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Samsung SSD 840 series storage review

MLC for business and TLC for pleasure

Benchmark Tests

Samsung quotes sequential Read/Write figures of 540MB/s and 450MB/s respectively for the 840 Pro, and following tests, these numbers seem pretty conservative. With ATTO benchmarking the 840 Pro notched up 561MB/s for the Reads and 528MB/s for the Writes – some of the fastest figures I have seen for a 256GB drive.

Indeed, the MDX controller doesn’t suffer from the Achilles heel that affects SandForce drives, namely, how it deals with compressible data. A quick comparison between the two CrystalDiskMark benchmark scores shows this up very nicely, with hardly any difference between the two sets of figures.

Samsung SSD 840 series

CrystalDiskMark 4K transfer rate

Samsung SSD 840 series

ATTO transfer rate

Samsung SSD 840

Unlike the 840 Pro, the 840 comes in two versions, either as a bare drive or for about £35 more, as a desktop/notebook upgrade kit. This range has a shorter warranty period than the Pro version at just 3 years. The 840 on test is the bare 250GB model, the two other capacities are the 120GB (bare drive £87) and the flagship 500GB (bare drive £343) models.

Samsung SSD 840

Looks familiar, the Samsung SSD 840 internals

Typically a desktop PC relies more on random read/writes than sequential read writes and so the firmware (DXT05B0Q) for the 840 series has been written to take this into account. Unlike the Pro model, it lacks the WWN (World Wide Name) and LED indicator support.

Samsung's sequential Read/Write figures for the 250GB drive are 540MB/s and 250MB/s respectively, and just like the 840 Pro, these figures seem a little cautious. Again when tested with the ATTO benchmark, more impressive Read/Write scores of 560MB/s and 263MB/s were achieved.

Verdict

The SSD 840 Pro carries on from where the 830 left off and is one of the fastest 2.5in SSDs around at the moment. It’s a little pricey compared to some of its competitors but if Samsung continues with the aggressive pricing it began with the 830, then it looks set to be the drive to buy. That said, the standard Samsung SSD 840 model appears very well-suited for consumer upgrades delivering an impressive performance and offering good value too, even at the asking price. ®

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Samsung SSD 840 series

Samsung SSD 840 series storage review

Samsung’s 840 series delivers high performance replacements for its hugely successful SSD 830.
Price: £140 (SSD 840 250GB), £203 (SSD840 Pro 256GB) RRP

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