Samsung PM863 960 Gigabyte SSD Review
Category : Storage
Published by Marc Büchel on 01.10.15
Next to the SM863 Samsung has also launched the PM863 series. This drive is equipped with TLC 3D-V-NAND flash memory chips and therefore it's suitable for read-intensive workloads, preserving precious write cycles. Nevertheless, compared to the predecessor endurance has been improved by factors. Furthermore TLC NAND allows for a highly competitive pricing, which you will get with this drive. Overall we're curious to see how this drive is going to perform.
Specifications / Delivery
| Model | PM863 240 GB | PM863 480 GB | PM863 960 GB | PM863 1.92 TB | PM863 3.84 TB |
| Capacity | 240 GB | 480 GB | 960 GB | 1.92 TB | 3.84 TB |
| Form Factor | 2.5'' | 2.5'' | 2.5'' | 2.5'' | 2.5'' |
| Controller | Samsung Mercury | Samsung Mercury | Samsung Mercury | Samsung Mercury | Samsung Mercury |
| Memory |
|
|
|
|
|
| Throughput |
|
|
|
|
|
| QOS 4KB, QD32 (99.99%) |
|
|
|
||
| Latency |
|
|
|
|
|
| Power Consumption |
|
|
|
|
|
| Endurance | 350 TBW |
700 TBW | 1400 TBW | 2800 TBW | 5600 TBW |
| Warranty | 3 Years | 3 Years | 3 Years | 3 Years | 3 Years |
| Price |
|
|
A few months ago Samsung announced two new series of SSDs suitable for the use in data centers. One of which is the PM863 and the other is called the SM863. Whereas the PM863 is recommended for read-intensive workloads (webservers, streaming services, …), the SM863 is designed for read-intensive environments such as OLTP databases. In this review we’re going to have a look at the PM863 with 960 Gigabyte capacity and first of all we want to have look at this drives key features. Let’s start with the Advanced ECC Engine, which, in combination with the End-to-End-Data protection makes sure that any discrepancies in the data path are eradicated in-flight. Apart from that there is also a power loss protection features. If an unexpected power failure occurs, the tantalum capacitors on the PCB can provide enough power that data in the DRAM cache can be written into the NAND flash memory, which means no data will be lost. What can also be mission-critical in a datacenter is an overheat protection. If the PM863 ever gets too hot the main controller automatically down clocks, which results in lower temperatures.
If we open the drive we find 3-bit TLC V-NAND flash memory. As always with drives from Samsung these chips a manufactured in-house. To be a bit more precise on these chips, Samsung is using 3D-V-NAND with 32 Layers. Per package they offer a storage density of 128 Gbit. If we do the maths, we realize that there is 1024GB of storage on this particular 960GB drive available. This means Samsung has put a 7 percent overprovisioning in place. Overprovisioning in general helps to increase performance as well as endurance, since the tear and wear on the NAND flash chips can be reduced.
Even more in detail we find a new Samsung Mercury controller, which is the successor of the MDX controller. The latter has been used in the predecessor of the PM863, the 845DC Evo. Comparing the two controllers, one of its main advantages is the fact, that Mercury can address more NAND Flash. That’s actually why there are PM863 Drives with up to 3.84 TB capacity available.
Impressions
How do we test?
