Samsung 860 EVO Review

Brady Meyers Avatar

Written by:

Updated 11:23 pm

Expert Rating

94

The Samsung 860 EVO 1TB still reigns as one of the best SSDs on the market, largely because of its performance for the average consumer, easily recognizable brand recognition, and excellent pricing. This is an excellent step forward with the new Samsung EVO series, and from its predecessor, the EVO 850, in terms of sequential read speeds and sequential write speeds.

Why We Like It – Samsung 860 EVO 1TB

The Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SATA SSD is an excellent option for anyone ready to ditch their hard drives for an SSD, especially considering its capacity. For its price, you get very strong performance for both serious workloads and general use.

Pros
  • Excellent performance
  • Reliable brand recognition and support
  • Great price point
Cons
  • Limitations with SATA

Performance

The Samsung 860 EVO 1TB performs really well when it comes to read writes speeds, which it can average between 550MB/s to 560MB/s and a write performance of 520MB/s—which, needless to say, is a lot faster than the hybrid Fantom Drives PS4 SSHD. Samsung SSDs use V-NAND, which is 3D flash memory. What this accomplishes is increased speeds through the use of 64 layers of flash cells, though Samsung is no longer special for using this technology as others have adopted it like the Silicon Power A55.

We’re definitely seeing the limits of what the SATA interface can offer. The MJX SATA controller Samsung uses in their EVO drives does provide a boost in efficiency, however. With that said, you can keep an eye on random write speeds and random read speeds with Samsung Magician software.” If you want to speed up your laptop with a SATA 6 Gb/s and up to a capacity of 480GB, click the Seagate 600 240gb solid state drive review.

Design

Samsung changed very little, if at all, to the design of the 860 EVO 1TB, at least not on the exterior. It’s identical in design to the last line-up, the 850 EVO—a solid matte black finish, a few threaded holes, and a sticker with its product information printed.

However, it’s an entirely different story for the interior. You’ll find that the inside of the EVO SSD is outfitted with an updated MJX controller. This lends support to its DDR4 memory. If you prefer an SSD with AES 256-bit encryption, check out the Kingston uv500 ssd review.

Value

Considering the Samsung 860 EVO’s read write speeds, capacity, pricing, and a five year limited warranty, you are getting quite the deal compared to the ADATA SU800. Not only that, but Samsung really kills it when it comes to SSDs and provide some of the best you can pick up.

Lastly, the Samsung 860 EVO does come in smaller form factors, making them an excellent choice to outfit an ultrabook, though the capacity does shrink below 1TB.”

Samsung 860 EVO 1TB Wrap Up

With everything considered, the Samsung 860 EVO 1TB is a worthy successor to the 850 EVO, by every stretch of the imagination. It held the throne as one of the best SATA SSDs for quite some time, and the 860 EVO has dethroned it and is doing so at a fantastic price.

The Samsung 860 EVO is certainly hitting the ceiling when it comes to SATA performance, but in return you’re getting a product from Samsung that runs exceptionally well for any consumer project, a generous warranty, and may earn a place in your PC.

Brady Meyers Avatar