Average Bench: 91.4% (312th of 1072)

Based on 104,444 user benchmarks.  Models: Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120GB, Samsung SSD 840 EVO 1, Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120G, Samsung SSD 840 EVO

The 120GB Evo, like its 250GB sibling, features a second level Turbowrite cache (TWC). This 3GB block of high speed SLC memory allows the Evo to write data at 370 MB/s, nearly double its normal rate. When the TWC is full write speeds drop by around 50% but since consumers generally write less than 3GB in a typical write operation, the performance drop will rarely be noticed. On the other hand, in a server environment this sort of performance degradation would be unacceptable. Comparing the 120GB and 250GB Evos shows that they have similar performance profiles. The performance equivalence between the different capacities, coupled with the fact that their prices are almost linear, implies that both capacities represent roughly the same value for money. Within its TWC, the 120GB Evo is capable of chart topping burst IO rates and it sits squarely amongst the best performing 120GB drives. [Aug '14 SSDrivePro]

Excellent average bench

The Samsung 840 Evo 120GB averaged just 8.6% lower than the peak scores attained by the group leaders. This is an excellent result which ranks the Samsung 840 Evo 120GB near the top of the comparison list.

Strengths

Avg. 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed 160MB/s
Avg. 4K Random Read Speed 38.9MB/s

Average consistency

The range of scores (95th - 5th percentile) for the Samsung 840 Evo 120GB is 45.2%. This is a relatively wide range which indicates that the Samsung 840 Evo 120GB performs inconsistently under varying real world conditions.

Weaknesses

Avg. Sustained Write Speed 136MB/s
Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed 317MB/s
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Average Bench

(Based on 104,444 samples)
Min Avg Max
343 Read 461 506
284 Write 404 489
240 Mixed 317 392
59.4 SusWrite 136 179
73.5% 329 MB/s
Min Avg Max
24.7 4K Read 38.9 46.3
36.4 4K Write 87 118
26.2 4K Mixed 45.8 55.6
164% 57.3 MB/s
Min Avg Max
182 DQ Read 339 381
115 DQ Write 297 362
67.2 DQ Mixed 160 179
163% 265 MB/s
User Benchmarks BenchSequentialRandom 4kDeep queue 4k
The fastest SSD (mainstream) averages a speed of 100%
63GB free
Firmware: EXT0DB6Q
SusWrite @10s intervals: 351 144 145 145 145 145 MB/s
Read 494
Write 479
Mixed 321
SusWrite 179
82% 368 MB/s
4K Read 41
4K Write 86.8
4K Mixed 49.1
171% 59 MB/s
DQ Read 379
DQ Write 343
DQ Mixed 177
183% 300 MB/s
76GB free
Firmware: EXT0CB6Q
SusWrite @10s intervals: 305 146 146 145 145 145 MB/s
Read 498
Write 400
Mixed 378
SusWrite 172
81% 362 MB/s
4K Read 39.5
4K Write 76.2
4K Mixed 46.3
160% 54 MB/s
DQ Read 381
DQ Write 363
DQ Mixed 176
186% 307 MB/s
67GB free
Firmware: EXT0BB6Q
SusWrite @10s intervals: 347 146 146 146 147 147 MB/s
Read 495
Write 342
Mixed 366
SusWrite 180
77% 346 MB/s
4K Read 42.6
4K Write 91.8
4K Mixed 51.1
179% 61.8 MB/s
DQ Read 214
DQ Write 184
DQ Mixed 132
117% 176 MB/s
111GB free
Firmware: EXT0BB0Q
SusWrite @10s intervals: 322 135 134 134 134 134 MB/s
Read 370
Write 300
Mixed 290
SusWrite 165
63% 281 MB/s
4K Read 40.8
4K Write 79
4K Mixed 45.7
162% 55.2 MB/s
DQ Read 239
DQ Write 199
DQ Mixed 135
124% 191 MB/s
104,444 MORE »

 Market Share (See Leaders)

The number of benchmark samples for this model as a percentage of all 75,719,721 SSDs tested

 Prices

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MSRP ≈ $95 @ launch in Jul '13
EbayUS $8523 mins
AmazonUS $12012 months
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Typical 840 Evo 120GB Builds (Compare 4,010 builds) See popular component choices, score breakdowns and rankings
Gaming
Gaming 56%
Gunboat
Desktop
Desktop 77%
Battleship
Workstation
Workstation 44%
Speed boat

Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 GAMING (MS-7821) - $242

EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER Value: 88% - Excellent Total price: $587

Popular 840 Evo 120GB compatible motherboards:

How Fast Is Your SSD? (Bench your build) Size up your PC in less than a minute

Welcome to our PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best value for money upgrades.