Testenvironment
iozone
iozone3 is a benchmark suite for storage solutions which natively runs under Windows/Linux.We are testing the throughput rates/IOPS with different block sizes using the following commands:
KByte/s
- iozone -Rb test4k.xls -i0 -i1 -i2 -+n -r 4k -s4g -t32
- iozone -Rb test256k.xls -i0 -i1 -i2 -+n -r 256k -s4g -t32
iops
- iozone -Rb test4ko.xls -i0 -i1 -i2 -+n -r 4k -s4g -t32 -O
KByte/s, Sequential write |
||
| Sequential write | Bewertung |
Throughput 256 KByte Block Size |
| Intel SSD 750 PCIe x4 1.2 TB |  |
1'361'466 |
| OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD |  |
1'291'486 |
| Intel SSD 750 PCIe x4 400 GB | |
1'064'310 |
| Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB |  |
1'018'023 |
| 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 |
OCZ Vector 180 960 GB
|
|
537'432 |
Samsung 840 PRO 256 GB
|
|
536'082 |
OCZ Vector 180 480 GB |
|
535'560 |
OCZ Vector 150 240 GB |
|
534'262 |
OCZ Vector 256 GB
|
|
534'058 |
OCZ Deneva 2 200 GB eMLC |
|
533'969 |
| Intel SSD 335 Series 240 GB | No Review |
533'672 |
Samsung 850 PRO 256 GB
|
|
531'027 |
| 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 Trion 100 960 GB | |
517'599 |
| OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB | |
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 |
Samsung 845DC PRO 800GB
|
|
500'153 |
ADATA XPG mSATA SSD SX300 128 GB
|
|
499'239 |
Extrememory XLR8 Express 120 GB
|
|
491'205 |
| Samsung PM863 960GB | |
480'603 |
| OCZ Synapse 64 GB | |
469'784 |
Samsung 840Evo 1 TB |
|
462'097 |
ADATA S511 60 GB
|
|
457'001 |
| Plextor M5Pro 256 GB | No Review |
444'122 |
Crucial M500 480 GB |
No Review |
439'829 |
Samsung PM863 960GB
|
|
436'531 |
| OCZ Vertex 4 512 GB | |
434'466 |
| OCZ Vertex 460 120 GB | |
421'139 |
| OCZ Agility 4 256 GB | |
405'911 |
ADATA S511 SSD 120 GB
|
|
343'488 |
Corsair Force 3 120 GB
|
 |
328'922 |
Samsung 840Evo 250 GB mSATA |
No Review |
324'238 |
| 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 840Evo 120 GB
|
No Review |
219'159 |
| Intel X25-M Gen2 34nm 160 GB | |
80'719 |
| Intel X25-M 80 GB | |
77'257 |
KByte/s, Sequential Read |
||
| Sequential Read |
Bewertung |
Throughput 256 KByte Block Size |
| Intel SSD 750 PCIe x4 1.2 TB | |
2'337'700 |
| Intel SSD 750 PCIe x4 400 GB | |
2'156'208 |
| OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD | |
1'460'560 |
| Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB | |
1'006'809 |
| 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 |
| OCZ Trion 100 960 GB | |
559'075 |
| OCZ Vector 256 GB
|
|
553'400 |
| Samsung 850 PRO 256 GB
|
|
548'836 |
| OCZ Vector 150 240 GB |
|
547'188 |
| 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 180 960 GB
|
|
544'820 |
| Samsung PM863 960GB | |
544'742 |
| Samsung 845DC PRO 800GB
|
|
544'499 |
| ADATA XPG mSATA SSD SX300 128 GB
|
|
543'650 |
| ADATA S511 SSD 120 GB
|
|
542'606 |
| OCZ Vector 180 480 GB |
|
542'453 |
| Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB
|
|
542'442 |
| OCZ Vertex 4 512 | |
542'075 |
| Samsung PM863 960GB
|
|
541'626 |
| Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GB
|
|
541'613 |
Intel SSD 335 Series 240 GB |
No Review |
541'542 |
| Corsair Force GS 240 GB
|
|
541'086 |
| OCZ Deneva 2 200 GB eMLC |
|
540'973 |
| 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 840Evo 1 TB |
|
536'542 |
| OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB | |
534'988 |
| OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB | |
534'392 |
| OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB | |
534'241 |
| Samsung PM830 SSD 256 GB | |
534'154 |
| Samsung 840Evo 250 GB mSATA |
No Review |
532'816 |
| Plextor M5Pro 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 |
| OCZ Vertex 460 120 GB | |
529'462 |
| 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 840Evo 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 |
