Samsung Announces New SATA 3.0 6 Gb/s SSDs

Samsung Electronics just announced volume production of SSDs that support the SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s), with new high-performance PM830 SSDs up to 512 GB densities. The new drives are expected to replace SATA 3Gb/s-based SSDs by year-end.

“Samsung’s new line up of advanced SSDs will raise the performance bar to the next level for ultra-slim notebooks and tablets and accelerate growth of the market for high-performance SSDs,” said Wanhoon Hong, executive vice president, memory sales & marketing, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics. “The industry is expected to quickly embrace SATA 6Gb/s-based SSDs, which also will help increase market interest in 256GB and higher densities significantly,” he added.

Samsung claims that its new 6Gb/s SSDs shortens system boot-up time to about 10 seconds, while its high-performance allows users to download up to five DVD video files in less than a minute. The drives also feature an AES 256-bit encryption algorithm

The new SSDs utilizes Samsung’s 20 nm class 32 Gb MLC NAND memory chip incorporating the toggle DDR interface with a proprietary NAND controller. This allows Samsung's new SSD to boast sequential read speeds of 500 megabytes per second (MB/s) and sequential write speeds of 350MB/s.

Samsung’s SATA 6Gb/s SSDs are available in 512GB, 256GB and 128GB densities.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • JohnnyLucky
    It's about time Samsung got around to offering SATA 3.0 6Gb/s ssd's. Their 470 series SATA 2.0 3Gb/s ssd's have a pretty good track record. Let's hope for a repeat performance.
    Reply
  • mt2e
    I'm no expert but "20 nm class 32 Gb MLC NAND" seems significant to me what do you guys think
    Reply
  • legendkiller
    What's the different between 20NM SSD and 30NM SSD? I Dont know why NanoMeter matters so much because i dont see improvement for smaller NM...
    Reply
  • iwantamd7970
    Yeah you would think 20 nm means something but I don't know.
    Reply
  • ralfthedog
    LegendkillerWhat's the different between 20NM SSD and 30NM SSD? I Dont know why NanoMeter matters so much because i dont see improvement for smaller NM...
    The difference is 10NM. :)

    It lets them make more chips per wafer. From the consumer perspective, you might see a price drop if they can keep the yield up.
    Reply
  • ikefu
    Traditionally, the smaller the circuit goes the higher the speed they've been able to squeeze out of it as well. Unfortunately, smaller sizes have also been linked to a diminished number of write cycles before failure.

    So higher speed but shorter life. However, for the average SSD user that life spans is still many years. Only the heaviest of SSD write cycle users will find the shortened life as a problem.
    Reply
  • shadamus
    Sweet. I've got two of their 470-series drives (128GB in an i5 laptop, and 256GB in my i7 laptop), and have not had a lick of trouble with either one. I would be willing to replace the 256GB 470 with one of these after I see a bit of a track-record...
    Reply
  • crisan_tiberiu
    An 128 GB, SATA 3 SSD its my next upgrade, but the question is Intel or Samsung, i like both ^^
    Reply
  • rantoc
    ralfthedogThe difference is 10NM. It lets them make more chips per wafer. From the consumer perspective, you might see a price drop if they can keep the yield up.
    Sadly it also traditionaly have resulted in less erase cycles per cell
    Reply
  • becherovka
    Less erase cycles per cell might not effect you for 20 years depending on low/normal usage, by then who cares. But I guess it will affect some people.
    Reply