Samsung 2TB SSD SATA III

The 870 EVO 2TB maxes out SATA III at 560 MB/s read and carries a 1,200 TBW endurance rating that ranks in the 86th percentile. It's backed by a 5-year warranty and a 4.8-star average from 94,613 reviews. But it's expensive for what it is, and if you have an M.2 slot, any NVMe drive will run circles around it.

Sequential reads hit 560 MB/s and writes reach 530 MB/s, which is the absolute ceiling for SATA III. There's nowhere left to go on this interface. The random read performance of 98K IOPS is respectable for a SATA drive, but the 36K random write IOPS is where you feel the age of this form factor. That lands the random performance in the 40th percentile, which is about average for SATA drives but looks rough next to any NVMe drive from the last three years.

The Intelligent TurboWrite feature helps maintain write speeds during bursts, using a portion of the TLC NAND as a faster SLC buffer. The DRAM cache and Samsung's MKX controller keep things steady under sustained loads. For everyday tasks like booting Windows, loading apps, or moving files around, this drive feels snappy. But if you're editing 4K video or doing heavy database work, the SATA bottleneck will remind you it's there every single day.

Against the Micron T710, Crucial T500, and Kingston Fury Renegade, the 870 EVO loses every speed benchmark by a landslide. Those are NVMe drives pushing thousands of MB/s, while this Samsung is stuck at 560 MB/s. But here's the thing, those competitors require an M.2 slot, and if you're upgrading an older machine with only SATA ports, they're not even options. The Crucial T500 and Kingston Fury Renegade are faster in every measurable way, but they can't touch the 870 EVO's 1,200 TBW endurance rating or its 5-year warranty. The Team Group MP44 and Lexar NM1090 PRO are similarly faster but less proven. If you have an M.2 slot, buy an NVMe drive and don't look back. If you don't, this Samsung is the best SATA drive you can get.

The value story here is complicated. Affordability ranks in the 19th percentile, which means you're paying a premium for the Samsung name and that endurance rating. US prices swing wildly from USD 205 to USD 1,000 across 12 listings, so shopping around is not optional. The Best Buy listings tend to sit at the lower end of that range, while some Amazon third-party sellers are asking absurd money for the same drive. In Canada, the spread is tighter at CAD 925 to CAD 1,180, but that's still a CAD 255 gap for identical hardware. If you can find this drive near the USD 205 mark, the price per terabyte is reasonable for a drive with this endurance. At USD 1,000, you're getting robbed.

The Samsung 870 EVO 2TB hits the SATA ceiling at 560 MB/s read and 530 MB/s write. That's the maximum this interface allows, so if you're upgrading an older laptop or desktop, you're getting every drop of performance the connection can deliver. The 1,200 TBW endurance rating is the real story here, landing in the 86th percentile and backed by a 5-year warranty. Samsung didn't reinvent anything with this drive, they just made the most reliable SATA SSD you can buy.

Our database puts this drive's social proof in the 95th percentile with a 4.8-star average across 94,613 reviews. That's not marketing noise, that's nearly a hundred thousand people saying this thing just works. The feature set scores in the 94th percentile too, thanks to hardware encryption and the Samsung Magician software. But the speed ranking sits at a mediocre 38th percentile overall, because SATA is SATA, and NVMe drives have left it in the dust.

Anyone with an M.2 slot should skip this drive without a second thought. The 38th percentile speed ranking and 36K random write IOPS are simply not competitive with NVMe drives at similar or lower prices. The portable score of 18.4 out of 100 also rules this out for external enclosure use where you'd want something more rugged. And if you're on a tight budget, the 19th percentile affordability ranking means you can find cheaper SATA SSDs from Crucial or Team Group that will do the job fine, just with less endurance and a shorter warranty.

The Samsung 870 EVO 2TB is the best SATA SSD for people who can't use NVMe. The 1,200 TBW endurance rating and 5-year warranty mean this drive will likely outlast the computer you put it in. The 560 MB/s read speed is the SATA ceiling, so you're not leaving performance on the table. But the 19th percentile affordability ranking stings, and the 36K random write IOPS is a reminder that SATA is a legacy interface. If you have an M.2 slot, skip this entirely and get an NVMe drive. If you're stuck with SATA, this is the drive to buy, just wait for a sale and don't pay more than USD 250.