the speed of downloading games.
It should be noted here that the speed of loading games when comparing SSDs with a PCI Express interface and with a SATA III interface in practice differs slightly, and slower models lose only a few seconds. This is clearly visible in the video comparisons, for example, in the video below we used SABRENT ROCKET NVMe M.2 PCIe 4.0 1TB and Patriot SSD Burst 960 GB SATA III. So in order to catch the difference, which could be very small, I used long-loading games: Anno 1800 and The Riftbreaker. In the game Anno 1800, with a significant development of the islands, the load becomes longer and in my example it reached one minute. And the game The Riftbreaker is extremely unoptimized and manages to load two minutes or more!
I recorded loading the same save files using NVIDIA ShadowPlay and watched the loading time by playing the resulting video in the player.
And, unfortunately, even on such long downloads, I did not find a speed increase.
Moreover, The Riftbreaker on a system with Samsung Rapid managed to boot 20 seconds slower than on a regular SSD. Such results are disappointing. Of course, there are scenarios where Samsung Rapid will win in practice, and the tests clearly show this, but this is definitely not a game download. As for the faster Windows boot and instant system response that many users have noticed when switching from SATA III SSDs to fast PCI Express models, this is also not the case. Samsung Rapid can only affect the loading of Windows from the negative side, because caching immediately after loading takes time, and I did not feel the accelerated response of the system at all.
Therefore, if you want to really speed up your system, then you should immediately buy fast M.2 SSDs, for example, WD Blue SN550 WDS500G2B0C in Citylink.
Slightly more expensive and slightly faster new model from Western Digital — WD Blue SN570 WDS500G3B0C .
And good competitors to the popular blue drives from Western Digital will be A-Data S11 Pro AGAMMIXS11P-512GT-C .
Totals
Alas, I could not convert a slow Samsung 860 EVO SSD into an M.2 SSD using Samsung Rapid technology. Or rather, in synthetic tests, of course, it became faster, but in terms of sensations and the speed of loading games, there is no difference. If this technology gave a real increase, all SSD manufacturers would have used such caching for a long time, but this is not observed.
Samsung Rapid has one more minus. Such a huge file cache becomes too sensitive to RAM failures. Moreover, even closing applications through the task manager while Samsung Rapid is running is not recommended. And such failures threaten the loss of important data or damage to Windows.
Write in the comments if you are satisfied with the performance of your SATA SSD? Or do you have an M.2 SSD installed?
This material was written by a site visitor and has been rewarded.
Samsung SSD 980 (500GB & 1TB) Overview: Samsung Entry NVMe
The new Samsung SSD 980 is Samsung’s first retail-ready NVMe SSD. Compared to previous SSDs from Samsung, it lacks the three-letter suffix at the end a bit: it’s not a PRO, not an EVO, not even a QVO drive, as it doesn’t fit into the established conventions for those product levels. SSD 980 is included in the product stack at the bottom, but leaves enough room for another, possibly better, model to come later. Samsung is positioning the SSD 980 as the successor to the 970 EVO.
The SSD 980 is an entry-level NVMe SSD that uses TLC NAND with a non-DRAM controller. This makes it a new class of product for Samsung in the retail space that the company has never produced before. This type of device, with TLC and without DRAM, is already on the market from other off-the-shelf solution providers, and this type of device has been quite popular with OEMs, allowing them to sell NVMe SSDs without paying for the cost of an upgraded device.
. The new Samsung SSD 980 is available in three capacities: 250 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB. In this review, we have the two largest capacities, with Samsung’s custom controller and various TLC NANDs (explained in more detail below). Since the NVMe device is designed for PCIe 3.0 x4, the maximum sequential read speed of up to 3.5 GB/s is calculated for a 1 TB device. Devices will be rated at 0.3 device writes per day (i.e. 300 GB per day on the 1 TB model) for five years.
Specifications for Samsung SSD 980 Tank 250 GB 500 GB 1 TB Shape factor Single-sided M.2 2280 Interface PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.4 Check Samsung Pablo AMD No NAND Flash Samsung 128L 512Gb TLC Sequential reading 2900 MB/s 3100 MB/s 3500 MB/s Sequential letter 1300 MB/s 2600 MB/s 3000 MB/s Maximum SLC cache size 45 GB 122 GB 160 GB Random Read
IOPSQD1 17k QD32T16 230k 400 thousand 500k Random letter
IOPSQD1 53k 54k QD32T16 320k 470k 480k Strength Read 3. 
