Cord 182 Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 (edited) Samsung developed several new technologies for its 960 Pro NVMe SSD, and the end result is a massive 2TB M.2 product that tips the price scale at $1,300. Over the past two years, the Pro series has shifted from a product for enthusiasts and power users to more of a workstation-focused product. The shift stems from declining SSD prices fueled by entry-level pricing from Samsung’s competitors. The company’s own general-use EVO series, which has the highest market share of any SSD on the market, also plays a role in the declining costs. I'm writing this review on Sunday for publication at the NDA lift on the following Tuesday, so our time with the sample is short. Samsung sent the leading-edge review samples without its new custom NVME driver (the company dubbed it Driver 2.0) or the new Magician management software. Even if the driver arrives on Monday, we won't have time to retest the 960 Pro 2TB before Samsung lifts the NDA because our full test suite requires roughly 74 hours to complete. We will update the performance data when we receive the 960 Pro in other capacities. Our review uses the Samsung 950 Pro NVMe driver, which provides better performance than the Microsoft driver. The 950 Pro driver enables some of the custom NVMe hooks, but it most likely does not provide support for all of the 960’s new advanced features. There is also limited sample availability; we only have the 2TB model, which really doesn’t compete with anything on the market. Unfortunately, this combination of factors means we can't give you the full 960 story on our terms, or at least in one comprehensive article. Samsung had to utilize advanced packaging technology developed for single-package OEM products to pack a massive 2TB of 3D MLC NAND onto the single-sided 22 x 80mm M.2 PCB. Maintaining the single-sided design will cut down on returns that might stem from compatibility issues, and it also broadens the company's target selection in the OEM market. Some new M.2-powered notebooks require all of the components to be on one side of the SSD because the connector is a few millimeters closer to the motherboard. Double-sided M.2 SSDs aren’t an issue for desktop systems, or any of the PCIe adapters we've tested, but we do have a notebook that makes double-sided upgrades impossible. Samsung made space to fit four dual-plane 3D NAND packages on the PCB with its http://www.tomshardware.com/news/samsung-ssd-pop-m-2-pro,32754.html, which fuses the LPDDR3 DRAM onto the same package as the 8-channel Polaris controller. The dual-plane NAND allows the company to use all eight of the controller’s channels to provide increased performance. Samsung used a PoP design on some ofhttp://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/samsung-750-evo-ssd,4467.html and later in the PM971, which actually pairs the controller, DRAM, and NAND together in a single chip. Samsung also uses PoP technology in some smartphone designs. To reach 2TB with just four packages, Samsung pulled a trick play we've seen before that always results in a touchdown. Samsung stacked sixteen 256Gb dies in each package to reach the hefty 2TB capacity point. Stacking NAND is common, but it’s expensive and complicated to build up to 16 layers, and it can also reduce performance. The company employs a custom F-chip to improve impedance with high die stacks, thus circumventing the performance challenges. Samsung’s advanced stacking first appeared in the 850 EVO 1TB mSATA SSD, but it is still amazing nonetheless. Edited March 15, 2017 by Cord Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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