Samsung 850 PRO MZ-7KE256BW 256 GB

Scarce goods

The fastest consumer SSD is the Samsung 950 Pro, but it's hard to find one for sale right now. The fact is that Samsung faced a shortage, which is paradoxical, of its own flash memory. The 950 Pro uses the latest third generation Samsung 3D V-NAND MLC memory with 48 transistor layers. Samsung has not yet been able to produce such complex semiconductor products in large quantities. As a result, demand for the flagship Samsung 950 Pro exceeds supply.

Interim Acting

Looking for an alternative, check out the Samsung 850 Pro with 2nd generation 3D memory. It is produced in sufficient quantities: both TLC, which is used in the Samsung Evo series SSDs, and MLC for Pro models. Moreover, a two-bit MLC-memory can withstand three times more rewriting cycles than a three-bit TLC.

no catch

The Samsung 850 Pro is designed as a classic 2.5-inch drive, unlike the 950 Pro model with an M.2 NVMe form factor. The SATA interface, of course, limits the read speed to 550 MB / s, but the MLC memory remains equally fast when writing even large files (stable 520 MB / s).

Classic is always in fashion

The NVMe interface theoretically would allow the drive to overclock even faster, but in fact, after a few minutes of active load, it would still slow down to the SATA level due to overheating of the controller. So it's not a big loss. Due to the high cost, we can only recommend the Samsung 850 Pro to avid gamers and users of resource-intensive professional software who require consistently high speed and increased durability from an SSD.