Samsung QVO

jtr1962

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 25, 2002
Messages
4,374
Location
Flushing, New York
The $149.99 retail price for the 1TB model is very interesting when you consider that SSDs are routinely priced well under their MSRP, even under half MSRP during sales. That probably means sub-$100 1TB SSDs will hit the market soon. My only reservation is about data retention. 4-bits per cell means 16 levels instead of 8. This means the cells have to have a very low leakage.

Also interesting that they're not making anything larger than 4TB. If I had to read between the lines, I would say that's because sales drop off dramatically when prices go much about $500 or $600 per unit, regardless of size. They won't even bother to make an 8TB model if they can't make one with an MSRP under that level.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
17,497
Location
USA
The $149.99 retail price for the 1TB model is very interesting when you consider that SSDs are routinely priced well under their MSRP, even under half MSRP during sales. That probably means sub-$100 1TB SSDs will hit the market soon. My only reservation is about data retention. 4-bits per cell means 16 levels instead of 8. This means the cells have to have a very low leakage.

Also interesting that they're not making anything larger than 4TB. If I had to read between the lines, I would say that's because sales drop off dramatically when prices go much about $500 or $600 per unit, regardless of size. They won't even bother to make an 8TB model if they can't make one with an MSRP under that level.

Samsung still makes the 4GB 860 Pro, which is in the price range of a theoretical 8TB QVO. It probably doesn't sell well either. The write performance of 80MB/sec. after the SLC buffer is consumed is just terrible.
https://img.purch.com/r/711x457/aHR...CL0cvODEzMDA0L29yaWdpbmFsL2ltYWdlMDMwLnBuZw==

At least Samsung is up front with the QVO name. I suspect other brands will shift to QLC without clarity as to the flash innards. I just hope that the TLC will hang in there and prices still drop a bit.
 
Last edited:

Will Rickards

Storage Is My Life
Joined
Jan 23, 2002
Messages
2,012
Location
Here
Website
willrickards.net
Anandtech's review is up and they had some issues with the 4TB drive. I guess it wasn't ready for prime time.
But yeah the pricing is like double what these should sell for.
We're having 2TB on sale for $200. So 2TB should be like $150. But 4TB shouldn't be $300, it should be more like $250.
We'll see in a couple months how the pricing changes.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
17,497
Location
USA
4TB is $800 EVO is currently.
I
Think $600 is a bit high for the sluggard QVO, but there is little competition. There
Are
MORE choices in lesser capacities.
 

Stereodude

Not really a
Joined
Jan 22, 2002
Messages
10,865
Location
Michigan
The $149.99 retail price for the 1TB model is very interesting when you consider that SSDs are routinely priced well under their MSRP, even under half MSRP during sales. That probably means sub-$100 1TB SSDs will hit the market soon. My only reservation is about data retention. 4-bits per cell means 16 levels instead of 8. This means the cells have to have a very low leakage.
I ordered (don't have it yet) a 860 EVO 1TB for $127.99. They'd have to be way under the MSRP for the QVO to be attractive.
 

jtr1962

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 25, 2002
Messages
4,374
Location
Flushing, New York
I ordered (don't have it yet) a 860 EVO 1TB for $127.99. They'd have to be way under the MSRP for the QVO to be attractive.
My thoughts exactly. I'd say they won't be a good value proposition until they sell for under $100. But that will likely happen. The 860 EVO 1 TB is regularly going for 30% or more under its $199.99 list price.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
17,497
Location
USA
My thoughts exactly. I'd say they won't be a good value proposition until they sell for under $100. But that will likely happen. The 860 EVO 1 TB is regularly going for 30% or more under its $199.99 list price.

I have no personal use for any SSD that writes at only 80 GB/sec. However, I'm sure it will be fine for normal people that don't write much.
At first I was hoping there would be a $400-500 SSD that could be used as a backup for my 4TB EVO. What a joke. :rofl:
 

jtr1962

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 25, 2002
Messages
4,374
Location
Flushing, New York
4TB is $800 EVO is currently.
I
Think $600 is a bit high for the sluggard QVO, but there is little competition. There
Are
MORE choices in lesser capacities.
The issue here is larger capacities need to come down a lot more in price. Right now the SSD market seems to be differentiating into a few tiers. One tier is very fast SSDs which can command a premium. The second is regular SATA SSDs which are used for both boot drives, and increasingly, if your needs call for 1 TB or less, bulk storage. And then you have really high capacities which for non-Enterprise users would mostly constitute bulk storage for those who need multiple terabytes. For this last group cost per GB is more important than speed. I would guess there would be a significant market for SSDs with access times even as high as 1 ms if they could be made for $25 per TB. So far those don't exist. Maybe there's little or no cost savings making much slower NAND. So instead we have 4TB SSDs costing $150 to $200 per TB which have a pretty limited market. Few people need a boot drive that large. Most who need 4TB of bulk storage don't need the speed of an SSD, so they opt for spinning disks. However, they might opt for SSDs if they can get within a factor of two or three of HDD prices. I think if Samsung could drop the price of the 4TB QVO to $250 as Will mentioned, there would be a big market for it.
 

jtr1962

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 25, 2002
Messages
4,374
Location
Flushing, New York
I have no personal use for any SSD that writes at only 80 GB/sec. However, I'm sure it will be fine for normal people that don't write much.
At first I was hoping there would be a $400-500 SSD that could be used as a backup for my 4TB EVO. What a joke. :rofl:
Well, not at $150 per TB. That write speed is fine for something which will be used solely for bulk storage but the price per TB needs to be a lot lower. Oh, and I think you meant 80 MB/sec.
 

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,926
Location
USA
Interesting...not sure where this drive fits into the market with QLC NAND at that price. I know this was mentioned at the end of the article but it was also my first reaction when it comes to the competition at a similar or lower cost. I've been buying the Crucial MX500 2TB as a "budget" SATA SSD which is TLC NAND for less than the MSRP of the Samsung 870 QLC. Last I paid was $199USD for the MX500 2TB making it more ideal. This just seems like a cost savings for Samsung with no real benefit for the consumer.

Maybe over time that new Samsung will drop in price making it more appealing but for now I'd rather the TLC NAND that has similar endurance and performance.
 
Top