INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   It's true that in the SATA SSD market we don't get many surprises but if i was to choose a single company that has impressed us time and again with their models that would be Samsung. Now i can't comment on their very first attempts to enter the market (never had the chance to test them out) but the since the 830 models they have introduced features and performance levels not many manufacturers in the market can go up against. For example soon after the award winning 830 models Samsung introduced the much improved 840 models which combined very good performance levels thanks to their TLC NAND flash modules (Samsung was the first to use such technology with consumer oriented SSD models) with a very tempting price tag. Today Samsung has released the brand new 850 series and having already reviewed the high-end 850 Pro model we know that by taking the next step and using 128Gbit 32-layer 3D V-NAND they now hold the first place in the SSD market both in terms of performance and endurance. However since this line is not really aimed towards consumers Samsung just released the 850 EVO line and here with us today we have the 500GB variant.

   Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere. Through relentless innovation and discovery, we are transforming the worlds of televisions, smartphones, personal computers, printers, cameras, home appliances, LTE systems, medical devices, semiconductors and LED solutions. We employ 236,000 people across 79 countries with annual sales of US$187.8 billion. Samsung's Memory Business offers the industry's most advanced and extensive range of memory semiconductor products. As a leader in both the design and manufacture of memory semiconductor since 1993, the business provides key memory products including dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), NAND flash memory, Solid State Drives (SSD) and a range of green memory solutions for use in PC, server and mobile applications. Samsung is also leading the industry in advancements of next generation DRAM and NAND flash technologies while nurturing future memory technologies. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com.

   Samsung may have introduced the 850 EVO line as a "cut-down" version of their 850 PRO line but these two are not really that different something which is a very good thing for consumers. For example both make use of 32-layer 3D V-NAND flash modules (V stands for vertical) and so both also share the same endurance rating of 75TBW for the 120/250GB models and of 150TBW for the 500GB/1TB models (this translates to 40GB writes for the first two and 80GB writes for the last on the drive per day for a period of roughly 5 years). The 840 EVO line also features the same TurboWrite technology (a small amount of SLC NAND flash is used to accelerate write performance), DevSleep (power saving feature), TCG Opal 2.0 & IEEE-1667 (AES 256bit hardware encryption) and RAPID v2.1 (uses up to 4GB of your system memory to boost read/write performance). For the new 850 EVO line Samsung has made use of two brand new NAND flash controllers, an 2-core MGX one for the 120/250/500GB models and an 3-core MEX one for the 1TB model. Unfortunately we have no detailed specifications for the MGX controller (or for the MEX one) but we do know that Samsung gives it an MTBF (Mean Time between Failures) of 1.5 million hours.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instead of the all-black box we saw with the 850 Pro line the EVO line gets shipped inside a white box that has a large product picture at the front right beneath the company logo and product capacity.

 

 

At the rear of the box we find a quote, a stamp pointing to the 3D V-NAND used and several certification and warning logos.

 

 

With the 850 EVO drive you will also get a software CD, installation instructions and a warranty information paper.

 

 

THE 850 EVO 500GB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we exclude the dark grey color of the housing the 850 EVO is just another 7mm 2.5" SSD.

 

 

Samsung is leading the market right now so their name is synonym to performance and reliability.

 

 

You can see the part number, model name, serial number, barcodes, PSID number (Physical Security ID), capacity, electrical specifications, company logo and several certification and warning logos (to gain access to the interior you will need to remove the bottom screw and two more like it placed beneath the large sticker).

 

 

At the rear we see the typical SATA power and data connectors.

 

 

Along with the MGX controller at the front we also see two NAND flash modules and 512MB LPDDR2 DRAM chip.

 

 

Two more NAND flash modules are placed on the other side of the PCB.

 

 

SAMSUNG MAGICIAN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again although the drive comes with a software CD that has the latest program version we do recommend checking out the official Samsung support page just in case an updated version is available.

 

 

The software CD includes both the Samsung Magician software version 4.5 and the Data Migration version 2.7.

 

 

As always the very first screen you will see of the Samsung Magician software is basically an overview of the drive.