7W 4.3W 4.5W. Write 3.2 W 4.2 W 4.6 W Idle 45 mW Simple (L1.2) 5 mW Warranty 5 years Write persistence 150 TB
0.3 DWPD300 TB
0.3 DWPD600 TB
0.3 DWPDMSRP $49.99
(20c/GB)$69.99
(14 cents/GB)$129.99
(13c/GB)Samsung SSD 980 is based on Pablo controllers.
It’s not actually a new NVMe controller, but it’s been in the Samsung T7 family of portable SSDs for over a year now. This controller has half as many NAND channels as the controllers used in Samsung’s advanced NVMe devices (four instead of eight) and has no DRAM interface. With the high NAND I/O speed supported by the latest generations of 3D NAND, the Pablo controller can completely populate a PCIe 3.0 x4 host interface without the need for eight NAND lanes. NAND is the same 512Gb 128-layer 3D TLC found on the 2TB 980 PRO. The smaller capacity 980 PRO gets smaller parts of the 256Gb 128L, but on the standard 980 SSD, Samsung uses more capacity for all three devices. Smaller 980 PRO models need to use smaller matrices to be able to take full advantage of the 8-channel controller, but a simple 980 with 4-channel control speed is less of a priority, and 512 Gb formats should be slightly cheaper.
(Note: This review originally stated that Samsung used TLC 256Gb 92L on our 500GB SSD 980 sample, and assumed they did the same on the 250GB model as well.
Samsung has since confirmed, Upgrades from SSD 980
With the SSD 980, Samsung switched to a more aggressive SLC caching strategy by increasing the maximum cache size more than three times compared to 970 EVO (Plus). They made a similar shift with the 980 PRO. This is in line with the general industry trend towards more SLC cache, most notable on QLC NVMe SSDs, helping to improve performance in many benchmarks and some real world workloads. While this is good for performance metrics in short batch tests, it usually degrades performance when the cache or device fills up. For a novice device that isn’t designed for heavy workstation workloads, this optimization for maximum performance makes a lot of sense.
While Samsung is more advanced than any of their previous NVMe SSDs, the SSD 980 still offers a five-year, 0.3 DWPD endurance warranty like all of their latest EVO-level devices.
An important part of Samsung’s plans to achieve good real-world performance with the SSD 980 is the NVMe Host Memory Buffer (HMB) feature, which we’ve covered in detail earlier.
In short: DMA PCIe features allow NVMe SSDs to efficiently access the main memory/DRAM of the CPU. The NVMe cache buffer feature allows the operating system to provide a small amount of DRAM to the SSD for use in the SSD’s internal accounting. Performance isn’t as good as having DRAM on an SSD, and the amount of dedicated memory is usually quite small, typically around 64MB, but up to 1GB, but enough to improve performance on many real-world workloads. Assuming the device’s flash translation layer has a typical layout, 64 MB HMB is enough to cache the logical-to-physical address mapping for approximately 64 GB of disk space. This is a very small amount of host RAM, but 64 GB of disk space is much more than normal consumers need for active simultaneous use. The key part here is «in use» — the HMB is only populated (and expanded) when the data is being used on the device for that session. So while a top game might take up 250GB to install, it might only use 50GB to play at a certain level.
NVMe host memory
Buffer sizesMinimum Standard Samsung 980 16 MB 64 MB WD Blue SN550 3 MB 32 MB Mushkin Helix-L 32 MB 64MB * Toshiba RC100 10 MB 38 MB Samsung SSD 980 requests 64 MB of host frame for its HMB, but is willing to use only 16 MB. These values are similar to other non-DRAM NVMe SSDs we tested. For this review, we ran synthetic benchmarks with HMB enabled (standard on recent operating systems) and with HMB disabled to illustrate its impact.
The exception is the Mushkin Helix-L with the Silicon Motion SM2263XT controller: we didn’t see any significant performance difference between HMB on and off, even in tests specifically designed to illustrate the HMB effect, so it’s pretty obvious that the device’s firmware never works.
actual usage of the 64 MB it requests. Samsung and the entry-level story
Historically, Samsung has distanced itself from creating true newcomers to the retail SSD market and prefers to maintain a certain premium status and maintain a more comfortable profit margin. This is a strategy that vertical integration supports very well.
