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MagyarSamsung 960 Evo and Samsung 960 Pro SSD Review
For the original German review, see here.
Samsung is one of the leading suppliers of SSDs for the business and mainstream markets. We will be taking a look at two Samsung SSDs: the Samsung 960 Evo and the Samsung 960 Pro. The Samsung Evo 960 series offers capacities of 250 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB. On the other hand, the smallest drive of the Samsung 960 Pro series provides 512 GB. Samsung offers a 1 TB 960 Pro as well. We have included the popular Samsung SM951 in our review for comparison purposes.
| Model | Samsung 960 Evo | Samsung 960 Pro | Samsung SM951 |
| Capacity in GB | 250/500/1000 | 512/1024/2048 | 128/256/512 |
| Price in Euros | 125/240/450 | 310/580/1190 | 100/150/280 |
Despite having the same 3D-V-NAND 48 layer architecture, the two drives use different types of memory: the Evo models rely on 3-bit-TLC Flash memory, whereas the Pro series uses the faster 2-bit-MLC-3D-NAND memory cells. Furthermore, the 2-bit memory cells last longer than the TLC memory of the Evo models. Both models use a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface (for full performance). The slightly older Samsung SM951 did not use 3D-NAND, but rather relied on MLC-NAND with a 2D structure. The higher prices of the Samsung 960 Pro models can be justified by their high performance rates and an extra 2 years warranty (5 years) than the Evo models (3 years). Samsung claims that the Pro series has a lifetime expectancy of 1.2 PB TBW (Total Bytes Written), whereas the Evo series "only" offers 400 TB TBW.
Test System
Our test system is a desktop PC running on an Intel Xeon E5 2680v4 (not overclocked). We use Kingston RAM (Hyper X 64 GB DDR4 2400 MHz) and an MSI motherboard (MS-7882). Furthermore, the test system runs with an Nvidia Titan X. The operating system is Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit. We would like to clarify that the Samsung 960 Pro and Evo series can be installed in notebooks as well. However, the notebook must have a M.2 2280 interface which is connected via PCI-E 3.0 x4.
Synthetic Benchmarks
ATTO vs. AS SSD and CrystalDiskMark
The two Samsung 960 drives offer good performance and can even compete with Raid0 systems in certain synthetic benchmarks. In the AS SSD benchmark, our test models score very highly. The 4K Read value leaves more to be desired, but overall, the drives perform very well. The Samsung 960 Pro takes a clear lead (+12%) over the Samsung 960 Evo. Despite the "weaker performance", the latter can secure a comfortable second place. The Samsung SM951 (-35%) is significantly slower in the AS SSD benchmarks. Despite these results, the Samsung SM951 runs very well in any system and we never felt that its performance affected our work. However, the higher performance of the 960 series is noticeable when copying large files (if the interface supports the maximum bandwidth of the drives).
We could not reach the maximum sequential read and write rates in our test system (Pro: 3500 MB/s; 2100MB/s and Evo: 3200 MB/s; 1900MB/s). Despite these values being clearly below the Samsung specifications, we appreciate that the drives perform at a very high level. If we compare the 960 Pro to its predecessor, the 950 Pro, we see that Samsung has raised the performance by around 10%.
Samsung has used a test system based on an Intel Core i7 6700K (4.0 GHz), 16 GB DDR3 RAM (1700 MHz) and an ASRock Z170 Extreme 7 motherboard. The operating system was Windows 10 Pro x64. We believe the relatively higher single-core performance of the Intel Core i7-6700K (in comparison to our Intel Xeon E5 2680v4) might have resulted in better sequential read and write rates.
