Samsung 840 Pro SSD tested and reviewed [Guru3D.com]

Hilbert Hagedoorn

In this article we test, benchmark and review the Samsung 840 Pro SSD. What a stunning piece of technology this is. An SSD that is extremely fast and actually amongst the handful of fastest storage un...

Samsung 840 Pro SSD tested and reviewed

Ven0m · 12-12-2012, 08:42 | posts: 1,035 | Location: Warsaw, Poland

Thanks for the review.
There are so many good SSDs to choose from - Vector, then Plextor, now 840 Pro. Too bad that these faster models are significantly more expensive than the regular ones.

Arbold · 12-12-2012, 11:25 | posts: 75 | Location: Germany

You should have included a bench of the Samsung 830 256gb.

warlord · 12-12-2012, 12:00 | posts: 344

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arbold

You should have included a bench of the Samsung 830 256gb.

why who cares it's old and slow in comparison with 840 pro, vector, corsair neutron and others...nobody will bother buying 830 anymore end of life...

Hilbert Hagedoorn · 12-12-2012, 12:02 | posts: 16,926 | Location: Guru3D testlab

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arbold

You should have included a bench of the Samsung 830 256gb.

Actually we asked, Samsung wasn't able to provide a 830.

warlord · 12-12-2012, 12:21 | posts: 344

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hilbert Hagedoorn

Actually we asked, Samsung wasn't able to provide a 830.

excuse me for questioning because i don't know

every time you bench you are using again the hardware and not taking results from previous reviews.?

telc · 12-12-2012, 14:51 | posts: 4

Picked one up earlier today....sweet

Anarion · *Last edited by Anarion; 12-12-2012 at 14:54.*

This page, first test: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages...w_test,10.html

840 Pro is missing from the graph (or named wrongly).

CronoGraal · 12-12-2012, 15:07 | posts: 3,421 | Location: Sweden

Quote:

Originally Posted by warlord

why who cares it's old and slow in comparison with 840 pro, vector, corsair neutron and others...nobody will bother buying 830 anymore end of life...

Because they'll be on sale now that the 840 is out? And the performance is probably comparable, not like it's a completely new ball game.

Hilbert Hagedoorn · 12-12-2012, 15:34 | posts: 16,926 | Location: Guru3D testlab

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anarion

This page, first test: ).

Thanks man, fixed.

makaveli316 · 12-12-2012, 20:18 | posts: 62 | Location: Freiburg, Germany

Quote:

Originally Posted by warlord

why who cares it's old and slow in comparison with 840 pro, vector, corsair neutron and others...nobody will bother buying 830 anymore end of life...

You won't even notice substantial difference in real world performance if you compare the 830's and the 840's.
And yes, a lot of people bothered buying 830, especially the 256gb which at the moment has ridiculous price.

LesserHellspawn · 12-12-2012, 20:20 | posts: 169

I'm on a 256GB 830. Yes the 840 pro is better, but the 830 still outruns the non-pro 840. The 830 series flew a bit under the radar, with very few reviewers looking at them. Yet in the few reviews that exist, it's a very strong performer. The one thing that made me choose Samsung over the more known ones was lack of failure. The 830 simply run, and so did the 470 before that. Nearly all other brands had notorious failure series, even Intel.

Mufflore · 12-12-2012, 20:40 | posts: 9,509 | Location: UK

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ven0m

Thanks for the review.
There are so many good SSDs to choose from - Vector, then Plextor, now 840 Pro. Too bad that these faster models are significantly more expensive than the regular ones.

I would avoid the Vector, it uses system memory as a cache, yet it doesnt beat the 840 Pro, that doesnt use system memory as a cache.
If your machine crashes, you may suffer data loss with the Vector.

With my current SSD (Vertex 2), I have not once had to run scandisk since I installed it, and I often make my machine crash through tweaking.
Prior to getting it, I have had tons of times I needed to run scandisk, and have hosed my OS a few times!
If I had a Vector, I might be in serious trouble.
Why risk it when you dont need to.

edit:
pls ignore the above, its rubbish.
I'm sure I read it somewhere...

Agent-A01 · 12-12-2012, 21:13 | posts: 5,621 | Location: USA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mufflore

I would avoid the Vector, it uses system memory as a cache, yet it doesnt beat the 840 Pro, that doesnt use system memory as a cache.
If your machine crashes, you may suffer data loss with the Vector.

No it doesnt. It has its own onboard memory of 512MB/1GB. The 840 Pro also uses 512MB for cache. They are no different in that regard. The only drives that do not use a dram cache is sandforce. You are not going to lose data because one has dram cache or not. Once the system writes to the nand, its not going to be unwritten if the system crashes.

Ive had my 2 256gb Vertex 4s in RAID 0 for afew months now and have had plenty of crashes when i was doing ram timings and cpu clocks. No data loss at all. Vertex 4 is indilinx 2 controller, vector is barefoot 4 controller which is based off of indilinx.

and wait for firmware updates. Itll get faster no doubt, just as the vertex 4 saw huge improvements from firmware. Dont forget all the drives that died from the first firmware for the 840 pro.

Mufflore · 12-12-2012, 21:29 | posts: 9,509 | Location: UK

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agent-A01

No it doesnt. It has its own onboard memory of 512MB/1GB. The 840 Pro also uses 512MB for cache. They are no different in that regard. The only drives that do not use a dram cache is sandforce. You are not going to lose data because one has dram cache or not. Once the system writes to the nand, its not going to be unwritten if the system crashes.

Not true
See this page
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages...ew_test,5.html

Quote:

In the photo above we zoom in a little at the DDR3 memory cache chip from Samsung.

They have onboard cache, there is no mention of system ram being used.

