Samsung 860 EVO: Further proof that TLC-NAND SSD can be fast and affordable

The 860 EVO performs as well, or better than, most MLC-NAND SSDS we’ve tested.

The Samsung 860 EVO has convinced us: It is now safe to equate TLC (Triple-level-cell) SSDS with top-notch SATA performance. TLC-NAND SSDS used to be more about affordability, but the 860 EVO is the third TLC-NAND drive we’ve tested that doesn’t bog down on long sustained transfers. (The other drives are the identical-except-for-the-label WD Blue 3D ( go.pcworld.com/wd3d) and Sandisk Ultra 3D ( go.pcworld.com/su3d).)

We even quadrupled our normal 20GB copies, and the 860 EVO easily maintained the pace. In fact, despite being quite a bit cheaper, the 860 EVO’S performance compares more than favorably with that of its 860 Pro cousin ( go.pcworld.com/86pr).