Samsung SM843T 480GB Enterprise SSD Review

Introduction

The bulk of Samsung's enterprise SSD offerings focused on the OEM space in the past. Samsung has recently begun to open up their product line to the broader retail market with the release of the 845DC PRO and the 845DC EVO. Both of these SSDs utilize new NAND technologies, 3D V-NAND and 3-bit MLC respectively, that offer tangible benefits for their respective target environments.

While the new products sport the latest in NAND technology, the 843 series from Samsung features their tried-and-true 21nm Toggle MLC NAND. The SM843 (reviewed here) is geared for lighter read-centric workloads with 20-30% read/write distributions. The SM843T we are testing today offers robust endurance for workloads with 40-50% read/write distributions. The SM843T expands write endurance up to 1.8 DWPD, an increase over the 1 DWPD provided by the SM843. The SM843T offers up 1,930 TBW of endurance for the 480GB model, and 3,680 TBW for the 960 GB capacity.

Another differentiator between the two models is the inclusion of Power-Loss Protection (PLP). Power-loss protection in the Samsung SM843T is provided by tantalum capacitors, and Samsung's Sudden Power Off and Recovery (SPOR) technology.

The SM843T comes in 2.5 and 1.8" form factors in 120, 240, 480, and 960 GB capacities. The SM843T sports 4k random read speeds of 60,000 IOPS, and 11,000 IOPS for 4k random write. Sequential read is impressive at 500 MB/s, and sequential write speed weighs in at 370 MB/s.

The SM843T also offers up an endurance increase of up to 5.4 DWPD when overprovisioning the drive to a useable capacity of 100, 200, 400, or 800 GB. This is helpful for users who wish to sacrifice capacity to increase endurance. Samsung also lists an increased 4k random write speed of up to 35,000 IOPS when using the same overprovisioning levels that increase endurance. Providing these specific guidelines for overprovisioning is helpful, and we would like to see other manufacturers follow suit.

The SSD features a slim 7.5mm chassis, and leverages the three-core MDX controller and 512MB of DDR2 SDRAM. Samsung produces all of the components, which can be a considerable advantage in many aspects. The SM843T features an UBER rating of one per 10E17, and a two-million hour MTBF. The SM843T also offers AES-256 encryption for the security conscious.

The SM843Tn is currently supplanting the SM843T. The SM843Tn is a newer model with a die revision and similar performance and endurance specifications. The SM843Tn series will not feature a 960GB capacity point. The SM843T will provide the 960 GB model in the near term. The 3D V-NAND SV843 will supplant the 960 GB SM843Tn in the future.

All of the aforementioned features are rounded off with a five-year warranty. One of Samsung's big focuses with the SM843T is on performance consistency, and it shines through in our performance testing. Let's take a closer look.