The Vector does use system ram as a cache, check some reviews!

edit:
hmm, its hard to clarify what it does actually use.
It has a DDR3 controller but it looks like it will have its own memory.
Not sure about this yet, soz for the exclamation.

edit2: yeah, I'm an idiot :blush:

slow_poke · 12-12-2012, 21:42 | posts: 11

Vertex 4 uses a Marvelle controller, they just like to call it indillix.

clawhamer · 12-12-2012, 21:45 | posts: 1,534 | Location: eastcoast.ca

Thanks for the review, excellent as always.

I’ve been running 128gb 840 pro for a few weeks now as my OS drive and although hard to measure it is noticeably more responsive then the M4 it replaced.

I’m picking up another 128gb to again replace the M4 which is a dedicated Steam drive.

No issues to report with the 840 pro, has worked flawlessly so far...

PhazeDelta1 · 12-12-2012, 22:07 | posts: 9,314 | Location: 90° N

Quote:

Originally Posted by slow_poke

Vertex 4 uses a Marvelle controller, they just like to call it indillix.

Lol GTFO. OCZ has never used Marvell for their controllers on any of their SSDs. Ever. They have always been Sandforce controllers up until they acquired Indilinx. Also, Indilinx and Marvell are 2 completely different companies and are in no way associated with one another.

-Tj- · 12-12-2012, 22:34 | posts: 2,395 | Location: Downtown ✈

^
No he is kinda right, its Indilix hw with marvell bits inside.. At least that's what i've read in one Vertex4 review.

PhazeDelta1 · 12-12-2012, 22:46 | posts: 9,314 | Location: 90° N

Indilix hardware with Intel and Micron parts.

Mufflore · 12-12-2012, 22:47 | posts: 9,509 | Location: UK

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agent-A01

No it doesnt. It has its own onboard memory of 512MB/1GB. The 840 Pro also uses 512MB for cache. They are no different in that regard. The only drives that do not use a dram cache is sandforce. You are not going to lose data because one has dram cache or not. Once the system writes to the nand, its not going to be unwritten if the system crashes.

Ive had my 2 256gb Vertex 4s in RAID 0 for afew months now and have had plenty of crashes when i was doing ram timings and cpu clocks. No data loss at all. Vertex 4 is indilinx 2 controller, vector is barefoot 4 controller which is based off of indilinx.

and wait for firmware updates. Itll get faster no doubt, just as the vertex 4 saw huge improvements from firmware. Dont forget all the drives that died from the first firmware for the 840 pro.

Soz to bring this up again, but there may still be an issue with the Vector.
I'm wondering if you know about this...

The Vector has its own DDR3 controller for caching, so could still lose data stored in the DDR3 on a power down unless the cache can be committed to the SSD in time, or it has a battery backup.
Do you know if there is any protection in place to prevent data loss?

Agent-A01 · 12-13-2012, 00:08 | posts: 5,621 | Location: USA

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhazeDelta1

Indilix hardware with Intel and Micron parts.

"Under the hood the drive is all new. Vector uses the first home-grown SSD controller by OCZ. Although the Octane and Vertex 4 SSDs both used OCZ Indilinx branded silicon, they were both based on Marvell IP - the controller architecture was licensed, not designed in house. Vector on the other hand uses OCZ's brand new Barefoot 3 controller, designed entirely in-house."

From anandtech review of vector. So yes, Vertex 4 used marvell

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mufflore

Soz to bring this up again, but there may still be an issue with the Vector.
I'm wondering if you know about this...

The Vector has its own DDR3 controller for caching, so could still lose data stored in the DDR3 on a power down unless the cache can be committed to the SSD in time, or it has a battery backup.
Do you know if there is any protection in place to prevent data loss?

Yes, some SSDs(mainly enterprise drives) incorporate large caps, aka supercaps(ocz) that are designed for data loss protection when power is lost. They keep the nand powered long enough for the dram controller to write the cache to them. They basically store power for a short time. I know the Vertex 4 uses supercaps but unsure about vector, wouldn't be surprised if it did as its based off of the indilinx in vertex 4. I can tell you for sure that neither the samsung 830 or the 840 have protection against data loss.

GPU · 12-13-2012, 00:16 | posts: 327 | Location: Canada

not sure why AS SSD showed the 840 pro with only a total score of 853 , when all the ones benched so far including mine will reach 1200 ish .
-853 is around what the non pro gets see second link.
-also in AS SSD the complete firmware only shows in the non pro that I have noticed ,the pro will show up like in the first link with the latest AS SSD.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/...o_ssd_review/9

PhazeDelta1 · 12-13-2012, 00:17 | posts: 9,314 | Location: 90° N

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agent-A01

"Under the hood the drive is all new. Vector uses the first home-grown SSD controller by OCZ. Although the Octane and Vertex 4 SSDs both used OCZ Indilinx branded silicon, they were both based on Marvell IP - the controller architecture was licensed, not designed in house. Vector on the other hand uses OCZ's brand new Barefoot 3 controller, designed entirely in-house."

From anandtech review of vector. So yes, Vertex 4 used marvell

I had a derp moment there. My bad. I believe I have gotten the 2 controllers mixed up.

steeda1974 · **AS SSD Score -** 12-13-2012, 05:26 | posts: 1 | Location: Boise, Idaho

AS SSD score is definitely low. I saw that score and it is incredibly low. I have a 840 pro 256gb in my laptop and I got a 1181 score, outside of that, everything looked normal. Something went terribly wrong with that benchmark. They should run that again on another system and make sure there is nothing wrong with that particular drive. I replaced my neutron gtx with an 840 pro and it scored considerably higher than the corsair drive but I also have nothing but praise for that drive as well. I actually get an extra 30 minutes of battery life with 840 pro vs the neutron gtx on a HP DV7-7000 series laptop with a 9 cell battery.