Samsung 870 EVO 250GB

The Samsung 870 EVO 250GB represents the saturation point of the SATA interface, utilizing Samsung’s proprietary MKX controller (Metis) designed to maximize the throughput limits of the legacy AHCI protocol. The drive pairs this controller with Samsung’s 6th Generation 128-layer 3D TLC V-NAND, marking a density increase over the previous 64-layer architecture found in the 860 EVO. To maintain consistent random I/O performance, the architecture integrates 512MB of LPDDR4 DRAM for the logical-to-physical mapping table, distinguishing it from DRAM-less entrants in the SATA category. Write performance is sustained via Intelligent TurboWrite, a hybrid SLC caching mechanism that designates a static and dynamic buffer to accelerate sequential writes before engaging the native TLC NAND. Early production batches (late 2020 to early 2021) reported uncorrectable error counts and early component failures; Samsung released firmware SVT02B6Q to mitigate these stability issues, and units in deployment should be updated to this revision or later to ensure long-term data integrity.

Key Specifications

• Interface: SATA III (6 Gb/s)
• Sequential Read/Write: Up to 560 MB/s / 530 MB/s
• Controller: Samsung MKX
• NAND Configuration: Samsung 128-Layer 3D TLC (V-NAND)
• DRAM Cache: 512MB LPDDR4
• Endurance: 150 TBW (Total Bytes Written)
• Security: AES 256-bit Encryption (Class 0), TCG/Opal, IEEE1667 (Encrypted Drive)

Hardware Alternatives

• Crucial MX500: The primary architectural rival. It utilizes a Silicon Motion controller (SM2258 or SM2259) paired with Micron 3D TLC and offers similar DRAM-backed performance and endurance ratings but lacks the complete vertical integration of the Samsung unit.
• SK Hynix Gold S31: A direct functional equivalent regarding manufacturing, as SK Hynix also uses an in-house controller (Quartz) and proprietary 128-layer NAND. It provides comparable sustained write speeds but is less commonly found in enterprise or OEM channels than the EVO series.
• Samsung 860 EVO: The direct predecessor. The 870 EVO replaces the 860’s MJX controller with the MKX and doubles the NAND layer count. While the 870 offers minor latency improvements, both drives are largely capped by the bandwidth limitations of the SATA interface.