Samsung EVO vs EVO Plus

In this article, we compare two of Samsung’s SSDs, the EVO, and the EVO plus.

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When you are creating your own desktop build, having enough storage is important. While HDD storage is great, if you are looking for extra storage, an SSD is a great solution. With many to choose from, it can be difficult to know which is the best option.

To help you with your decision, we have taken a closer look at the SSDs Samsung has to offer. In this article, we will be comparing the Samsung EVO and EVO plus to find out which is the better of the two for a gaming desktop.

We will be discussing important specifications to consider, such as the read and write speeds, connectivity, capacity, and load speeds.

Connection

When you are choosing an SSD, it is essential to take into account the type of connection it has. This is important as you will need to ensure that the connection is compatible with the motherboard within your build.

There are two different types of SSD connections available: SATA and M.2. While they are both great options, the NVMe SSDs that connect using the M.2 port tend to be slightly faster overall. This is because they connect to the motherboard directly, drawing power from it.

In contrast to this, the SATA SSDs connect using the SATA port on a motherboard. They tend to be slightly larger in size overall.

Here are the options available within each range:

EVO

  • 870 EVO – SATA
  • 970 EVO – NVMe

EVO Plus

  • 970 EVO Plus – NVMe

While there are two different options available with the Samsung EVO range, there is only one available for the EVO plus. While the EVO has both an NVMe and SATA option, the EVO Plus is an NVMe only. Both are suitable and can be used for a gaming desktop, though the NVMe options are likely to fare better overall.

When looking at the type of SSD, it is important to consider its interface to ensure it is compatible with the motherboard. They all use a PCIe 3.0 interface. While PCIe 4.0 is available, the majority of motherboards still use PCIe 3.0 currently.

Read and Write Speed

The two most important aspects to consider when choosing an SSD card is its read and write speeds. This measures how quickly data can be stored and accessed. Ideally, you will want these speeds to be as fast as possible.

The read speed measures the time it takes for the files stored within the SSD to be sequentially read. The write speed measures how quickly files are sequentially saved and written on the SSD.

The read and write speeds for all of these Samsung models are as follows:

870 EVO

  • Sequential Read – Up to 560MB/s
  • Random Read (4KB, QD32) – Up to 98,000 IOPS
  • Sequential Write – Up tp 530MB/s
  • Random Write (4KB, QD32) – Up to 88,000 IOPS

970 EVO

  • Sequential Read – Up to 3500MB/s
  • Random Read (4KB, QD32) – Up to 500,000 IOPS (1 & 2TB)
  • Sequential Write – Up to 3300MB/s
  • Random Write (4KB, QD32) – Up to 480,000 IOPS (2TB)

970 EVO Plus

  • Sequential Read – Up to 3500MB/s
  • Random Read (4KB, QD32) – Up to 620,000 IOPS (2TB)
  • Sequential Write – 3300MB/s (1TB & 2TB)
  • Random Write (4KB, QD32) – Up to 560,000 IOPS (2TB)

By looking at these raw specifications, the 970 EVO Plus is by far the better SSD overall. However, the 970 EVO still has great read and write speeds. As to be expected, the NVMe SSDs performed better in comparison to the SATA SSD.

Capacity

The purpose of an SSD card is to store data and files. Given this, you will want to purchase an SSD with a significant amount of storage to hold a lot of data with no issues.

While there are many different SSD storage capacity options to choose from, when choosing an SSD for a gaming PC in particular you want a good amount of memory available. Games take up a significant amount of storage space, especially when it comes to next-gen AAA’s.

When looking for a gaming SSD, you will want to consider purchasing one with a storage capacity of 500GB and above. Anything below this will fill up considerably quickly.

The capacity options for each SSD are:

  • 870 EVO – 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB
  • 970 EVO – 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB
  • 970 EVO Plus – 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB

Surprisingly, the 870 EVO which is a SATA SSD has the highest amount of storage space which is 4TB and is a substantial amount for gaming. However, 2TB is also a good amount of storage capacity to choose from if you are looking to store many larger games.

The higher the amount of capacity the SSD has, the more expensive the model will be. Though a higher capacity is certainly worth investing in.

Load Speeds

The loading speeds of the SSD are important and something that you will need to carefully consider before purchasing. Without good read and write speeds, your gameplay will be slower and files will take longer to load, they may also lag.

As games will draw on the SSD memory during gameplay, if these speeds are too slow, your gameplay will be affected. On the whole, this is why many gamers opt for NVMe SSDs as opposed to SATA SSDs. They tend to load files at a quicker rate. These speeds can be anywhere up to 6 times faster in comparison to the SARA SSDs.

When looking at all of the three SSDs featured in this article, the 970 EVO Plus will load games quicker overall. However, the speeds of the 970 EVO are not too far behind it.

Conclusion

To conclude, on the whole, the Samsung 970 EVO Plus is the best SSD for a gaming PC. It features the best read and write speeds and being an NVMe SSD, it connects straight to the motherboard. It has good storage options, though it is slightly more expensive in comparison to the EVO range.

When looking at the EVO range, the 970 EVO is still impressive, and its specifications are not too much lower than the 970 EVO PLUS. In addition to this is the cheaper option of the two.

While the 870 EVO is a SATA SSD, it does have slower loading speeds overall. However, if you want particularly large storage, it is the better option. All of these SSDs are great options to enhance the storage options of your gaming PC.