Samsung 840 Evo 120 Gigabyte Review
Category : Storage
Published by Marc Büchel on 23.10.13
With their 1 Terabyte Drive we've already had on new Samsung 840 Evo SSD for review and we were quite surprised. Now it's time we have a closer look at the 120 Gigabyte version of the drive. Usually 120 Gigabyte Drives don't offer the same performance level bigger drives offer, which is why we're really curious to see if Samsung has found a way around this issue.



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Specifications / Delivery


Model 840 Evo 120 Gigabyte 840 Evo 250 Gigabyte 840 Evo 500 Gigabyte 840 Evo 750 Gigabyte 840 Evo 1000 Gigabyte
Capacity 120 GB 250 GB 500 GB 750 GB 512 GB
Form Factor 2.5'', 7 mm 2.5'', 7 mm 2.5'', 7 mm 2.5'', 7 mm 2.5'', 9.3 7 mm
Memory
  • TLC NAND
  • 19nm
  • ~1'200 P/E-cycles
  • TLC NAND
  • 19nm
  • ~1'200 P/E-cycles
  • TLC NAND
  • 19nm
  • ~1'200 P/E-cycles
  • TLC NAND
  • 19nm
  • ~1'200 P/E-cycles
  • TLC NAND
  • 19nm
  • ~1'200 P/E-cycles
Model Samsung K90KGY8S7M-CCK0 Samsung K90KGY8S7M-CCK0 Samsung K90KGY8S7M-CCK0 Samsung K90KGY8S7M-CCK0 Samsung K90KGY8S7M-CCK0
Throughput
  • 540 MB/s sequential read
  • 410 MB/s sequential write
  • 94'000 IOPS 4K random read
  • 35'000 IOPS 4K random write
  • 540 MB/s sequential read
  • 520 MB/s sequential write
  • 97'000 IOPS 4K random read
  • 66 '000 IOPS 4K random write
  • 540 MB/s sequential read
  • 520 MB/s sequential write
  • 98'000 IOPS 4K random read
  • 90 '000 IOPS 4K random write
  • 540 MB/s sequential read
  • 520 MB/s sequential write
  • 98'000 IOPS 4K random read
  • 90 '000 IOPS 4K random write
  • 540 MB/s sequential read
  • 520 MB/s sequential write
  • 98'000 IOPS 4K random read
  • 90 '000 IOPS 4K random write
Accesstime (read) < 0.1 ms < 0.1 ms < 0.1 ms < 0.1 ms < 0.1 ms
Acoustics no noise no noise no noise no noise no noise
Warranty 3 Years 3 Years 3 Years 3 Years 3 Years
Price





One of the biggest issues with the Samsung 840 (non Pro) was its sequential write performance of 130 Megabyte per second. Since at this point Samsung just wasn't competitive at all, they really had to do something about this to boost this value into a region where it can compete with for example Crucials M500 SSD. Apart from that Samsung also boosted IOPS performance, when you compare the 840 Evo with the older 840 drives.

At this point you should really ask yourself what kind of sorcery is going on behind the scenes that Samsung was able to triple sequential write performance from one generation to another. The key to success actually has a name: TurboWrite. That's what the new proprietary technology has been called and basically it is an algorithm, which has been implemented into the firmware of the 840 Evo's new MEX controller. TruboWrite can use a small portion of the DRAM chip, which sits next to the controller on the SSD's PCB and emulate SLC NAND flash. As soon as there are data transfers this emulated SLC cache acts as a high performance buffer. In other words, Samsung brought the concept of DRAM caching into the SSD controller, which massively boosts sequential write performance, that used to be the achilles heel of the 840 Evo's predecessor.

Next to the improvements on the controller Samsung has also been working on their Magician Software. Overall it is very well structured and even unexperienced users will have no issues at all configuring the drive the most suitable way.
Last but not least there is the actual price of these drives. In case of the large 1 TB drive you get a price per GB of 0.48 EUR, which make big SSD's finally affordable. A closer look at the 120 Gigabyte drive reveals, that the price per Gigabyte is at 0.72 EUR, which is still very good but apparently not as attractive as with the 1 TB drive.

Page 1 - Introduction Page 6 - Random write KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 8 - Random write IOPS
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 9 - Random read IOPS
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 10 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

Impressions

   

   

   

Page 1 - Introduction Page 6 - Random write KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 8 - Random write IOPS
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 9 - Random read IOPS
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 10 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

How do we test?

