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SSD 750 Series 400GB and SM951 512GB Comparison
This is the section you probably came to see. After all, the Intel SSD 750 and Samsung SM951 are the first in a new category of SSD products.
It's easy to see the size difference between Intel's SSD 750 and the Samsung SM951. For one, the SSD 750 is a desktop-only part, while the SM951 can be used in notebooks that ship with M.2 PCIe slots like the Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 3. Users can also purchase a desktop adapter bracket for the SM951 (many motherboards shipped with M.2 PCIe slots in the last year). Just make sure your motherboard supports PCIe 3.0 x4 to take full advantage of the maximum performance available.
At the time of writing the Samsung SM951 512GB cost $495 at Amazon. This is an OEM product, so the warranty is backed by the seller, RamCity. This is the first published review of Samsung's 512GB SM951 sold by RamCity. In our first look at the Samsung SM951 512GB, we used a drive sold by Lenovo and currently shipping in the X1 Carbon Gen 3. That model failed to reach Samsung's full sequential read performance specification. We managed to break 1700 MB/s, but that was a far cry from the 2200 MB/s we're seeing now. Also, the Lenovo SM951 512GB has a lower threshold before thermal throttling kicks in. You can see this in action in our sequential write on Lenovo's SM951 here.
The Intel SSD 750 400GB has a large random performance lead, but both companies only claim peak performance at high queue depths where most client workloads never get to. The Samsung SM951 enjoys higher sequential write speed. We managed to pull more performance out of both products in our testing, but the Samsung has a clear lead in this area.
Although both products have 512GB of NAND flash, Intel uses more over-provisioning to increase performance and Samsung gives users nearly all of the available space for storing data. This should factor into your purchasing decision if capacity trumps all else.
