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Samsung MZ-7PD256BW

840 Pro 256GB

▲ 5420,552 ▼

Controller: Samsung 3-core MDX. Flash Memory: Samsung 21nm Toggle Mode MLC. Release date: Q4 2012.

Average Bench: 94% (275th of 1058)

Based on 59,404 user benchmarks.  Models: Samsung SSD 840 PRO Series, Samsung SSD 840, Samsung SSD 840 PRO Seri, Samsung SSD 840 PRO

The 840 Pro is stunning. Samsung have created a completely in-house package including both the controller and their own new 21nm toggle mode NAND. On release (Oct '12) this was the fastest performing deep queue depth consumer grade SSD available. Fast forward six months (Apr '13) and the 840 Pro still holds both the random read/write deep queue depth speed records of 384 MB/s and 326 MB/s, impressive considering how fast the SSD space tends to move. There are no obvious weaknesses, in-fact the 840 pro takes first place in nearly all of the speed categories and is only seriously rivalled by one drive, the OCZ Vector. To conclude, in terms of both outright performance, particularly server orientated, and value for money the 256GB and 128GB 840 Pros are amongst the top handful of drives currently available. [Jun '13 SSDrivePro]

Poor: 64%Average: 94% Great: 116%

Popular builds with this SSD

Excellent average bench

The Samsung 840 Pro 256GB averaged just 6.0% lower than the peak scores attained by the group leaders. This is an excellent result which ranks the Samsung 840 Pro 256GB near the top of the comparison list.

Strengths

Avg. 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed 144MB/s
Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed 38.6MB/s

Below average consistency

The range of scores (95th - 5th percentile) for the Samsung 840 Pro 256GB is 51.4%. This is a relatively wide range which indicates that the Samsung 840 Pro 256GB performs inconsistently under varying real world conditions.

Weaknesses

Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed 302MB/s
Avg. Sustained Write Speed 318MB/s
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Average Bench

(Based on 59,404 samples)
Rank 27594%
Min Avg Max
350 Read 464 510
134 Write 376 485
204 Mixed 302 365
81.6 SusWrite 318 476
81.8% 365 MB/s
Min Avg Max
22.5 4K Read 30.8 36
40.2 4K Write 80.5 112
26.7 4K Mixed 38.6 47.6
139% 50 MB/s
Min Avg Max
209 DQ Read 338 385
109 DQ Write 259 335
104 DQ Mixed 144 176
150% 247 MB/s
User Benchmarks Bench Sequential Random 4k Deep queue 4k
The fastest SSD (mainstream) averages a speed of 100%
78GB free (System drive)
Firmware: DXM06B0Q
SusWrite @10s intervals: 273 277 279 265 156 143 MB/s
92.3% Outstanding
Read 473
Write 261
Mixed 275
SusWrite 232
69% 310 MB/s
4K Read 31
4K Write 84.9
4K Mixed 41.4
145% 52.4 MB/s
DQ Read 367
DQ Write 272
DQ Mixed 165
165% 268 MB/s
46GB free
Firmware: DXM05B0Q
SusWrite @10s intervals: 130 89 75 51 52 62 MB/s
71.9% Very good
Read 432
Write 164
Mixed 264
SusWrite 76.6
52% 234 MB/s
4K Read 28.4
4K Write 79
4K Mixed 37.7
133% 48.4 MB/s
DQ Read 224
DQ Write 167
DQ Mixed 123
112% 171 MB/s
59,404 MORE »

 Market Share (See Leaders)

The number of benchmark samples for this model as a percentage of all 41,717,257 SSDs tested.

 Prices

MSRP ≈ $203 @ launch in Oct '12
OutletPCUS $10015 months
EbayUS $12924 mins
AmazonUS $27110 months
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Custom PC Builder (Start a new build) Build your perfect PC: compare component prices, popularity, speed and value for money.

CHOOSE A COMPONENT:

CPU GPU SSD HDD RAM MBD
Typical 840 Pro 256GB Builds (Compare 3,654 builds) See popular component choices, score breakdowns and rankings.
Gaming
Gaming 65%
Battle cruiser
Desktop
Desktop 83%
Aircraft carrier
Workstation
Workstation 55%
Yacht

Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VI HERO - $190

CPU
Core i7-4770KIntel  $219Bench 78%, 151,190 samples1,706x
Core i5-4670KIntel  $180Bench 78%, 126,321 samples689x
Core i7-4790KIntel  $348Bench 83%, 372,548 samples461x
GPU
GTX 1070Nvidia  $330Bench 80%, 1,088,853 samples295x
GTX 970Nvidia  $340Bench 51%, 677,318 samples252x
GTX 1080Nvidia  $450Bench 106%, 850,334 samples223x
SSD
840 Pro 256GBSamsung  $100Bench 94%, 59,404 samples1x
RAM
TridentX DDR3 2400 C10 2x8GBG.SKILLBench 65%, 19,211 samples140x
Vengeance DDR3 1600 C10 2x8GBCorsairBench 54%, 32,812 samples98x
Savage DDR3 2400 C11 2x8GBHyperXBench 64%, 17,166 samples96x
EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER Value: 59% - Above average Total price: $839

Popular 840 Pro 256GB 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.

