random write showed similar performance between all tested drives. Here, the 1TB Samsung 870 EVO peaked at 63,269 IOPS with 2,022µs, while the 4TB model showed a peak at 63,542 IOPS at 2,012µs. The 4TB Samsung SSD 870 EVO is ratedat 2,400TBW with a five-year warranty (whichever happens first, the warranty end or the write limit), which is right within standard expectations for SATA-based TLC drives these days at that capacity. TBW scales with capacity, as you can see in the chart above.

It has been quite some time, but Samsung has finally released the next iteration of the company’s highly popular 2.5-inch SATA SSD line, the Samsung 870 EVO. This drive leverages Samsung’s 3D V-NAND, features the company’s newest MKX controller, and is available in the same capacity points as the last-gen model (250GB to 4TB). Samsung states that the new 870 EVO boasts sequential read and write speeds up to 560MB/s and 530MB/s, respectively, while random performance is expected to hit up to 98,000 IOPS read and 88,000 IOPS writes, though it didn’t quite reach those levels in our tests. Random Read (4 KB, QD32) Up to 98,000 IOPS Random Read * Performance may vary based on system hardware & configuration ** Measured with Intelligent TurboWrite technology being activatedAs for the PCMark 10 Copy Tests tab (the last tab in the chart above), those numbers tie in with the next test set... Speed and Copy Tests While there aren't a ton of innovations on offer with Samsung's SSD 870 EVO, the incremental improvements that Samsung has made both to its flash technology and its controllers looks to have translated into some decent gains for the drive's 4K random read and write performance. Switching over to sequential performance, the 1TB Samsung 870 EVO drive peaked at 7,705 IOPS or 480MB/s with a latency of 2,070µs in reads while the 4TB model hit 486MB/s and 2,043µs in reads for top spot. Sequential Write Up to 530 MB/s Sequential Write * Performance may vary based on system hardware & configuration ** Measured with Intelligent TurboWrite technology being activated

Looking inside the cases, it’s interesting to see how small the drives have become. While the 2.5″ SATA case is a bit overkill for these drive innards, the compact nature of these next-generation drives is more towards how they get leveraged in small external devices. Not a lot is needed to hit the capacity requirements. Samsung 870 EVO PerformanceIn each of these tests, the Samsung SSD 870 EVO proved itself not only as a leader among SATA drives, but also a regular competitor with both PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0-based NVMe M.2 drives. While both of those standards are great for what they do (hitting all-time sequential throughput records), their added bandwidth doesn't always translate to better 4K random read and write scores, which is what a large percentage of SSD buyers in this category tend to care about most. Truth be told, there aren't that many new SATA SSDs on the market. To put this into perspective, the most recent SATA competitor we reviewed, the SK hynix's Gold S31, was launched in 2019. Sequential Read Up to 560 MB/s Sequential Read * Performance may vary based on system hardware & configuration In that quest, the Samsung SSD 870 EVO succeeds handily, setting new records for SATA while also keeping the drive just about competitive with M.2 drives when launching games or Adobe Photoshop. If you're married to SATA pricing (or your PC can't handle anything else) but want to optimize 4K performance, the Samsung SSD 870 EVO is the best new SATA drive of the early days of 2021. It should be at the top of anyone's list who wants the best combination of performance, product quality, and price in a 2.5-incher. First up is random 4K read, where the 1TB Samsung 870 EVO 74,587 IOPS at 1,715µs in latency, while the 4TB model had slightly better results with a peak of 75,310 IOPS at 1,695µs in latency. Their predecessor, the Samsung 860 EVO, wasn’t far behind.