Samsung Electronics today introduced the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, the newest enhancement in its Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) SSD portfolio. With industry-leading performance and up to two terabytes in capacity, Samsung’s 970 EVO Plus sets a new bar for high-performance storage, enabling IT professionals, tech enthusiasts and gamers to handle intensive workloads on PCs and workstations with more ease.

“Since introducing the first NVMe SSDs to the consumer market in 2015, Samsung has continued to challenge technical barriers in SSD design and performance,” said Dr. Mike Mang, vice president of Brand Product Marketing, Memory Business at Samsung Electronics. “The new 970 EVO Plus powered by Samsung’s latest fifth-generation V-NAND technology will now offer unrivaled performance in its class when taking on demanding tasks like 4K content editing, 3D modeling and simulation as well as heavy gaming.”

By integrating the company’s most advanced V-NAND chips with optimized firmware, the 970 EVO Plus achieves significant performance improvements – up to 57 percent in write speed¹ – as well as increased power efficiency over its predecessor, the 970 EVO. The new drive delivers sequential read and write speeds of up to 3,500 megabytes per second (MB/s) and up to 3,300 MB/s, respectively, while random speeds come in at up to 620,000 IOPS for read and up to 560,000 IOPS for write operations².

Users can easily upgrade their devices as the 970 EVO Plus comes in a compact M.2 form factor using the PCIe Gen3 x4 interface found in most modern computers. The 970 EVO Plus also offers a five-year limited warranty³ or up to 1,200 terabytes written⁴.

The 970 EVO Plus comes in a variety of capacity options; the 250GB, 500GB and 1TB capacity versions are now available for purchase worldwide, and the 2TB capacity will become available in April. Manufacturer’s suggested retail prices start at $89.99. For more information, including warranty details, please visit samsung.com/SSD or samsungssd.com.

Key Specifications

¹ Up to a 57-percent performance increase in random write speed for 250GB version.

² Performances may vary depending on SSD’s firmware version and system hardware & configuration. Performance measurements based on IOmeter 1.1.0. The write performances were measured with Intelligent TurboWrite technology being activated. The sequential write performances after Intelligent TurboWrite region are: 400 MB/s (250GB), 900 MB/s (500GB), 1,700 MB/s (1TB) and 1,750 MB/s (2TB). The random write performances after Intelligent TurboWrite region are: 100,000 IOPS (250GB), 200,000 IOPS (500GB), 400,000 IOPS (1TB) and 420,000 IOPS (2TB).

* Test system configuration: Intel Core i7-7700K CPU @4.2GHz, DDR4 2400MHz 32GB, OS-Windows 10 Built 10240, Chipset–ASUS PRIME Z270-A.

³ Five years or TBW, whichever comes first. For more information on the warranty, please find the enclosed warranty document in the package.

⁴ Warrantied TBW (Total bytes written) for 970 EVO Plus: 150TB for 250GB model, 300TB for 500GB model, 600TB for 1TB model, 1,200TB for 2TB.

⁵ 1GB=1,000,000,000 bytes by IDEMA. A certain portion of capacity may be used for system file and maintenance use, so the actual capacity may differ from what is indicated on the product label.

⁶ Samsung Electronics shall not be liable for any loss, including but not limited to loss of data or other information contained on Samsung Electronics product or loss of profit or revenue which may be incurred by user. For more information on the warranty, please visit samsung.com/ssd.

Professional sports players are sensitive to even the slightest changes in their equipment. For gamers, establishing the most suitable environment for gameplay can be just as important as improving their skills. One of the most significant pieces of computer equipment is the Solid-state Drive, a key component that improves a computer’s performance and the smoothness of play.

One individual who appreciates the importance of hardware performance is Kyo Min “Evermore” Koo, a rising star in professional gaming and avid streamer. He was also amongst the winners in the recent Charity tournament at the PUBG Invitational 2018 in Berlin. To get a better understanding of the interplay between the game, the equipment and the gamer, the Newsroom invited Evermore to perform a brief experiment on Samsung’s fastest SSD to date, the NVMe SSD 970 EVO.

Samsung NVMe SSD 970 series and SATA SSD 860 series

An SSD is a type of data storage device, similar to a Hard Disk Drive (HDD). Currently the worldwide market share of HDD and SSD is 45% and 55%, respectively, but there are some key differences between the two devices. While an HDD stores and retrieves digital information using rotating disks coated with magnetic material, an SSD uses semiconductor flash memory to store data. This means an SSD is able to withstand greater amounts of shock and heat. The Samsung NVMe SSD 970 EVO boasts the fastest speed and highest reliability amongst SSDs, providing consumers the best conditions to perform HD and 3D graphic design tasks, play high spec games and create VR content.

