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Samsung 870 QVO vs Crucial MX500: Which one to buy and why

    Both Samsung and Crucial are famous for manufacturing affordable and highly spec’d SSDs. That is why their products are often the best-selling ones in the market. The Samsung 870 QVO and the Crucial MX500 are no exceptions to that.

    Trying to decide which one to buy between the two can be strenuous. That is why I have mustered the specifications, benchmarks, and prices along with a few other facts that you need to know about the different variants of the two SSDs in order to make an informed purchase decision.

    One of the most important points to discuss before anything else are the storage options. The Samsung 870 QVO comes in 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB, and 8 TB variants.

    Whereas, the Crucial MX500 comes in 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, and 4 TB variants.

    If you do not require 1 TB of space, you can choose the Crucial MX500 and if you require more than 2 TB of space, you can choose the Samsung 870 QVO. But if you are looking for a 1 TB or 2 TB SSD, you should keep reading to find the differences between the models.

    The following sequential read and write speeds have been sourced from the companies’ websites.

    Theoretical Read/Write Speed of the Samsung 870 QVO (Sequential)

    CapacitySequential Read Speed Sequential Write Speed
    Without TurbowriteWith Turbowrite
    1 TB560 MB/s80 MB/s530 MB/s
    2 TB560 MB/s160 MB/s530 MB/s
    4 TB560 MB/s160 MB/s530 MB/s
    8 TB560 MB/s160 MB/s530 MB/s
    Theoretical speed of SAMSUNG 870 QVO

    If a very small amount of data is written to the 1 TB variant, the write speed drops from 530 MB/s to 80 MB/s. Whereas, for the variants that have a capacity of 2 TB and above, the write speed drops from 530 MB/s to 160 MB/s. This happens because of the Intelligent Turbowrite feature. However, the read speeds are consistent across all the variants.

    Theoretical Read/Write Speed of the Crucial MX500 (Sequential)

    CapacitySequential Read SpeedSequential Write Speed
    250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB560 MB/s510 MB/s
    Speeds of the Crucial MX500

    The sequential read and write speeds of all the variants of the Crucial MX500 are identical. As the read speeds rise up to 560 MB/s, the write speeds cap at 510 MB/s.

    With the data provided by the official manufacturers, we can see that there is not much difference between the two SSDs. Having said that, how well they are actually going to perform can be found only in the benchmark results.

    Benchmarking reveals the true potential of SSDs and that is why you must consider these scores in order to make a choice.

    Benchmark Scores of the Samsung 870 QVO

    VariantSequential Read SpeedSequential Write SpeedRandom 4K Read SpeedRandom 4K Write Speed
    1 TB476 MB/s387 MB/s33.5 MB/s89.9 MB/s
    2 TB488 MB/s425 MB/s34.8 MB/s94.6 MB/s
    4 TB492 MB/s435 MB/s35.5 MB/s89.6 MB/s
    8 TB478 MB/s423 MB/s34.2 MB/s84.7 MB/s
    Benchmark scores of the Samsung 870 QVO

    With these benchmarking scores, we can observe that the SSD has an average sequential read speed of 483.5 MB/s and a write speed of 417.5 MB/s. The average random 4K read speed is decent at 34.5 MB/s and the average random 4K write speed stands at an exceptional 89.7 MB/s!

    Benchmark Scores of the Crucial MX500

    VariantSequential Read SpeedSequential Write SpeedRandom 4K Read SpeedRandom 4K Write Speed
    250 GB474 MB/s401 MB/s32.7 MB/s82.9 MB/s
    500 GB475 MB/s422 MB/s33.3 MB/s85.2 MB/s
    1 TB477 MB/s418 MB/s33.5 MB/s84.8 MB/s
    2 TB484 MB/s424 MB/s33.6 MB/s86.4 MB/s
    Benchmark scores of the Crucial MX500

    The Crucial MX500 has an average sequential read speed of 477.5 MB/s and a write speed of 416.25 MB/s. The average random 4K read speed is at a satisfactory 33.3 MB/s and the average random 4K write speed comes at an impressive 84.8 MB/s.

    With all this information we can conclude that the read and write speeds of the Samsung 870 QVO are moderately more than that of the Crucial MX500. And the extraordinary average of 89.7 MB/s in the 4K write speed tests serves as a cherry on top.

    It is to be noted that performances vary with configurations but if you have a decent spec’d computer with SATA III protocols, you can expect similar results.

