Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer

Samsung's new 15.36TB PM1753 datacenter SSD is its high-capacity PCIe Gen5 standard bearer. Let's see what it can do in our testing.

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD - High-Capacity Standard Bearer
Comment IconFacebook IconX IconReddit Icon
Senior Hardware Editor
Published
Manufactured by Samsung
5 minutes & 45 seconds read time
TweakTown's Rating: 92%
TweakTown award

The Bottom Line

With its consistency and advanced security features, Samsung's PM1743 15.36TB SSD offers more capacity along with its already excellent value proposition.

Pros

  • Up to 2.5 million RR IOPS
  • Up to 360K RW IOPS
  • Power efficient
  • Consistent

Cons

  • 8K Mixed

Should you buy it?

AvoidConsiderShortlistBuy

Introduction and Drive Details

Samsung's PM1743 Series offers a 40% gain in efficiency over its previous generations of devices, enabling its first PCIe Gen5 SSD to deliver more performance and reliability without a major impact on operating overhead. You get up to double the I/O for roughly the same power draw and within the same footprint, which can lower TCO dramatically.

Samsung's dual port supported PCIe Gen5 datacenter SSD has been in circulation for more than 2 years now and is still the standard by which all others are measured against and for several very good reasons. Utilizing dual ports, enterprises can be notified about issues before they impact customers. Advanced telemetry capability collects and automatically transmits drive data in an encrypted format.

In today's datacenter security concerns are omnipresent. Here Samsung's PM1743 Series has got you covered as well, featuring an embedded security processor providing an enhanced level of protection against malicious code and data forgery. The drive is also Secure Boot capable, again providing another layer of data security.

Having already reviewed the PM1743 at the 7.68TB capacity point, we are excited to see what the drive can do at its most performant 15.36TB capacity point. At 15.36TB, the drive offers significantly better programming speeds, making it a better choice for many mixed workload applications where its smaller siblings fall short. Additionally, and really, what we love most about the PM1743 is its rock-steady consistency. If you need predictable performance above all, then this SSD is exactly what you are looking for, as evidenced perfectly by our preconditioning charts.

Okay, let's dive in and see what Samsung's PM1743 15.36TB E3.S SSD can do for you by the numbers.

Specs/Comparison Products

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 01
ItemDetails
ModelSamsung PM1743 7.68TB PM1743 15.36TB
MSRPN/A
Model NumberMZ-3LO15T0
InterfacePCIe Gen5 x4
Form FactorE3.S
Sequential BWUp to 14,000 MB/s
Random IOPSUp to 2500K IOPS
Warranty5-Years Limited

Samsung PM1743 15.36TB E3.S PCIe Gen5 SSD

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 02
Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 03
Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 04

Samsung's PM1743 series is available in 2.5-inch U.2, E3.S and E1.S form factors. Capacities range from 1.92TB to 15.36TB. These SSDs are compatible with major operating systems such as RHEL, SLES, CentOS, Ubuntu, Windows Server, and VMware ESXi.

Test System Specs & Enterprise Testing Methodology

Enterprise SSD Test System

ItemDetails
MotherboardASUS Pro WS W790E-SAGE SE (Buy at Amazon)
CPUIntel Xeon w7-2495X (Buy at Amazon)
GPUGIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1650 (Buy at Amazon)
CoolerAlphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45 (Buy at Amazon)
RAMMicron DDR5-4800 RDIMM (Buy at Amazon)
Power Supplybe quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W (Buy at Amazon)
CasePrimoChill's Praxis Wetbench (Buy at Amazon)
OSUbuntu 24.04.1 LTS

Prior to the AI revolution, datacenter SSDs' normal operating range would typically never exceed QD32. With AI data pipeline storage being directed by GPU, high queue depth performance has become paramount. Queue depths in the thousands are now commonplace, which is why we've changed our test platform, methodology, and operating system. Our charted upper queue depth range has been revised from QD256 to QD4096 for random data and up to QD1024 for sequential testing.

Testing Methodology

TweakTown strictly adheres to industry-accepted Enterprise Solid State Storage testing procedures. Each test we perform repeats the same sequence of the following steps:

  1. Secure Erase SSD
  2. Write the entire capacity of SSD 2x (2 loops) with 128KB sequential write data, seamlessly transition to the next step (sequential testing skips step 3)
  3. Precondition SSD by filling the drive twice with 4K or 8K random writes
  4. Run test-specific workload with a 30-second ramp up for 5 minutes at each measured Queue Depth, and record average result
Photo of the Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD 2TB
Best Deals: Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD 2TB
Country flag Today 7 days ago 30 days ago
$139.99 USD $137.99 USD
Buy
$139.99 USD $139.99 USD
Buy
$229.99 CAD $289.99 CAD
Buy
$229.97 CAD $289.97 CAD
Buy
$139.99 USD $137.99 USD
Buy
$139.99 USD $137.99 USD
Buy
* Prices last scanned on 2/5/2025 at 3:51 pm CST - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission from any sales.

Benchmarks - Sequential

128K Sequential Write/Read

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 05

We precondition the drive using 100 percent sequential 128K writes at QD256 using 1-thread for 2-drive fills, receiving performance data every second. We plot this data to observe the test subject's descent into steady-state and to verify steady-state is in effect as we seamlessly transition into testing at queue depth. A steady-state is achieved after 1-drive fill. Average steady-state 128K sequential write performance at QD256 is approximately 7,600 MB/s - an impressive 500 MB/s more than factory spec.

