When Samsung initially announced the SSD 960 PRO and SSD 960 EVO NVMe drives a few months back, we were eager to get our hands on them for some in-house testing. Their specifications, which included transfer speeds in excess of 3.2GB/s, were among the best we?d seen to date for consumer-class M.2-based solid state drives. Last month, when we were able to dig into the flagship Samsung SSD 960 PRO, we came away impressed. So impressed, that we gave the drive an Editor's Choice award.

Today, we get to take a close look at the more affordable Samsung SSD 960 EVO. Like the SSD 960 PRO, the EVO is packing Samsung's latest 5-core Polaris controller, but it features 3rd-gen 3-bit MLC V-NAND flash memory and a newly revamped version of TurboWrite. Though the SSD 960 EVO family's pricing places it firmly in the mainstream segment for NVMe-based solid state drives, its specifications should appeal to performance enthusiasts...