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Samsung SM961 MZVPW256 m.2 PCI-e

The Samsung SM961 MZVPW256 is a M.2 22x80 SSD with a rated capacity of 256 GB. It relies on the modern PCIe 3.0 x4 (NVMe 1.2) interface for data transfer. The drive is based on 2-bit MLC memory paired with Samsung's very own Polaris controller.

Performance

The rated sequential read and write rates are at 3100 and 1400 MB/s, respectively. The drive managed to hit the latter (not the former though) in our independent testing with CrystalDiskMark 3. Clearly, the performance is good enough for any activities including content creation and gaming.

Notebookcheck says:

... its performance was phenomenal - Aorus X7 v7 Laptop Review | August 2017

... While 256 GB is plenty for an Ultrabook, it can be considered the bare minimum for a gaming machine - Asus GX501VS Laptop Review | August 2017

Power consumption

The drive can consume as much as 5.9 W according to Samsung which is in line with the generally high consumption of most NVMe SSDs.

TypeSSD
Sizem.2 2280
Capacity256 GB
InterfaceNVMe
Announced01.01.2016

Benchmarks

AS SSD - Copy Game
min: 609     avg: 736     median: 736 (12%)     max: 863 MB/s
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AS SSD - Copy Program
min: 290     avg: 311.5     median: 311.5 (12%)     max: 332.9 MB/s
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AS SSD - Copy ISO
min: 1600     avg: 1604     median: 1603.5 (15%)     max: 1607 MB/s
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AS SSD - Score Total
min: 3831     avg: 3883     median: 3879 (24%)     max: 3938 Points
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AS SSD - Score Write
min: 1118     avg: 1154     median: 1158 (16%)     max: 1187 Points
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AS SSD - Score Read
min: 1829     avg: 1842     median: 1840 (29%)     max: 1858 Points
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AS SSD - Access Time Write *
min: 0.021     avg: 0     median: 0 (0%)     max: 0.026 ms
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AS SSD - Access Time Read *
min: 0.033     avg: 0     median: 0 (0%)     max: 0.057 ms
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AS SSD - 4K-64 Write
min: 826     avg: 859     median: 866 (15%)     max: 885 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AS SSD - 4K-64 Read
min: 1517     avg: 1523     median: 1526 (30%)     max: 1527 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AS SSD - 4K Write
min: 140.9     avg: 155     median: 148.1 (29%)     max: 175.9 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AS SSD - 4K Read
min: 53     avg: 54.3     median: 53 (17%)     max: 56.8 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AS SSD - Sequential Write
min: 1313     avg: 1400     median: 1441 (13%)     max: 1445 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AS SSD - Sequential Read
min: 2586     avg: 2646     median: 2607 (20%)     max: 2746 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 - 4K QD32 Write
min: 539     avg: 590     median: 590 (55%)     max: 642 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 - 4K QD32 Read
min: 625     avg: 687     median: 681 (53%)     max: 755 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 - 4K Write
min: 171     avg: 183.6     median: 184.2 (6%)     max: 195.6 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 - 4K Read
min: 58.9     avg: 60.1     median: 59.9 (1%)     max: 61.5 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 - 512K Write
min: 1073     avg: 1277     median: 1276 (14%)     max: 1483 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 - 512K Read
min: 312.6     avg: 334.8     median: 320.3 (7%)     max: 371.4 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 - Sequential Write
min: 1502     avg: 1510     median: 1512 (14%)     max: 1515 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 - Sequential Read
min: 1345     avg: 1539     median: 1492 (18%)     max: 1781 MB/s
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
- Range of benchmark values
red legend - Average benchmark values
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance

Add one or more devices and compare

In the following list you can select (and also search for) devices that should be added to the comparison. You can select more than one device.

search for model:
v1.33
log 10. 21:02:51

#0 ran 1s before starting gpusingle class +0s ... 0s

#1 no ids found in url (should be separated by "_") +0s ... 0s

#2 not redirecting to Ajax server +0s ... 0s

#3 did not recreate cache, as it is less than 5 days old! Created at Sun, 10 Aug 2025 20:56:01 +0200 +0.001s ... 0.001s

#4 composed specs +0.008s ... 0.01s

#5 did output specs +0s ... 0.01s

#6 getting avg benchmarks for device 934 +0.003s ... 0.013s

#7 got single benchmarks 934 +0.012s ... 0.025s

#8 got avg benchmarks for devices +0s ... 0.025s

#9 min, max, avg, median took s +0.971s ... 0.996s

#10 return log +0.002s ... 0.998s

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