KByte/s, Random write |
||
| Random write |
Bewertung |
Throughput 4 KByte Block Size |
| Intel SSD 750 PCIe x4 1.2 TB | |
1'025'236 |
| OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD | |
756'658 |
| Intel SSD 750 PCIe x4 400 TB | |
630'013 |
| Samsung 840 PRO 256 GB
|
|
412'837 |
| OCZ RevoDrive 3 240 GB | No Review |
382'970 |
| OCZ Vertex 4 512 GB | |
362'053 |
| Samsung 850 PRO 256 GB
|
|
360'357 |
| OCZ Vector 150 240 GB |
|
356'006 |
| OCZ Vertex 4 256 GB | |
354'573 |
| OCZ Vector 256 GB
|
|
354'246 |
| Samsung PM863 960GB
|
|
346'184 |
| Crucial M500 480 GB |
No Review |
346'003 |
| Samsung 840Evo 1 TB |
|
344'730 |
| Samsung 845DC PRO 800GB
|
|
343'726 |
| OCZ Trion 100 960 GB | |
342'969 |
| OCZ Agility 4 256 GB | |
341'478 |
| OCZ Octane 1 TB | |
325'007 |
| OCZ Octane 512 GB | |
324'023 |
| Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB | |
300'308 |
| Corsair Force GS 240 GB
|
|
301'486 |
| Samsung 840Evo 250 GB mSATA |
No Review |
299'848 |
| OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB | |
292'401 |
| SanDisk Extreme SSD 240 GB
|
No Review |
287'255 |
| OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB | |
286'949 |
| Samsung PM863 960GB | |
285'893 |
| Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB
|
|
285'558 |
| OCZ Vertex 460 120 GB | |
285'407 |
| Intel SSD 520 180 GB
|
No Review |
284'858 |
| Intel SSD 520 240 GB
|
|
283'794 |
| OCZ Deneva 2 200 GB eMLC |
|
283'409 |
| 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 Vector 180 960 GB
|
|
263'409 |
| OCZ IBIS 240 GB | |
262'687 |
| Intel SSD 335 Series 240 GB |
No Review |
262'005 |
| Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GB
|
|
255'988 |
| Plextor M5Pro 256 GB | No Review |
254'918 |
| OCZ Vector 180 480 GB |
|
254'367 |
| 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 840Evo 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 |
KByte/s, Random read |
||
| Random read |
Bewertung |
Throughput 4 KByte Block Size |
| Intel SSD 750 PCIe x4 1.2 TB | |
975'428 |
| OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD | |
640'327 |
| Intel SSD 750 PCIe x4 400 GB | |
575'665 |
| Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB | |
443'069 |
| Samsung 840Evo 250 GB mSATA |
No Review |
400'192 |
| Plextor M5Pro 256 GB | No Review |
392'851 |
| Samsung 850 PRO 256 GB
|
|
390'689 |
| Samsung 840Evo 1 TB |
|
384'527 |
| Samsung PM863 960GB | |
382'724 |
| OCZ Vector 256 GB
|
|
381'510 |
| OCZ Vector 180 960 GB
|
|
380'211 |
| Toshiba THNSNF512GCSS 512 GB | No Review |
373'590 |
| OCZ Vertex 4 512 GB | |
368'728 |
| Samsung 845DC PRO 800GB
|
|
368'001 |
| OCZ Vector 180 480 GB |
|
366'031 |
| 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 |
| Samsung PM863 960GB
|
|
349'781 |
| OCZ Vertex 4 256 GB | |
348'881 |
| Samsung 840Evo 120 GB
|
No Review |
348'724 |
| Crucial M500 480 GB
|
No Review |
346'164 |
| OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB | |
337'922 |
| OCZ Vector 150 240 GB |
|
328'627 |
| Samsung PM830 SSD 256 GB | |
310'109 |
| OCZ Vertex 460 120 GB | |
309'467 |
| Intel SSD 520 240 GB
|
|
283'794 |
| OCZ Agility 4 256 GB | |
255'743 |
| Kingmax SMP35 Client 240 GB | |
231'999 |
| OCZ Deneva 2 200 GB eMLC |
|
226'958 |
| Intel SSD 520 180 GB
|
No Review |
212'409 |
| OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB | |
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 Trion 100 960 GB | |
135'611 |
| 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 |
IOPS, Random write |
||
| Random write |
Bewertung |
IOPS 4 KByte Block Size |
| Intel SSD 750 PCIe x4 1.2 TB | |
260'904 |
| OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD | |
189'164 |
| Intel SSD 750 PCIe x4 400 GB | |
157'503 |
| OCZ RevoDrive 3 240 GB | No Review |
95'782 |
| Samsung 850 PRO 256 GB
|
|
91'053 |
