Review Samsung 870 EVO SATA SSD Review: The Best Just Got Better

It would be nice to see ~ $50 trimmed from the 2 TB variant's price, to be sure...; at the current MSRP, the MX500 would get my nod...

(It would also be nice for someone to make some faster SATA spec ports...SATA4, at 12 Gbps/~1100 MB/sec? Not needed for spinning drives, of course, but If not that, then Intel needs to push a cabled NVME replacement standard so that more mainboards can have more smallish internal ports with sufficient speed, which means much more lanes available. Even one PCI-E 4.0 lane should give 1100 MB/sec, correct?
 
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Jan 21, 2021
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It would be nice to see ~ $50 trimmed from the 2 TB variant's price, to be sure...; at the current MSRP, the MX500 would get my nod...

(It would also be nice for someone to make some faster SATA spec ports...SATA4, at 12 Gbps/~1100 MB/sec? Not needed for spinning drives, of course, but If not that, then Intel needs to push a cabled NVME replacement standard so that more mainboards...

It would be nice, even internal usb3.1 would suffice, but given how fast intel works...
I have to say my 860's real world speeds are way less than advertised and I'm not the only one
 

ph00ny

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Nov 17, 2020
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Good thing about samsung is that they participate in corporate discount programs making this lot cheaper for me
 

Sergei Tachenov

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Jan 22, 2021
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(It would also be nice for someone to make some faster SATA spec ports...SATA4, at 12 Gbps/~1100 MB/sec? Not needed for spinning drives, of course, but If not that, then Intel needs to push a cabled NVME replacement standard so that more mainboards can have more smallish internal ports with sufficient speed, which means much more lanes available. Even one PCI-E 4.0 lane should give 1100 MB/sec, correct?
What would be the point if we have NVMe? It may be a dumb question, but I'm really new to NVMe, and I see SATA as a legacy interface now. Sure thing, there are still rack servers with SATA around, but when talking purely about regular desktop rigs, why the need for SATA at all? I bought my 850 EVO solely because I have no NVMe at all, but for my new rig I plan to replace it with an NVMe one and forget my case even has 2.5"/3.5" mount points. Am I wrong somehow?
 

USAFRet

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What would be the point if we have NVMe? It may be a dumb question, but I'm really new to NVMe, and I see SATA as a legacy interface now. Sure thing, there are still rack servers with SATA around, but when talking purely about regular desktop rigs, why the need for SATA at all? I bought my 850 EVO solely because I have no NVMe at all, but for my new rig I plan to replace it with an NVMe one and forget my case even has 2.5"/3.5" mount points. Am I wrong somehow?
  • Not everything needs that "speed".
  • Some people have need for a lot of drive space. Only now are we seeing 2TB NVMe drives
  • Price. This goes along with size. Compared the price of a 2TB 860 EVO and 970 EVO?
  • Motherboard real estate. You can fit 6x SATA connections in the same space as a single 2280 M.2 drive
  • Lanes and resources on the motherboard.

There is absolutely nothing wrong if you want NVMe only on your next system.
There is also nothing wrong with having the choice of either.
 

Sergei Tachenov

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Jan 22, 2021
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Speed—right, I agree, but that was exactly my point. If you don't need more speed, then SATA 6 Gb/s is fine. If you do, why invent a new SATA standard when there's NVMe already?

Space—I think we'll get affordable 4 TB NVMe drives before anyone comes up with a fast SATA standard, not to mention before it becomes widespread enough.

Price—I'm seeing 2 TB drives of similar prices of the same brands... M.2 is only about 10% more expensive. But then again, if someone tries to save money, they certainly won't aim for a newer faster SATA, if there was such a thing.

Mobo real estate—now that's something I didn't think of. A reasonable argument. Same with lanes and resources. Perhaps better cooling as well.
 

Co BIY

Splendid
What would be the point if we have NVMe? It may be a dumb question, but I'm really new to NVMe, and I see SATA as a legacy interface now. Sure thing, there are still rack servers with SATA around, but when talking purely about regular desktop rigs, why the need for SATA at all? I bought my 850 EVO solely because I have no NVMe at all, but for my new rig I plan to replace it with an NVMe one and forget my case even has 2.5"/3.5" mount points. Am I wrong somehow?

