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F-Train

macrumors 68020
Apr 22, 2015
2,272
1,762
NYC & Newfoundland
I returned the 970 EVO plus 2tb and upgraded to 980 Pro, didnt want to deal with another return if the elpis 970 EVO Plus performed just as bad.

It’s frustrating since 970 Evo pre-plus works flawlessly. Oh well

The 980 Pro is one of the options that I'm considering. Sounds like it's working out for you. Which enclosure are you using?
 
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funkahdafi

Suspended
Original poster
Mar 16, 2009
377
112
Planet Earth
Has anyone tried the 980? Which is supposedly the successor to the 970 Evo Plus (They dropped the Evo name for the 980 generation). It has no DRAM so is cheaper and instead uses a little bit of system RAM, which is called HMB. I have a feeling that is not going to work well in a TB3 caddy.

The 980 Pro is not the successor to the 970 Evo (Plus). It's the successor to the 970 Pro. Evo and Pro are two different product lines (Evo being the budget SSD, Pro being the "high-end" SSD).
 

Ploki

macrumors 601
Jan 21, 2008
4,325
1,560
The 980 Pro is one of the options that I'm considering. Sounds like it's woking out for you. Which enclosure are you using?
Haven't received the 980 Pro yet unfortunately.
Using JEYI from AliExpress, original run from late 2018.

speeds with 970 EVO: 2500/2200 r/w
970 EvO Plus 2500/900 r/w

will post 980 pro speeds when i get them

The 980 Pro is not the successor to the 970 Evo (Plus). It's the successor to the 970 Pro. Evo and Pro are two different product lines (Evo being the budget SSD, Pro being the "high-end" SSD).
980 Pro is not a successor to 970 Pro in any real sense, 970 Pro was MLC, 980 Pro is TLC like 970 EVO / EVO Plus.

980 Pro however is PCIe 4.0, while 970 EVO Plus is PCIe 3.0 like original 970 EVO and 970 Pro.

There's also 980 (nonpro), also PCIe. Performs similar to 970 EVO Plus, slower reads but faster writes.
 

bsbeamer

macrumors 601
Sep 19, 2012
4,313
2,713
Has anyone tried 980 (non-pro) in a TB3 caddy?

Until very recently, I had not seen or found standard 980 models (yellow accents on label) in capacities other than 250GB and 500GB within the USA and largely paid no attention to them. Standard SATA SSDs were more useful for my work at those capacities.

Best Buy and B&H currently have the 1TB model in stock with model number MZ-V8V1T0B/AM. Amazon only has through some random 3rd parties that I likely would never buy from. I'm guessing supply chain issues behind this.

The standard/non-pro 980 uses the Samsung Pablo controller. The 980 PRO uses the Samsung Elpsis controller. In the past, the controller is really what determined any issues with macOS (not capacity or specific model).

Separately, there are some adapters that do not like PCIe 4.0 based blades for whatever reason. Personally have not yet run into that issue with Orico adapters. Other brand/make adapters do not like 2TB (or larger) blades at all. Some will work with single sided 2TB, but generally have performance issues compared to the 1TB siblings (which I assume is heat related). Some adapters do not work with double-sided blades at all.
 
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funkahdafi

Suspended
Original poster
Mar 16, 2009
377
112
Planet Earth
Some who are holding out for an M1/AS MP (or found this thread) might want to read this report:

Thunderbolt 4 does not have to support all USB standards as per its specification. If you're trying to hook up a USB SSD enclosure to a Thunderbolt port, you're doing it wrong. Use a Thunderbolt enclosure. That's why it's called Thunderbolt ports and not USB ports.
 

joevt

macrumors 604
Jun 21, 2012
6,967
4,262
Some who are holding out for an M1/AS MP (or found this thread) might want to read this report:
The USB problems have already been discussed at https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ally-10gb-s-also-definitely-not-usb4.2269777/
Read it for more info.
 

Ploki

macrumors 601
Jan 21, 2008
4,325
1,560
wtf, EVO 1TB 95% full does 1700mb/s write while a brand new EVO 970 Plus 50% free space does measly 900mb/s.

SAME port, Same cable, same enclosure.
Here we go
Old full 970 EVO 1TB,
brand new 970 EVO Plus 2TB
brand new 980 Pro 2TB
 

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F-Train

macrumors 68020
Apr 22, 2015
2,272
1,762
NYC & Newfoundland
The following post shows the Blackmagic Disk Speed read and write results that I got yesterday with a new 2TB Samsung EVO Plus in a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure (TekQ Cube): https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...orage-read-write-speeds.2340127/post-31032781

As the post below it says, I expect to receive a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro today. I'll be posting those results as well. The 980 Pro costs quite a bit more, but I expect a significant improvement in write speed.
 

F-Train

macrumors 68020
Apr 22, 2015
2,272
1,762
NYC & Newfoundland
The following post shows the Blackmagic Disk Speed read and write results that I got yesterday with a new 2TB Samsung EVO Plus in a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure (TekQ Cube): https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...orage-read-write-speeds.2340127/post-31032781

As the post below it says, I expect to receive a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro today. I'll be posting those results as well. The 980 Pro costs quite a bit more, but I expect a significant improvement in write speed.


