As technology moves forward, SSDs nowadays becomes faster, more affordable and comes with larger capacities. Today let’s take a look at Samsung’s first SSD featuring 3D V-NAND Technology and it’s also the first SSD in the market to have such kind of technology – the Samsung 850 Pro. With the new technology, the 850 Pro is able to reach speeds of up to 550MB/s read and 520MB/s write, and up to 100,000 IOPS and 90,000 IOPS respectively. It’s using a 5th generation 3-core MEX controller which the company used in their 840 EVO SSDs. Compared to all the SSDs I have tried, the 850 Pro is so far the fastest SSD I have used, and most probably the fastest and best SSD as of today. The specific model and capacity I have with me is the Samsung 850 Pro 256GB (MZ-7KE256BW). Are you in the market looking for the best and fastest SSD available? Please continue reading my Samsung 850 Pro SSD review below.
Samsung 850 Pro 256GB SSD Review
The Samsung 820 Pro SSD series is the first SSD to make use of the 3D V-NAND or Vertical NAND technology, where 32 layers of cells are stack on top of one another, vertically rather than horizontally. The result is higher density and higher performance using a smaller footprint and a breakthrough in overcoming the density limits of conventional planar NAND architecture. The video below will show you a visual presentation of this technology.
What is 3D V-NAND?
Aside from having built with the latest technology, the Samsung 850 Pro SSD features 5th-generation 3-Core Samsung MEX Controller that ensures sustained performance under the most punishing conditions. It is capable of sequential read and write speed of up to 550MB/s and 520MB/s respectively, and random read and write input/output operations-per-second of up to 100,000 IOPS and 90,000 IOPS respectively.
Just like its predecessor, it features AES 256-bit encryption to keep files stored inside safe and secure, Microsoft Bitlocker and also supports TCG / Opal 2.0. Now this is something new for a consumer SSD, the company is so confident that their new 850 Pro is reliable and built to endure, Samsung is backing it up with a 10 year limited warranty. 10 years is a very long time already, and this is so far the first and longest for a consumer SSD on the market.
Aside from the 10-year warranty, Samsung also guarantees that their 850 Pro will last up to 150TBW (Terabytes written). As of to date, this is by far the largest guaranteed written data. Some SSDs are fast, performs above average or somewhat nearing the 850 Pro’s performance. But they might not last that long compared to the 850 Pro. Probably the second is from Intel with their SSD 730 480GB capacity, offering up to 128TBW endurance rating.
Just like its PRO predecessors, the new Samsung 850 Pro is geared towards professionals who need a fast storage for video editing, rendering 3D objects and animation, for game developers and even for hardcore gamers or pro consumers who wants the best and fastest SSD that the present technology has to offer.
Samsung 850 Pro SSD Specifications
| Usage applications | Client PCs |
| Capacity | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB (1,024GB) |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) | 100 x 69.85 x 6.8 (mm) |
| Interface | SATA 6Gb/s (compatible with SATA 3Gb/s and SATA 1.5Gb/s) |
| Form factor | 2.5 inch |
| NAND flash memory | Samsung 3-core MEX controller |
| DRAM cache memory | 256MB (128GB) or 512MB (256GB&512GB) or 1GB (1TB) LPDDR2 |
| Sequential Read | Max. 550MB/s |
| Sequential Write* | Max. 520MB/s (256GB/512GB/1TB) Max. 470MB/s (128GB) |
| 4KB Random Read (QD1) | Max. 10,000 IOPS |
| 4KB Random Write (QD1) | Max. 36,000 IOPS |
| 4KB Random Read (QD32) | Max. 100,000 IOPS |
| 4KB Random Write (QD32) | Max. 90,000 IOPS |
| TRIM support | Yes (Requires OS support) |
| Garbage collection | Yes |
| S.M.A.R.T. | Yes |
| Security | AES 256-bit Full Disk Encryption (FDE) TCG/Opal v2.0, Encrypted Drive (IEEE1667) |
| Weight | Max. 66g (1TB) |
| Reliability | MTBF : 2 million hours |
| TBW | 150 TBW (Terabytes Written) |
| Power consumption** | Active Read (Average) : Max. 3.3W (1TB) Active Write (Average) : Max. 3.0W (1TB) Idle : Max. 0.4W Device Sleep : 2mW |
| Temperature | Operating : 0℃ to 70℃ Non-Operating : -40℃ to 84℃ |
| Humidity | 5% to 95%, non-condensing |
| Vibration | Non-operating : 20~2,000Hz, 20G |
| Shock | Non-operating : 1500G , duration 0.5msec, 3axis |
| Warranty | 10 years limited |
* Sequential performance measurements based on CrystalDiskMark v.3.0.1.Random performance measurements based on Iometer 2010.
Performance may vary based on SSD’s firmware version, system hardware and configuration. Test system configuration: Intel Core® i5-2500K @ 3.3 GHz, DDR3 1600 MHz 4 GB, OS – Windows® 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 IRST 11.5.4.1001, MS performance guide pre-condition Intel® Z68
** Power consumption measured with IOmeter 1.1.0 version with Intel i7-4770K, Samsung DDR3 8GB, Intel DH87RL OS- Windows® 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
