DATA SHEET

Rev. 1.2, October, 2017

PROPRIETARY

Summary

- PCIe 3.0 x4 NVM Express SSD for Client PCs

- M.2 (2280)

- Samsung V-NAND

- Samsung Polaris controller

- Samsung Magician Software for SSD

management

THE SAMSUNG NVMe SSD

960 PRO

The new Samsung SSD 960PRO is the 2

generation NVMe SSD for Samsung’s client

PC SSD. As such, the Samsung SSD 960 PRO

is designed for professionals & enthusiasts

that are seeking next generation

performance and endurance. It offers the

ultimate in performance, breaks storage

limits for the m.2 form factor and banks on

its solid reliability to offer customers the

most advanced SSD technology currently

available for client PCs

Samsung’s unique and innovative V-NAND

flash memory architecture is a breakthrough

in overcoming the density limitations, while

improving on the performance and

endurance of today’s conventional planar

NAND architecture. V-NAND is fabricated by

stacking layers vertically over one another

rather than decreasing the cells dimensions

and trying to fit itself onto a fixed horizontal

space resulting in higher density and better

performance utilizing a smaller footprint.

Experience next-generation

professional performance

and endurance

This cutting-edge V-NAND-based NVMe

Samsung SSD 960 PRO M.2

Data Sheet Rev.1.2 (October 2017)

DATA SHEET

Rev. 1.2, October, 2017

PROPRIETARY

SSD supports PCI Express® Gen 3 x4 lanes,

providing a higher bandwidth and lower

latency to process even more massive

amounts of data than our previous-

generation NVMe SSD.

Building on the PCIe Gen. 3.0 x 4 lane

interface and support of the NVMe 1.2

protocol, the 960PRO, in combination with

our advanced 3rd generation V-NAND and

newly developed Polaris controller is able to

offer sequential read performance of

3,500MB/s and sequential write speeds of

2,100MB/s. The 960PRO achieves random

performance of up to 440,000IOPS and

360,000IOPS for read and write operations

respectively for industry leading

performance across key metrics.

Breaking storage limits

Thanks to our advanced packaging

technology, the use of a four-landing-design

and the integration of the DRAM and Polaris

Controller in a Package-on-Package solution

the 960PRO becomes the world’s first client

PC SSD in the standard 2280 m.2 form factor

to be able to pack 2TB of capacity. For

greater consumer choice, the 960PRO will

also be available in 1TB and 512GB versions

Bank on solid reliability

The 960 PRO, thanks to the use of our 3

generation V-NAND Flash technology, offers

users not only improved performance and

higher density, but also solid reliability.

The 960 PRO’s improved thermal solutions,

advanced hardware encryption and

enhanced endurance enable users to

confidently entrust their data to their SSD

Improved thermal solutions

In most cases of data transfers, heavy

workloads can induce heat and result in high

temperatures. Once temperatures reach a

threshold, memory performance may be

adversely affected. As the leader in SSD

memory solutions, the 960 PRO adopts a

new heat spreader for dissipating heat more

efficiently during heavy workload use. It

achieves this by integrating a thin copper

film and because copper is a great heat

conductor it helps to shed heat faster than

would be possible without the label.

Furthermore, the new 4 landing design also

improves thermal characteristics, as it can

reduce heat generation per unit area.

Advanced data encryption

The 960 PRO provides the same data

encryption features as other Samsung SATA

SSDs. Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) security

technology will help keep data safe at all

times. It includes an AES 256-bit hardware-

based encryption engine to ensure that your

personal files remain secure. Being

hardware-based, the encryption engine

secures your data without performance

degradation that you may experience with a

software-based encryption. Also, the

960PRO is compliant with advanced security

management solutions (TCG Opal and

Encrypted Drive - IEEE1667).

Enhanced endurance

When users spend money on an SSD, first of

all, they consider value for money and want

an SSD that will last. Starting with the 850

PRO, Samsung’s 1st V-NAND SATA SSD,

Samsung’s V-NAND changed the paradigm.

Now in its 3rd generation, the 960 PRO

boasts Total Bytes Written of up to 1.2

Petabytes for the 2TB model.