 

 

Typically i suggest checking the firmware tab before everything else to see if Samsung has released a new firmware for the drive.

 

 

The Magician Software gives you the option to perform a fast benchmark to check the speed of the drive and also allows you to "optimize" the OS for SSD use via this easy to use tab. However if you have a system that also features regular HDDs i don't suggest using the SSD option since it will reduce their performance.

 

 

Another great feature of the Samsung Magician software is that it allows you to set extra overprovisioning space (improves TRIM and garbage collection).

 

 

RAPID (Real Time Acceleration Processing of I/O Data) mode basically uses up to 4GB (or 25% whichever comes first) of system RAM (DRAM is much faster compared to NAND flash) to cache frequently accessed data (in short it works like a RAM disk).

 

 

Unfortunately we tried enabling RAPID twice, once we ended up with a BSOD and upon the 2nd restart Windows 7 Ultimate loaded fine but without RAPID enabled while the second we had a total system failure with continuous BSODs so we had to use our 2 days old OS image to get up and running again. Bottom line prior to using it i strongly recommend creating a system restore point just to be on the safe side (if not an image of the entire OS onto another drive like we do).

 

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

 

   After roughly 6 years of testing sold state drives i have concluded that it's almost impossible for any single benchmark suite to accurately measure their performance and that's why in certain benchmark suites we see amazing read/write performance numbers with some drives while in others things are quite different. The reason behind this is that some benchmarking suites are configured to read and write random chunks of data while others read and write constant (sequential) ones. So that's why i always use a very wide selection of benchmarking suites including AIDA64, HD Tach RW, HD Tune Pro, Crystal Disk Mark, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, AS SSD, IOmeter and ATTO. To get the most accurate results each test gets repeated a total of 6 times with the average performance numbers recorded into our charts.

   Many people made inquiries about the charts ever since the last comparison so once again please do keep in mind that the Charts have the average performance numbers of each drive recorded and not the peak (highest) ones. Also although every single one of these programs can help potential buyers choose the right drive for their needs you should also remember that from any kind of benchmark up to real world usage the gap is not small (and usually most differences will go unnoticed by most people). All tests were performed in a fresh Windows 7 Ultimate x64 installation with every update installed up to December 11th 2014.

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – AS SSD / IOMETER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   After we reviewed the 850 Pro 512GB model and heard that Samsung would also send us the 850 EVO 500GB we thought that there would be a sufficient performance gap between those two to "justify" both the different target areas and the difference in price. However it's very clear from our charts that purely in terms of performance both the 850 Pro 512GB and the 850 EVO 500GB are very close. Of course we didn't expect the 850 EVO to reach the performance of the 850 Pro but it comes really close and in some cases it does even better. In terms of endurance both models feature the same 150TBW rating and although the 850 Pro features a much higher number of P/E cycles making it ideal for heavy workloads the P/E cycles of the 850 EVO should be more than enough for even professional use. Our only concern about the 850 EVO is the new version of RAPID (v2.1) which didn't really work for our system. That being said so far we had no problem with the 840 Pro and the 850 Pro models when using RAPID so this might just have been an isolated issue (if not we hope Samsung resolves it).

   The EVO line of SSDs by Samsung is always aimed towards the consumer market so they really have to come at a better price point compared to the Pro models. Well the 850 EVO 500GB model currently retails for USD249.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 249.59Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) so it's roughly 25% cheaper compared to the 850 Pro line. Is that enough to attract buyers? Well it all comes down to how much one is willing to spend for an SSD but i don't really see a reason for regular consumers to even consider the 850 Pro line, not when performance and overall endurance is roughly the same in both lines. I think that Samsung has more room to cut the price of the 850 EVO line even more to compete with other models in the market but 25% is by no means a small number. Overall the 850 EVO is many steps over its predecessor the 840 EVO and for that it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality / Endurance (150TBW / 1 Million Hours MTBF)
- Excellent Overall Performance
- Features (TurboWrite/RAPID Mode/eDrive Support)
- Samsung Magician Software
- 5 Year Warranty
- Available In 1TB

 

CONS

- Price (For Some)