Samsung 950 Pro SSD Review

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Conclusion

The top tier of desktop-oriented storage is fairly exclusive. We have Intel's SSD 750, of course, which is a data center product tuned for enthusiasts. Samsung's SM951 made its way through the gray market, delivering comparable performance. And now Samsung's 950 Pro joins that elite duo. But we almost hung the preview tag on this first look, since the features that potentially make the 950 Pro great are still missing in action.

For instance, full-disk encryption is a really nice feature for those who need it. I have friends who won't buy an SSD without FDE. Samsung also needs to get its Magician software equipped with 950 Pro support, which should enable Rapid Mode at the same time. It seems like every company with SSD toolbox software is having issues with certain features under Windows 10.

Rapid Mode could take the 950 Pro to a level that Intel's NVMe-based SSDs and the SM951 can't reach. It's a killer app that noticeably improves the user experience. Interestingly, you might not even notice after turning Rapid Mode on. You'll get your operating system installed and follow up with Magician, so you won't spend much time without Rapid Mode. But after you go a couple of months with the feature enabled and then switch it off, that's where you'll feel the difference. Hopefully Samsung gets Magician and Rapid Mode working under Windows 10 sooner than later.

The 256GB 950 Pro is a solid drive for enthusiasts hunting for value. Aside from the SM951s, nothing else on the market compares the smaller drive's price to performance ratio. Even the 512GB 950 Pro at $350 gives you more capacity than Intel's SSD 750 400GB at a lower price point. I suspect that Samsung had Intel in its crosshairs when the company came up with its MSRPs.

We're really itching to get our hands on the 1TB 950 Pro, but realistically expect hardware around the CES or CeBIT time frame. Given where the 512GB 950 Pro lands, we have to expect Samsung's 1TB offering to undercut Intel's 1.2TB SSD 750 by a significant margin. Readers have already told us that they're waiting for the larger version before making a buying decision.

One consideration we didn't test today but need to mention is caching. Intel's Rapid Storage Technology software now allows PCIe SSDs to serve as cache for hard drives. You can even use the utility to build an NVMe-based tier for your SSDs. I don't even think power users will go that direction. However, an NVMe cache for a hard drive array could be appealing. Smart Response Technology is still limited to a maximum capacity of 64GB, but that leaves some space for a dedicated swap file or multimedia data manipulation.

The M.2 form factor is incredibly elegant. Most modern motherboards include at least one M.2 connector, and some have as many as three. M.2 is also gaining popularity in the notebook market. NVMe interface support is still somewhat limited, but notebooks armed with that are coming too. I suspect that the platforms launching at CES will be dominated by M.2, leaving little attention for 2.5" SATA drives. When Intel released the U.2 connector with an M.2 adapter and a cable pieced together from enterprise connectors, we considered it a step backwards. The 950 Pro in its small M.2 2280 form factor eliminates that workaround, pretty much killing U.2. Who wants to route another long cable, anyway? Samsung's 950 Pro delivers similar or better performance than the SSD 750, consumes less power and generates less heat.


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Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware, covering Storage. Follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.

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Chris Ramseyer
Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews consumer storage.
  • alidan
    you need to had a standard hdd to some of these, such as the gaming benchmark, as i want to say most of us dont have money for a ssd game drive, but a 4tb drive that can almost hold every game you own if you install everything, that's more readily available, apposed to the same price for 1/8th the space.
    Reply
  • Larry Litmanen
    I always wondered why was M.2 designed to lay flat on the motherboard and not sideways like RAM. Wouldn't you save a lot more space on the mobo, plus if it is sideways you can easily find a spot for it on MITX boards.


    Also, if i have a modern motherboard (i have MSI Gaming 5, Z97) do i need to go into the BIOS and change something if i want to install this M.2 NVMe SSD.

    I know you had to do something on older mobos when installing an SSD.
    Reply
  • Larry Litmanen
    you need to had a standard hdd to some of these, such as the gaming benchmark, as i want to say most of us dont have money for a ssd game drive, but a 4tb drive that can almost hold every game you own if you install everything, that's more readily available, apposed to the same price for 1/8th the space.

    I game a lot and i have 850 Pro in 256 GB capacity. You don't really need that much space for games if you keep only 2-3 games installed at once. I play one game at a time, when i finish i just uninstall it. What's the point of saving it on PC if i will not play it again ever or at least for a while.
    Reply
  • Eggz
    Ooooh yeah! Exactly the review I've been waiting for!
    Reply
  • jtown80
    alidan... no one wants reviews of standard Hard drives. Your behind the times if your still focusing on them and it is pointless to do benchmarks on them.
    Reply
  • CRamseyer
    Hard drive performance barely even show up on the results when we show throughput performance. The reverse happens in the latency tests, the HDD lines are so long you can hardly see the NVMe performance.
    Reply
  • rgd1101
    Can you check the temp and power usage?
    Perform much better on the Z170 then on the Z97 reviewed at anandtech.com
    Wonder how it perform on an AMD motherboard.
    Reply
  • tom10167
    Very cool, I was/am excited for this. However the real world bencmarks say it all. Best case scenario 12 seconds on a 6 minute job is not much and many of those tests were showing half a second difference in performance. Nowhere near good enough for me. Still a nice step but I'll wait for cheaper m2 drives.
    Reply
  • rgd1101
    850 PRO EVO is cheaper. Wish they compare both 512GB m.2 and the SATA drive.
    Real world peformance probably close.
    Reply
  • arossetti
    I'm glad this form factor is starting to take off and is reasonably priced. Less cables and power connectors to muck up a build.
    Reply