Samsung announces 950 PRO V-NAND NVMe M.2 SSD, 512GB 2.5 GB/s version arrives in October, 1TB next year

Posted by Paul Braren on Sep 22 2015 (updated on Oct 29 2015) in
  • Storage
  • Virtualization
  • HomeServer
  • HomeLab

    • Oct 22 2015 Update - now available for pre-order on Amazon, in 256 and 512 GB sizes, at amzn.to/1MGvfVW. Expected to ship on October 29th, mine is expected to arrive on October 30th! Updates below.

    If you've followed TinkerTry for a while, you'll know that I'm kind of a speed freak. I strive to squeeze every last bit of performance out of my careful investments. I tinker with settings to get the best speeds because I enjoy being productive and creating content, without having to wait for my system to catch up. I save my pennies for years, shop very carefully, then I pounce. This is the year everything is coming together, with more surprises in store coming up into early October. Stay tuned!

    Samsung850PRO_700
    It's the same device pictured above this article, minus the sticker.

    The long wait for NVMe solutions appears to be nearing an end soon. $200 for 256 GB, and $350 for the faster 512GB. See also my "April '15 NVMe yearnings" here and here.

    superserver-system-block-diagram-circled-m2
    Click to zoom.

    What is NVMe? Non Volatile Memory express.

    All the right pieces are in now place. NVMe support is built in to my hypervisor, VMware's ESXi 6.0. Four lanes of PCIe 3.0 is connected to my Supermicro 5028D-TN4T X10SDV-TLN4F motherboard's M.2 2280 slot, confirmed by Supermicro Support:

    The 4 PCIE 3.0 lanes assigned to the M.2 slots are dedicated according to the block diagram. Please note we have a new BIOS release, R1.0b (build date 09/09/2015) which supports bootable PCI-E M.2s. You can download that from our product webpage.

    M.2 storage is the last piece missing from my Supermicro-based 5028D-TN4T SuperServer Workstation, and it sure sounds like it'll be worth the wait. I may know as soon as next month, or I may wind up waiting for early next year's 1TB model, once they've switched to V-NAND.

    This is shaping up to be an exciting week, with further tests of my temporary SuperServer cluster coming up this week, hopefully my long-time dream, a proper home vSAN! I may even get my hands on a loaned Intel 750 PCIe NVMe too, woo hoo!

    NVMeStack

    Source: Intel

    Samsung Sep 22 2015 Press Release

    So here we go, tantalizing excerpts from today's press release out of Seoul, Korea:

    First NVMe M.2 Form Factor Consumer SSD with V-NAND Technology Boosts Performance for High-End PCs and Workstations

    Featuring the PCIe Gen.3 x4 interface and supporting the NVMe protocol, the Samsung 950 PRO offers improved random and sequential performance over Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) interface drives utilizing the legacy Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) protocol. Users of applications that benefit from high input/output operations per second (IOPS) will experience up to four times faster performance than with traditional SATA SSDs.

    The 950 PRO will be available in 512 gigabyte (GB) and 256GB storage capacities. The 512GB version delivers sequential read/write speeds of up to 2,500 MB/s and 1,500 MB/s. Random read performance is up to 300,000 IOPS, with write speeds of up to 110,000 IOPS. It features Samsung’s second generation MLC V-NAND 32-layer 128Gb die with UBX controller and magician software.

    Both capacities come with a 5-year limited warranty up to 200 terabytes written (TBW) for the 256GB and 400TBW for the 512GB. The 950 PRO will be available beginning in October 2015, with an MSRP of $199.99 for the 256GB capacity and $349.99 for the 512GB capacity.

    Sep 25 2015 Update

    Oct 22 2015

    Now available for pre-order on Amazon, in 256GB & 512GB sizes, at amzn.to/1MGvfVW. Expected to ship on October 29th, mine is expected to arrive on October 30th!

    Oct 29 2015

    Fun video discussion from PC Perspective is now available, with some compare and contrast with the Intel 750 Series NVMe. Here's an excerpt, Ryan:

    So the 8 series, 800s, 40s, 50s, that's all old crap, that's garbage...new hotness, SSD 950.

    PC Perspective Podcast #373 - Samsung 950 Pro, ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q, Steam Link and more! Jump to 05:19 for the 950 discussion.

    See also at TinkerTry

    See also

    TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here, not my employer's.

    Paul Braren, MCSE in 1998, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014 to 2024, Veeam Vanguard Emeritus, 2015 to 2019.

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    After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop selling them in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. So far, Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh looking a little better for 2024. More cores, but still just PCIe Gen4 and DDR4. Looking ahead, I'm glad it's Pat Gelsinger at Intel's helm. I'm also grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when Pat was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing.

    Easily update VMware ESXi at TinkerTry.com/easy-update-to-latest-esxi