For an enthusiasts I think you are right but thousands of OEM systems are still being sold with spinning hard drives.

I'm not sure that OEM motherboards all support NVME and then it may be for a single drive.

On Intel H410 Chipset boards usually only one m.2 slot is offered and sometimes none at all.

https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H410M-HDV/index.asp#Specification

A SATA SSD can give new life to an old computer when it replaces a spinning disk. It can take a marginal computer and make it more than adequate for many user's daily needs.
 

Sergei Tachenov

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Jan 22, 2021
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All of that is valid, but I was initially replying to the idea of developing a new, faster SATA standard. So we're not talking about any legacy hardware or any hardware being sold right now.
 
Mar 26, 2021
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I have bought that SSD, and I am disappointed.
It turns out that Samsung 870 EVO does not work correctly with ATI/AMD SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA controllers (AHCI mode). I installed this SSD in my ASUS K42DR laptop (it is connected directly to the motherboard, without any cables or adapters). I am aware that my laptop supports only SATA II standard, but the SSD is not even close to SATA II speed limits. Unfortunately, Samsung 870 EVO SSD shows very poor performance because of constant HDMA CRC errors (the value in SMART stats raised above 1500 in 3 days of device's operation). The problem is present on both Windows and Linux OS. I dug into the problem, and found out that the root cause may be connected with SATA NCQ malfunction (there are numerous queued READ/WRITE errors). There are lots of information on the Internet about the same issue with Samsung 860 EVO.
IMHO, the worst part is that there is no warning about that compatibility issue nor on Samsung site nor on device's package itself. Depending on the country, that issue may or may not be covered by Samsung limited warranty. Providing the issue has not been fixed on Samsung 860 EVO, there is no hope that they will fix it on 870 EVO either.
There are reports on the Internet about the same incompatibility issues with certain Intel chipsets, but I can't prove or disapprove these cases.
 
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Feb 22, 2023
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I have bought that SSD, and I am disappointed.
It turns out that Samsung 870 EVO does not work correctly with ATI/AMD SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA controllers (AHCI mode). I installed this SSD in my ASUS K42DR laptop (it is connected directly to the motherboard, without any cables or adapters). I am aware that my laptop supports only SATA II standard, but the SSD is not even close to SATA II speed limits. Unfortunately, Samsung 870 EVO SSD shows very poor performance because of constant HDMA CRC errors (the value in SMART stats raised above 1500 in 3 days of device's operation). The problem is present on both Windows and Linux OS. I dug into the problem, and found out that the root cause may be connected with SATA NCQ malfunction (there are numerous queued READ/WRITE errors). There are lots of information on the Internet about the same issue with Samsung 860 EVO.
IMHO, the worst part is that there is no warning about that compatibility issue nor on Samsung site nor on device's package itself. Depending on the country, that issue may or may not be covered by Samsung limited warranty. Providing the issue has not been fixed on Samsung 860 EVO, there is no hope that they will fix it on 870 EVO either.
There are reports on the Internet about the same incompatibility issues with certain Intel chipsets, but I can't prove or disapprove these cases.

I'm "happy" owner of Samsung 870 EVO as well. The read speed is a half of stated (only 283 MB/s). What is even more disappointing - the read speed is almost a half of my old SanDisk SSD (507 MB/s). What could be a reason? My notebook is HP 250 G6. SanDisk SSD is connected to M2 SATA port on the motherboard. Samsung 870EVO is connected to common SATA port installed instead of the second M2 SATA port (connected to the motherboard via a flat cable). By the way, the write speeds for both mentioned SSDs are approx. 250 MB/s. A half of rated write speed for Samsung 870EVO :(
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I'm "happy" owner of Samsung 870 EVO as well. The read speed is a half of stated (only 283 MB/s). What is even more disappointing - the read speed is almost a half of my old SanDisk SSD (507 MB/s). What could be a reason? My notebook is HP 250 G6. SanDisk SSD is connected to M2 SATA port on the motherboard. Samsung 870EVO is connected to common SATA port installed instead of the second M2 SATA port (connected to the motherboard via a flat cable). By the way, the write speeds for both mentioned SSDs are approx. 250 MB/s. A half of rated write speed for Samsung 870EVO :(
Please start a new thread for this particular situation.
Old editorial articles are not the best place to diagnose and fix your issue.
 
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