Evermore tested out two desktop computers that had exactly the same systems – apart from their data storage drives. One was fitted with an HDD (1TB, SATA3, 7200rpm) and the other with an SSD (NVMe SSD 970 EVO, 250GB).

Installing an NVMe SSD 970 is quite simple. Insert the SSD in the M.2 slot. No additional cable is required. Remember to check in advance whether the M.2 slot of the mainboard supports the NVMe interface.

Recalling his past experiences, Evermore pointed to the tangible differences between the two types of data storage device: “My personal computer is equipped with the best of the best. One day I stopped by an Internet café that had computers with HDDs installed. I could really feel the difference. Just as I suspected, I was slower to start than my friends who were playing on different computers. There were also some delays during the battle. I had never lost to my friends before that day.”

The nature of open world games means that time is of the essence. “Everything happens in the blink of a moment when playing open world games,” Evermore explained. “The loading time of the textures on the map is crucial when playing games such as PUBG. Even when you spot your enemy before they spot you, if you react slowly because of the loading time, they will attack first and it can be hard to win.”

Evermore playing PUBG on Samsung CJ89 – 49” supersize monitor

During battle royale games, multiple players all interact with each other across a vast battlefield, which means that a large amount of data is processed very quickly. A highly advanced SSD can significantly affect the match result.

During the experiment, Evermore could feel this immediately: “When playing the game, the computer reads and writes the data from the storage drive repeatedly, so it is important for the storage to have a high performance. While playing today on the computer installed with an HDD, I felt the same delay I experienced at the Internet café, whereas the computer with the NVMe SSD 970 EVO showed no such issues.”

Measuring the data processing speed for each computer. The speed of the computer equipped with an SSD 970 EVO (right) is more than twenty times faster than that of the computer with an HDD (left).

When playing a game which requires high specs, the computer’s fan can be very loud as it rotates to cool down the heat that the computer components are generating inside the case.

The power consumption can also soar when playing games for a long period of time, as Evermore revealed: “I spend any spare time I have playing games. However, the computer heats up when I use it for several hours.”

An SSD consumes less power than an HDD since the booting, loading and data processing speeds are swifter and it emits less heat.

To Evermore, the contrast is significant: “I can definitely tell the difference between an HDD and SSD. Since large data processing is essential when playing open world games, they automatically consume more power. Of course, the CPU or storage drives heat up once you’ve been playing a high spec game for some time. The SSD 970 EVO, in that sense, is fascinating because it has a high level of performance but doesn’t heat up that much. I heard this is because of its high power efficiency.”

The NVMe SSD 970 EVO also has a Dynamic Thermal Guard function that safeguards against overheating by automatically monitoring and maintaining optimal operating temperatures. With high power efficiency optimized for high spec computing systems, gameplay can continue for many hours.

The increasing popularity of game streaming platforms has led more and more professional gamers to create their own streaming channels, and Evermore is no exception.

Evermore enjoys interacting with his fans on various streaming channels, including Twitch and Kakao TV

“Streaming is the easiest way to communicate with my fans,” he remarked. “In order to record and talk to my fans at the same time, I definitely need a high spec computer.”

Streamers will edit and upload highlight films, or live stream while playing games and communicating with their fans. Since everything is happening simultaneously, this process requires strong multitasking skills from both the gamer and the computer. The Samsung NVMe SSD 970 EVO minimizes buffering and other issues when multitasking, so that gamers can record their games and voice-chat with other players at the same time.

Evermore preparing to start streaming after the SSD 970 EVO has been installed on the computer

Evermore outlines the potential pitfalls and solutions: “During live streaming, there can be buffering when you run several programs at the same time. Sometimes, your voice does not sync with the video if you don’t have an adequate computer system. Using an advanced SSD like the 970 EVO eases the burden on the CPU and the graphics.”

With lightning fast speeds, superior power efficiency and the ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously, the SSD 970 EVO is a data storage drive ideal for a wide range of high spec games and tasks.

The 970 series maximizes the potential of NVMe bandwidth. The 970 PRO enables sequential read speed of up to 3,500 MB/s and sequential write speed of up to 2,700 MB/s, which means it can read a five-gigabyte (GB) movie in a mere second and write in 1.9 seconds.

Check out the infographic on NVMe SSD 970, which provides exactly what power-users are looking for in an SSD.