Samsung 970 EVO Plus fastest PCIe NVMe SSD

Samsung 970 EVO Plus
9.5

The Samsung 970 EVO Plus PCIe NMVe M.2 SSD has broken its previous speed and IOPS records with 3500/3300 sequential read/write and 620,000/560,000 random read/write IOPS.

The Samsung 970 EVO Plus (website here) is for computing devices that support M.2 (2280 cards) and have PCIe Gen 3.0 x4 lanes and NVMe 1.3 (or later). It is available in Australia in 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacity.

Samsung 970 EVO Plus

Speed and capacity come from using its new fifth-generation Samsung 9x-layer V-NAND 3-bit MLC. This enables up to 57% in write speed – as well as increased power efficiency over its predecessor, the 970 EVO.

In speed tests using Crystal Disk Mark it and the incredible Intel Hades Canyon NUC with dual M.2 slots for SATA 600 or PCIe NVMe SSDs we beat Samsung’s claims. It achieves 3536.2/3322.6 sequential read. The Phoenix controller is for outright speed where other SSDs may focus on large file transfers etc.

Samsung 970 EVO Plus

To better manage any heat issues the EVO 970 Plus uses a nickel-coated controller and heat spreader. A Dynamic Thermal Guard automatically monitors and maintains optimal operating temperatures to minimise performance.

Samsung 970 EVO Plus Australian price Price per GB Five-year wty or TBW (TB)
MZ-V7S2T0BW (2TB) $769 38.45 cents 1200
MZ-V7S1T0BW (1TB) $385 38.5 cents 600
MZ-V7S500BW (500GB) $199 39.8 cents 300
MZ-V7S250BW (250GB) $139 55.6 cents 150

As this is a new product, there are no online deals yet. The 970 EVO (not Plus) may be better value and offers 3200/2500MBps sequential read/write and 500,000/480,000 IOPS random read/write.

Management and cloning Software

A new version of Samsung Magician 5.3 software (Windows only) has a range of new management features. It is for firmware updates, performance benchmarking, drive health and total bytes written check, secure erase, data security/encryption and can implement a rapid mode.

Samsung 970 EVO Plus

You can find it and other tools here.  

Clean setup of Windows 10 – the preferred method

You can read GadgetGuy’s guide to a clean install of Windows 10 here. It may give you the courage to DIY.

GadgetGuy’s take: Samsung 970 EVO Plus

If you are a speed demon, then this is the one to get. Samsung design and make every component to ensure it is class leading.

It is single-sided, so will fit all M.2 slots (cheaper double-sided don’t always fit) and in our tests it remained the coolest of all due to its copper foil heatsink – you should not experience thermal throttling issues. It also uses what is probably the most advanced 90x VNAND on the planet.

Features
9.5
Value for money
9.5
Performance
9.5
Ease of Use
9.5
Design
9.5
Positives
Samsung designed and made for maximum speed and reliability
5-year warranty
Integrated heatsink to reduce any poissible throttling issues
Negatives
9.5