Samsung 840 Pro review

Mike Jennings Read more March 27, 2013

£180

Price when reviewed

Most SSDs are built using off-the-shelf parts, but the Samsung 840 Pro is different. It’s made entirely by Samsung, and it combines 256GB of 22nm NAND with a proprietary three-core ARM Cortex-based MDX controller.

This in-house approach paid dividends in our benchmarks. Scores of 523MB/sec and 504MB/sec in AS SSD’s sequential read and write tests are exemplary, and it didn’t struggle with smaller files: its 4K file-read score of 37MB/sec is the best here, as is its 4K write result of 122MB/sec.

SSDs

The 840 Pro impressed in the CrystalDiskMark tests, too, topping the tables in seven out of eight benchmarks. In our final test, ATTO Disk Benchmark, the Samsung continued to excel – its average read pace of 344MB/sec is the best here, and only the OCZ Vector’s 426MBs/sec beat its 410MB/sec write average.

It’s a great showing, and the five-year warranty is generous, although we’re a little miffed there’s no sign of a 2.5in to 3.5in bracket – something that’s included with the OCZ Vector.

The Samsung’s benchmark performance is lightning-quick, though, and its £180 inc VAT price works out at a reasonable 75p per gigabyte – great value when compared to the Corsair Performance Pro, which costs £1.15 per gigabyte. It’s a worthy A-List champion.