The 970 series of SSDs enter a market that’s more challenging than ever before. With competition like the WD Black nipping at the 960’s heels, the 970 line has something to prove if it wants to retain its place as atop the mountain of consumer mindshare. Samsung seemed keenly aware that their competitors were drawing in and in some cases even surpassing the 960 series in performance, thus with the quoted specs, release window, and last minute price drop all seem calculated to undercut the competition and defend their place in the market.

It’s not all pricing and flying high on reputation, however, as the 970s bring with them core improvements over the 960. Foremost is the new Phoenix Controller. The controller features five cores, like the 960, but one is dedicated to increasing the speed of communications with the PC while the others feature higher clock rates to deliver a solid performance boost. The PRO also features new 64-layer 3D flash to improve latency and reduce power consumption.