Samsung SSD SATA III 2.5"

The 870 QVO is the sensible sedan of SSDs, reliable and cheap, but don't expect sports car performance. Great for reading, terrible for heavy writing.

On paper, the 560 MB/s read and 530 MB/s write speeds are exactly what you'd expect from a SATA III drive, it's basically maxing out the interface. The real story is the QLC NAND. For loading games, booting Windows, or general snappiness, it feels great. But the 88K random write IOPS put it in the middle of the pack, and if you try to move a huge 100GB file, you'll see the cache run out and speeds plummet. It's a reader's drive, not a writer's drive.

The 870 QVO's biggest rival is its own sibling, the 870 EVO. The EVO uses TLC NAND, which means better endurance and more consistent write speeds, but it costs more. If you're just storing games and media, the QVO is fine. If you're doing video editing or constant file transfers, spend the extra on the EVO. Against newer NVMe drives like the Crucial T710 or MSI SPATIUM M480 PRO, the QVO gets absolutely smoked on speed, but those require an M.2 slot, which older machines simply don't have. For SATA-only systems, this is still one of the better options.

The value story here is a bit weird. In the US, prices swing wildly from USD 98 to USD 358 depending on the vendor, with Amazon showing the best deal at the low end. At USD 98, this is a no-brainer for a 1TB SSD. At USD 358, you're getting ripped off, go buy an NVMe drive instead. In Europe, the spread is tighter at EUR 376 to EUR 437, but honestly, those prices are absurd for a SATA drive in 2025. Shop around and don't pay a premium for the Samsung name.

The Samsung 870 QVO is the budget-friendly workhorse of the SATA SSD world. It's not going to win any speed contests against NVMe drives, but for breathing new life into an old laptop or adding a ton of cheap storage to a desktop, it's a solid pick. The one thing to know: this is a QLC drive, which means it's fantastic for reads and everyday use, but it will choke if you're constantly hammering it with massive write operations.

If you're doing heavy video editing, running a database, or constantly moving massive files, this isn't your drive. The QLC NAND will slow to a crawl once the cache fills up, and the 360 TBW endurance rating means you'll wear it out faster than a TLC drive. Get the 870 EVO or a good NVMe drive instead.

The Samsung 870 QVO is a solid, reliable SATA SSD for everyday use and bulk storage. It's not exciting, it's not fast by modern standards, but it does exactly what it promises: cheap, quiet, dependable storage. If you're upgrading an old laptop or need a big game library drive, buy it at the right price and don't look back.