CONCLUSION

   When Samsung announced to us that they were going to release the 845DC EVO for datacenter applications (enterprise-grade) i was quite intrigued since i knew that it was an improved version of the consumer oriented 840 EVO model which i have to say performed very well for its price tag. Still after wrapping up all tests i can't say that i was impressed with its write performance when compared to the write performance of the 840 EVO. Sure the 845DC EVO is optimized for heavy workloads which our tests may not be able to simulate with 100% accuracy and it does offer power loss protection via an array of tantalum capacitors but i really expected it to perform if not better at least the same as the 840 EVO in write performance (especially since we tested both drives at virtually the same capacity). The good news is that higher capacity models perform roughly 40% better (always according to official specs) so for those this isn't really an issue but it undoubtedly is for the 240GB model which we had the chance to test. As for all those 3bit NAND longevity concerns consumers and enterprise users may have Samsung addressed them with a longer warranty period of 5 years although we really won't know how entering the enterprise market with TLC based SSDs will turn out for at least a couple of years.

   Since the 845DC EVO is a brand new product availability is almost zero at this point but Samsung has announced an recommended price tag of USD249.99 for the 240GB model which although not bad for an enterprise-grade SSD still it may be just a tad too much for an improved 840 EVO or at least that's how some people will see it. Of course just the power loss protection alone is worth the extra premium but the real problem with the 240GB model is its write performance and that reason alone i expect will be enough to make people turn either to the higher capacity models or to other alternatives. Overall Samsung has done it again and although the 845DC EVO 240GB will not be winning any performance crowns anytime soon (its higher capacity brothers may) its enterprise-grade features coupled with the 5 year warranty, and the support only Samsung can offer make it a very solid enterprise-grade solution well worth our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (2 Million Hours MTBF)
- Excellent Read Performance
- Power Loss Protection
- Firmware Optimized For Heavy Enterprise Workloads
- 5 Year Warranty
- Available In 960GB
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Write Performance (240GB Model Only)
- TLC NAND Durability? (Remains To Be Seen)