Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500 GB vs Samsung 960 (NVMe) 500 GB
Short answer: which is best?
Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500 GB is 23.1 % stronger than Samsung 960 (NVMe) 500 GB. Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500 GB ranks #19 of 54 measured system drives at WhatFPS (10,870 Drive score over 12 verified runs). Samsung 960 (NVMe) 500 GB ranks #27 of 54 measured system drives at WhatFPS (8,833 Drive score over 7 verified runs). The numbers are measured in 19 verified WhatFPS runs — not estimated, not self-reported.
Measured comparison
| Metric | Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500 GB | Samsung 960 (NVMe) 500 GB |
|---|---|---|
| Drive score (the drive's own performance: sequential read + 4K IOPS) | 10,870 | 8,833 |
| Best rig (GAMING — whole PC) | 12,063 | 21,848 |
| Sequential read | 2,619 MB/s | 1,945 MB/s |
| 4K IOPS | 14,183 | 13,422 |
| 4K latency, median (lower is better) | 67 µs | 69 µs |
| Type | NVMe SSD | NVMe SSD |
| Size | 500 GB | 500 GB |
What the numbers mean
The drive score is the system drive's measured performance in the rigs it sat in — sequential read and 4K IOPS, unbuffered. PCIe generation, fill level and driver affect it. GAMING is the whole rig's score. We show both and never mix them.
All numbers come from our benchmark suite, the same test on every PC, written in Rust with no middleware. The methodology is open at https://whatfps.com/metodik
All measurements for Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500 GB · All measurements for Samsung 960 (NVMe) 500 GB