| Samsung SSD 960 Evo 250GB m.2 NVMe | Samsung SSD 960 Pro 1TB m.2 NVMe | Samsung SM951 MZHPV512HDGL m.2 PCI-e | Samsung PM951 NVMe MZ-VLV256D | Samsung SSD 950 Pro 256GB m.2 NVMe | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AS SSD | 12% | -35% | -41% | 2% | |
| Copy Game MB/s | 833 | 833 0% | 753 -10% | 178.2 -79% | 1140 37% |
| Copy Program MB/s | 355.8 | 401.8 13% | 337.3 -5% | 98.1 -72% | 491.1 38% |
| Copy ISO MB/s | 1198 | 1292 8% | 1048 -13% | 222.3 -81% | 1520 27% |
| Score Total | 3614 | 4187 16% | 1626 -55% | 1684 -53% | 2340 -35% |
| Score Write | 1195 | 1337 12% | 361 -70% | 318 -73% | 501 -58% |
| Score Read | 1637 | 1911 17% | 865 -47% | 935 -43% | 1248 -24% |
| Access Time Write * | 0.052 | 0.052 -0% | 0.065 -25% | 0.035 33% | 0.032 38% |
| Access Time Read * | 0.076 | 0.051 33% | 0.111 -46% | 0.088 -16% | 0.04 47% |
| 4K-64 Write | 971 | 1057 9% | 213.4 -78% | 186.3 -81% | 296.4 -69% |
| 4K-64 Read | 1352 | 1605 19% | 650 -52% | 767 -43% | 998 -26% |
| 4K Write | 71.4 | 70.4 -1% | 61.5 -14% | 108.3 52% | 115.2 61% |
| 4K Read | 30.59 | 31.74 4% | 31.65 3% | 35.4 16% | 46.38 52% |
| Seq Write | 1522 | 2092 37% | 864 -43% | 235.3 -85% | 897 -41% |
| Seq Read | 2549 | 2738 7% | 1830 -28% | 1323 -48% | 2039 -20% |
| CrystalDiskMark 3.0 | 13% | -20% | -26% | 9% | |
| Write 4k QD32 | 410.2 | 401.8 -2% | 214.9 -48% | 245.6 -40% | 322.1 -21% |
| Read 4k QD32 | 480.8 | 479.9 0% | 283.6 -41% | 399.7 -17% | 634 32% |
| Write 4k | 77.4 | 77.5 0% | 65.2 -16% | 133.9 73% | 149.7 93% |
| Read 4k | 34.36 | 31.61 -8% | 35.09 2% | 39.63 15% | 51.9 51% |
| Write 512 | 1246 | 1728 39% | 851 -32% | 276.3 -78% | 719 -42% |
| Read 512 | 1088 | 1261 16% | 1110 2% | 685 -37% | 938 -14% |
| Write Seq | 1563 | 2087 34% | 1464 -6% | 311.4 -80% | 950 -39% |
| Read Seq | 1920 | 2452 28% | 1591 -17% | 1131 -41% | 2217 15% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 13% /
13% | -28% /
-29% | -34% /
-35% | 6% /
5% |
* ... smaller is better
| Samsung SSD 960 Evo 250GB m.2 NVMe | Samsung SSD 960 Pro 1TB m.2 NVMe | Samsung SM951 MZHPV512HDGL m.2 PCI-e | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ATTO Disk Benchmark | 21% | -17% | |
| 1024KB read | 3173620 | 3263860 3% | 2231490 -30% |
| 2048KB read | 3154120 | 3026480 -4% | 2231490 -29% |
| 4096KB read | 3099870 | 3019900 -3% | 2220630 -28% |
| 8192KB read | 2990000 | 2960680 -1% | 2215240 -26% |
| 1024KB write | 1429920 | 2100230 47% | 1498550 5% |
| 2048KB write | 1423030 | 2090010 47% | 1502190 6% |
| 4096KB write | 1423030 | 2090010 47% | 1409290 -1% |
| 8192KB write | 1423030 | 2079890 46% | 1299930 -9% |
| 16KB write | 1118800 | 1102410 -1% | 657227 -41% |
| 16KB read | 1000960 | 1257110 26% | 842170 -16% |
The comparison table shows that the SSDs are quite close in PCMark 7 and PCMark 8. The Pro series takes a slight lead. The slightly older Samsung SM951 can even match the offering of the Samsung 960 Evo and the Samsung 950 Pro. For optimal SSD performance, we recommend using updated NVMe drivers from Samsung.
The following link will lead you to suitable NVMe drivers for new Samsung SSDs:
www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/overview.html
| Samsung SSD 960 Evo 250GB m.2 NVMe | Samsung SSD 960 Pro 1TB m.2 NVMe | Samsung SM951 MZHPV512HDGL m.2 PCI-e | Samsung SSD 950 Pro 256GB m.2 NVMe | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCMark 7 | ||||
| System Storage | 5836 | 6120 5% | 5899 1% | |
| PCMark 8 | ||||
| Storage Score v2 | 5041 | 5077 1% | 5034 0% | 5087 1% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 3% /
3% | 1% /
1% | 1% /
1% |
Data Compression
Both 960 series perform at a good level while handling compressed data. The 960 Pro acquits itself better while writing files (as expected). The Samsung SM951 is weaker than the other two test candidates while writing files. We observed that the 960 Evo model worked at a more constant rate than the 960 Pro series while reading compressed files. We ran the test several times, but every time the test system performed in the same way.
Verdict
The new 960 Pro and Evo series from Samsung offer slightly higher performance than their predecessors. End users can choose from three capacities. The top model of the 960 Pro series offers a 2 TB model. The Evo 960 series caps out with a 1 TB model. The performance gap between the Pro and Evo series can be measured, but it will not create a tangible performance difference in everyday use. Although the Pro series is more expensive, the buyer must also consider the longer 5 year warranty that is included.
If you are looking for fast NVMe SSDs, you have to seriously consider the performance-to-price ratio. On the other hand, if you are considering an upgrade from a SATA SSD, then a new Samsung 960 drive might be the right option for you. Before purchasing these drives, make sure that your system has a free M.2 2280 slot (connected with a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface).
Both Samsung 960 Pro and 960 Evo series offer very fast SSDs. At the end of the day, the buyer must decide how much they are willing to pay for the high performance of the Samsung Pro and Evo series.