Previously, Samsung covered some budget models with QLC QVO SATA SSDs. But even here, Samsung kept prices somewhat high, so the main attraction was how affordable these devices were for extremely high capacities. Samsung has yet to bring QLC NAND to its consumer NVMe product line, so the other obvious formula for low-cost devices is to ditch DRAM and stick with TLC NAND.
The departure from Samsung’s typical PRO/EVO/QVO split isn’t entirely unprecedented: there have been several other occasions in the past where Samsung needed an additional product tier, resulting in the 750 EVO and SSD 850. Samsung has since added a QVO product tier , but the 980 is ineligible because it uses TLC NAND and not QLC.
Samsung also has no room to shorten any part of the model number as there is no gap left between their SATA 800 series and NVMe SSDs from the 9 series.00. So we’re left with the regular 980, while Samsung leaves room for the better 980 EVO. Competition
We weren’t able to review the WD Blue SN550 when it launched in late 2019, but we have a sample to include in this review because the SN550 is the main competitor of the Samsung SSD 980. The previous WD Blue SN500 raised the bar significantly for non-DRAM SSDs, and the SN550 improves on it in almost every way. The Samsung SSD 980 is rated for much higher peak sequential and random I/O performance, but for a more realistic workload, the SN550 will not be easily beaten. We also have results from the older Mushkin Helix-L, but with clearly broken HMB support, it’s nowhere competitive. Even in the low-end NVMe market, we have a couple of QLC boxes: a Corsair MP400 with an 8-channel Phison E12 control box and an Intel SSD 670p with the new Silicon Motion SM2265 control box.
In the more mainstream TLC NVMe market, the SK hynix Gold P31 is worth checking out. Like the Samsung SSD 980, it uses a quad-channel controller, but the P31 has the usual full amount of DRAM on board, making it a higher-end device. If Samsung releases the 980 EVO in the near future, it will almost certainly follow the P31’s position in the market, although Samsung could also try to get a slight performance advantage by including PCIe gen4 support.
We also have results from several other new Samsung SSDs in different market segments: 870 EVO TLC SATA, 970 EVO Plus advanced PCIe Gen 3, and 980 PRO advanced PCIe Gen 4. The latter was re-tested with updated firmware a few weeks ago, but we found no noticeable performance changes with our test suite.
Samsung’s entry-level NVMe
The new Samsung SSD 980 is Samsung’s first entry-level NVMe SSD ready for sale. Compared to previous SSDs from Samsung, it doesn’t have a three-letter suffix at the end: it’s not a PRO, not an EVO, not even a QVO drive, because it doesn’t fit into the established conventions for those product levels.
SSD 980 slots into the food rack at the bottom, but leaves a large enough gap for another, possibly better, model to come later. Samsung is selling the SSD 980 as a successor to the 970 EVO. one
Samsung’s first push for NVMe in retail1.1 Upgrades from SSD 980
1.2 Samsung and entry-level history
1.3 Competition
The SSD 980 is an entry-level NVMe SSD using TLC NAND with a DRAM-free controller. This makes it a new class of product for Samsung in the retail market that the company has never produced before. This type of DRAM-free TLC drive is already widely available in the market from other turnkey solution providers, and this type of drive is very popular with OEMs, allowing them to advertise NVMe SSDs without paying for a high-end drive.
The new Samsung SSD 980 will come in three capacities: 250 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB. In this review, we have the two highest capacities, including Samsung’s custom controller and various TLC NANDs (described in more detail below).
Because the NVMe drive is PCIe 3.0 x4 rated, peak sequential read speeds are up to 3.5GB/s for a 1TB drive. The drives will be rated at 0.3 writes per day (i.e. 300 GB/day for the 1 TB model) for five years. Samsung SSD 980 Specifications Tank 250 GB 500 GB 1 TB Shape factor Single-sided M.2 2280 Interface PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.4 Controller Samsung Pablo DRAM Nobody NAND Flash Samsung 128L 512 GB TLC Sequential reading 2900 MB/s 3100 MB/s 3500 MB/s Serial write 1300MB/s 2600 MB/s 3000 MB/s Maximum SLC cache size 45 GB 122 GB 160 GB Random Read
IOPSQD1 17 thousand QD32T16 230 thousand 400 thousand 500 thousand Random write
IOPSQD1 53 thousand 54 thousand QD32T16 320 thousand 470 thousand 480 thousand Power Read 3. 
