For some reason this gets just about zero coverage in tech sites, so I don't know what happens in real life. According the the JEDEC standard for SSDs, an exhausted flash block in a consumer drive is only required to retain data for 1 year. I have no idea what's really happening in real flash and drives, nor how the retention time graph looks throughout the drive's life.
Here's the thing, I rather have a 1-2TB of SSD with 3-bit TLC or even 4-bit NANDs for slower storage alongside a primary super-fast 120GB SSD SLC/MLC drive, than a single 1TB MLC drive.
Eventually, those SSDs are going to exceed the current 4TB max of HDDs and over time, they'd get cheap enough to worth its costs. 1TB SSD 2.5" drives at 100$ each in 2-5 years from now.
Right now, you can get 960GB MLC M500 drive for 650$ at Newegg. It's going to be interesting to see what Samsung price these 960GB-1TB TLC drive is at, it cannot be more than 650$ for sure.
Cost with halve and storage will double every (roughly) 18 months. So your $100 TB SSD will be closer to 5 years. 2? No way. Not good business to let it drop that fast.
Several companies are selling significantly faster 1TB drives for closer to the $1k point. Samsung could do the same.
I hope they don't; since I'd like to have more than one option when building my new box later this year, but there's nothing stopping them from doing so.
For most users it's better to pocket the savings from TLC now (and they're significant). And if the drive is really worn out after 5 years (unlikely), imagine what the cost difference you pocketed today will get you then.
Hmm, I hadn't really stayed on top of SSD pricing after getting a second 128GB 830 last November... Current 500GB pricing almost makes me think I'll soon be able to relegate HDDs strictly to backup and NAS duties.
Well, it's meant for mainstream consumers, hence the "SSDs for Everyone" slogan. Enthusiasts will still want the 840 Pro for the longer warranty and much higher write IOPS.
Adding to what Duraz0rz said... The 840 Evo is an upgrade to the regular 840, not the 840 Pro. The 840 Pro remains the more expensive, higher performing option.
What I'm really interested in is native PCIe SSDs for consumer desktops as SATA 6Gbps is the main bottleneck now. Sammy are already doing it for laptops as the 2013 MBA has one, but for desktops there's no option other than to stump up a lot of money for an enterprise-grade drive that's overkill even for enthusiasts.
Uh-oh... another TLC. Well, it's nice for people doing almost nothing on their computers (with the advantage of less noise due to SSD versus HDD), but for power-users TLC is a no go! I have a tiny 60GB Intel 335 SSD and it has gathered over 15 TB of writes in half an year ! That's an average of 83 GB /day. How ? I'm actually USING the computer... to do work, etc. These TLC drives would die on me rather quickly....
If you're writing 83 GB/day you're not a normal user and thus you would be using the wrong drive with a TLC SSD. Nevertheless, assuming a rather high write amplification factor of 3x, if you were to choose a 500 GB model, you would still have a 5.5 years endurance minimum.
With a 10 GiB/day usage and 2x write amplification (which is closer to normal usage patterns for Samsung 840 SSDs), that would be a 6400 days / 17.53 years write endurance.
I was about to pull the trigger on a 840 500gb replacement drive - if these new EVO drives are suppost to be coming out early august hopefully they will drive the price down on the non PRO stuff?
I think these are intended to replace the baseline 840's; so if you see a good inventory clearing deal jump on it asap since it'll probably be your last chance.
Yep, just like how the Samsung 830 series drives were cheap on Amazon for a few weeks, and then nowhere to be found below MSRP after that. The supply was pushed through the market, and the 840 simply slotted in to take its place. Same with happen with the 840 Evo replacing the vanilla 840.
I just bought an 256GB 840 Pro for $240, do you think it's worth returning and waiting for the $200 Evo? I need a high degree of reliability, so the 5 year warranty and track record of the 840 Pro appeal to me, but I'm also a poor student who would like to save some money. Any thoughts?
Now that you have it might as well keep it, it's a better drive and waiting for the new one could take a while. In three years time you might even appreciate the extra warranty!
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Bazooo - Wednesday, July 17, 2013 - link
Looks really good...But what about pricing for both consumer and enterprise line?abrowne1993 - Wednesday, July 17, 2013 - link
Too bad I won't be able to afford one of these.sheh - Wednesday, July 17, 2013 - link
More TLC...sherlockwing - Wednesday, July 17, 2013 - link
Check this articlehttp://www.anandtech.com/show/6459/samsung-ssd-840...
840 250G will last 23 years writing 10GB a day, there is nothing wrong with TLC write endurance for consumer usage.
Oxford Guy - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
HardOCP found big problems with the 128 GB drive.Oxford Guy - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
Also, this is 19nm TLC which will have even worse latency and longevity.sheh - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
Endurance is also about data retention.For some reason this gets just about zero coverage in tech sites, so I don't know what happens in real life. According the the JEDEC standard for SSDs, an exhausted flash block in a consumer drive is only required to retain data for 1 year. I have no idea what's really happening in real flash and drives, nor how the retention time graph looks throughout the drive's life.
MikhailT - Wednesday, July 17, 2013 - link
Here's the thing, I rather have a 1-2TB of SSD with 3-bit TLC or even 4-bit NANDs for slower storage alongside a primary super-fast 120GB SSD SLC/MLC drive, than a single 1TB MLC drive.Eventually, those SSDs are going to exceed the current 4TB max of HDDs and over time, they'd get cheap enough to worth its costs. 1TB SSD 2.5" drives at 100$ each in 2-5 years from now.
