Samsung 840 Pro 128GB RAID 0 TRIM SSD Review Storage   Page 1

Reviewer: Jon Coulter Article Publish Date: 1/4/2013

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

 

 

A very short time ago we reviewed Samsung’s newest flagship the 840 Pro. The capacity we chose was 128GB because it had yet to be widely reviewed. Well, we’re back at it again and this time we’re serving up the 128GB 840 Pro in RAID 0 as only RWL can.

A single 128GB 840 Pro proved to be the fastest MLC based SATA III drive we’ve ever reviewed in any capacity. The caveats being we still haven’t reviewed the 256GB 840 Pro or the Vector 128GB. The only thing better than one of these performance monsters, is of course 2 of them in RAID 0.

What separated the Samsung 840 Pro 128GB from the rest of the pack was its performance with data on the drive. With data on the drive no other MLC Based drive we’ve tested had near the performance of our 840 Pro. This is what matters and the reason why reviews that don’t test a drives performance with data on the drive are in our opinion inherently flawed. Like we’ve said a million times; you don’t run your drives empty do you?

Samsung is the only company able to deliver a drive to the consumer that is completely manufactured in house. Samsung manufactures their own exclusive tri-core “MDX” controller and writes the firmware for it, giving Samsung total control over how and what aspect of performance to focus their resources on. Samsung is the world’s largest producer of NAND Flash Memory and DRAM which enables them to keep the largest cost components in house as well. All this puts Samsung in a unique position giving them the ability to produce the product for less than any other drive manufacturer without compromising quality.

So what’s under the hood? The new MDX controller sports three ARM Cortex R4 cores and the NAND Flash Memory utilized is Samsung’s new generation 21nm Toggle Mode 2.0 capable of 400MB/s per interface. DRAM Cache utilized is 256MB of Samsung’s own LPDDR2-1066 for our 128GB drives; 512MB is utilized in the larger drives.

Specifications look like this drive will have plenty of performance on tap so let’s see for ourselves if that’s what plays out on our bench. Here is what Samsung has to say about their newest flagship the 840 Pro:

 

Unrivaled Performance

Samsung’s SSD 840 PRO Series is a high-performance SSD, capable of delivering up to 100,000 IOPS Random Read Speed and 540MB/s Sequential Read Speed—an SSD of unrivaled high performance. Built with an advanced MDX controller, Samsung’s SSD delivers high speeds regardless of data type, unlike competing controllers that greatly favor compressible data.

Superior Reliability

As the world’s #1 DRAM, NAND Flash, and SSD supplier; Samsung SSDs are designed and built completely in-house. The Samsung SSD 840 Series is optimized for exceptional, sustained performance and unrivaled reliability through its specially-engineered wear-leveling and garbage collection algorithms backed by a generous 5-year limited warranty.

Performance Sustainability

The Samsung SSD 840 PRO Series provides the same excellent performance throughout its entire lifetime even under extremely heavy workloads. In fact, the sophisticated MDX controller is capable of maintaining peak performances under punishing conditions for more than twice as long the nearest competitor.

Business Friendly Features

The 840 SSD 840 PRO Series introduces three important hardware features for businesses: Worldwide Name (WWN), LED Indicator support, and AES 256-bit Full Disk Encryption (FDE). The first two features make it easier to integrate the 840 PRO SSD into server and storage systems while the AES Encryption helps safeguard data against attack. By encrypting all information on the disk at the hardware level, there is no detrimental effect on performance.

Plus, Samsung’s Magician software has been completely redesigned and includes several business-friendly features including Drive Health Status, Total Bytes Written (TBW), and Disk Scan & Error Reporting functionality. This allows IT managers to monitor drive health and plan hardware replacement cycles.

Well we already know a single drive can deliver everything Samsung claims it can so, let’s see what a pair of these babies can do. You might want to fasten your seat belt for this one.