CONCLUSION

   Although we haven't had the chance of testing the 840 thus we can't really compare it with the 840 EVO we were very impressed with it for a variety of reasons. First and foremost its read/write speeds were quite impressive for a mainstream SSD model and that's without even taking into account the very unique RAPID Mode offered by Samsung. RAPID Mode does indeed improve the performance of the drive and brings it on par with that of PCIe models but on one hand the 1GB system DRAM used doesn't seem to be large enough to offer constant speeds (easy to see that in our RAPID Mode results) while on the other during our benchmarks with it enabled we did encounter system "hiccups" (we used it in two of our test rigs just to be certain) so it may not be 100% perfect at least not yet. Another thing we liked is of course the Samsung Magician software which has come a long way both in terms of user friendliness and features since the one we had the change to use with the 830 Series at launch. The one thing we found weird was the IOPS performance of the drive since it didn't even manage to reach its reported numbers (not even in the Magician software). However it still did better than the m500 we reviewed a while back so it's not like we can really complain.

   SSD prices have taken a remarkable dive over the course of the last 2 years but with the 840 EVO Samsung is following an even more aggressive policy since it currently retails for USD139.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 120Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). This price tag not only places the 840 EVO amongst the cheapest 240/250/256GB SSD models in the market (such as the m500 240GB) but it also means that you end up paying just USD0.56/GB and with such performance levels not to mention the available features and 3 years warranty that's really impressive. In conclusion the 840 EVO 250GB SSD may not be the king of the hill but it offers a tempting package (performance/features/capacity/warranty/price) which is worth our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Excellent Overall Performance
- Features (TurboWrite/RAPID Mode/eDrive Support)
- Samsung Magician Software
- 3 Year Warranty
- Available In 1TB
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- TLC NAND Durability (Not for Industrial/Enterprise Use)