| OCZ Vertex 4 512 GB | |
90'519 |
| Crucial M500 480 GB |
No Review |
88'642 |
| OCZ Vector 256 GB
|
|
88'537 |
| OCZ Vertex 4 256 GB | |
88'460 |
| Samsung PM863 960GB
|
|
86'634 |
| Samsung 845DC PRO 800GB
|
|
85'813 |
| Samsung 840Evo 1 TB |
|
85'792 |
| OCZ Agility 4 256 GB | |
85'373 |
| OCZ Vector 150 240 GB |
|
81'175 |
| Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB | |
77'077 |
| Samsung 840Evo 250 GB mSATA |
No Review |
76'721 |
| Corsair Force GS 240 GB
|
|
75'577 |
| OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB | |
74'983 |
| OCZ Deneva 2 200 GB eMLC |
|
74'389 |
| Samsung 840 PRO 256 GB
|
|
72'000 |
| Samsung PM863 960GB | |
71'883 |
| OCZ Vertex 3.20 240 GB | |
71'470 |
| Intel SSD 520 240 GB
|
|
71'338 |
| OCZ Vertex 460 120 GB | |
71'323 |
| 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 |
| OCZ Vector 180 960 GB
|
|
69'998 |
| 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 |
| OCZ Vector 180 480 GB |
|
64'244 |
| Plextor M5Pro 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 840Evo 120 GB
|
No Review |
38'077 |
| OCZ Trion 100 960 GB | |
33'348 |
| 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 |
IOPS, Random read |
||
| Random read |
Bewertung |
IOPS 4 KByte Block Size |
| Intel SSD 750 PCIe x4 1.2 TB | |
247'587 |
| OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480 GB PCIe-SSD | |
160'832 |
| Intel SSD 750 PCIe x4 400 GB | |
143'916 |
| Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB | |
111'097 |
| Samsung 840 PRO 256 GB
|
|
100'198 |
| Samsung 850 PRO 256 GB
|
|
99'919 |
| Samsung 840Evo 250 GB mSATA |
No Review |
99'476 |
| Plextor M5Pro 256 GB | No Review |
98'600 |
| Samsung 840Evo 1 TB |
|
96'308 |
| Samsung PM863 960GB | |
95'811 |
| OCZ Vector 256 GB
|
|
95'614 |
| Toshiba THNSNF512GCSS 512 GB | No Review |
93'251 |
| Samsung 845DC PRO 800GB
|
|
92'101 |
| OCZ RevoDrive 3 240 GB | No Review |
91'642 |
| OCZ Vertex 4 512 GB | |
92'288 |
| OCZ Vector 180 960 GB
|
|
92'275 |
| OCZ Vector 180 480 GB |
|
92'001 |
| Samsung 840Evo 120 GB
|
No Review |
91'598 |
| OCZ Vector 150 240 GB |
|
89'692 |
| OCZ IBIS 240 GB | |
89'630 |
| Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB
|
|
89'585 |
| OCZ Vertex 4 256 GB | |
87'654 |
| Samsung PM863 960GB
|
|
87'544 |
| Crucial M500 480 GB |
No Review |
86'622 |
| OCZ Trion 100 960 GB | |
85'274 |
| OCZ Vertex 450 256 GB | |
84'561 |
| Samsung PM830 SSD 256 GB | |
77'637 |
| OCZ Vertex 460 120 GB | |
77'119 |
| OCZ Agility 4 256 GB | |
63'925 |
| Kingmax SMP35 Client 240 GB | |
57'856 |
| OCZ Deneva 2 200 GB eMLC |
|
55'090 |
| 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 | |
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 |
Throughput 1 Thread (QD1)
| 1T Throughput (KB/s) | ||||||||
| 4k | 8k | 16k | 32k | 64k | 128k | 256k | 512k | |
| Seq write | 480'188 | 466'700 | 494'045 | 452'657 | 490'401 | 441'673 | 480'239 | 441'860 |
| Seq read | 498'479 | 487'310 | 563'507 | 527'032 | 526'766 | 537'193 | 543'238 | 552'100 |
| Rand write | 128'750 | 212'691 | 286'440 | 377'148 | 441'311 | 458'042 | 480'159 | 482'794 |
| Rand read | 30'452 | 56'596 | 97'625 | 162'175 | 240'736 | 308'203 | 367'855 | 409'247 |
Throughput 4 Threads (QD4)
| 4T Throughput (KB/s) | ||||||||
| 4k | 8k | 16k | 32k | 64k | 128k | 256k | 512k | |
| Seq write | 476'850 | 477'663 | 481'124 | 479'606 | 475'826 | 482'036 | 482'655 | 481'991 |
| Seq read | 551'426 | 541'224 | 546'880 | 548'055 | 541'220 | 544'828 | 542'781 | 536'637 |
| Rand write | 276'088 | 406'601 | 457'974 | 476'612 | 487'232 | 498'872 | 500'914 | 503'829 |
| Rand read | 117'747 | 198'646 | 301'899 | 406'851 | 489'028 | 517'593 | 491'326 | 504'301 |
Throughput 8 Threads (QD8)
| 8T Throughput (KB/s) | ||||||||
| 4k | 8k | 16k | 32k | 64k | 128k | 256k | 512k | |
| Seq write | 468'767 | 478'571 | 434'687 | 489'569 | 444'453 | 491'770 | 483'343 | 475'684 |
