Samsung 840 Series 120GB Solid State Drive Review

Final Thoughts
For those who were thinking the 840 Series was a true successor to the 830 Series it really is not, that would be the 840 Pro, which features MLC NAND over the TLC that is in the normal 840 drive. Of course this drive costs about twice as much too. The TLC NAND is the culprit for the slower write speeds and the lower and capacity you go the slower the writes get. Why do you think there is not a 64GB drive in this series?

At the heart of the 840 Series is Samsung’s own MDX controller. This controller is proven itself to be one of the best controllers out there right now. Looking at the read tests, especially the HD Tune read benchmark we can see how fluid the transfer rates are. With many other drives we see transfer speeds jump around quite a bit. This means when you are reading or writing data from the drive it is going to stay right around the same transfer rate. This controller also does not have the shortcomings of SandForce controllers that cannot handle incompressible data.

Of course since the controller as well as everything else inside of the drive is made by Samsung. That is a good thing as if there ever is a problem Samsung can quickly fix it and release firmware. If they were using a 3rd party controller or even someone else’s NAND they would have to consult with them, see what the problem is and then issues a new firmware update.

So I say again the only real downside to this drive is the slow write speeds. Consider this, most normal SATA drives operate with a sustained write speed of 80-90MB/s. So the fact that this drive can write at a maximum of 130MB/s is not really saying much. You will get improved write speeds as you move up in capacity, but of course that will cost you more money. Right now the 120GB version of the 840 Series is $109.99 at my favorite online retailer, which makes it one of the most inexpensive 120GB solid state drives available. If write speeds are not that important to you than this is a pretty solid drive.

Overall ThinkComputers gives the Samsung 840 Series 120GB Solid State Drive an 8 out of 10 score.

rating8 10 small

Pros:
– Fluid transfer rates thanks to the MDX controller
– Price
– Magician software is actually very useful
– 7mm thin

Cons:
– Very slow write speeds

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