Why is the 8TB Samsung 870 QVO nearly half the price of other SSDs?

[Stevoisiak]

While shopping for a high capacity 8TB SSD on PCPartPicker, I noticed the Samsung 870 QVO is listed at $345. The second least expensive drive, the Teamgroup EX2, is nearly double the price at $649.99.

 

Reviews of the 870 QVO (TomsHardware, PCMag, AnandTech) seem to be generally positive, leaving me confused at the price difference. There is a post from TechPowerup saying the 870's performance was weak for its original launch price, ($115 for 1TB), but the price has since dropped significantly. Samsung's 980 and 990 drives have had reliability issues, but I haven't heard of widespread issues with the 870.

 

Why is the 8TB Samsung 870 QVO so much cheaper than other 8TB SSDs? Is there some catch or defect I should be aware of?

 

[filpo]

4 minutes ago, Stevoisiak said:

While shopping for a high capacity 8TB SSD on PCPartPicker, I noticed the Samsung 870 QVO is listed at $345. The second least expensive drive, the Teamgroup EX2, is nearly double the price at $649.99.

 

Reviews of the 870 QVO (TomsHardware, PCMag, AnandTech) seem to be generally positive, leaving me confused at the price difference. There is a post from TechPowerup saying the 870's performance was weak for its original launch price, ($115 for 1TB), but the price has since dropped significantly. Samsung's 980 and 990 drives have had reliability issues, but I haven't heard of widespread issues with the 870.

 

Why is the 8TB Samsung 870 QVO so much cheaper than other 8TB SSDs? Is there some catch or defect I should be aware of?

 

Ye NAND prices are quite cheap nowadays

 

But also these are all deals of at least 50 bucks off (the one on Adorama is already a Black Friday deal apparently, though it doesn't state how much it's discounted by)

I think it's a good deal and if you need that storage then sure, get it

[RollinLower]

because the Samsung SSD is QLC, and the others are TLC:

i quote:
https://www.purestorage.com/au/knowledge/qlc-vs-tlc.html#:~:text=QLC SSDs can store more,less data and cost more.

Quote

QLC SSDs can store more data than TLC SSDs and they also cost less. However, they don't perform as well or last as long, and they can be more error-prone. TLC SSDs perform better and last longer than QLC SSDs but store less data and cost more.

 

[Quackers101]

there will always be a price difference of TLC, QLC, MLC nand?

Just dont fully trust it's lifespan and maybe the more recent QVO has some improvements? not fully sure what is worth what.

[Stevoisiak]

  

15 minutes ago, filpo said:

Ye NAND prices are quite cheap nowadays

 

But also these are all deals of at least 50 bucks off (the one on Adorama is already a Black Friday deal apparently, though it doesn't state how much it's discounted by)

I think it's a good deal and if you need that storage then sure, get it

My question is why the drive is cheaper relative to other drives on the market.

10 minutes ago, RollinLower said:

because the Samsung SSD is QLC, and the others are TLC:

i quote:
https://www.purestorage.com/au/knowledge/qlc-vs-tlc.html#:~:text=QLC SSDs can store more,less data and cost more.

 

Is the Samsung 870 the only QLC 8TB SSD on the market?

[RollinLower]

4 minutes ago, Stevoisiak said:

Is the Samsung 870 the only QLC 8TB SSD on the market?

i think it might be the only SATA one? Sabrent make a 8TB M.2 version with QLC (Rocket Q 8TB)

 

[mariushm]

You won't find MLC drives in that capacity because it costs too much to make.  TLC and QLC are cheaper to manufacture.

 

They don't make 8 TB drives in SATA for end users because they'd be too expensive compared to mechanical drives.

 

IF you want lots of space, you should also look at enterprise drives on eBay and other places.

 

For example you'll find Samsung PM863a  3.84 TB drives with minimal usage (ex 95% health) for around $200 : https://www.ebay.com/itm/203350180719

 

Micron 5200 Eco is also available at around $250 in 4 TB capacities.

[kokosnh]

1 hour ago, RollinLower said:

because the Samsung SSD is QLC, and the others are TLC:

I wouldn't be so sure about that.
Doing 8TB SSD you need some serious controller, with lots of channels, and CE lines, to connect to the NAND, and you need a dens NAND, tu use less CE lines (hence usually QLC used, as it's 1/4 more dance, then TLC)  
But with variants of 112l TLC kioxia, or 176l TLC Micron, and a controller with 32 CE lanes, you can do a 8TB TLC SSD.  


 

[RollinLower]

11 minutes ago, kokosnh said:

I wouldn't be so sure about that.
Doing 8TB SSD you need some serious controller, with lots of channels, and CE lines, to connect to the NAND, and you need a dens NAND, tu use less CE lines (hence usually QLC used, as it's 1/4 more dance, then TLC)  
But with variants of 112l TLC kioxia, or 176l TLC Micron, and a controller with 32 CE lanes, you can do a 8TB TLC SSD.  


 

did you check the SSDs in OP's comparison?

 

Samsung QVO = QLC

Samsung PM893 = TLC

Intel S4520 = TLC

Teamgroup EX2 = TLC

 

Outliers are the NVMe ones:

Oyen Digital = QLC, but PCIe gen 3

Mushkin Gamma = QLC but also PCIe gen 4

 

Most datacenter drives like Samsung's PM series are TLC to improve reliability.

[kokosnh]

1 hour ago, RollinLower said:

Samsung PM893 = TLC

Samsung Metis (8-Channels, 8CE/Channels, so 64CE) + DRAM + 128l TLC V-NAND V6 Smasung 
That's OK 
 

1 hour ago, RollinLower said:

Intel S4520 = TLC

144l TLC intel, don't know the controller, but possible, and is on QVL 
https://lenovopress.lenovo.com/lp1503-thinksystem-s4520-read-intensive-sata-6gb-ssds
 

1 hour ago, RollinLower said:

Teamgroup EX2 = TLC

 

SM2258XT (4-Channels, 4CE/Channels, so 16CE) + 96L TLC SanDisk (512Gb NAND dies) / 72l TLC Hynix (there is a version of this nand in 1Tb NAND dies, but it's 16 dies per Chip, you need more CE to connect it) 
Now this on is not possible, you will do 2TB one, but not 4TB, or 8TB ones. 
 

[ewitte]

Sales and it is SATA.  Most of the time I don't see that huge of a price difference between QLC and TLC drives of the same form factor.  At least not enough to justify buying them.  That is actually a pretty good price my 7.68TB PM9A3 was like 450 but that is TLC and PCIe 4.0 and a lot sturdier than the consumer drives.  The numbers on consumer drives are usually rated for burst numbers, Enterprise drives are rated at sustained workload.

[Doobeedoo]

They're Samsung they can sell as low, but also because of sales, lower quality NAND and component needed for it, SATA and SSDs are very cheap nowdays for TBs models. Pro drives are fine, just update firmware if available.