During the recent SSD, Global Summit held in Seoul, Samsung unveiled to the public its new line of SSD 840 EVO. These units have the burden of going to replace one of the most appreciated by consumers, which is the Samsung 840, and go to support the Pro 840 series that remain, the TOP solution in terms of performance as well.
The new Samsung 840 EVO SSD using an ultra-slim design with a thickness of 7mm and a controller, the completely renovated Samsung MEX, which is flanked by TLC 19nm NAND Flash and a variable amount of cache from 256MB up to 1GB, depending on the capacity of the drive. Also new is the design that, in the face of a thickness equal to the previous model provides a chassis with a titanium gray finish.
Samsung 840 EVO 500 GB – Overview
In terms of performance the Samsung 840 EVO, thanks to the innovative technology TurboWrite, show a significant improvement in sequential write speed than the model it will replace. TurboWrite technology is handled internally to the controller of the Evo MEX and able to take advantage of a portion of the amount of TLC NAND flashes on the PCB in order to emulate the behavior of NAND Flash SLC type.
This innovation can provide a performance boost in sequential writes while, in contrast, produces the drawback consisting of the percentage of loss equal to 2/3 of the quantity of NAND TLC that are originally used for the purpose.
Very wide choice for both the planned capacity, with cuts 128GB, 250GB, 500GB, 750GB and 1TB, both in terms of preparation, since the drive is sold in three different kits with diverse accessory equipment, or Basic, Desktop Kit and Laptop Kit The Basic model is aimed at the vast majority of users with a very attractive price, and a minimum bundle consists of only manuals and software.
The desktop kit comes with more equipment than the Basic model and includes, in addition to the manual and the accompanying software, a 3.5-inch adapter with screws, a SATA cable and a connector SATA-> USB 2.0 very useful for Data Migration.
The Laptop kit is instead intended for those who want to install their own SSD into a laptop and has the same amount for the Desktop Kit, with the difference that the connector is SATA -> USB 3.0 adapter is replaced by a frame plastic needed to make it compatible with the thickness of the drive compartment of the notebook.
The table below lists the main specifications declared by the manufacturer for the drive MZ-7TE500BW, better known as the Samsung 840 EVO 500 GB, which we analyze in particular, all the virtues and defects in the course of our review.
Specifications
| Model | MZ-7TE500 (500GB) |
| Capacity | 500GB |
| Maximum speed sequential | Read 540 MB / s – Write 520 MB / s |
| Read Speed Random 4kB (QD 32) | 98,000 IOPS |
| 4kB random write speed (QD 32) | 90,000 IOPS |
| Interface | Backward compatible SATA II SATA III |
| Hardware | Controller MEX Cortex-R4 – Toggle DDR 2.0 NAND TLC – 512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM Cache |
| Support command set | TRIM, SMART, NCQ, ATA/ATAPI-8 |
| DATA Encryption Support | 256-bit AES Full Disk Encryption (Class 0) |
| Warranty | 3 years |
| Consumption | 0,045 W Idle, 0.1W average power consumption (typical) |
| Operating Temperature | 0 ° -70 ° |
| Form Factor | 2.5 “ |
| Dimensions and weight | 100 x 69.5 x 6.8 mm – 53g |
| Operating shock | 1500G x 0.5ms |
| MTBF | 1.5 million hours |
| Supplied Software | Samsung Magician – Samsung SmartMigration |
Conclusions
With the new Samsung 840 EVO 500 GB, Samsung has confirmed its commitment to a significant sector of the market that the protagonist for the past three generations of SSD. The objective of the producer to improve one of the best-selling SSDs recent season was, in our view, centered in the middle.
The new Samsung 840 EVO 500 GB offers the best you could wish for in a consumer SSDs: sophisticated design, fuel efficiency, performance, reliability, choice in capacity, all at a competitive price.
The use of new TLC 19nm NAND Flash enables the new Samsung 840 EVO 500 GB to reach that capacity until a few years ago would have been unthinkable for a solid-state drive alo and, most importantly, without any negative impact on performance, which proved to be first class in both reading and writing sequential read and write random access of small files.
The new controller MEX, supported by a considerable amount of cache and a very efficient firmware has filled, using proprietary technology TurboWrite, most of the gaps put on display for the previous series in terms of performance. The technology TurboWrite us favorably convinced albeit leaving open, the results of our tests, some doubt about the possibility of maintaining the amazing promises of an arc of 360° coverage of use.
The MEX has also maintained an proverbial constancy of performance in the processing of data with a different degree of compressibility and in the transitions between the different filling conditions and wear and tear that have always distinguished the Samsung products.
Also interesting is the new mode RAPID (Real-time Accelerated Processing of I / O Data) introduced, for the exclusive use of this series, starting with version 4.2 of the Samsung Magician software. In this regard, we cannot really make a final judgment, as the results obtained in tests with this mode enabled are still rather mixed.
Also on the security front the new Samsung 840 EVO 500 GB shows not inconsiderable talents, allowing you to protect the drive from excessive overheating, using the Dynamic Thermal Guard, and the information contained therein with a robust hardware encryption AES 256-bit encryption, a feature that usually it is the prerogative of SSD for other user groups.
The Samsung 840 EVO 500 GB in the Basic version, the subject of our review, has a selling price is around $270, in our opinion very competitive considering the high capacity offered, the overall quality on display and the three years warranty it enjoys.
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Our Opinion
Also on the security front the new Samsung 840 EVO 500 GB shows not inconsiderable talents, allowing you to protect the drive from excessive overheating, using the Dynamic Thermal Guard, and the information contained therein with a robust hardware encryption AES 256-bit encryption, a feature that usually it is the prerogative of SSD for other user groups. The Samsung 840 EVO 500 GB in the Basic version, the subject of our review, has a selling price is around $300, in our opinion very competitive considering the high capacity offered, the overall quality on display and the three years warranty it enjoys.
- Overall