Testenvironment

Models
ADATA S511 60 GB
ADATA S511 SSD 120 GB
ADATA XPG mSATA SSD SX300 128 GB
Corsair Force 3 120 GB
Corsair Force GS 240 GB
Corsair Force GT 120 GB
Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB
Crucial M500 480 GB
Extrememory XLR8 Express 120 GB
Intel SSD 335 Series 240 GB
Intel SSD 520 180 GB
Intel SSD 520 240 GB
Intel X25-M 80 GB
Intel X25-M Gen2 34nm 160 GB
Kingmax SMP35 Client 240 GB n/A
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GB
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120 GB
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GB
Kingston SSDNow V+ 200 90 GB
OCZ Agility 3 240 GB
OCZ Agility 4 256 GB
OCZ IBIS 240 GB
OCZ Octane 512 GB
OCZ Octane 1 TB
OCZ RevoDrive 3 240 GB
OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD
OCZ RevoDrive X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD
OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 120GB SSD, 1TB HDD
OCZ Synapse 64 GB
OCZ Vector 256 GB
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB
OCZ Vertex 3.20 120 GB
OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB
OCZ Vertex 4 256 GB
OCZ Vertex 4 512 GB
OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB
Plextor M5Pro 256 GB
Samsung PM830 SSD 128 GB
Samsung PM830 SSD 256 GB
Smasung 840 Evo 120 GB
Samsung 840 Evo 1 TB
Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB
SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB
SanDisk Extreme SSD 240 GB
Toshiba THNSNF512GCSS 512 GB n/A
 

Testenvironment
Motherboard ASUS Maximus V Formula
Chipset Intel Z77
CPU Intel Core i7 2500k
Memory G.Skill Ares 2133 MHz
Graphics card ASUS GeFroce GTX 680
Storage (system) Intel SSD 335 Series
Operating systems Ubuntu - most recent Kernel version Windows 7 64 Bit with caching drives
Filesystem XFS


iozone

iozone3 is a benchmark suit for storage solutions which natively runs under Windows/Linux.

We are testing the throughput with different block sizes using the following commands:

KByte/s

iops



Page 1 - Introduction Page 6 - Random write KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 8 - Random write IOPS
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 9 - Random read IOPS
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 10 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

KByte/s, Sequential write
Sequential write
Bewertung
 Throughput 256 KByte Block Size
OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD
1'291'486
OCZ RevoDrive 3 240 GB
No Review
 771'043
OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 120GB SSD, 1TB HDD
750'096
OCZ RevoDrive X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD
694'586
OCZ IBIS 240 GB
680'372
Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB 536'082
OCZ Vector 256 GB
534'058
Intel SSD 335 Series 240 GB
No Review
 533'672
OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB 522'897
Corsair Force GS 240 GB
522'613
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB
522'212
Kingmax SMP35 Client 240 GB
519'430
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GB
519'190
Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB
519'104
OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB
No Review
 517'290
Intel SSD 520 240 GB
516'603
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GB
515'218
OCZ Vertex 4 256 GB
513'309
Corsair Force GT 120 GB
512'676
Intel SSD 520 180 GB
No Review
 512'628
SanDisk Extreme SSD 240 GB
No Review
 511'805
OCZ Vertex 3.20 120 GB
510'245
SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB
507'743
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120 GB
505'669
Toshiba THNSNF512GCSS 512 GB
No Review
 504'589
Kingston SSDNow V+ 200 90 GB
502'272
ADATA XPG mSATA SSD SX300 128 GB 499'239
Extrememory XLR8 Express 120 GB
491'205
OCZ Synapse 64 GB
469'784
Samsung 840 Evo 1 TB
No Review
 462'097
ADATA S511 60 GB 457'001
Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB
No Review
 444'122
Crucial M500 480 GB
No Review
 439'829
OCZ Vertex 4 512 GB 434'466
OCZ Agility 4 256 GB 405'911
ADATA S511 SSD 120 GB
343'488
Corsair Force 3 120 GB
328'922
Samsung PM830 SSD 256 GB
321'474
OCZ Octane 1 TB 314'144
OCZ Octane 512 GB
307'781
Samsung PM830 SSD 128 GB
271'696
OCZ Agility 3 240 GB
266'401
Samsung 840 Evo 120 GB
No Review
 219'159
Intel X25-M Gen2 34nm 160 GB
80'719
Intel X25-M 80 GB
77'257


Page 1 - Introduction Page 6 - Random write KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 8 - Random write IOPS
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 9 - Random read IOPS
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 10 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