7W 4.3W 4.5 W Write 3.2 W 4.2 W 4.6 W Idle 45 mW Idling (L1.2) 5 mW Warranty 5 years Write endurance 150 TB
0.3 DWPD300 TB
0.3 DWPD600 TB
0.3 DWPDMSRP $49.99
(20¢/GB)$69.99
(14¢/GB)$129.99
(13¢/GB)The Samsung SSD 980 is based on the Pablo controller.
It’s not actually a new NVMe controller, but it’s been shipping in Samsung’s T7 family of portable SSDs for over a year now. This controller has half as many NAND channels as the controllers used in Samsung’s high-end NVMe drives (four instead of eight) and has no DRAM interface. Using the high NAND I/O speeds supported by the latest generations of 3D NAND, the Pablo controller can saturate a PCIe 3.0 x4 host interface without the need for eight NAND lanes. NAND is the same 512Gb 128-layer 3D TLC found on the 2TB 980 PRO. The lower capacity 980 PRO gets smaller parts at 256Gb 128L, but on the regular 980 SSD, Samsung uses a larger capacity die for all three capacities. Smaller 980 PRO models need to use smaller dies to take full advantage of the 8-channel controller, but a simple 980 with a 4-channel speed controller is less of a priority, and 512Gb dies should be slightly cheaper.
(Note: This review originally stated that Samsung used 256Gb 92L TLC on our 500GB SSD 980 sample, and assumed they did so with the 250GB model as well.
Samsung has since confirmed that it is 512Gb 128L on all capacities, which means we misread the a as D in the NAND package part number.) Upgrades from SSD 980
With the SSD 980, Samsung switched to a more aggressive SLC caching strategy, increasing the maximum cache size by more than three times compared to 970 EVO (Plus). They made a similar transition with the 980 PRO. This is in line with the general industry trend towards larger SLC caches, most notable on QLC NVMe SSDs, helping to improve performance in many benchmarks and some real world workloads. While this is good for performance metrics in short batch tests, it usually comes at the expense of cache or disk full performance. For an entry-level drive that isn’t designed for heavy workstation-type workloads, this optimization for maximum performance makes a lot of sense.
Despite being a more budget-friendly product than any of their previous NVMe SSDs, Samsung still gives the SSD 980 a five-year warranty with an endurance rating of 0.
3 DWPD, like all of their latest EVO-level drives. A key part of Samsung’s plans to achieve good real-world performance with the SSD 980 is the NVMe Host Memory Buffer (HMB) feature, which we detailed earlier. In short: DMA PCIe capabilities allow an NVMe SSD to efficiently access the CPU’s main memory/DRAM. The NVMe host memory buffer feature allows the operating system to allocate a small amount of DRAM to the SSD for use in the SSD’s own internal ledger. Performance isn’t as good as having DRAM on the SSD itself, and the amount of allocated memory is usually quite small, defaulting to around 64MB but up to 1GB, but enough to boost performance in many real-world workloads. .
Assuming the drive’s Flash translation layer is of typical design, a 64 MB HMB would be sufficient to cache logical-to-physical address mappings for approximately 64 GB of memory. This is a very tiny amount of host RAM, but 64 GB of storage is much more than what is required to actively use typical user workloads at the same time.
The key part here is «in use» — the HMB will only fill up (and expand) as data is used on disk for that session. So even though the best game might require 250 GB to install, it might only take 50 GB to play at a certain level. NVMe host memory
Buffer sizesMinimum Default Samsung 980 16 MB 64 MB WD Blue SN550 3 MB 32 MB Mushkin Helix-L 32 MB 64MB * Toshiba RC100 10 MB 38 MB Samsung SSD 980 requests 64 MB of host RAM for HMB, but is willing to use only 16 MB. These values are similar to other non-DRAM NVMe SSDs we’ve tested.
For this review, we ran synthetic benchmarks with HMB enabled (the default on recent operating systems) and with HMB disabled to illustrate its impact. The exception is the Mushkin Helix-L with the Silicon Motion SM2263XT controller: we didn’t see any significant performance differences between HMB on and HMB off, even in tests specifically designed to demonstrate the HMB effect, so it’s pretty clear that the drive firmware never comes to the actual use of the requested 64 MB.