Right now, you can get 960GB MLC M500 drive for 650$ at Newegg. It's going to be interesting to see what Samsung price these 960GB-1TB TLC drive is at, it cannot be more than 650$ for sure.
UltraTech79 - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
Cost with halve and storage will double every (roughly) 18 months. So your $100 TB SSD will be closer to 5 years. 2? No way. Not good business to let it drop that fast.UltraTech79 - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
I will predict right now that in 5 years we will see $100 1TB drives and $700 8TB drives.FunBunny2 - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
Physics says, "No way, Jose". Not with NAND, constructed as it is today.DanNeely - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
Several companies are selling significantly faster 1TB drives for closer to the $1k point. Samsung could do the same.I hope they don't; since I'd like to have more than one option when building my new box later this year, but there's nothing stopping them from doing so.
MrSpadge - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
For most users it's better to pocket the savings from TLC now (and they're significant). And if the drive is really worn out after 5 years (unlikely), imagine what the cost difference you pocketed today will get you then.Impulses - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
Hmm, I hadn't really stayed on top of SSD pricing after getting a second 128GB 830 last November... Current 500GB pricing almost makes me think I'll soon be able to relegate HDDs strictly to backup and NAS duties.Oxford Guy - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
The SanDisk Extreme has been on sale for the same price as the Samsung TLC drives and it uses superior MLC.iwod - Wednesday, July 17, 2013 - link
So Samsung are already shipping 1x nm NAND? Just a few days ago i thought Micron was first.MrSpadge - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
That was 16 nm.eio - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
two generations ahead of everyone else in TLC territory...is it game over for other consumer SSD vendors?Parablooper - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
I wonder if the 1TB models will encounter any problems...RaistlinZ - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
So why is the 256GB EVO lower spec than the 256GB Pro? 66K IOPS vs. 90K IOPS. Is the TLC NAND that much superior than MLC?And there's only a 3 year warranty on the EVO compared to the 5 year warranty on the Pro. I'm confused...why should I buy the EVO?
Duraz0rz - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
Well, it's meant for mainstream consumers, hence the "SSDs for Everyone" slogan. Enthusiasts will still want the 840 Pro for the longer warranty and much higher write IOPS.dishayu - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
Adding to what Duraz0rz said...The 840 Evo is an upgrade to the regular 840, not the 840 Pro. The 840 Pro remains the more expensive, higher performing option.
Death666Angel - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
I'm confused, why would you think the TLC using Evo was replacing the MLC using Pro?coolhardware - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
Thanks for posting this news!Nice to see those higher speeds on the 120GB consumer model.
Also, will be interested to see how the enterprise line stacks up to Intel et. al
r3loaded - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
What I'm really interested in is native PCIe SSDs for consumer desktops as SATA 6Gbps is the main bottleneck now. Sammy are already doing it for laptops as the 2013 MBA has one, but for desktops there's no option other than to stump up a lot of money for an enterprise-grade drive that's overkill even for enthusiasts.wavetrex - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
Uh-oh... another TLC.Well, it's nice for people doing almost nothing on their computers (with the advantage of less noise due to SSD versus HDD), but for power-users TLC is a no go!
I have a tiny 60GB Intel 335 SSD and it has gathered over 15 TB of writes in half an year ! That's an average of 83 GB /day. How ? I'm actually USING the computer... to do work, etc.
These TLC drives would die on me rather quickly....
Solid State Brain - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
If you're writing 83 GB/day you're not a normal user and thus you would be using the wrong drive with a TLC SSD. Nevertheless, assuming a rather high write amplification factor of 3x, if you were to choose a 500 GB model, you would still have a 5.5 years endurance minimum.Oxford Guy - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
HardOCP projected failure for the 128 GB drive with a light usage pattern in just a few years.Solid State Brain - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
How many years? What write amplification value they used?Oxford Guy - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/02/19/samsung_...Solid State Brain - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
I see no calculations, only conjecture that the drive would only last 3.5-4 years.I'll do some math for you for the 120 GB model:
128 GiB * 1000 P/E cycles = 128000 GiB
15 GiB/day * 3x write amplification = 45 GiB/day
128000 GiB / 45 GiB/day = 2844 days lifetime = 7.79 years
With a 10 GiB/day usage and 2x write amplification (which is closer to normal usage patterns for Samsung 840 SSDs), that would be a 6400 days / 17.53 years write endurance.
jb14 - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
I was about to pull the trigger on a 840 500gb replacement drive - if these new EVO drives are suppost to be coming out early august hopefully they will drive the price down on the non PRO stuff?jb14 - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
*supposedDanNeely - Thursday, July 18, 2013 - link
I think these are intended to replace the baseline 840's; so if you see a good inventory clearing deal jump on it asap since it'll probably be your last chance.Slash3 - Friday, July 19, 2013 - link
Yep, just like how the Samsung 830 series drives were cheap on Amazon for a few weeks, and then nowhere to be found below MSRP after that. The supply was pushed through the market, and the 840 simply slotted in to take its place. Same with happen with the 840 Evo replacing the vanilla 840.CEyzaguirre - Friday, July 19, 2013 - link
I just bought an 256GB 840 Pro for $240, do you think it's worth returning and waiting for the $200 Evo? I need a high degree of reliability, so the 5 year warranty and track record of the 840 Pro appeal to me, but I'm also a poor student who would like to save some money. Any thoughts?noeldillabough - Sunday, July 21, 2013 - link
Now that you have it might as well keep it, it's a better drive and waiting for the new one could take a while. In three years time you might even appreciate the extra warranty!alghost - Thursday, July 25, 2013 - link
Wow..i think TLC slower than MLC. But this show me thats wrong.. i want to know that