Samsung 860 QVO SSD Review (1TB/2TB) – Every Little Bit Counts

PCMARK VANTAGE X64 HDD SUITE

The SSD Review uses benchmark software called PCMark Vantage x64 HDD Suite to create testing scenarios that might be used in the typical user experience. There are eight tests in all and the tests performed to record the speed of data movement in MB/s to which they are then given a numerical score after all of the tests are complete. The simulations are as follows:

• Windows Defender In Use
• Streaming Data from storage in games such as Alan Wake which allows for massive worlds and riveting non-stop action
• Importing digital photos into Windows Photo Gallery
• Starting the Vista Operating System
• Home Video editing with Movie Maker which can be very time consuming
• Media Center which can handle video recording, time shifting and streaming from Windows media center to an extender such as XBox
• Cataloging a music library
• Starting applications

SAMSUNG 860 QVO SATA 3 SSD RESULTS

Total Score PCMark Vantage results were 86797 points for the 2TB QVO and 84921 for the 1TB version.  Both capacities had write speeds of over 400MB/s in 5 of the 8 tests which is amazing for any 4-bit mlc SATA 3 SSD.  

 PCMARK 8 STORAGE 2.0

The SSD Review uses PCMark 8’s Storage test suite to create testing scenarios that might be used in the typical user experience. With 10 traces recorded from Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office and a selection of popular games, it covers some of the most popular light to heavy workloads. Unlike synthetic storage tests, the PCMark 8 Storage benchmark highlights real-world performance differences between storage devices. After an initial break-in cycle and three rounds of the testing, we are given a file score and bandwidth amount. The higher the score/bandwidth, the better the drive performs.

We found the Storage 2.0 result to be low but that can be expected from a new 4-bit mlc SSD.  With the same Samsung MJX controller, the 860 Pro pulled off 383MB/s transfer speed and the 860 EVO reached 292MB/s.

TxBENCH

TxBench is one of our newly discovered benchmarks that we works much the same as Crystal Diskmark, but with several other features.  Advanced load benchmarking can be configured, as well as full drive information and data erasing via secure erase, enhanced secure erase, TRIM and overwriting.  Simply click on the title for a free copy.

REAL WORLD FILE TRANSFER

For our Real World File Transfer Comparison, we have included the Samsung 860 Pro 4TB 2.5″ SSD, Samsung 860 Evo M.2 2TB SSD, and the Intel SSD5 545s, in our testing with the Samsung 2TB 860 EVO M.2, SATA 3 SSD.  We have only tested with the 2TB version of our 860 QVO and, in testing, we have tested with Turbowrite enabled, and also, to a point where the drive is filled such that Turbowrite is not working. This test is conducted through the transfer of data from one spot on the test drive to another to give us the truest of transfer speed results for that device.

Right off the bat, we were impressed that the Samsung 860 QVO returned the best results ‘when TurboWrite was active in all transfers‘.  The difficulty with this, of course, was that we had to literally reformat the drive after each individual transfer to ensure that there was enough room in TurboWrite to guarantee the speed.  The last chart displays the speed with simply filling the drive as we would any other, causing TurboWrite to fail as its additional buffer was full.  So… let’s understand Intelligent TurboWrite just a bit.