Average Bench: 91.4% (311th of 1071)

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 Bench Sequential Random 4k Deep queue 4k
The fastest SSD (mainstream) averages a speed of 100%
95GB free
Firmware: EXT0DB6Q
SusWrite @10s intervals: 356 145 145 144 144 144 MB/s
Read 509
Write 359
Mixed 384
SusWrite 180
80% 358 MB/s
4K Read 45
4K Write 130
4K Mixed 53.8
206% 76.4 MB/s
DQ Read 380
DQ Write 360
DQ Mixed 176
186% 306 MB/s
47GB free (System drive)
Firmware: EXT0CB6Q
SusWrite @10s intervals: 271 137 138 131 93 56 MB/s
Read 432
Write 428
Mixed 292
SusWrite 138
72% 322 MB/s
4K Read 35
4K Write 75.8
4K Mixed 41.4
146% 50.7 MB/s
DQ Read 372
DQ Write 347
DQ Mixed 176
183% 299 MB/s
28GB free (System drive)
Firmware: EXT0BB6Q
SusWrite @10s intervals: 199 122 122 109 66 61 MB/s
Read 435
Write 396
Mixed 247
SusWrite 113
66% 297 MB/s
4K Read 27.7
4K Write 40.4
4K Mixed 29.1
101% 32.4 MB/s
DQ Read 323
DQ Write 276
DQ Mixed 172
164% 257 MB/s
104,444 MORE »

 Market Share (See Leaders)

The number of benchmark samples for this model as a percentage of all 65,446,528 SSDs tested.

 Prices

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MSRP ≈ $95 @ launch in Jul '13
AmazonUS $12017 mins
EbayUS $1503 mins
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Typical 840 Evo 120GB Builds (Compare 2,973 builds) See popular component choices, score breakdowns and rankings.
Gaming
Gaming 42%
Speed boat
Desktop
Desktop 78%
Battleship
Workstation
Workstation 33%
Sail boat

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

EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER Value: 65% - Good Total price: $635

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 freeware 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 upgrades.

UserBenchmark of the month

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.
  • - Explore your best upgrade options with a virtual PC build.
  • - Compare your in-game FPS to other users with your hardware.
Solid State Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) March 2023 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 9 years ago.

Good (edit your comment) Add link

2 years ago.

Fast and Cheap SSD for a great price


Excellent

4 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

4 years ago.

best performance for this price


Good

6 years ago.

Price vs Performance that drive is perfect


Good

5 years ago.

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


Good

5 years ago.

Super Fast and Price is exelent


Excellent

5 years ago.

my first samsung ssd. very good performance and price.


Good

6 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

17 months 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.


Above average

8 years ago.


Good

8 years ago.

Low price , higher access , more faster !


Excellent

3 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

8 years ago.

This SSD is perfect.


Excellent

8 years ago.

awesome ssd


Your
opinion?
1071 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

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Intel Core i5-12600K $194Nvidia RTX 3060 $365Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $106
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