
The Bottom Line
Pros
- Up to 2.5 million RR IOPS
- Up to 360K RW IOPS
- Power efficient
- Consistent
Cons
- 8K Mixed
Should you buy it?
AvoidConsiderShortlistBuyIntroduction 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

Item | Details |
---|---|
Model | Samsung PM1743 7.68TB PM1743 15.36TB |
MSRP | N/A |
Model Number | MZ-3LO15T0 |
Interface | PCIe Gen5 x4 |
Form Factor | E3.S |
Sequential BW | Up to 14,000 MB/s |
Random IOPS | Up to 2500K IOPS |
Warranty | 5-Years Limited |
Samsung PM1743 15.36TB E3.S PCIe Gen5 SSD



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
Item | Details |
---|---|
Motherboard | ASUS Pro WS W790E-SAGE SE (Buy at Amazon) |
CPU | Intel Xeon w7-2495X (Buy at Amazon) |
GPU | GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1650 (Buy at Amazon) |
Cooler | Alphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45 (Buy at Amazon) |
RAM | Micron DDR5-4800 RDIMM (Buy at Amazon) |
Power Supply | be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W (Buy at Amazon) |
Case | PrimoChill's Praxis Wetbench (Buy at Amazon) |
OS | Ubuntu 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:
- Secure Erase SSD
- 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)
- Precondition SSD by filling the drive twice with 4K or 8K random writes
- Run test-specific workload with a 30-second ramp up for 5 minutes at each measured Queue Depth, and record average result

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Benchmarks - Sequential
128K Sequential Write/Read

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.


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.


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

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.


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.


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


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


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

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.


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.


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


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


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.

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.