The new Samsung 870 QVO is the first desktop/laptop-focused Solid State Drive (SSD) from the brand that is available in capacities up 8TB.
The 2.5-inch SATA SSD will be compatible with desktop PCs / workstations and older generation pro-laptops, but not the newer ones which have now standardised on the smaller M.2 form factor.
8TB is a colossal capacity for an SSD, twice that of Samsung’s previous generation 860 QVO and the still current 860 Pro. It means the 870 QVO is now standing shoulder to shoulder with Hard Disk Drives (HDDs).
Seagate’s popular Barracuda HDDs, for example, go up to 5TB and 8TB respectively in their 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch form factors, although their price per GB is still much lower. The 8TB Samsung 870 QVO costs £663+VAT, more than four times as much as an 8TB Seagate Barracuda (£149 + VAT).
But the Samsung 870 QVO wins hands down when it comes to performance, offering much better random read/write performance and sequential read/write speeds of up to 560MB/s and 530MB/s.
This doesn’t come anywhere near a PCIe NVMe SSD like the Samsung 970 EVO, which goes up to 3,500MB/s and 2,500MB/s, and PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSDs like the Corsair MP600 go even faster (4,950MB/sec / 4,250MB/sec).
However, the smaller form factor M.2 SSDs are typically only available in capacities of up to 2TB, and faster sequential read / write speeds won’t benefit all workflows.
For product development, architecture, engineering and construction, the Samsung 870 QVO is likely to appeal to users of design viz, simulation and point cloud processing software, all of which commonly use large datasets.
However, as it is essentially a consumer SSD, it doesn’t offer the same endurance as a professional SSD. The 4TB Samsung Pro 860, for example, is rated at 4,800 terabytes written (TBW), nearly four times more than a 4TB Samsung 870 QVO (1,440 TBW).
This is an important consideration if you’re planning on using the drive to temporarily store huge amounts of data for processing point clouds or FEA / CFD simulations. But as an asset or archive drive, it is far less important.
The Samsung 870 QVO is available in four capacities – 1TB (£93), 2TB (£185), 4TB (£366) and 8TB (£633) and comes with a three year limited warranty. All prices EX VAT.
