Samsung 960 evo vs samsung 970 evo is it worth the change?

Samsung 970 EVO is the new NVMe storage unit in M.2 format that comes to the market to offer a high-speed proposal for a reasonable price. It also promises great durability thanks to the use of advanced MLC-type Samsung V-NAND memory chips. Let's see how it has improved over its predecessor. Samsung 960 EVO vs Samsung 970 EVO.

Samsung 960 EVO vs Samsung 970 EVO, thus has improved performance and durability

Samsung has basically introduced two differences in its new Samsung 970 EVO compared to its predecessor. First of all, it has been decided to go from TLC memories to MLCs, keeping the same 64-layer V-NAND technology. MLC memory offers greater durability than TLC, which will make the SSD last much longer before it breaks. Specifically, Samsung has managed to increase the durability by 50%, making the 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB models have a respective resistance of 150 TB, 300 TB, 600 Tb and 1200 TB of written data.

The Samsung 960 EVO made do with a written data amount of 100TB, 200TB, and 400TB for the 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB models. So we already have a very important first difference. This greater durability will mean that the user does not have to worry about whether to use the SSD very intensively, or at least the concern will be much less than before.

The new Samsung Polaris controller

The other important difference is found in the SSD controller. The Samsung 970 EVO has made the leap to the new Samsung Phoenix controller, which promises to offer superior performance without sacrificing the durability of memory chips. The Samsung 960 EVO is based on the Polaris controller, which is still excellent but already needed a renovation as the competition gets tougher.

The official Samsung performance data for both SSDs are as follows:

	Samsung 970 EVO	Samsung 960 EVO
Sequential reading	3500 MB / s	3200 MB / s
Sequential writing	2500 MB / s	1900 MB / s
4K reading	500, 000	380, 000 IOPS
4K writing	480, 000 IOPS	360, 000 IOPS

As we can see, the difference in performance is especially significant in the case of sequential writing and random operations. Samsung Phoenix is ​​the most advanced NVMe controller available on the market, which will serve to reaffirm Samsung's leadership in the high-end NVMe SSD sector.

The theory is very good, but we are comfortable with practice. Fortunately we have analyzed both SSDs and we have a first-hand view of their benefits, without further delay, let's see the results obtained.

Samsung 960 EVO

Samsung 970 EVO

Samsung 960 EVO

Samsung 970 EVO

	Samsung 970 EVO (MB / s)	Samsung 960 EVO (MB / s)
Q32Ti sequential reading	3555	3387
Q32Ti sequential write	2482	1762
4K Q32Ti reading	732	654.6
4K Q32Ti writing	618	593.2
4K reading	52	48.51
4K writing	209	190.5

The results obtained support the assertion by Samsung, the Samsung 970 EVO is a faster SSD than its predecessor, it is not a huge difference, but it is quite appreciable in some cases. It also helps us to verify that the speed that the company promises corresponds to reality, both in writing and reading operations.

Final words and conclusion about Samsung 960 EVO vs Samsung 970 EVO

Samsung 970 EVO is a major overhaul of what is surely the most popular NVMe SSD on the market. The South Korean firm has assembled a new controller that significantly improves performance in sequential writing and random operations, something that is always appreciated. But more important still is the increase in the resistance of the new SSD, managing to support up to 1200 TB of data in its 2 TB model. These characteristics make the Samsung 970 EVO ideal for users looking for a very fast SSD, as well as being very resistant and with an attractive sale price.

With this set-up, Samsung manages to stretch the life of its 64-layer V-NAND memories, and is in an enviable position on the market with the arrival of the new 96-layer V-NANDs. A hypothetical Samsung 980 EVO with 96-layer V-NAND memories will arrive with even higher speeds, a higher storage density and great resistance to writing data. Samsung has already laid the foundations for what awaits us in the future.

Is it worth the move from the 960 EVO to the 970 EVO? We think it could be an interesting change if you plan to make the leap to a higher capacity or your SSD is already very worn out. In the event that you are going to buy your first NVMe SSD, you have a better option than a few months ago, and for the same price or less. Samsung 970 EVO is already on sale from 96 euros.

This ends our post Samsung 960 EVO vs Samsung 970 EVO, remember to share it on social networks so that it can help more users who need it.