Samsung 840 TLC SSD Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2013-05-07
·
1,183 words · ~5 min read
0:00
welcome to my unboxing and First Look perhaps a little belated but better late
0:03
than never as I like to say all the time because that's something that I always
0:08
say the Samsung 840 SSD so this is
0:12
different from the 840 Pro and we actually have a slightly unique sort of
0:18
mix of 840 and 840 Pro so if you've already seen our 840 Pro unboxing you'll
0:22
know that that's the one that has Beast performance basically As Good As It Gets
0:26
in the market it also is in a slightly larger capacity so it's 28 256 and 512
0:32
versus 120 250 and 500 gigs for the 840
0:37
it also comes in a slightly different package although both versions are
0:41
available for both different drives so this one right here our 840 Pro is the
0:45
barar drive version that just comes with the data migration software and the
0:49
drive itself r840 is the version that
0:52
comes with the desktop and laptop installation kit included so in this
0:57
case you have to slice all the way through the sticker in order for the Box to come apart there we go good work
1:01
Linus and the drives look pretty darn
1:04
near identical on the top the only way to tell the difference between an 840
1:08
and an 840 Pro is the fact that there's no Pro here also the fact that it comes
1:13
in a different capacity it's a SATA 36 GB per second drive it uses Samsung's
1:18
latest controller designed by Samsung
1:22
and it has oh cool oh okay so they've got a 2 millimeter uh clip here that
1:27
allows you to go from a 7 millimeter Drive to a 9mm Drive depending on what
1:32
the requirements are for your particular notebook that's really handy in a
1:35
desktop it makes no difference whatsoever but it's uh it's really good
1:39
to have for for a notebook cuz yeah if
1:42
you have the slightly the wrong drive it just won't fit and that'll be a bit of a
1:46
problem all right so software wise I was
1:49
talking about their controller right you know what we never did go through this
1:52
so it's using their Three core MDX controller designed by Samsung for
1:56
Samsung just like everything else in this drive so the main advantage for
1:59
Samsung is the fact that the controller the
2:03
firmware The Flash the RAM every single
2:07
thing in here is designed and manufactured by Samsung no one else does
2:11
this not Intel not crucial nobody else
2:15
does this for example crucial is using a thirdparty controller chipset so they're
2:20
writing firmware for it they're manufacturing their own Flash and RAM
2:23
but they missed that one key component and then Intel is using sandforce
2:27
controllers so just totally totally using I me their own firmware for it but
2:31
totally using someone else's stuff whereas Samsung doesn't do that it uses
2:35
toggle ddr2 Nan flash memory this is TLC
2:38
memory more on that in a moment ddr2 SD RAM cach memory AES 256bit encryption is
2:43
built into the drive it comes with their magician software which is basically uh
2:47
SSD performance optimization so manual trim uh Benchmark testing security race
2:53
and firmware updates as well as their data migration software the 840 also has
2:57
a three-year warranty compared to the 5year warranty on the 840 Pro it is
3:02
designed more for a consumer work cycle
3:05
than like a prosumer or professional work cycle so the 840 is the perfect
3:09
drive for someone like your gamer friend or your mom or whoever else where it's
3:13
more of a mainstream customer it's less expensive but they're not expecting that
3:17
customer to be writing you know five 10 gigs of data to the drive every single
3:22
day because like all SSD drives the 840
3:25
and the 840 Pro have a limited number of right cycles and TLC Flash compared to
3:30
mlc so 2 bit per cell Flash versus 3 bit
3:33
per cell flash is inherently less
3:37
durable so it's not going to last as long so if it's someone who's using
3:41
their SSD as you know a scratch disc or something for working on very large
3:45
video or photo files then that's going to be a bit of a problem for something
3:49
like a non-pro level Drive hence the branding 840 refers to the generation of
3:54
products so you've got the 840 and the 840 Pro for more like a pro user or
3:58
someone who's more of a heavy user so let's have a look at what else is
4:02
included with the 840 we've got
4:05
a thing that has a thing inside there's your manual and software download the
4:10
latest from the Samsung website if you sort of care about that sort of thing oo
4:14
stickers Samsung SSD activated those are
4:18
kind of neat stickers I like stickers warranty statement summary for the 840
4:22
and the 840 Pro there's a bracket so that's a 2 and 1/2 in to 3 and 1/2 in
4:26
bracket it's made of aluminum so it's going to be lightweight if you're installing it in the desktop they've
4:30
also got all the screws that you might need in order to go ahead and do that
4:34
their installation a SATA cable is included no way oh this is awesome these
4:40
are handy this is one of those USB to ah
4:45
here we go USB to SATA adapters so
4:48
instead of having see this this is the kind of thing I like uh Kingston had a
4:53
kit they had um a desktop UPG a notebook upgrade kit where they included an
4:58
actual 2 and 1/2 in Drive enclosure with the thing it was inside the SSD box I
5:03
was like really a whole 2 and 1 half in driving that's not very convenient cuz
5:06
you actually have to take the thing put it in the thing screw it into the thing
5:09
close it up and then you plug that into like the wall and then plug that into I
5:12
was like what really these are awesome though this is uh kind of like seat's
5:17
glex um goflex external uh external
5:21
drives right where the whole thing is data and power all through USB and then
5:26
it plugs into the back of the SSD just like this so there's your SATA 3
5:31
interface there's your SATA interface on the back there you just go like that you
5:35
can run the Drive backup or drive migration tool that is provided by
5:40
Samsung and then you do your swap so you actually leave the drive in the notebook
5:44
you plug in this one you run everything then you swap them and you're good to go
5:47
so I think that pretty much covers it don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech
5:51
tips for more unboxings reviews and other computer videos