The 970 Evo is Samsung’s third generation NVMe PCIe SSD for high-end consumers and professionals alike. It employs the latest Samsung Phoenix controller and their latest version of TLC 3D NAND (now 64-layers) which is cheaper but with slightly lower endurance and weaker write consistency than the MLC NAND found in the 970 Pro. The 970 Evo comes in a M.2 form factor and four sizes: 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB. The $120 250GB 970 Evo has an advertised sequential read speed of up to 3400 MB/s (200MB/s faster than the 250GB 960 Evo) and a sequential write speed of 1500 MB/s which drops to 300 MB/s once the 13Gb of SLC cache has been exhausted (this is similar to the sustained write performance on the 960 Evo). Further benchmarks are required before we can attest to its overall performance in the real world. The anticipated modest performance improvement between generations is expected to maintain Samsung’s front running as the premium SSD brand. Samsung now offers a warranty of 5 years across the suite of 970 SSDs and specifically a generous write endurance of 150 TBW on the 250 GB 970 Evo, thereby challenging the need for the 970 Pro MLC variant. [May '18SSDrivePro]
The 960 Evo SSD is one of Samsung’s premier NVMe SSDs, along with their current flagship, the 960 Pro. The Evo variant is available in a variety of capacities including 250, 500 and 1000 GB, each with a commensurate price tag, whilst the 960 Pro is available in 512, 1024 and 2048 GB capacities. The 960 Evo has lower write endurance compared to the 960 Pro due to its TLC (3-bit) V-NAND flash memory (the 960 Pro consists of MLC (2-bit) V-NAND). As a result, Samsung only guarantee 200 terabytes written on the 512 GB 960 Evo, compared to double that on the 960 Pro, however, this volume of data is very unlikely to affect consumers. The 250 GB 960 Evo has a 13 GB SLC cache which boosts initial write speed to roughly match the 960 Pro but writes exceeding 13 GB drop in speed by over 50%. Overall, the 960 Pro offers more consistent write performance than the 960 Evo, however, this will only impact workloads that exceed the 13 GB. [Nov '17SSDrivePro]
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]
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.