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 06
Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 07

The PM1743 15.36TB puts forth an impressive showing here, far better than its lower-capacity siblings. The drive delivers stellar QD1 performance, being among the best we've ever seen. At queue depths of two or more, our higher capacity contender remains rock steady - delivering among the most consistent performance curves we've encountered.

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 08
Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 09

Overall, we find the performance curve here to be preferable to that of Solidigm's D7-PS1030 6.4TB. It is among the best we've encountered to date, with the best appearing on this chart being the FlumeIO F5900.

Benchmarks - Random

4K Random Write/Read

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 10

We precondition the drive using 100 percent random 4K writes at QD256 for 2-drive fills, receiving performance data every second. We plot this data to observe the test subject's descent into steady-state and to verify steady-state is in effect as we seamlessly transition into testing at queue depth. A steady-state is achieved after 1-drive fill. Average steady-state 4K random write performance at QD256 is approximately 360K IOPS. The drive's tight and consistent pattern is the best we've encountered from any SSD we've tested using our Linux-based 48-thread Xeon system.

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 11
Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 12

The drive is rated as capable of up to 360K for 4K random write IOPS. We are hitting up to 375K IOPS with our configuration. At queue depths of 1-4, Samsung's Gen5 standard bearer delivers more 4K random programming performance than any other 1-DWPD SSD appearing on this chart. Outstanding.

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 13
Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 14

At the top end, we can achieve over 2.6 million 4K random read IOPS. This is again higher than factory spec so that's great. However, a close look at its performance curve reveals the least desirable performance curve of the Gen5 SSDs that populate our chart. This is where our test subject is showing its age.

4K 7030

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 15
Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 16

While significantly better here than its smaller capacity siblings, it's still somewhat lackluster, with our test subject being outperformed by the 1-DWPD Micron 9400 Pro Gen4 SSD.

4K 5050

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 17
Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 18

Overall, not a bad showing here for a 1-DWPD SSD. However, once again the drive is showing its age, when compared with newer 1-DWPD drives such as the Memblaze P7940 or F5900.

8K Random Write/Read

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 19

We precondition the drive using 100 percent random 8K writes at QD256 for 2-drive fills, receiving performance data every second. We plot this data to observe the test subject's descent into steady-state and to verify steady-state is in effect as we seamlessly transition into testing at queue depth. A steady-state is achieved after 1-drive fill. Average steady-state 8K random write performance at QD256 is approximately 180K IOPS. Again, our test subject delivers a superior tight and consistent precon pattern.

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 20
Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 21

We expect 8K random to track pretty much the same as 4K random here, just at a lower IOPS rate because it's moving twice the amount of data. QD1 performance is worth taking note of, as it's the best for any 1-DWPD SSD appearing on this chart.

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 22
Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 23

At QD128 or higher, the PM1743 manages to distance itself from the top performing PCIe Gen4 SSDs, but again when compared with the other PCIe Gen5 SSDs that populate our chart, the drive comes up short. This is not unexpected considering the drive is over 2 years old at this point.

8K 7030

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 24
Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 25

8K 7030 is representative of a common database workload. Here again, we find our test subject unable to keep up with more modern competitors.

8K 5050

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 26
Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 27

This is a super demanding workload scenario for any 1-DWPD SSD and one where our older contender not only falls behind most of the 1-DWPD Gen5 SSDs appearing on our chart but also loses to the 1-DWPD Micron 9400 Pro across all measured queue depths.

Final Thoughts

In terms of performance that stands out, we do like what the 15.36TB drive can deliver when serving data to the host at low queue depths. We also love its remarkably consistently. Knowing exactly what the drive will always deliver for at least 5-years, or 28 petabytes, is an attribute that cannot be easily overlooked and is the reason why even to this day, we consider Samsung's PM1743 to be the PCIe Gen5 standard bearer.

Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD Review - High-Capacity Standard Bearer 28

Based on its consistency, low queue depth read performance, available form factors, and advanced security features, we award Samsung's PM1743 15.36TB E3.S SSD our Best Value Award.

Performance

85%

Quality

95%

Features

95%

Value

N/A

Overall

92%

The Bottom Line

With its consistency and advanced security features, Samsung's PM1743 15.36TB SSD offers more capacity along with its already excellent value proposition.

TweakTown award
Photo of the Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD 2TB
Best Deals: Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD 2TB
Country flag Today 7 days ago 30 days ago
$139.99 USD $137.99 USD
Buy
$139.99 USD $139.99 USD
Buy
$229.99 CAD $289.99 CAD
Buy
$229.97 CAD $289.97 CAD
Buy
$139.99 USD $137.99 USD
Buy
$139.99 USD $137.99 USD
Buy
* Prices last scanned on 2/5/2025 at 3:51 pm CST - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission from any sales.

Senior Hardware Editor

Email IconX IconLinkedIn Icon

Jon joined the TweakTown team in 2013 and has since reviewed 100s of new storage products. Jon became a computer enthusiast when Windows XP launched. He was into water cooling and benching ATI video cards with modded drivers. Jon has been building computers for others for more than 10 years. Jon became a storage enthusiast the day he first booted an Intel X25-M G1 80GB SSD. Look for Jon to bring consumer SSD reviews into the spotlight.

Right of Reply

We openly invite the companies who provide us with review samples / who are mentioned or discussed to express their opinion. If any company representative wishes to respond, we will publish the response here. Please contact us if you wish to respond.

Related Topics

Newsletter Subscription