| Seq read | 540'040 | 540'491 | 544'334 | 551'264 | 552'922 | 559'677 | 550'074 | 544'342 |
| Rand write | 283'566 | 420'871 | 460'928 | 480'531 | 493'588 | 501'285 | 502'071 | 533'874 |
| Rand read | 211'764 | 339'877 | 468'976 | 527'137 | 536'192 | 531'750 | 527'539 | 503'630 |
Throughput 16 Threads (QD16)
| 16T Throughput (KB/s) | ||||||||
| 4k | 8k | 16k | 32k | 64k | 128k | 256k | 512k | |
| Seq write | 461'974 | 422'484 | 487'679 | 491'316 | 480'217 | 490'019 | 486'809 | 487'230 |
| Seq read | 521'213 | 529'631 | 532'978 | 538'456 | 541'625 | 545'620 | 544'047 | 544'414 |
| Rand write | 281'379 | 422'719 | 461'916 | 481'692 | 490'827 | 499'408 | 502'756 | 506'132 |
| Rand read | 337'328 | 466'692 | 504'359 | 521'856 | 537'493 | 537'685 | 541'799 | 540'963 |
Throughput 32 Threads (QD32)
| 32T Throughput (KB/s) | ||||||||
| 4k | 8k | 16k | 32k | 64k | 128k | 256k | 512k | |
| Seq write | 483'201 | 479'350 | 491'857 | 470'277 | 487'153 | 448'917 | 484'207 | 480'603 |
| Seq read | 504'983 | 517'728 | 527'524 | 534'447 | 540'966 | 544'145 | 544'632 | 544'742 |
| Rand write | 285'893 | 423'406 | 471'252 | 478'748 | 491'929 | 501'024 | 515'996 | 523'557 |
| Rand read | 382'724 | 467'032 | 504'966 | 527'254 | 543'592 | 542'493 | 544'419 | 544'726 |
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 PM863 Series Samsung Electronics have launched their seceond generation enterprise-grade series of SSDs. Samsung Semiconductor on the other hand has been active in that area since a long time, generating know-how that can now be found in the latest drives launched by Samsung Electronics. In the case of the PM863 Samsung created a competitively priced drive for data centers, that comes with all key features demanded by data centers. Other than that this particular drive is suitable for read-intensive environments. The reason why Samsung can push really hard through pricing is because of their TLC 3D-V-NAND, that's being used. On the other hand this has an impact on endurance, since the PM863 achieves nowhere near the endurance the SM863 can hit.
In terms of raw performance our test drive was able to score 481 MB/s sequential write and 545 MB/s sequential read throughput. When it comes to 4K IOPS we measured 72'000 IOPS regarding random read and 96'000 regarding random write. In case of sequential write the drive performs average, which is no surprise with a model made for read-intensive environments. With random read we see the SATA-III inferfce is being maxed out and therefore performance is where it should be. When it comes to random read IOPS performance we measured almost point blank the same Samsung advertises. On the other hand, when it comes to random write performance we were in for quite a surprise, since Samsung claims this drive can only do 18'000 IOPS 4K random write. We measured a whopping 72'000 IOPS. On another note we also had a look at performance with different queue depths as you can see on page 10. In case of random read performance at QD1 we see 7'700 IOPS and when it comes to random write in this case, we measured 32'000 IOPS.
If you do, as Samsung recommends, only deploy these drives in read-intensive environments, then you won't hit the advertised endurance rating of 1400 TBW (960 GB model) within the warranted three years.
Last but not least there is the pricing. The Samsung PM863 240GB costs 135 Euro, the PM863 480GB sells at 244 Euro and the 960GB version goes for 474 Euro. The larger drives with 1.92 TB and 3.84 TB cost 957 Euro and 1908 Euro, respectively. Price per gigabyte is therefore somewhere inbetween 0.56 and 0.50 US-Dollar, which is simply out of reach for competitors at this point in time.
Should you be looking for an enterprise-grade SSD, which can easily deal with read-intensive workloads, then we recommend considering this drive.