Samsung and the entry-level story
Historically, Samsung has distanced itself from making true entry-level drives for the retail SSD market, preferring to maintain some degree of premium status and maintain a more comfortable margin. This is a strategy that vertical integration supports very well.
However, Samsung has already covered some of the low end QLC QVO SATA SSDs. But even here, Samsung kept the prices slightly higher, so the main attraction was how affordable these drives were at extremely high capacities.
Samsung has yet to introduce QLC NAND to its consumer NVMe product line, so the other obvious formula for low-end storage is to ditch DRAM while sticking with TLC NAND. The departure from Samsung’s typical PRO/EVO/QVO split is not entirely unprecedented: there have been several other instances in the past where Samsung needed an extra layer of products, resulting in the 750 EVO and SSD 850. Since then, Samsung has added QVO products level, but 980 doesn’t fit because it uses TLC NAND and not QLC. Samsung also doesn’t have the ability to downsize any part of the model number because between their SATA 800 series and NVMe 9 series SSDs00 no break. So we’re left with a simple 980, while Samsung leaves room for the better 980 EVO.
Competition
We weren’t able to review the WD Blue SN550 when it was released in late 2019, but we got a sample to include in this review because the SN550 is the most important competitor to the Samsung SSD 980. The earlier WD Blue SN500 is significantly .
has raised the bar for DRAM-free SSDs, and the SN550 improves upon it in almost every way. Samsung SSD 980 is rated for much higher peak sequential and random I/O performance, but for more realistic workloads, the SN550 won’t be as easily beaten. We also have results from the older Mushkin Helix-L, although with obviously broken HMB support, it’s nowhere near as competitive. Also in the low-end NVMe market, we have a pair of QLC drives: a Corsair MP400 with an 8-channel Phison E12 controller and an Intel SSD 670p with a new Silicon Motion SM2265 controller. In the more mainstream TLC NVMe market segment, look out for the SK hynix Gold P31. Like the Samsung SSD 980, it uses a quad-channel controller, but the P31 has the usual full onboard DRAM, making it a higher-end drive. If Samsung releases the 980 EVO in the near future, it will almost certainly take the P31’s position in the market, although Samsung could also try to get a slight performance advantage by including PCIe gen4 support.
We also have results from several other recent Samsung SSDs in various market segments: 870 EVO TLC SATA, 970 EVO Plus high-end PCIe Gen 3, and 980 PRO high-end PCIe Gen 4. The latter was re-tested with updated firmware. a few weeks ago, but we found no noticeable performance changes in our test suite.
WD Blue 500Gb (WDS500G2B0A) — a review of an almost TOP SATA SSD drive SSD drives. Today I will tell you about the WD Blue 500Gb SSD (WDS500G2B0A), which should have been much better than the Green series.
If you delve into the labeling of drives from WD, then today there are three lines: Green (similar to hard drives, this is the weakest series), Blue (Medium, fairly productive and fast) and Black (the most productive SSD drives with NVMe technology and only in the M.2 form factor). The manufacturer positions the Blue series for home computers and workstations where high speed and reliability are required. But still, WD recommends using Blue drives with hard drives (so that we don’t forget about them, apparently).
Although at the moment the prices for SSD drives continue to fall, and if you do not store movie collections on your PC, then there is no longer any need for large hard drives. It is enough just to buy a capacious 500Gb-1Tb solid-state drive (For example, a Western Digital Blue 500Gb TLC 3D NAND SSD (WDS500G2B0A)) and enjoy working at a computer or laptop. Even if you decide to store and collect something, then this volume will be enough, as for most tasks for a PC. Blue and Green series drives are available in 2.5″ and M.2 form factors, and they all work only on the SATA III bus, and therefore you will not get higher than the maximum 560 MB / s, unlike the Black series on PCI-E x4 . Moreover, both series have been upgraded and now only the second revision can be seen on the market, where 3D NAND has been added to the name of the SSD drive. As my practice and tests showed, the second revision turned out worse than the first (this only applies to the Green series).
Well, now let’s find out what WD has prepared for us and check the Western Digital Blue 500Gb TLC 3D NAND SSD (WDS500G2B0A)…
Video review