KByte/s, Sequential Read
Sequential Read
Bewertung
 Throughput 256 KByte Block Size
OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD 1'460'560
OCZ RevoDrive 3 240 GB
No Review
 857'972
OCZ IBIS 240 GB 806'858
OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 120GB SSD, 1TB HDD 729'929
OCZ RevoDrive X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD 716'357
Intel SSD 520 240 GB 545'843
Intel SSD 520 180 GB
No Review
 545'656
Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB 545'353
OCZ Vector 256 GB
553'400
ADATA XPG mSATA SSD SX300 128 GB 543'650
ADATA S511 SSD 120 GB 542'606
Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB
542'442
OCZ Vertex 4 512 542'075
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GB 541'613
Intel SSD 335 Series 240 GB
No Review
 541'542
Corsair Force GS 240 GB
541'086
Toshiba THNSNF512GCSS 512 GB
No Review
 539'056
Samsung PM830 SSD 128 GB
539'754
Corsair Force GT 120 GB 539'648
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GB 537'745
ADATA S511 60 GB 537'560
OCZ Vertex 4 256 536'605
Samsung 840 Evo 1 TB
No Review
 536'542
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB 534'988
OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB
No Review
 534'392
OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB 534'241
Samsung PM830 SSD 256 GB 534'154
Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB
No Review
 530'606
OCZ Vertex 3.20 120 GB
530'584
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120 GB 529'995
SanDisk Extreme SSD 240 GB
No Review
 529'520
Crucial M500 480 GB
No Review
 525'278
Extrememory XLR8 Express 120 GB 521'930
OCZ Agility 3 240 GB 516'479
Kingston SSDNow V+ 200 90 GB 510'372
SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB 507'743
Samsung 840 Evo 120 GB
No Review
 504'587
Kingmax SMP35 Client 240 GB
498'223
Corsair Force 3 120 GB 490'777
OCZ Synapse 64 GB 441'396
OCZ Octane 1 TB 440'052
OCZ Octane 512 GB 438'465
Intel X25-M Gen2 34nm 160 GB 247'759
Intel X25-M 80 GB 240'404
OCZ Agility 4 256 GB 209'723


Page 1 - Introduction Page 6 - Random write KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 8 - Random write IOPS
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 9 - Random read IOPS
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 10 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

KByte/s, Random write
Random write
Bewertung
 Throughput 4 KByte Block Size
OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD 756'658
Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB 412'837
OCZ RevoDrive 3 240 GB
No Review
 382'970
OCZ Vertex 4 512 GB 362'053
OCZ Vertex 4 256 GB 354'573
OCZ Vector 256 GB
354'246
Crucial M500 480 GB
No Review
 346'003
Samsung 840 Evo 1 TB
No Review
 344'730
OCZ Agility 4 256 GB 341'478
OCZ Octane 1 TB 325'007
OCZ Octane 512 GB 324'023
Corsair Force GS 240 GB
301'486
OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB 292'401
SanDisk Extreme SSD 240 GB
No Review
 287'255
OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB
No Review
 286'949
Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB
285'558
Intel SSD 520 180 GB
No Review
 284'858
Intel SSD 520 240 GB 283'794
OCZ Vertex 3.20 120 GB
282'578
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GB 280'556
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120 GB 279'967
Kingston SSDNow V+ 200 90 GB 276'859
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB 275'499
ADATA XPG mSATA SSD SX300 128 GB 264'870
OCZ IBIS 240 GB 262'687
Intel SSD 335 Series 240 GB
No Review
 262'005
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GB 255'988
Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB
No Review
 254'918
Corsair Force GT 120 GB 253'269
SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB 252'045
ADATA S511 SSD 120 GB 244'150
ADATA S511 60 GB 226'394
OCZ Agility 3 240 GB 242'683
Extrememory XLR8 Express 120 GB 237'082
Corsair Force 3 120 GB 225'092
OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 120GB SSD, 1TB HDD 213'027
OCZ Synapse 64 GB 200'308
Samsung PM830 SSD 256 GB 156'814
OCZ RevoDrive X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD 156'644
Samsung 840 Evo 120 GB
No Review
 148'166
Samsung PM830 SSD 128 GB
132'997
Toshiba THNSNF512GCSS 512 GB
No Review
 95'808
Kingmax SMP35 Client 240 GB
94'447
Intel X25-M Gen2 34nm 160 GB 62'388
Intel X25-M 80 GB 48'194


Page 1 - Introduction Page 6 - Random write KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 8 - Random write IOPS
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 9 - Random read IOPS
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 10 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