    The endurance of SSDs is fairly difficult to determine practically. The usage and environment heavily impact an SSD’s life. Nonetheless, these are the figures that are furnished by the companies.

    Endurance of Samsung 870 QVO

    VariantTeraBytes Written (TBW)Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF)
    1 TB3601.5 million hours
    2 TB7201.5 million hours
    4 TB14401.5 million hours
    8 TB28801.5 million hours
    Samsung 870 QVO endurance

    Endurance of Crucial MX500

    VariantTeraBytes Written (TBW)Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF)
    250 GB1001.5 million hours
    500 GB1801.5 million hours
    1 TB3601.5 million hours
    2 TB7001.5 million hours
    Crucial MX500 endurance

    The endurance level of the 1TB variants of both SSDs is identical. The 2TB variant of the Samsung 870 QVO has more durability. So by comparing the data provided by the companies, the 870 QVO comes out to be on top.

    You can know more about TBW and SSD Endurance here.

    As you are now aware of the performance and durability of both the SSDs, it is time to compare them in terms of their prices.

    Note: The prices of any product vary depending on the time of your purchase and your location among other factors. The prices are sourced from official websites on the date of the writing of this article.

    Prices

    There are only two storage capacities that are mutual for both SSDs i.e. 1TB and 2TB. The prices of both are almost similar. When comparing their prices overall, the 1TB Crucial MX500 is cheaper than the 1TB Samsung 870 QVO. Whereas, the prices of the 2TB variants of the two SSDs are identical.

    6. Other Features and Differences

    1. Form Factor

    Both the Samsung 870 QVO and the Crucial MX500 are SATA III SSDs that come in the 2.5” form factor.

    2. Controller

    The Samsung 870 QVO comes with the Samsung MKX Controller with these configurations (Tri-core, 8-ch, 8-CE/ch). Whereas the Crucial MX500 comes with the SMI SM2258 Controller with these configurations (Single-core, 4-ch, 8-CE/ch).

    3. NAND Type

    The Samsung 870 QVO is based on the Samsung 1Tbit 92L 3D QLC NAND and the Crucial MX500 is based on Micron’s 256GB 64-layer 3D TLC NAND.

    4. Cache Type

    Samsung 870 QVO Cache Storage

    VariantCache Storage
    250 GBSamsung 1 GB Low Power DDR4 SDRAM
    500 GBSamsung 2 GB Low Power DDR4 SDRAM
    1 TBSamsung 4 GB Low Power DDR4 SDRAM
    2 TBSamsung 8 GB Low Power DDR4 SDRAM
    Cache storage used in the Samsung 870 QVO

    Crucial MX500 Cache Storage

    VariantCache Storage
    250 GB250 MB SLC Cache
    500 GB500 MB SLC Cache
    1 TB1 GB SLC Cache
    2 TB2 GB SLC Cache
    Cache storage used in the Crucial MX500

    4. Warranty

    The Samsung 870 QVO comes with 3 years of warranty whereas the Crucial MX500 comes with 5 years of warranty.

    Both the SSDs have lots of positive reviews about them on the internet. But then at the end of the day, you have to choose between the two.

    Even though the Samsung 870 QVO is a great SSD, the Crucial comes out to be on top when pitted against it. The reason why I say this is because the Crucial MX500 comes with a TLC NAND Flash while the Samsung 870 QVO has the QLC NAND.

    I am not denying the fact that the 870 QVO is a great SSD. But, when it comes to reliability, TLC NAND Flash is clearly better than the QLC NAND Flash.

    I hope that this article has cleared your doubts and made it easy for you to make a decision. You can get in touch if you have any queries.

    Thanks for reading!

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    10 months ago

    This is misleading. Samsung is using QLC which will die faster than what they put in their endurance spec than TLC. Never trust manufacturer specs.

    Corey
    Corey
    9 months ago
    Reply to  Anshul Rana

    They are identical on 1TB and on 2TB Samsung wins buy 20 TBW an increase of 2.8% whereas none of these TBWs from either manufacturer will be reached even as a heavy user at 2.7 TBs per week

    Last edited 9 months ago by Anshul Rana
    Madhav Pujara
    Madhav Pujara
    9 months ago
    Reply to  Anshul Rana

    I really wanna ask will a regular user /developer like me who doesn’t code that much but work more online which of this is good i bought the Samsung but i am having second thoughts after reading reviews should i buy Evo from samsung and return the qvo