SATA 6Gb/south - The Last Hoorah

So has Samsung delivered the fastest SATA SSD? Our results seem to advise so. The merely noteworthy SSD missing from our line-up is the new SanDisk Farthermost Pro and we are working difficult to include that in our results soon. Awaiting that battle, it looks like the 850 Pro may be the fastest SATA SSD money tin buy.

There'due south no denying that the 840 Pro was one of the virtually successful high-end SSD serial over the past few years, offering strong performance, reasonable pricing and unquestionable reliability. For all those positives though, the drive wasn't ever at the top of its game with below average results in ii of our copy tests.

Samsung'due south new 850 Pro, on the other hand, was fast everywhere, raising the bar in all iii copy tests to beat the competition by every bit much equally 30MB/s. The real-world application test results were as well very impressive equally the 850 Pro was the fastest SATA SSD we've used in the Red Orchestra 2 game installation exam.

When we jumped to synthetic testing, the 4K queue depth performance that threw off the 840 Pro didn't faze the 850 Pro. Furthermore, filling the drive with data had piddling to no affect on functioning. The drive'south RAPID manner (enabled via the Samsung Magician software) is a nice bonus, just in reality it's non that useful.

As nosotros constitute with the 840 Evo, RAPID works well when moving big files (those over 1GB) but information technology'south useless for moving smaller files, installing programs or running a virus scan. The characteristic is certainly great for showing off in synthetic benchmarks though. Overall, it's probably still worth enabling if you can spare the RAM.

For at least the next yr SATA 6Gb/s will exist the ascendant interface for SSDs. The SSD 850 Pro does a expert job of exposing the limitations of this interface and unless you're running drive copies like us, the bus will limit performance. Going forward, Samsung will have to adopt M.2 or SATA Express for its high-end products.

With the SSD 850 Pro'southward functioning as good as a SATA SSD is going to be right now, a $x to $30 boost in price over the 840 Pro serial isn't surprising. Every bit it stands, 128GB costs $130 or $1.00/GB, 256GB is $230 ($0.89/GB), the 512GB model we tested costs $430 ($0.83/GB) and the 1TB 850 Pro is listed at $730 ($0.73/GB).

At present, we never expected it to offer the same value as, say, the Crucial MX100 series at $0.40/GB, merely the 850 Pro line costs considerably more than SanDisk's new Extreme Pro. The 512GB model costs $60 more for example, though while it does come up at a 20% premium, Samsung's new drive provides 7% more storage.

Competition is stiff and Samsung seems aware. Our initial review guide stated a v-year warranty for the 850 Pro series but subsequently evaluating the market, Samsung upgraded its coverage period to match SanDisk Farthermost Pro'southward 10-year warranty. With that in mind, maybe at that place's some wiggle room in Samsung's MSRPs.

Value aside, having used the Samsung SSD 840 Pro 512GB in my main arrangement for almost ii years now as well as 256GB models in both of my HTPCs, I can't speak highly enough of their performance and reliability. The 850 Pro looks to be fifty-fifty better, though it may not be enough to coax an upgrade out of 840 Pro owners.

Pros: Samsung says the 850 Pro is the fastest, most reliable SATA SSD available and we'll buy that line until nosotros examination the SanDisk Extreme Pro or feel a failure.

Cons: Information technology certainly isn't the all-time value considering its premium over the Extreme Pro and availability of drives like the Crucial MX100. RAPID isn't as useful as you may think.