KByte/s, Random read
Random read
Bewertung
 Throughput 4 KByte Block Size
OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD 640'327
Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB
No Review
 392'851
Samsung 840 Evo 1 TB
No Review
 384'527
OCZ Vector 256 GB
381'510
Toshiba THNSNF512GCSS 512 GB
No Review
 373'590
OCZ Vertex 4 512 GB 368'728
OCZ RevoDrive 3 240 GB
No Review
 364'987
Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB
359'009
OCZ IBIS 240 GB 357'112
Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB 353'123
OCZ Vertex 4 256 GB 348'881
Samsung 840 Evo 120 GB
No Review
 348'724
Crucial M500 480 GB
No Review
 346'164
OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB 337'922
Samsung PM830 SSD 256 GB 310'109
Intel SSD 520 240 GB 283'794
OCZ Agility 4 256 GB 255'743
Kingmax SMP35 Client 240 GB
231'999
Intel SSD 520 180 GB
No Review
 212'409
OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB
No Review
 171'179
Intel SSD 335 Series 240 GB
No Review
 171'684
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GB 168'648
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB 167'922
Corsair Force GS 240 GB
163'408
Samsung PM830 SSD 128 GB
151'097
Extrememory XLR8 Express 120 GB 149'622
OCZ Agility 3 240 GB 142'942
SanDisk Extreme SSD 240 GB
No Review
 141'910
OCZ Octane 1 TB 126'603
OCZ Octane 512 GB 123'553
ADATA XPG mSATA SSD SX300 128 GB 102'038
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120 GB 102'031
Corsair Force GT 120 GB 98'387
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GB 96'042
ADATA S511 SSD 120 GB 95'928
SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB 93'316
Kingston SSDNow V+ 200 90 GB 89'121
OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 120GB SSD, 1TB HDD 87'188
Corsair Force 3 120 GB 84'113
OCZ Vertex 3.20 120 GB
81'160
Intel X25-M Gen2 34nm 160 GB 58'647
ADATA S511 60 GB 51'187
OCZ Synapse 64 GB 47'918
OCZ RevoDrive X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD 43'003
Intel X25-M 80 GB 30'287


Page 1 - Introduction Page 6 - Random write KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 8 - Random write IOPS
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 9 - Random read IOPS
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 10 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

IOPS, Random write
Random write
Bewertung
 IOPS 4 KByte Block Size
OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD 189'164
OCZ RevoDrive 3 240 GB
No Review
 95'782
OCZ Vertex 4 512 GB 90'519
Samsung 840 Evo 1 TB
No Review
 85'792
Crucial M500 480 GB
No Review
 88'642
OCZ Vector 256 GB
88'537
OCZ Vertex 4 256 GB 88'460
OCZ Agility 4 256 GB 85'373
Corsair Force GS 240 GB
75'577
OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB 74'983
Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB 72'000
OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB
No Review
 71'470
Intel SSD 520 240 GB 71'338
OCZ Vertex 3.20 120 GB
71'227
Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB
71'180
Intel SSD 520 180 GB
No Review
 70'944
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB 70'031
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GB 70'016
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120 GB 69'760
Corsair Force GT 120 GB 69'108
OCZ IBIS 240 GB 67'339
ADATA XPG mSATA SSD SX300 128 GB 66'107
SanDisk Extreme SSD 240 GB
No Review
 65'817
Intel SSD 335 Series 240 GB
No Review
 65'714
Kingston SSDNow V+ 200 90 GB 64'446
Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB
No Review
 63'620
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GB 63'553
ADATA S511 SSD 120 GB 61'302
OCZ Agility 3 240 GB 60'579
Extrememory XLR8 Express 120 GB 58'604
ADATA S511 60 GB 56'749
Corsair Force 3 120 GB 56'017
SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB 53'719
OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 120GB SSD, 1TB HDD 53'618
OCZ Synapse 64 GB 52'126
OCZ RevoDrive X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD 39'744
Samsung PM830 SSD 256 GB 39'192
Samsung 840 Evo 120 GB
No Review
 38'077
Samsung PM830 SSD 128 GB
32'772
Toshiba THNSNF512GCSS 512 GB
No Review
 23'799
Kingmax SMP35 Client 240 GB
23'640
OCZ Octane 1 TB 22'192
OCZ Octane 512 GB 20'492
Intel X25-M Gen2 34nm 160 GB 15'434
Intel X25-M 80 GB 6'297


Page 1 - Introduction Page 6 - Random write KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 8 - Random write IOPS
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 9 - Random read IOPS
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 10 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

