We are gradually seeing more and more SSDs, both SATA and NVMe based, being launched into the market using the latest 4-bit or QLC NAND flash technology. The latest drive to hit the market is the 4TB flagship drive of Samsung's SSD 860 QVO range – the company's first drive family to use 4-bit NAND.
The QLC equipped 860 QVO is the latest member of Samsung's SSD 860 product line, joining the 860 PRO (MLC NAND) and 860 EVO (TLC NAND). It uses a combination of 64-layer 1Tb 4-bit (QLC) V-NAND (Samsung call it 4-bit MLC V-NAND), a Samsung MJX controller and LPDDR4 cache, which in the case of the 4TB drive is 4GB in size.
The 4TB 860 QVO is rated at up to 550MB/s and 520MB/s for Sequential read/writes respectively (these figures are the same for all the drives in the SSD 860 QVO line-up). Random 4K reads are quoted as 97,000 IOPS with writes at 89,000.
The endurance for the 4TB SSD 860 QVO is very good for a QLC drive at 1,440TB TBW over the 3-year warranty Samsung backs the drive with.
Physical Specifications:
- Usable Capacities: 4TB.
- NAND Components: Samsung 64-layer 4-Bit (QLC) V-VAND.
- NAND Controller: Samsung MJX.
- Cache: 4GB LPDDR4
- Interface: Serial ATA (SATA) 6Gb/s (SATA III)
- Form Factor: 2.5in, 7mm
- Dimensions: 100 x 69.85 x 7mm
Firmware Version: RVQ01B6Q