Samsung TurboWrite Adds Up To 3X Speed to 840 EVO SSDs – 2013 Samsung SSD Global Summit Update

With their introduction of the 840 Evo, Samsung has introduced a proprietary TurboWrite Technology which significantly increases the performance of the Samsung 840 Evo family, the top increases being seen in lower capacity SSDs.  As an example, where a Samsung 840 may have displayed write performance up to 140MB/s yesterday, the new EVO will increase to 410MB/s.  Similarly, the 250GB jumps from 270MB/s to 520MB/s.  TurboWrite Technology is a high performance buffer.

Samsung Turbo Write Performance

Much like that of SanDisk’s nCache, Samsung’s TurboWrite Technology dedicates a certain portion of NAND flash memory to simulate SLC memory, which in turn becomes a pure write buffer that caches all incoming writes.  The stored data subsequently completes its storage trip to the memory during idle time and, should the buffer become full prior to this, data is routed directly to the main memory as required.  The amount of memory dedicated to TurboWrite varies, depending on SSD capacity, the 840 EVO 1TB SSD having a massive 12GB TurboWrite buffer.

Samsung Turbo Write Buffer Size

The definite positive that we are seeing in TurboWrite is that fact that Samsung is able to provide hard numbers that tell us what it is capable of.  Too many times in the past we have heard of this or that caching solution where we were left more than a bit confused as we didn’t receive a definitive answer to what the caching solution actually provided and when.  Performance of Samsung 840 Evo is right there for us to see and the result of TurboWrite Technology.

840 EVO Picture

9 comments

  1. blank

    does it make by TLC? why not try MLC. Timesten can also do it. http://www.timesten.com.cn

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    How does this fit in with the RAPID new feature that will be included with Samsung Magician Ver. 4.2? It seems like maybe RAPIC is a Readyboost-like feature for the system to provide additional SSD support.

    Jim

    • blank

      Nope… TurboWrite is an immediate effect and results in the significant performance increase that is listed in specifications. This is far and above anything we have seen in TLC SSDs. RAPID is a DRAM caching system that caches from extra memory (maz 1GB) to provide significantly higher performance.

      IMO… ReadyBoost could never display adequate results to display a performance gain. The 840 EVO, through use of TurboWrite, instantly shows benchmark improvement from the 840.

  3. blank

    Does TurboWrite have to be “turned on” somehow. If so, how is that done?

    • blank

      No…Turbowrite is part and parcel of the new EVO and its performance is reflected in specs.

      • blank

        Thanks for the reply. I was wondering about the Turbowrite because my benchmark results in the Magician software have been kind of disappointing. The sequential results seem fine, but the random read and write numbers aren’t anything special at all. The random write number is discouragingly low. I’ve gone to some forums/message board here on the internet and also talked to Samsung on the phone about the situation. The Samsung person suggested that I update the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver. I did that, but it didn’t really help. Of course, I’ve used the Magician software, but it doesn’t help much either. Something is wrong with my EVO setup, but nobody can figure out what’s causing the problem.

      • blank

        Yes.

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    I have 4 samsung ssd 250gb evo in a Raid10: acting like one big drive (450gb). The speed is about 850 mb/s. I have a problem though, samsung magician cant recognize it and says no ssd is in the system. Therefore, I cant use trim or other speed enhancing. Is there anything I can do, any 3 rd party software that can install trim? Any ideas? Anyone?
    Thanks in advance
    Craig
    P.S. On my Rampage Blk edition bios, I have another bios which is RAPID (ctrl i) and that sets up the raid account

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