IOPS, Random read
Random read
Bewertung
 IOPS 4 KByte Block Size
OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD 160'832
Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB 100'198
Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB
No Review
 98'600
Samsung 840 Evo 1 TB
No Review
 96'308
OCZ Vector 256 GB
95'614
Toshiba THNSNF512GCSS 512 GB
No Review
 93'251
OCZ RevoDrive 3 240 GB
No Review
 91'642
OCZ Vertex 4 512 GB 92'288
Samsung 840 Evo 120 GB
No Review
 91'598
OCZ IBIS 240 GB 89'630
Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB
89'585
OCZ Vertex 4 256 GB 87'654
Crucial M500 480 GB
No Review
 86'622
OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB 84'561
Samsung PM830 SSD 256 GB 77'637
OCZ Agility 4 256 GB 63'925
Kingmax SMP35 Client 240 GB
57'856
Intel SSD 520 180 GB
No Review
 53'477
Intel SSD 520 240 GB 51'835
Corsair Force GS 240 GB
51'373
Intel SSD 335 Series 240 GB
No Review
 46'647
OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB 42'308
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GB 41'917
OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB
No Review
 41'813
Samsung PM830 SSD 128 GB
37'813
Extrememory XLR8 Express 120 GB 37'403
SanDisk Extreme SSD 240 GB
No Review
 36'550
OCZ Agility 3 240 GB 35'295
OCZ Octane 1 TB 32'403
OCZ Octane 512 GB 31'442
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120 GB 25'822
ADATA XPG mSATA SSD SX300 128 GB 25'036
Corsair Force GT 120 GB 24'807
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GB 24'473
ADATA S511 SSD 120 GB 24'338
SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB 22'278
Kingston SSDNow V+ 200 90 GB 21'443
OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 120GB SSD, 1TB HDD 21'853
Corsair Force 3 120 GB 20'718
OCZ Vertex 3.20 120 GB
20'438
Intel X25-M Gen2 34nm 160 GB 14'606
ADATA S511 60 GB 12'963
OCZ Synapse 64 GB 11'980
OCZ RevoDrive X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD 10'833
Intel X25-M 80 GB 5'349


Page 1 - Introduction Page 6 - Random write KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 8 - Random write IOPS
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 9 - Random read IOPS
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 10 - Conclusion
[pagebreak]

Conclusion

Announcement: Despite the circumstance that the rating of a product is based on as many objective facts as possible there are factors which can have an influence on a rating after publication. Every autor may perceive data differently over time whereas one possible reason for example is a deeper background knowledge or understanding of certain processes. Certain unforseen market conditions as well as changes have the potential to render a descision made at a certain point in time obsolete.

With the 840 Evo Samsung comes with a bombshell. The combination of aggressive pricing and convincing performance sounds quite dangerous for Samsung's competitors these days, since prices of SSD's have already been dropping significantly in the past year. Apparently Samsung seems to have geared up to launch the first real attack on the SSD market and bottom line: The 840 Evo is a well performing drive, that features a highly competitive price tag. But actually, the 840 Evo is more than just another drive with an improved firmware. Samsung has also been working on their Magician software. Meanwhile Magician is very well structured and unexperienced users as well as enthusiasts will like it. Form the perspective of a novice the most important information is being display on the first splash screen and enthusiasts can dig deeper. It's even possible to control TRIM and overprovisioning yourself. But these first lines were about the 840 Evo in general, what about the 840 Evo 120 GB specifically? 

At the beginning of the this review we were talking about the fact that the predecessor of the 840 Evo suffered low sequential write performance. This was basically the achilles heel of the Samsung 840. Our test drive was able to perform with 219 MB/s sequential write and 504 MB/s sequential read throughput. When it comes to 4K IOPS we measured 91'600 IOPS regarding random read and 38'000 regarding random write. Unfortunately sequential write performance is still disappointing but on the other hand, there is the read performance as well as the IOPS which are all highly competitive. Other than that you should keep in mind, that drive is using TLC (3 Bit MLC) NAND Flash, which featres a significantly lower program erase cycle count than 2 Bit MLC. In case of read intense environments, such as desktop computing and home users, this will cause no issues at all and Samsung is expecting very low RMA rates on this drive. But still you shouldn't think about using this drive in a server where several hundred Terabytes are going to be written per day. In this case 3 Bit MLC is simply the wrong choice.

Taking a closer look at the price we see, that this 120 Gigabyte drive costs 85 Euro these days. This makes the 840 Evo not the cheapest 120 Gigabyte drive, but still it ranges in the middle.

Recommendation

Should you be looking for a solid 120 Gigabyte SSD, then the Samsung 840 Evo is a good choice.



Page 1 - Introduction Page 6 - Random write KByte/s
Page 2 - Impressions Page 7 - Random read KByte/s
Page 3 - How do we test? Page 8 - Random write IOPS
Page 4 - Sequential write KByte/s Page 9 - Random read IOPS
Page 5 - Sequential read KByte/s Page 10 - Conclusion


Authors: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch