Samsung SSD 870 EVO, 4 TB, Form Factor 2.5 Inch, Intelligent Turbo Write, Magician 6 Software, Black

Product Information

The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. The drive also loses slightly to the Samsung 870 QVO in our AS-SSD copy tests, though not by enough to be perceptible to most users in real-world use. While EVO drives are more expensive than QVO, it’s the new QVO line of SSDs that wins in terms of storage capacity.

Samsung 870 EVO 4TB MZ-77E4T0B UserBenchmark: Samsung 870 EVO 4TB MZ-77E4T0B

Enjoying this masterpiece SSD is as convenient as plugging in the 870 EVO into a SATA slot and letting the renewed migration software take care of the rest. Samsung’s own LPDDR4 DRAM resides next to the controller, measuring 1GB on our 1TB sample and 4GB on our 4TB sample. The numbers we saw out of the overall PCMark 10 score are quite promising, putting this SATA drive in the same leagues as M.Samsung has led the pack for a while now, so to many, whichever drive is newest may seem like the default option. Note that the 4TB version of the drive we reviewed is at the top of the charts; we also received a 1TB sample of the SSD 870 EVO and tested that too, with the results just below the 4TB. For comparison, the Samsung 970 EVO NVMe SSD on the same bench ran almost double this temperature under regular use. Like the company’s previous flash, it is still dual-plane, but due to sub-planes, the die supports very fast performance on par with or exceeding that of most competitors.

870 EVO SATA SSD | Samsung Semiconductor Global Samsung 870 EVO SATA SSD | Samsung Semiconductor Global

In addition to a reliable and robust physical device, the drive comes with Samsung Magician 6 software. The average user may not easily notice a difference between the three Samsung drive types (Pro, QVO, EVO). The software features an elegant design that helps to demystify some of the more complex storage-management tasks, such as using Secure Erase or defragmenting the drive. 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.

Each model has a varying DRAM cache level based on capacity, with the top 4TB model offering 4GB of LPDDR4. After that is a game-launching test set, which simulates how quickly a drive can read shallow-depth small random 4K packages; 4K is one of the more commonly used file-block sizes for game installations, though that composition does depend on the title you're playing. Drive endurance is rated at 2400TBW for the 4TB model in house, while the 2TB model comes in at 1200TBE and the 1TB at 600TBW. It offers much higher storage density, but it’s not practical in consumer builds due to higher costs and power requirements.

SAMSUNG 870 EVO 4TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ

All product images shown are for illustration purposes only and may not be an exact representation of the product. Triple-level cell (TLC) NAND offers a higher storage density than the previous two, but it also tends to have worse performance and longevity. The EVO, as Samsung describes, is the "culmination of their SATA SSD lineup," offering consumers a mix of performance, reliability, and compatibility for legacy machines and even NAS platforms. PCMag is obsessed with culture and tech, offering smart, spirited coverage of the products and innovations that shape our connected lives and the digital trends that keep us talking.

It doesn't make the SSD any faster, and the limits of the hardware are still the limits, but it's a clever trick that could make a difference in your system. However, when the SN550 is both faster and cheaper than the 870 Evo, it makes little sense to opt for the latter unless you really can't help it, such as your motherboard either doesn't support NVMe drives, or you've run out of M. I've been using Samsung SSDs for many years and have never once been let down or disappointed in any way. 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.