Layout, design and features …
The image shows the front of the Samsung SSD 960 Evo 500GB. You see the label of the Samsung 960 Evo with a few technical data, serial number and the production date. Under the label are the 3D V-NAND FLASH modules and the Samsung Polaris controller IC that includes also the 512 MB LPDDR3 cache. The sticker usually should not be removed.
Here you can see the quality workmanship and the contacts of the M.2 SSD. BTW. The M.2 x4 PCIe SSD can be very easily distinguished to a M.2 SATA SSD based on the notches, because a M.2 SATA SSD has two notches and the M.2 PCIe x4 SSD has only the Key-M notch.
On the rear is placed a special sticker, consisting of a copper layer for faster heat dissipation.
After all these features of the Samsung 960 Evo 500 GB SSD, now we come to the firmware update. On the next page, we also give a few hints about the NVMe SSD installation.
SSD Firmware Update …
Our 960 Evo SSD was shipped with the 1B7QCXE7 firmware. No newer firmware for the Samsung 960 Evo SSD was provided at the review date. Usually, you can simply update the SSD by the Samsung magician tool, but you should as always backup important data before starting the firmware update.
The Samsung magician tool unfortunately was not supplied, but it can be downloaded directly from Samsung. You should update directly to the latest Samsung Magician 5.x version where the PCIe NVMe SSD is immediately recognized, even if the version at the date of the review displayed “not supported”.
With the Samsung magician tool, you can directly perform a first benchmark.
Samsung 960 Evo 500 GB Benchmark values and test results …