Samsung unveils its third-generation solid-state drives, the Samsung 970 EVO and PRO, which are built for both professionals and enthusiasts.
The Samsung 970 Series Is For Heavy Duty Work
The Samsung 970 series has a compact M.2 form factor using the PCIe Gen 3x4 lane interface standard. By allowing a higher bandwidth, the new NVMe SSDs can deliver optimum performance. This is especially useful for those who play high-end video games or those who work on 3D rendering and 4K videos.
"Samsung has led the NVMe SSD industry since its inception, and the company continues to define the latest standards of consumer storage with unprecedented performance of the 970 EVO and PRO SSDs," said Un-Soo Kim, Brand Product Marketing senior vice president at Samsung Electronics.
Kim further described the new generation as having groundbreaking performance and best-in-class capacity, setting a new bar for the NVMe SSD market.
According to Samsung, both the 970 EVO and PRO peak at 3,500 MB/s sequential read speed. As for the write speed, the PRO has up to 2,700 MB/s sequential write speed, which is faster than EVO's 2,500 MB/s. The write speeds have increased up to 32 percent and 29 percent, respectively, from the Samsung 960 EVO and PRO SSDs.
The new generation utilizes a new Phoenix controller and Samsung's latest 64-layer V-NAND technology. The 970 EVO also employs a TurboWrite technology that enables faster write speeds through the use of a buffer size of 13 GB to 78 GB, depending on the capacity.
Samsung 970 EVO and PRO Are Built To Last
Both models support up to 1,200 TB of written data, which is 50 percent more than the preceding generation. However, PRO's 2-bit MLC flash memory allows it to support double the bytes in the same capacity. For instance, the PRO's 1 TB model has a warranty for 1,200 TB written data, whereas EVO's 1 TB model only has a warranty of 600 GB.
Nonetheless, all models have a five-year warranty. Samsung's new generation of SSDs also implements new technologies to guard the internal against heat and maintain optimal temperatures.
The Samsung 970 EVO and PRO will be available on May 7, with prices starting at $120 and $330, respectively. The PRO will come in 512 GB with capacities of 1 TB ($630) while the EVO comes in 250 GB drive with capacities of 500 GB ($230), 1 TB ($450), and 2 TB ($850).
Users who want to use the new Samsung 970 EVO and PRO SSDs or other M.2 drives must have an M.2 slot or a PCIe adapter.
