# Samsung 950 pro vs sm951



## Philippos (Aug 28, 2016)

Hello a single question between those two 950 pro and sm951 which is the best choice?Does the 950 pro worth the extra 40€ as performance except the guarantee as a retail model?And the sm951 a have chosen is nvme or ahci?


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## EarthDog (Aug 28, 2016)

Same stuff different piles. You won't notice a difference.


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## cdawall (Aug 29, 2016)

I have the 951, wait for the 960/961


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## Philippos (Aug 29, 2016)

cdawall said:


> I have the 951, wait for the 960/961


When is the release date?


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## Philippos (Aug 29, 2016)

I forgot to mention that i am mainly interested for gaming so if there are other suggestions at around the same price i would like to know thanks.


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## RejZoR (Aug 29, 2016)

SM951 were meant for OEM's, but the somehow got into retail channel (I'll know because I owned one). SM951 were usually cheaper because they came without fancy packaging (bulk) and with less warranty because OEM. 950 Pro were actual retail versions.


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## EarthDog (Aug 29, 2016)

There are more differences than that...

Performamce, the V NAND, etc...


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## cdawall (Aug 29, 2016)

Philippos said:


> When is the release date?



They are already shipping to OEM's from what I understand and there is some movement in the retail channels for the SM961.

Here is a review to put it into perspective. 

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7762/samsung-sm961-1tb-2-nvme-pcie-ssd-review/index.html

They are a lot faster.


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## Philippos (Aug 29, 2016)

I am reading for days and i see that m.2 are faster in numbers but in real world programms like game loading that i am interested are almost as fast as an 850 evo.Maybe a better investment would be a 850 evo 500gb which costs 150€.Am i right?


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## cdawall (Aug 29, 2016)

M.2 is a form factor. It will be not faster than a SATA drive if it is a SATA interface. The speed increase comes from NVMe


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## Philippos (Aug 29, 2016)

cdawall said:


> M.2 is a form factor. It will be not faster than a SATA drive if it is a SATA interface. The speed increase comes from NVMe


I know but in comparison a 950 pro or a sm 951 vs a 850 evo have big difference in game loading times?


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## cdawall (Aug 29, 2016)

Yes


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## Philippos (Aug 29, 2016)

cdawall said:


> Yes


I can not find a benchmark that shows that.Do you have i link please?


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## EarthDog (Aug 30, 2016)

I googled "samsung 950 pro game load times"

All- https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=samsung 950 pro game load times

...it depends on the game...


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## RejZoR (Aug 30, 2016)

cdawall said:


> Yes



No. Had a smaller SM951 and now massive 850 Pro and I can't tell a difference despite the fact SM951 had 3x the sequential read of 850 Pro. Granted, the IOPS were basically the same, but I don't think 300k IOPS will change that much. Game data just isn't something that would make much difference between 100k and 300k IOPS.

If you have money to spare and you want best of the best, of course you go with M.2 NVMe. But for everything else, it basically doesn't matter if it's M.2 NVMe or just SATA3 for as long as it's a good performing SSD unless you're having specific workloads that demand ludicrous sequential speeds or equally ludicrous random access of tiny bits.


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## cdawall (Aug 30, 2016)

Boot difference was noticeable between my 5 120gb drives in raid 0 and my ingle nvme. The entire design of nvme will always be faster you noticing it yourself is of no point. It is faster period.


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## Ferrum Master (Aug 30, 2016)

As a user of 950Pro. 

Yes it is faster. Load times are a fraction better. There was a thread where I did post some benchs.

But the drive mainly is for OS and heavy productivity work where lot of data generates. There it outshines any sata3 relic.


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## JalleR (Aug 30, 2016)

Another thing is that the 950Pro has better endurance and 5 Years warranty vs "only" 3 on the 951

But Intel's Optane Drives is launching in the end of this year so if you really don't need it i would wait.


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## R-T-B (Aug 30, 2016)

EarthDog said:


> Same stuff different piles. You won't notice a difference.





JalleR said:


> Another thing is that the 950Pro has better endurance and 5 Years warranty vs "only" 3 on the 951



The SM951 is not 3D nand IIRC.


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## Ferrum Master (Aug 30, 2016)

R-T-B said:


> The SM951 is not 3D nand IIRC.



I like my NAND like cheese. The more thick the better.


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## RejZoR (Aug 30, 2016)

R-T-B said:


> The SM951 is not 3D nand IIRC.



True, though it's not TLC either. It's using regular MLC. So, it's somewhere in the middle of the road.


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## lorraine walsh (Aug 30, 2016)

The 950 PRO's advantages are:

1) it is a "retail" unit so you have warranty support from samsung direct. The 951 is "OEM" unit, and your warranty is only from the vendor. The 950 PRO's warranty is 5 yrs vs the 3 yrs for the SM951 i've seen the vendors quoting.

2) as a retail unit, samsung provides the necessary driver for NVMe use with win 7, 8.1 & 10

3) the 950 has newer tech, ie V-Nand

Personally, i'd go with the 950, but either one, read the reviews and note you should seriously consider installing active cooling, ie a fan moving air across the controller of either SSD


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## RejZoR (Aug 30, 2016)

Yeah, these things get really hot when under load. I'm surprised they don't have even the most basic heatsink...


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## EarthDog (Aug 30, 2016)

R-T-B said:


> The SM951 is not 3D nand IIRC.


..And A Couple Posts down....
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/samsung-950-pro-vs-sm951.225365/#post-3513339


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## R-T-B (Aug 30, 2016)

EarthDog said:


> ..And A Couple Posts down....
> https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/samsung-950-pro-vs-sm951.225365/#post-3513339



Me + smartphone = dumb.


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## Octopuss (Aug 30, 2016)

cdawall said:


> They are already shipping to OEM's from what I understand and there is some movement in the retail channels for the SM961.
> 
> Here is a review to put it into perspective.
> 
> ...


OT comment: I wouldn't trust a site which is filled with ads top to bottom and which blocks you from opening any page if you use Adblock.


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## cdawall (Aug 30, 2016)

Octopuss said:


> OT comment: I wouldn't trust a site which is filled with ads top to bottom and which blocks you from opening any page if you use Adblock.


Tweak town? It's a pretty well known review site...


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