Several European hardware retailers have listed Samsung's upcoming 860 QVO (Quality and Value Oriented) SSD on their online stores. The 860 QVO represents Samsung's first excursion into the QLC (quad-level cell) NAND territory.
The Samsung 860 QVO is a conventional 2.5-inch SSD that still relies on the ubiquitous SATA III interface to communicate with the rest of the system. According to the listings, the SSD comes with QLC 3D NAND flash memory, which results in increased density, and thus lower pricing, than other types of flash, like TLC. Unfortunately, as we've seen with other new QLC SSDs, the new flash can come with lower performance and endurance.
| Model | NAS Expert pricing without VAT | Estimated US Pricing | Estimated UK Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung 860 QVO 1TB | €117.50 | $133.84 | £104.75 |
| Samsung 860 QVO 2TB | €225.96 | $257.38 | £201.40 |
| Samsung 860 QVO 4TB | €451.93 | $514.77 | £402.81 |
Despite the challenges of QLC flash, Samsung's QVO pumps out up to 550/520 MB/s of sequential read/write throughput and up to 96,000/89,000 random read/write IOPS.
The Samsung 860 QVO's sequential performance is right in line with the Samsung 860 EVO, but it falls behind the 860 EVO's 98,000/90,000 random read/write specifications. This is understandable given the Samsung 860 QVO's focus on value rather than speed. Performance seekers should probably pick up the EVO or PRO models.
As with all the latest Samsung SSDs, the Samsung 860 QVO features the company's TurboWrite Technology which helps boost the drive's write performance. The SSD will be available in three capacities: 1TB (MZ-76Q1T0BW), 2TB (MZ-76Q2T0BW), and 4TB (MZ-76Q4T0BW).
An Italian retailer listed the Samsung 860 QVO with a limited three-year warranty and an endurance up to 1,440 TBW (terabytes written), which is probably for the 4TB model. On the other hand, a French retailer listed the Samsung 860 QVO with a five-year warranty.
Samsung's current 860 EVO 1TB currently retails for $127.98 (£148.80) while the 2TB and 4TB models retail for $294.88 (£357.97) and $797.99 (£778.85), respectively. If NAS Expert's pricing is accurate, the Samsung 860 QVO will be significantly less expensive than the Samsung 860 EVO at higher densities of 2TB and 4TB.
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Although Samsung hasn't released any official information around the 860 QVO, European retailers expect the SSD to launch in December 2018.
Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.