Since entering the SSD market, Samsung has been at the forefront of this market, and the 870 EVO continues its tradition. The 870 EVO is the fastest SATA SSD we've tested, and it's incredibly affordable given its up to 4TB capacity and speed.
Variety of Specifications, Affordable Price, and 5-Year Warranty
The Samsung 870 EVO is a 2.5-inch SATA 6Gbps SSD that uses Samsung's own TLC (Triple-Level Cell / 3-bit) V-NAND. Samsung generally doesn't reveal the actual controller technology or a number of layers, but in terms of capacity, it's likely Samsung's own designed controller with 92 or 96 layers.
Samsung offers these drives in 250GB/$50, 500GB/$80, 1TB/$140, 2TB/$270, and 4TB/$520 versions. Each 250GB capacity has 512MB of native DRAM cache, and the drive has a 150TBW (writeable capacity) or 5-year service guarantee. If 150TBW arrives first, that means the 5-year warranty will be invalidated. Most users can't write this much data, so you can think of it as a five-year warranty.
The 870 EVO uses Samsung's TurboWrite variable auxiliary cache algorithm. The main NAND writes only a single bit per voltage level and is processed by SLC. Thus, the best write performance can be maintained until the drive's maximum capacity is reached. However, in order not to experience SSD performance degradation, it is recommended not to exceed 75% of the storage capacity.
Best SATA SSD product tested
The Samsung 870 EVO is proven to be the fastest of all SATA SSDs tested so far. In particular, it showed excellent performance in small files. That doesn't compare to the performance of the much faster NVMe technology. 6Gbps SATA itself is a limited technology. The test numbers are very similar for all top SATA drives. However, the 870 EVO can be reduced by 1-2 seconds in many tasks, and in the long run, it will appear as a difference in performance.
In this test, we compared the 2019 Seagate IronWolf 110, as the IronWolf 110 is one of the few products that can catch up with the 870 EVO at every stage. However, it is much more expensive and is designed for businesses.
As you can see in the figure, there is little difference between competitors in terms of sustained write or read performance. However, design capabilities and components can make a difference in random/small file performance, and in fact, the figures are as shown in the following figure.
Similar to the CrystalDiskMark 6's ongoing throughput testing, the differences between drives at 48GB transfer were minimal. The 870 EVO still won by 12 seconds (about 2%).
In the following figure, we can see why the 870 EVO is slightly more expensive than the 870 QVO. QVO slows down to 150Mbps when the secondary NAND cache is insufficient. The 870 QVO does not dynamically allocate NAND as a secondary cache like the 870 EVO.
The 450GB write was done on both the 1TB and 4TB models, with a 5-second difference within the expected fluctuation range. This means that the Turbolite is doing its job at a larger capacity. Unlike the 870 QVO's QLC, the 500GB model may be slower with the TLC-based EVO.
870 EVO, the best-priced product
The Samsung 870 EVO boasts best-in-class performance and the best performance in all usage scenarios. If you don't write large files, you can choose the cheaper 870 QVO. However, you should choose a much larger dose than you think you need. If cost isn't an issue, the 870 EVO is the perfect drive and can be recommended as a future drive.
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