Samsung Electronics America said on Wednesday that its new 840 family of SSDs is available for purchase. Included in this new series is the the 840 Pro SSD, a high-performance drive for professionals and tech enthusiasts. For a limited time only, Samsung is offering a code for a free, downloadable full version of Assassin's Creed III with the purchase of the 840 Pro SSD in 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB capacities.
"Our new 840 Pro SSDs allow gamers to experience the ultimate in gaming performance by booting their systems quickly, and loading games and other apps in a flash," said Mike Abary, Senior Vice President, Consumer Business Division IT Product Marketing, Samsung Electronics America. "We’re excited to offer Assassin’s Creed III to gaming fans with the new 840 Pro SSD, which should make for a real improvement in gameplay."
According to the specs, the 2.5-inch Samsung 840 Pro SSDs feature a SATA 6 Gb/s interface, 400 Mbps Toggle DDR2 flash memory, AES 256-bit encryption and new triple-core MDX controllers. Random read speeds are up to 100,000 IOPS, and sequential read speeds are up to 540 MB/s. Random write speeds are up to 90,000 IOPS and sequential write speeds are up to 520 MB/s, depending on the capacity (based on spec sheet, not press release numbers).
Don't want to go Pro? Samsung is also offering the 840 Series SSD in three capacities as well: 120 GB, 250 GB and 500 GB. These drives offer random read speeds of up to 97,000 IOPS and sequential read speeds of up to 530 MB/s. They also offer random write speeds of up to 63,000 IOPS and sequential write speeds of up to 330 MB/s, depending on the capacity. However as noted, these three models won't come bundled with the Assassin's Creed III code.
"The new 840 family of SSDs builds on the success of the acclaimed 830 series SSDs," the company said on Wednesday. "Samsung’s proprietary controllers and firmware, along with its leading NAND flash memory technology, deliver exceptional performance and unrivaled energy efficiency. Samsung, unique among SSD manufacturers, engineers all of its components in-house. This allows it to meticulously fine-tune its hardware and software for enhanced reliability."
All six models are available at major retail and online outlets, and are also optionally available with an upgrade kit including mounting brackets, USB cable and SATA cable for easy installation in a desktop or laptop PC. For pricing, see the list below:
840 Series 120 GB - $139.99 / $169.99 w/kit
840 Series 250 GB - $259.99 / $269.99 w/kit
840 Series 500 GB - $699.99 / $719.99 w/kit
840 Pro Series 128 GB - $189.99
840 Pro Series 256 GB - $339.99
840 Pro Series 512 GB - $889.99