Samsung has brought out the first consumer NVMe SSDs to have the new 96-layer 3D NAND flash memory in the form of the 970 EVO Plus. The Samsung 970 EVO Plus is an upgrade over the Samsung 970 EVO and the key differentiator here is the new NAND chips. These new SSDs will be available in capacities of 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB. The 250GB SKU starts off at Rs.6,479/- and the entire portfolio comes with Samsung's 5-year warranty.
The Samsung 970 EVO Plus appears to have the same controller as the previous 970 EVO though improvements with the firmware will be a differentiating factor. The new drive reportedly delivers sequential read and write speeds of up to 3,500 megabytes per second (MB/s) and up to 3,300 MB/s, respectively, while random speeds come in at up to 620,000 IOPS for read and up to 560,000 IOPS for write operations.
| Samsung 970 EVO Plus Specifications | ||
| SKU | 970 EVO Plus | 970 EVO |
| Interface | PCIe Gen 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3 | PCIe Gen 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3 |
| Form Factor | M.2 (2280) | M.2 (2280) |
| Storage Memory | Samsung 9x-layer V-NAND 3-bit MLC | Samsung 64-layer V-NAND 3-bit MLC |
| Controller | Samsung Phoenix Controller | Samsung Phoenix Controller |
| DRAM | 2GB LPDDR4 DRAM (2TB) | 2GB LPDDR4 DRAM (2TB) |
| 1GB LPDDR4 DRAM (1TB) | 1GB LPDDR4 DRAM (1TB) | |
| 512MB LPDDR4 DRAM (250GB/500GB) | 512MB LPDDR4 DRAM (250GB/500GB) | |
| Capacity | 2TB, 1TB, 500GB, 250GB | 2TB, 1TB, 500GB, 250GB |
| Sequential Read/Write Speed | Up to 3,500/3,300 MB/s | Up to 3,500/2,500 MB/s |
| Random Read/Write Speed (QD32) | Up to 620,000/560,000 IOPS | Up to 500,000/480,000 IOPS |
| Management Software | Samsung Magician Software | Samsung Magician Software |
| Total Bytes Written | 1,200TB (2TB) | 1,200TB (2TB) |
| 600TB (1TB) | 600TB (1TB) | |
| 300TB (500GB) | 300TB (500GB) | |
| 150TB (250GB) | 150TB (250GB) | |
| Warranty | Five-year Limited Warranty | Five-year Limited Warranty |
“Since introducing the first NVMe SSDs to the consumer market in 2015, Samsung has continued to challenge technical barriers in SSD design and performance,” said Dr. Mike Mang, vice president of Brand Product Marketing, Memory Business at Samsung Electronics. “The new 970 EVO Plus powered by Samsung’s latest fifth-generation V-NAND technology will now offer unrivaled performance in its class when taking on demanding tasks like 4K content editing, 3D modeling and simulation as well as heavy gaming.”
“With our commitment to bring the best, Samsung has raised the bar higher with its latest 970 EVO Plus Solid State Drives for power users, up for demanding tasks like 4K content editing, 3D modeling and simulation as well as heavy gaming. This upgraded version promises faster performance, exceptional endurance, unparalleled reliability as well as increased power efficiency,” said Mr. Sukesh Jain, Senior Vice President, IT & Mobile Enterprise Business, Samsung India.
As mentioned previously, the 250 GB SKU of the Samsung 970 EVO Plus has an MRP of Rs.6,479. The 500GB, 1TB and 2TB SKUs will retail at Rs.9,359, Rs.17,999 and Rs.35,999 respectively. The 2TB variant will be available in April.