Samsung has recently announced their latest and fastest SSD – the Samsung 850 Pro, featuring the new 3D V-NAND (Vertical NAND) technology. The Samsung 850 Pro, is the successor of the 840 Pro, and is based on Samsung’s proprietary V-NAND technology, the new 850 PRO is ideal for use in high-end PCs and workstations. Samsung’s V-NAND features a proprietary vertical cell structure and represents a breakthrough in overcoming the density limit currently facing planar NAND architecture used in conventional flash memory, yielding significant speed, endurance and energy efficiency improvements. Check out its features, specifications and reviews below.
Samsung 850 Pro Features
According to Unsoo Kim, senior vice president of branded product marketing team at Samsung Electronics: “With the new 850 PRO V-NAND SSD, Samsung is introducing the next major evolution of SSD technology, taking the lead in delivering high-density SSDs with outstanding endurance, performance and energy efficiency,” “We are fully committed to establishing an innovative computing environment by providing customers with leading-edge V-NAND SSDs with unrivaled performance.”
The Samsung 850 PRO delivers blazing-fast speeds and exceptional endurance, offering the highest level of performance among SSDs using the SATA III (6Gb/s) interface. Its sequential read performance reaches up to 550 megabytes per second (MB/s), with write performance of up to 520MB/s. Random read performance is up to 100,000 input/output operations-per-second (IOPS), with write speeds of up to 90,000 IOPS.
The drive also offers a Dynamic Thermal Guard feature, which maintains ambient temperature while operating and prevents potential data loss from overheating.
Samsung 850 Pro Specifications
| Samsung 850 Pro | 128GB | 256GB | 512GB | 1TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | Samsung MEX (SLNO45X01-8030) SATA 6Gb/s, 400 MHz Cortex R4-based ARM ASIC | |||
| NAND | Samsung 2nd Gen 86Gbit 40nm MLC V-NAND, 32-Layer | |||
| Form Factor | 2.5", 7mm | |||
| Power | 2mW (DevSLP) / 3.3W (read) / 3.0W (write) | |||
| Encryption | AES-256, TCG Opal 2.0 & IEEE-1667 (eDrive supported) | |||
| Endurance | 150TB | |||
| Warranty | 10 years | |||
| Features | RAPID, Thermal Throttling | |||
| Sequential Read | 550MB/s | 550MB/s | 550MB/s | 550MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 470MB/s | 520MB/s | 520MB/s | 520MB/s |
| 4KB Random Read | 100K IOPS | 100K IOPS | 100K IOPS | 100K IOPS |
| 4KB Random Write | 90K IOPS | 90K IOPS | 90K IOPS | 90K IOPS |
Price and Availability
The Samsung 850 PRO is available in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB storage capacities. All capacities are available for order right now and shipping of the item will begin on July 21, 2014. Below are their respective prices as well as links on where to buy them.
Samsung 850 Pro 128GB (MZ-7KE128BW) – $129.99 see updated price here
Samsung 850 Pro 256GB (MZ-7KE256BW) – $199.99 see updated price here
Samsung 850 Pro 512GB (MZ-7KE512BW) – $399.99 see updated price here
Samsung 850 Pro 1TB (MZ-7KE1T0BW) – $699.99 see updated price here
Samsung 850 Pro Reviews
Several popular tech sites have already gotten their hands on the new Samsung 850 Pro before the product was introduced. Immediately after its press release, several Samsung 850 Pro reviews were posted as well. See them below.
AnandTech – Samsung SSD 850 Pro (128GB, 256GB & 1TB) Review: Enter the 3D Era
Tom’s Hardware – Samsung 850 Pro SSD Review: 3D Vertical NAND Hits Desktop Storage
TechReport – Samsung’s 850 Pro solid-state drive reviewed 3D V-NAND comes to the PC
Based on the Samsung 850 Pro reviews above, the Samsung 850 Pro is one promising and fast SSD. SATA 3 technology is already maxed out but that didn’t keep the 850 Pro from achieving speeds that are already at its limit, and constantly remain at those speeds. The previous Samsung 840 Pro was a really fast SSD and a lot of people didn’t have any second thoughts before buying one. But its successors the Samsung 850 Pro, proves that there are still room for improvements despite the SATA 3 limit.
