Things on the M.2 NVMe SSD department are starting to get really interesting this year. Samsung just recently released a new NVMe SSD – the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, right after Western Digital released their WD Black SN750 NVMe SSD. The WD Black 3D was already on par with Samsung 970 EVO in terms of performance, but the WD Black SN750 NVMe SSD was just faster than the 970 EVO based on the reviews we have seen so far. Now, Samsung released an improved version of their popular 970 EVO, adding a “Plus” on it, and it looks like it offers (slightly) better performance in general. The 970 EVO Plus offers sequential speeds of up to 3,500MB/s read and up to 3,300 MB/s write. The new NVMe SSD is available from 250GB up to 2TB capacity and offers 5 years limited warranty or up to 1,200 TBW (for the 2TB capacity). Check out the official news below for more details.
Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVMe SSD Released
Samsung Electronics America, today introduced the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, the newest enhancement in its Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) SSD portfolio. With industry-leading performance and up to two terabytes in capacity, Samsung’s 970 EVO Plus sets a new bar for high-performance storage, enabling IT professionals, tech enthusiasts and gamers to handle intensive workloads on PCs and workstations with more ease.
“Since introducing the first NVMe SSDs to the consumer market in 2015, Samsung has continued to challenge technical barriers in SSD design and performance,” said Dr. Mike Mang, vice president of Brand Product Marketing, Memory Business at Samsung Electronics. “The new 970 EVO Plus powered by Samsung’s latest fifth-generation V-NAND technology will now offer unrivaled performance in its class when taking on demanding tasks like 4K content editing, 3D modeling and simulation as well as heavy gaming.”
By integrating the company’s most advanced V-NAND chips with optimized firmware, the 970 EVO Plus achieves significant performance improvements – up to 53 percent in write speed – as well as increased power efficiency over its predecessor, the 970 EVO. The new drive delivers sequential read and write speeds of up to 3,500 megabytes per second (MB/s) and up to 3,300 MB/s, respectively, while random speeds come in at up to 620,000 IOPS for read and up to 560,000 IOPS for write operations.
Users can easily upgrade their devices as the 970 EVO Plus comes in a compact M.2 form factor using the PCIe Gen3 x4 interface found in most modern computers. The 970 EVO Plus also offers a five-year limited warranty or up to 1,200 terabytes written.
Samsung 970 EVO Plus Specifications
| Category | 970 EVO Plus | 970 EVO |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe Gen 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3 | PCIe Gen 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3 |
| Form Factor | M.2 (2280) | M.2 (2280) |
| Storage Memory | Samsung 9x-layer V-NAND 3-bit MLC | Samsung 64-layer V-NAND 3-bit MLC |
| Controller | Samsung Phoenix Controller | Samsung Phoenix Controller |
| DRAM | 2GB LPDDR4 DRAM (2TB) 1GB LPDDR4 DRAM (1TB) 512MB LPDDR4 DRAM (250GB/500GB) | 2GB LPDDR4 DRAM (2TB) 1GB LPDDR4 DRAM (1TB) 512MB LPDDR4 DRAM (250GB/500GB) |
| Capacity | 2TB, 1TB, 500GB, 250GB | 2TB, 1TB, 500GB, 250GB |
| Sequential Read/Write Speed | Up to 3,500/3,300 MB/s | Up to 3,500/2,500 MB/s |
| Random Read/Write Speed (QD32) | Up to 620,000/560,000 IOPS | Up to 500,000/480,000 IOPS |
| Management Software | Samsung Magician Software | Samsung Magician Software |
| Data Encryption | Class 0 (AES 256), TCG/Opal v2.0, MS eDrive (IEEE1667) | Class 0 (AES 256), TCG/Opal v2.0, MS eDrive (IEEE1667) |
| Total Bytes Written | 1,200TB (2TB) 600TB (1TB) 300TB (500GB) 150TB (250GB) | 1,200TB (2TB) 600TB (1TB) 300TB (500GB) 150TB (250GB) |
| Warranty | Five-year Limited Warranty | Five-year Limited Warranty |
Pricing and Availability
The 970 EVO Plus comes in a variety of capacity options; the 250GB, 500GB and 1TB capacity versions are now available for purchase worldwide, and the 2TB capacity will become available in April. Manufacturer’s suggested retail prices are as follows: $89.99 for 250GB, $129.99 for 500GB, $249.99 for 1TB. No price yet for the 2TB capacity.