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Gaming Desktop ProGaming

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.
  • - 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.
  • - Share your opinion by voting.
Solid State Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) April 2021 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

SSDrivePro
Avatar level
1,857

Official site www.samsung.com/...

Controller: Samsung 3-core MDX. Flash Memory: Samsung 21nm Toggle Mode MLC

Delivers high speeds for both compressible and incompressible data...

Added 8 years ago.
USA-User
Avatar level
7,708

Good (edit your comment) Add link

12 months ago.

Got it a year or so ago and I loved it then and still love it now, though it is a little pricy

Comment 

T61P with win7 64 &, Intel Extreme X9000, 8gb ram, fast ......... verrrry fast. Faster than many new computers. Gives a lot of new life to older PCs.—Sep '14

DEU-User
Avatar level
4,759

Excellent

2 years ago.

Owning it for almost 6 Years, still running very fast

CAN-User
Avatar level
4,022

Good

2 years ago.

An awesome drive! Going to get one to upgrade my rig!

POL-User
Avatar level
3,710

Good

4 years ago.

Excellent performance and reliability. I already have 5TB traffic over the past year. Performance has not decreased!

IND-User
Avatar level
3,592

Average

2 years ago.

Need to improve a lot on Research and Development . Please don't fool people with your small small improvements .With R&D U can do much better.

ESP-User
Avatar level
3,177

Liked

3 years ago.

AUT-User
Avatar level
2,221

Excellent

11 months ago.

Comment 

though for any practical purpose the EVO is just as good/fast—Sep '14

ZAF-User
Avatar level
2,192

Poor

5 years ago.

Can someone please explain to me why I get under 1MB/s 4K Mixed IO with my Samsung 840 pro when the average UBM Speed is 21.8MB/s for 4K Mixed IO operations?

SSDrivePro
Avatar level
1,857

Very good

7 years ago.

Review  hexus.net/...

Image  img.hexus.net/...
Sep '12 AS SSD Benchmark Test

Sep '12 AS SSD Benchmark Test

Review  www.hardocp.com/...

Review  www.servethehome.com/...

Image  www.servethehome.com/...
Nov '12 AS SSD Benchmark Test Score

Nov '12 AS SSD Benchmark Test Score

Review  www.custompcreview.com/...

Image  www.custompcreview.com/...
Sep '12 AS SSD Benchmark Speed Test Score

Sep '12 AS SSD Benchmark Speed Test Score

Deal  www.google.co.uk/...

Jun '13 £185 @Ebuyer

NZL-User
Avatar level
1,662

Liked

5 years ago.

Comment 

Great drive under normal/light load. Write latency starts to fall apart a bit under sustained loads.—Sep '14

Rand
Avatar level
425

Very good

8 years ago.

This drive, the latest from Samsung, takes SSD technology a small but clear step forward. It excels in the area of deep queue depth 4k random writes where it outperforms all of its direct competition. The brand new and almost impossible to get hold of Plextor M5 is currently the strongest competitor to the Samsung but until prices on the Plextor drop from an astronomical £250, Samsung have an easy win despite not having priced the 840 particularly aggressively themselves.

Nomekop
Avatar level
8

Excellent

6 years ago.

Just the best 256G SSD for me!

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

 Frequently Asked Questions

Storage Devices FAQ
What is sustained sequential write speed?
What’s the difference between SLC, MLC and TLC?
What is 3D XPoint and how fast is it?
What’s the difference between SATA, PCIe and NVMe?
What’s the difference between NAND and V-NAND?
What is sequential write speed?
What is sequential read speed?
What is incompressible data?
What is queue depth?
Solid State Drives
What is the SSD value for money rating?
What is 4K 64 thread write speed?
Can CPU power saving states (C1,C2,C3) impact SSD speed?
What is the effective SSD speed index?
How is the AS SSD write score calculated?
How is the AS SSD read score calculated?
How is the AS SSD total score calculated?
ALL FAQs »

 Best User Rated
The Best.
CPUGPUSSD
Intel Core i5-11400F $173Nvidia RTX 3070 $500Crucial MX500 250GB $49
Intel Core i5-11600K $265Nvidia RTX 3060-Ti $400Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $78
Intel Core i7-10700K $316Nvidia GTX 1660S (Super) $240Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $50
HDDRAMUSB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $40Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $79SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $34Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $73SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 3TB (2016) $85G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $649SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16
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