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How it works

  • - Download and run UserBenchmark
  • - CPU tests include: integer, floating and string
  • - GPU tests include: six 3D game simulations
  • - Drive tests include: read, write, sustained write and mixed IO
  • - RAM tests include: single/multi core bandwidth and latency
  • - SkillBench (space shooter) tests user input accuracy
  • - Reports are generated and presented on userbenchmark.com
  • - Identify the strongest components in your PC
  • - See speed test results from other users
  • - Compare your components to the current market leaders
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  • - Compare your in-game FPS to other users with your hardware
Solid State Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) April 2024 SSD Rankings

Welcome to our 2.5" and M.2 SSD comparison. We calculate effective speed for both SATA and NVMe drives based on real world performance then adjust by current prices per GB to yield a value for money rating. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top SSDs. [SSDrivePro]

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Group Test Results

  • Best user rated - User sentiment trumps benchmarks for this comparison.
  • Best value for money - Value for money is based on real world performance.
  • Fastest real world speed - Real World Speed measures performance for typical consumers.

 Comments

Controller: Samsung 3 Core MEX. Memory: Samsung 19nm Toggle Mode TLC

Experience a brand new, faster performance...

Added 10 years ago.

Good (edit your comment) Add link

3 years ago.

Fast and Cheap SSD for a great price


Excellent

5 years ago.

Comment 

Good for general purpose use - best compromise between Price and performance. I have bought over 20 of these to retrofit into Laptops and desktop pc's to give a performance boost especially with a clean Windows 8.1 install. Makes a cheap Celeron Laptop fly like a new core i5 laptop with a standard electro-mechanical Hdd. PC World will not sell computers with SSD's in because if people savvy the huge performance boot you get with an SSD they will just buy a cheap sub £200 laptop and clone the disk to an SSD. Dell hike their prices to fit a 250GB SSD when you buy a new PC by £350 - WHAT A RIP OFF, No wonder they are going out of business. The 250GB and 500GB Samsung SSD's are equally good - recommended in fact. I have bought all of these in some quantity.—Oct '14


Excellent

5 years ago.

best performance for this price


Good

7 years ago.

Price vs Performance that drive is perfect


Good

6 years ago.

i love this ssd, still fast on my old laptop with SATA 2.


Good

6 years ago.

Super Fast and Price is exelent


Excellent

6 years ago.

my first samsung ssd. very good performance and price.


Good

7 years ago.

Works really great. I've had it for 3 months already and had no troubles with it. It's fast and cheap. My 4 year old HP DV7-3180us feels like new with it.


Excellent

2 years ago.

Top of the pack back in the day: I purchased this baby at nearly 1€/GB possibly as far back as 2014. This workhorse was my Windows and Linux boot drive, and code compilation drive for several years. It absorbed everything I could throw at it through the SATA 3 bus, but given its capacity, at its peak and end-of-use, it didn't run very many of my programs beyond Windows, Steam, Firefox, and similar relatively small software you'd launch and use often. Could I have lived without it? No doubt. Would I say it was a good purchase way back when? Absolutely. Only downside were abysmal read speeds with the old firmware -- After a few months (years?) of data sitting there untouched, the read speeds would plummet to HDD levels. Thankfully a firmware update fixed this, possibly at the cost of endurance, but, even after abusing the drive much more than the average consumer would, I never even got close to Samsung's rated endurance.


Good

9 years ago.

Low price , higher access , more faster !


Above average

9 years ago.


Excellent

4 years ago.

Had this in my system for 5 years now. It didnt lose any performance or gave me any errors. Its still a fast little OS SSD and is still supported via software from samsungs side.


Excellent

9 years ago.

This SSD is perfect.


Excellent

9 years ago.

awesome ssd


Your
opinion?
1072 Drives (Compared) Thousands of user benchmarks compiled into one comparison list

See how consistently different SSDs perform with varying real world conditions. The charts also illustrate overall performance, popularity and rank.

 Frequently Asked Questions

 Best User Rated

The Best.
CPUGPUSSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $273Nvidia RTX 4060 $295Crucial MX500 250GB $40
Intel Core i5-12400F $133Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $177Nvidia RTX 4070 $539Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52
HDDRAMUSB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $45SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $37Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $43SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $51G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16
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