Almost two years ago, Samsung brought to market the world's first 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD, the 960 Pro 2TB. The exotic MLC powered 2TB 960 Pro came with eye-popping $1,300 price tag that placed out of reach for the typical consumer. Now, Samsung is back with another 2TB single-sided M.2 NVMe SSD and this time it's much more affordable. Enter the 970 EVO 2TB. Like the 960 Pro 2TB, Samsung's 970 EVO is a desirable single sided design but thanks to advances in 3-bit flash technology, the cost of ownership isn't nearly as steep.

When the 2TB 960 Pro emerged on the scene, Samsung's own 256Gbit flash was the highest density in production. The 960 Pro employed four 512GB flash packages, each composed of sixteen 256Gbit (32GB) die. With 512GB flash packages at the top of the food chain, Samsung had to fit four flash packages, DRAM and a controller on one side of the 2TB 960 Pro's PCB to achieve a single-sided design. Not easy to do.