My Samsung 980 Pro results are here in post #37: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...orage-read-write-speeds.2340127/post-31035631

There is a huge difference in write speed.
 

godzfire

macrumors regular
May 20, 2013
108
16
I wanted to wait until I got a 2nd TB3 enclosure to be absolutely sure before I contacted Samsung, but no matter what TB3 case I use with my 970 Evo Plus TB, it maxes out at ~1300 write, half of what it should be getting. They're hearing from me tomorrow.

NVME Enclosure - ACASIS FA-401
NVME Enclosure - ACASIS FA-401.png

NVME Enclosure - TREBLEET TRE-SIG-TB3-NV
NVME Enclosure - TREBLEET TRE-SIG-TB3-NV.png
 

dcmaccam

macrumors 6502
Sep 14, 2017
274
50
West Coast of Scotland
I opened up my Samsung X5 Thunderbolt drive and replaced the original 500GB drive with a 2TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus and only getting 800MB/s write 2500MB/s read. Found a 500GB WD 750_Black so I thought I would try that and all good after that. So I might return/sell the 2TB and purchase a 1TB WD 750_Black. It also seems to run a lot cooler.

I now believe that I may also have an issue with the 1TB WD 750_Black with slow write speeds. Maybe a controller change in that drive ??

Also any free Mac Apps that I can use to monitor/check the temps/usage of an SSD

DiskSpeedTest.png
 
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godzfire

macrumors regular
May 20, 2013
108
16
I called Samsung Memory Services yesterday about the 970 Evo Plus and only getting half (~1200) of the promised write speeds that's been a well documented for MacOS and that specific SSD model. The guy on the phone basically acknowledged it COULD be a problem buy because I didn't have an internal machine to test it with (only external enclosures), he couldn't rule out my external case/computer being the issue (despite me explaining to him that I tested multiple connections and different cases, and this is a known documented issue). He sent me a SSD RMA to fill out and include all the information I've gathered and forum links to support my claim.

I'm asking the community: For anyone who has 970 Evo Plus and macOS, can you please describe what speeds you are getting and if you initiated an RMA and how it went?
 

godzfire

macrumors regular
May 20, 2013
108
16
I called Samsung Memory Services yesterday about the 970 Evo Plus and only getting half (~1200) of the promised write speeds that's been a well documented for MacOS and that specific SSD model. The guy on the phone basically acknowledged it COULD be a problem buy because I didn't have an internal machine to test it with (only external enclosures), he couldn't rule out my external case/computer being the issue (despite me explaining to him that I tested multiple connections and different cases, and this is a known documented issue). He sent me a SSD RMA to fill out and include all the information I've gathered and forum links to support my claim.

I'm asking the community: For anyone who has 970 Evo Plus and macOS, can you please describe what speeds you are getting and if you initiated an RMA and how it went?

Also does anyone have the revision 2 (elpis chipset) version of the 970 Evo Plus, and if so, does that fix the write speed issue?

FYI here is an article on the controller switch: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/samsung-is-swapping-ssd-parts-too
 
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dcmaccam

macrumors 6502
Sep 14, 2017
274
50
West Coast of Scotland
My 2TB 970 EVO Plus seems to have the new box which seems to indicate new version. The model number is MZV7S2T0BWBuild date 09/2021
Don't know if it has the new controller or not. Don't really want to pull the label off to find out. I think the firmware is 2B2QEXM7
 

bsbeamer

macrumors 601
Sep 19, 2012
4,313
2,713
MZV7S2T0BW = Samsung Phoenix Controller


FYI, 2B2QEXM7 is not the latest firmware. 4B2QEXM7 is available:

And for Mac users who want to update firmware, might want to scan the first post in this thread. Might be helpful.
 
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dcmaccam

macrumors 6502
Sep 14, 2017
274
50
West Coast of Scotland
Is that not the firmware not for the one with the other controller? Anyway I don't have any way to update the one I have. Plus still don't know if it will solve the slow write problem in my Samsung X5 Thunderbolt enclosure.
 

godzfire

macrumors regular
May 20, 2013
108
16
The old Phoenix controller firmware only is compatible with and goes up to the 2x version. The Elpis controller is 3x and can be updated to 4x, but no one has commented yet who owns a version with the new controller if they are getting proper speeds.
 
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MrAverigeUser

macrumors 6502a
May 20, 2015
895
397
europe
My 2TB 970 EVO Plus seems to have the new box which seems to indicate new version. The model number is MZV7S2T0BWBuild date 09/2021
Don't know if it has the new controller or not. Don't really want to pull the label off to find out. I think the firmware is 2B2QEXM7

FYI:

My 2 Samsung 970 EVO plus 2 TB blades have as well the 2.xxx Firmware and the Phoenix controller, they were produced in 7/2021.

I did not use them with an external device, but internally in my MBP 15“ from 2015 and get 2.800 read and write. So, at least if used internally, they deliver what Samsung promised. Posted my results with blackmagic test about a month before, so everyone can have a look at those data.

so, in my opinion, as the Samsung 970 EVO pro evidently delivers well if used internally, the problem is less on Samsung‘s side, but perhaps more one of the external enclosure - be it overheating, electronically hardware-problems or mal-adapted internal software Of the enclosure ?
 
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