The Samsung 850 EVO 4TB SSD Review
by Billy Tallis on July 11, 2016 10:00 AM ESTRandom Read Performance
The random read test requests 4kB blocks and tests queue depths ranging from 1 to 32. The queue depth is doubled every three minutes, for a total test duration of 18 minutes. The test spans the entire drive, which is filled before the test starts. The primary score we report is an average of performances at queue depths 1, 2 and 4, as client usage typically consists mostly of low queue depth operations.
Random read performance of the 4TB 850 EVO is substantially better than the 1TB and 2TB 850 EVOs, but still not quite as fast as the best MLC drives or the 500GB and 250GB 850 EVOs.
The power consumption of the 4TB 850 EVO is slightly higher than the 2TB model, but overall the efficiency is improved over the smaller drive with the same controller but older NAND.
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The scaling behavior of the 4TB 850 EVO is almost identical to the 2TB model, just with slightly higher performance and power consumption across the board.
Random Write Performance
The random write test writes 4kB blocks and tests queue depths ranging from 1 to 32. The queue depth is doubled every three minutes, for a total test duration of 18 minutes. The test is limited to a 16GB portion of the drive, and the drive is empty save for the 16GB test file. The primary score we report is an average of performances at queue depths 1, 2 and 4, as client usage typically consists mostly of low queue depth operations.
Random write speed for the 4TB 850 EVO is a little bit slower than for the 1TB and 2TB models, but still fast enough to beat almost all non-Samsung drives.
Power consumption of the 4TB 850 EVO is substantially better than the 1TB and 2TB counterparts, making it one of the most efficient large drives. The 750GB Crucial MX300 was still much more efficient.
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The lower performance score for the 4TB was apparently due to a regression in QD4 performance, where the 1TB and 2TB models were able to reach full speed but the 4TB needs a larger queue.
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Adm_SkyWalker - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
At CES Mushkin said they were planning on releasing a 4TB SSD by the end of the year. They are targeting a $500 price point. Unless they scrapped it, this could be a cheaper option before the end of the year.http://techreport.com/news/29583/mushkin-previews-...
http://techreport.com/news/29583/mushkin-previews-...
Kristian Vättö - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
It was a misinterpretation. The $500 price point was for the 2TB drive, with the price of the 4TB being unannounced (likely a double at least).http://www.anandtech.com/comments/9986/ces-2016-ro...
Adm_SkyWalker - Tuesday, July 12, 2016 - link
I should of figured it was to good to be true. Still a competing $1000 drive could convince Samsung to lower their price. Assuming the speed is comparable between the two.aggiechase37 - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
Way WAY WAAAAYYY too expensive. For this price you could get piece together a RAID configuration out of regular HDD and get a decent amount of the same performance AND the added bonus of having redundancy in the case of a drive failure. Can't see who purchases this.Chloiber - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
Not sure why anyone would want to buy this when you can get a 4TB Samsung P863 Enterprise SSD for 300$ more...Taracta - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
Isn't the 25% over-provisioning getting a bit much for these larger SSDs? Does a 4TB SSD really need 1TB over-provisioning to max-out relative performance? Would 10% be enough for these large drives?Billy Tallis - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
That is something I've wondered about and will probably look in to eventually, but it would be pretty time consuming to test and isn't something I can see adding to the routine suite of benchmarks.Impulses - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
Something to ask Samsung tho?Taracta - Thursday, July 14, 2016 - link
Thanks for your reply. I believe that you should just test this 4TB SSD for now to see the impact and another couple of different ~4TB SSDs when available to compare with these results. Forget about the lesser drives, too many and too late.ACE76 - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
hopefully we see more manufacturers release 4tb and greater SSDs...these drives will end the need for platter based hard drives for good...price is too high right now but it should come down over the next 6 months to a year.