Samsung’s new NVMe SSD is really, really fast. That’s the verdict of many reviewers who have tested it, and it seems to be the consensus of Samsung itself. The new SSD is based on the company’s latest NVMe technology, which offers speeds up to 2,500 MB/s read and 1,000 MB/s write. That’s faster than any other NVMe SSD on the market today. The new SSD is also much more reliable than traditional SATA drives. It has a longer life expectancy and doesn’t suffer from data corruption or performance issues when used in high-performance applications such as gaming or video editing. Plus, it comes with a free Samsung software installation that makes managing your storage easier than ever before.
The Samsung 990 Pro (this isn’t an Evo-branded drive) is specifically built for 3D rendering, 4K video editing, data analysis, “graphically demanding games,” and other tasks that require constant read and write disk access at high speeds. Samsung didn’t specifically mention if it’s compatible with the PlayStation 5 (which can accept third-party SSDs if they are fast enough), but the older Samsung 980 Pro worked with the PS5, so it’s a safe bet.
The new pricing is set at $169.99 for 1 TB, $289.99 for 2 TB, $189.99 for 1 TB with the heatsink, and $309.99 for 2 TB with the heatsink.
Samsung says the drive can deliver sequential read and write speeds (meaning data in the same area on a drive) of up to 7,450 MB/s and 6,900 MB/s, respectively. That’s up to 55% faster than the 980 Pro, which was released in 2020. The drive is also up to 50% more power efficient than the 980 Pro. Samsung will sell the drive with and without a heatsink — the latter option has RGB lights, because do you really have a gaming PC if you don’t have RGB everywhere?
The new drive once again places Samsung near (or at) the lead in NVMe SSDs, but there’s still plenty of competition. Corsair released its MP600 PRO LPX SSD earlier this year, with promised sequential read speeds of up to 7,100 MB/s. However, the drive exceeded that in some real-world tests.
Pricing for the Samsung 990 Pro and 990 Pro with Heatsink will be $179 for the 1 TB model, and $309 for 2 TB, with both arriving in stores around October 2022. The company also plans to release a 4 TB version in 2023. Pre-orders are not live yet, but you can sign up to be notified when it becomes available.
Most PCs are still better off with SATA-based or cheaper NVMe drives, especially since higher-end drives have diminishing returns for most computer tasks — the difference between booting up Windows on a fast NVMe SSD and a fast SATA SSD is a few seconds at the most. However, if you know you’ll benefit from faster speeds (like gaming at higher quality settings), the 990 Pro is promising.
Source: Samsung
