Product Listing

Samsung SSD 840 Pro (256GB) - Here Comes Big Daddy

By Kenny Yeo - 27 Mar 2013
Launch SRP: S$399

Conclusion

Fast but Inconsistent

As we’ve mentioned earlier, Samsung is in a unique position because they are one of the few SSD manufacturers who have complete control over all components of their drives - memory, controller and firmware. In theory, this would give them better control over the quality of their components and result in faster, better performing drives.

In our testing, we found the Samsung SSD 840 Pro to be a fast, but inconsistent drive. Performance on AS SSD and CrystalDiskMark was very good and easily ranks amongst the best, and its Iometer results were the best we’ve seen from any drive yet. Unfortunately, its scores on PCMark 7 was underwhelming and it had difficulties running PCMark Vantage and HD Tune Pro properly, which hints at possible compatibility issues with older programs. Hopefully these issues can be ironed out in the near future by way of firmware updates from Samsung.

Speaking of firmware, there were reports of early Samsung SSD 840 Pro failing and this was traced to a firmware issue. The cause of this problem is the pre-production firmware (DXM02B0Q) that these drives have. Retail drives should have the newer firmware (DXM03B0Q) that solves this problem.

Additionally, much like the OCZ Vector and its brand new Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller, longterm reliability of the Samsung SSD 840 Pro is still unclear given the drive and its MDX controller is still relatively new.

 When it works, the Samsung SSD 840 Pro is blisteringly fast, but it is somewhat inconsistent in its performance.

As for price, the 256GB variant that we have reviewed comes in at S$399 - the same as the OCZ Vector and quite a bit more than the other drives such as the Corsair Neutron GTX and Intel SSD 520 Series. Compared to the most affordable drive in this review, the SanDisk Extreme, the Samsung costs a whopping S$140 more. Furthermore, the Samsung SSD 840 Pro comes with no accessories, which means users without the right chassis will have to source for their own 2.5-inch bracket for installation.

To sum up, the Samsung SSD 840 Pro is a promising drive that has the potential to offer loads of performance. On benchmarks that it did manage to run properly, it was marginally quicker than even the Corsair Neutron GTX, and its results on Iometer were simply astounding. Unfortunately, it wasn’t able to back up its blistering performance with consistency, as evidenced by its scores on PCMark 7, PCMark Vantage and HD Tune Pro. Drives such as the Corsair Neutron GTX and the rest of the SandForce drives (Intel, Transcend and SanDisk) were more consistent.

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8.0
  • Performance 8.5
  • Features 7.5
  • Value 6.5
The Good
Blistering performance on AS SSD, CrystalDiskMark and Iometer
Intuitive and useful Samsung Magician control panel
Completely in-house developed (memory, controller and firmware)
The Bad
Inconsistent performance
No accessories such as installation bracket
Commands considerable premium over other high-end SSDs
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