Will we see 500GB Samsung EVO 860 (or a newer version) SATA 2.5" SSD for $60 this BF?

[VirtualLarry]

I'm hoping!

Right now, it's hovering around $87.99. on Newegg. With a 10-15% off coupon-week special promo code off, it could be a bit cheaper.

Right now, the Team Group L5 Lite 3D NAND 480GB SATA 2.5" SSD is $62.99, getting very close to $60.

So I assume that we will see those for $55 or less on BF.

Samsung, may take a little bit longer to get down there.

I did pick up some 250GB 860 EVO SATA 2.5" drives, for $50.99 after promo code a few days ago.

If the 500GB does drop to $60 or less, I'll outfit every PC that I'm actively using with one, laptops that have hard-to-change HDD bays excluded. (I've got an Asus laptop, with a Silicon Power S60 480GB SATA 2.5" SSD in it, that was a royal PITA to change out, don't want to change it again unless it fails.)

 

[UsandThem]

I can see place like Amazon having short-term sale prices on SSDs around the holidays. The prices have been falling quite a bit, and Amazon had the great deal on the 1TB MX500 on Prime Day for $140, and that was before the price really began to fall. I think I've even seen the EVO around the $80 mark with promo codes at Newegg if I'm not mistaken. The 500GB 860 EVO has decreased in price by roughly 50% since February:

Heck, even RAM is finally dropping in price, and so have GPU prices (outside of the insanely expensive RX cards). Now if only Intel didn't have 14nm shortages driving up the prices of their CPUs, things would mostly back to "normal" in the PC building market.

 

[SimplyComplex]

The 860 EVO specifically? Maybe, maybe not. Samsung has had a spotty track record of NewEgg BF sales.

Some quality 500 gb ssd with some DRAM cache(256mb+) up for $60? I'd say it's pretty likely. Though it may be Intel, Mushkin or Crucial instead of Samsung.

My interest is in the 1tb range. I suspect they're not going to have a great sale on those. The 1tb pricing has been stickier than the 500gb pricing lately. I see 500gb all the time at < $80 but rarely see a quality 1tb at < $150. I'd like a $100-120 1tb drive of quality, but not really holding out for one this year.

I think raw months may matter more than sales periods for this run. I expect normal prices in Summer of 2019 to be lower than BF sales prices this year.

 

[VirtualLarry]

You know, I just had another thought. What if, Samsung came out with a budget, DRAM-less SSD? Or is that what the 750 EVO was? I don't recall seeing those for sale any more from primary retail sources.

What gave me that idea, was that Crucial released the BX500 SSDs, which I believe are DRAM-less, for $20 less for the 500GB model, than their flagship consumer drive, the MX500. ($80 versus $100)

Maybe we'll see something similar pulled by Samsung?

 

[UsandThem]

They could possibly make and sell a lower performance drive to OEMs, but since they are the "gold standard" in anything SSD, and control much of the market right now, they probably don't feel the need to compete in the lower segment. They are kind of like Apple in that regard, as people generally are willing to pay extra because of their track record in SSDs.

I mean look how long it took their competitors to catch up to the 850 EVO and 950 PRO when they were first released. It was not until this generation others finally caught up to those drive's performance.

 

[dainthomas]

The 860 EVO specifically? Maybe, maybe not. Samsung has had a spotty track record of NewEgg BF sales.

Some quality 500 gb ssd with some DRAM cache(256mb+) up for $60? I'd say it's pretty likely. Though it may be Intel, Mushkin or Crucial instead of Samsung.

My interest is in the 1tb range. I suspect they're not going to have a great sale on those. The 1tb pricing has been stickier than the 500gb pricing lately. I see 500gb all the time at < $80 but rarely see a quality 1tb at < $150. I'd like a $100-120 1tb drive of quality, but not really holding out for one this year.

I think raw months may matter more than sales periods for this run. I expect normal prices in Summer of 2019 to be lower than BF sales prices this year.

If there was a decent 500gb drive for ~$60, I'd be super tempted to grab a couple and put them in RAID 0 for my boot drive.

 

[Shmee]

I have seen the MX500 500GB go on sale for about $79. That is the closest I have seen so far though. For a good crucial with a 5 year warranty, that is plenty cheap enough.

 

[SimplyComplex]

You know, I just had another thought. What if, Samsung came out with a budget, DRAM-less SSD?

I certainly hope not.

I've had the displeasure of owning a PNY TLC drive with no DRAM and it's literal trash. It's far worse than my 80gb MLC Intel drive from 2012. It has write speeds that are slower than my 250gb HDD I owned back in 2006. TLC drives with no DRAM aren't even really SSDs. They're garbage.

 

[VirtualLarry]

TLC drives with no DRAM aren't even really SSDs. They're garbage.

I would agree with that, for the most part. Although, some newer 3D TLC drives, that utilize an SLC cache (even if they don't have a DRAM cache), aren't horrible. I think that the PNY CS900 fits into that category. It's actually not a bad drive, best DRAM-less one that I think that I've used.

But you're right, 2D TLC, DRAM-less, no SLC cache == HORRIBLE.

 

[ewite12]

I've got some 500GB 860 evos for about 70 but those were open box. Not sure on black Friday but there is a supposed 30+% drop coming to SSD drives in the next 3 or so months. Maybe next year I can pull off a $299 1TB 96L 980 PRO

 

[Glaring_Mistake]

You know, I just had another thought. What if, Samsung came out with a budget, DRAM-less SSD? Or is that what the 750 EVO was? I don't recall seeing those for sale any more from primary retail sources.

No, that would be the 650.
Seeing as how it hasn't had a successor it doesn't seem it was all too popular.

The 750 EVO was a budget drive 2D TLC NAND (but that kept the DRAM) that came out about the same time as the 850 EVO 120GB was discontinued and then after a while the 750 EVO itself was discontinued.
Maybe they're focusing exclusively on 3D NAND and that is why 750 EVO kind of faded away.

I would agree with that, for the most part. Although, some newer 3D TLC drives, that utilize an SLC cache (even if they don't have a DRAM cache), aren't horrible. I think that the PNY CS900 fits into that category. It's actually not a bad drive, best DRAM-less one that I think that I've used.

But you're right, 2D TLC, DRAM-less, no SLC cache == HORRIBLE.

The 840 used 2D TLC and didn't have the SLC-cache we've gotten used to TLC drives using but it was not DRAMless and it was also true for some early enterprise drives.
But I haven't heard of a drive that on top of that is DRAMless.