Samsung launches affordable 980 NVMe SSD with Host Memory Buffer technology
There are many companies producing quality solid state drives these days in various capacities, speeds, and form factors. SATA variants are perfectly fine, but NVMe models are significantly faster. With all brands considered, one company's offerings have stood out among the rest thanks to speed and reliability -- Samsung. Remarkably, the wildly popular company's storage drives are competitively priced too, making them an absolute no-brainer.
Today, Samsung launches its latest solid state drive. The "980 NVMe SSD" as it is called, is notable for not having added DRAM. Wait, isn't that normally a bad thing? For most drives, yes, but in this case, no. You see, the 980's use of Host Memory Buffer technology will make sure this drive has the performance consumers have come to expect from Samsung -- along with reliability and affordability too.
"Previously, DRAM-less designs have presented a disadvantage in speed without the short-term memory at hand for fast access to data. Samsung’s 980 utilizes Host Memory Buffer (HMB) technology, which links the drive directly to the host processor's DRAM to overcome any performance drawbacks," explains Samsung.
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The company further says, "This technology, coupled with the company's latest sixth-generation V-NAND as well as optimized controller and firmware, enables the 980 to provide NVMe performance with six times the speed of SATA SSDs. Sequential read and write speeds come in at up to 3,500 and 3,000 MB/s, while random read and write performances are rated as high as 500K IOPS and 480K IOPS, respectively."
Samsung shares specifications below.
| Category | Samsung 980 NVMe SSD |
|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe Gen.3.0 x4, NVMe 1.4 |
| Form Factor | M.2 (2280) |
| Capacity | 1TB, 500GB, 250GB |
| Sequential Read/Write Speed | Up to 3,500 / 3,000 MB/s |
| Random Read/Write Speed (QD32) | Up to 500K IOPS / 480K IOPS |
| Management Software | Samsung Magician |
| Data Encryption | AES 256-bit Full Disk Encryption, TCG/Opal V2.0, Encrypted Drive (IEEE1667) |
| Total Bytes Written | 600TBW (1TB) 300TBW (500GB) 150TBW (250GB) |
| Warranty | Five-year Limited Warranty |
The Samsung 980 NVMe SSD can be had here immediately. It is available in three capacities -- 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB. These drives are currently priced at $63.65, $69.99, and $149.99 respectively.
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