14 DAY TRIAL // A few years ago, when SSDs made their debut on the market, they were quite expensive devices with low capacity. Samsung was one of the first pioneers of the field, although its first products were quite disregarded in the US and Europe, in the beginning.
Things started getting better for Samsung with the advent of the 830 series of SSDs, a few years ago.
And today, Samsung is launching its latest addition to the field, in the form of the 850 PRO SSD lineup, which arrives equipped with the company’s three-dimensional (3D) vertical NAND (V-NAND) flash memory tech.
The new 850 PRO is targeted at high-end PCs and workstations and will be made available across the globe in 53 markets starting this month.
It was already a known fact that Samsung was working on a type of NAND technology, distinct from what can be found in most conventional flash memory.
V-NAND uses a proprietary vertical cell structure in order to overcome the density limit of the planar NAND architecture. The system involves moving to a 3D vertical stacking cylindrical cell arrangement with up to 32 layers, allowing for more density.
Unlike with NAND, the “charge pump device” (CPD) has been removed and replaced by a Charge Trap Flash (CTF). The CPD works by storing the charge in a semiconductor, but imperfection in the material can cause electron leak, which reduces overall NAND resistance.
Comparatively, CTF stores the charge in an isolating layer, so leakage problems are no longer an issue. As an extra bonus, the system also requires a lot less voltage to store the charge.
Samsung says the 850 PRO will take you by storm, in terms of speeds, as it is offering the highest level of performance among SSDs using SATA III (6GB/s) interface.
The sequential read performance is expected to reach up to 550 megabytes per second (MB/s) with writing performance reaching up to 520MB/s.
Judging by the reviews posted online, detailing the 850 Pro, so far, it appears Samsung is correct in making such bold statements. According to some reviewers, Samsung is pushing the limits of the SATA interface with the new 850 Pro SSD.
The Samsung 850 Pro range of SSDs is available in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB capacities. The smallest in the bunch will take you back with $130 / €95 while the spacious 1TB option will sell for $699 / €513. The 256GB version will sell for $199 / €146 and 512GB is available $399 / €293.