Introduction
As we near the inevitable release of Gen5 SSDs, manufacturers are making the final push to bring the competition with PCI-E 4.0 SSDs. For quite some time Seagate’s FireCuda 530 has been in the lead boasting over 7GB/s on both the read and write speeds. Today, that may change.
Samsung has unveiled their latest SSD on the Gen4 platform – the 990 PRO SSD. This drive is optimised for graphically demanding games, and tasks that cause high load including 3D rendering, 4K video editing and data analysis.
Samsung 990 Pro Background
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced the 990 Pro, the company’s high-performance, the new SSD is optimised for graphically demanding games and other intensive tasks including 3D rendering, 4K video editing and data analysis.
“With continuing innovations in gaming, 4K and 8K technology as well as AI-driven applications, consumers’ need for high-performance storage is growing exponentially,” said KyuYoung Lee, Vice President of the Memory Brand Product Biz Team at Samsung Electronic. “The 990 PRO provides an optimal balance of speed, power efficiency and reliability, making it an ideal choice for avid gamers and creative professionals seeking uninterrupted work and play.”
Blazing speeds of the 990 PRO cut load times and increase game responsiveness while its thermal control solutions keep the drive at optimal temperature for uninterrupted play.
Top-End PCI-E Gen4 Performance
Featuring Samsung’s latest V-NAND and a new proprietary controller, the 990 PRO series offers the highest speed currently available from the PCIe 4.0 interface. The SSD delivers sequential read and write speeds of up to 7450 megabytes per second (MB/s) and 6900 MB/s, respectively, while random read and write speeds come in at up to 1400K and 1550K IOPS, respectively. With up to a 55% improvement in random performance over the 980 PRO is particularly well-suited for heavy gaming as well as creative and productivity tasks.
High-performance NVMe SSDs are also critical in reaping the full benefits of the latest game console and gaming technologies. Powered by NVMe, the 990 PRO brings faster loading times to PCs and consoles for a more immersive gaming experience. When tested with Forspoken, Luminous Productions’ forthcoming action role-playing game supporting the latest game-loading technology, the map loading time was about one second, compared to four second for a SATA SSD and 28 seconds for a hard disk drive (HDD).
Power Efficiency and Thermals
Built on a low-power architecture, Samsung’s newly designed controller dramatically improves the SSD’s power efficiency by up to 50% compared to the 980 PRO. Additionally, the 990 PRO employs a nickel coating on the controller and a heat spreader label on the drive for reliable thermal management. Samsung’s Dynamic Thermal Guard technology further ensures that the drive’s temperature stays in the optimal range.
The 990 PRO with Heatsink version offers and additional layer of thermal control while its RGB lights add more style to the drive.
Samsung’s 990 PRO is also an excellent solution for laptop and desktop upgrades as well as for build-your-own PCs, providing a significant performance boost while using less power for increase battery life and thermal management.
The 990 PRO will be available worldwide stating this October with the manufacturer’s suggested retail prices (MSRP) of £154.99 for the 1TB model and £283.99 for the 2TB. A 4TB capacity version will become available from next year.
| Category | Samsung SSD 990 PRO | 990 Pro with Heatsink |
| Interface | PCIe Gen 4.0 x4, NVMe 2.0 |
| Form Factor | M.2 (2280) |
| Storage Memory | Samsung V-NAND 3-bit TLC |
| Controller | Samsung in-house controller |
| Capacity | 1TB / 2TB / 4TB |
| DRAM | 1GB LPDDR4 / 2GB LPDDR4 / 4GB LPDDR4 |
| Sequential Read/Write Speed | Up to 7,450 MB/s, Up to 6,900 MB/s |
| Random Read/Write Speed (QD32) | Up to 1,400K IOPS, Up to 1,550K IOPS |
| Management Software | Samsung Magician Software |
| Data Encryption | AES 256-bit Full Disk Encryption, TCG/Opal V2.0, Encrypted Drive (IEEE1667) |
| Total Bytes Written | 600TB / 1200TB / 2400TB |
| Warranty | Five-year Limited Warranty |
