Samsung 2TB SSD

The 870 EVO hits the SATA III ceiling at 560 MB/s read and 530 MB/s write, backed by a stellar 1200 TBW endurance rating. It's the most reliable SATA SSD you can buy, with a 4.8-star average from nearly 49,000 reviews. Just know you're paying a premium for compatibility, not speed, with affordability landing in the 17th percentile.

Let's talk numbers. The 870 EVO delivers 560 MB/s sequential read and 530 MB/s sequential write, which is the absolute maximum SATA III can physically handle. Samsung's TurboWrite technology keeps those write speeds from cratering during large transfers, and the DRAM cache helps maintain consistency. Random performance comes in at 98K read IOPS and 36K write IOPS, which lands in the 40th percentile overall. That's about average for SATA drives, but it's a far cry from what NVMe drives are doing these days.

The MKX controller paired with TLC NAND is a proven combo. Samsung has been refining this architecture for years, and it shows in the endurance numbers. 1200 TBW means you could write 650 GB every single day for five years and still be within warranty. The 1.5 million hour MTBF is more of a theoretical number, but it reinforces the point: this drive is built to be boring in the best way possible.

Stacked against the Western Digital Black SN850X, the 870 EVO looks like it's running in slow motion. The SN850X is an NVMe drive that absolutely crushes SATA speeds, and it's often cheaper per gigabyte. The Kingston FURY Renegade G5 and Crucial T500 are in the same boat, offering PCIe 4.0 speeds that make 560 MB/s look quaint. But here's the thing: those drives won't fit in an older laptop or desktop with only SATA ports. The 870 EVO's real competition is other SATA drives, and in that arena, it's still the king. The Seagate FireCuda 530R and SanDisk WD_BLACK are NVMe options that outclass it on speed but can't touch its compatibility story. If your machine has an M.2 slot, skip this. If it doesn't, this is the best SATA drive you can buy.

Here's where things get tricky. The 870 EVO sits in the 17th percentile for affordability, which is rough for a SATA drive in 2024. US prices swing wildly from $450 to $1,300 depending on the retailer, and that spread is honestly absurd for the same 2TB drive. Newegg tends to have the most competitive listings in our data, while Best Buy's Geek Squad Certified Refurbished option can save you money if you're comfortable with refurbished hardware. Canadian buyers see a tighter range of CAD 925 to CAD 1,062, with Memory Express usually landing on the lower end. You're paying a premium for the Samsung name and that 1200 TBW endurance rating, but when NVMe drives with double the speed cost less, the value proposition gets hard to defend.

The Samsung 870 EVO 2TB hits 560 MB/s read and 530 MB/s write, which is basically the ceiling for SATA III. That's not a typo. This drive squeezes every last drop out of the old SATA interface, and while it won't touch NVMe speeds, it's the best you can do without swapping your motherboard. The 1200 TBW endurance rating and 5-year warranty tell you Samsung expects this thing to outlive most of the PCs it goes into.

Our database puts this drive in the 95th percentile for social proof, backed by a 4.8-star average across nearly 49,000 reviews. People love this drive. The feature set lands in the 94th percentile too, thanks to hardware encryption and Samsung's Magician software. But the speed ranking sits at a mediocre 38th percentile, which is the SATA tax in action. You're buying reliability and compatibility here, not raw throughput.

Skip this drive if your system has an M.2 slot. The 870 EVO's 38th percentile speed ranking and 17th percentile affordability make it a poor value when NVMe drives like the WD Black SN850X or Crucial T500 offer dramatically better performance for less money. Also skip it if you're building a portable rig, the portable use case score of 19.2 out of 100 is one of the weakest we've seen. And if you're on a tight budget, the $450 to $1,300 US price spread means you can find faster storage for less if you shop around. This drive is for people with SATA-only systems who prioritize reliability over raw speed.

The Samsung 870 EVO 2TB is the best SATA SSD on the market, full stop. The 560 MB/s read speed maxes out the interface, the 1200 TBW endurance rating is exceptional, and nearly 49,000 reviews averaging 4.8 stars tell you everything about real-world reliability. But the 17th percentile affordability ranking stings, especially when faster NVMe drives cost less. Buy this if you're upgrading an older system that only has SATA ports and you want maximum reliability. If you have an M.2 slot available, spend your money on an NVMe drive instead and get 5-10x the speed for the same price or less.