But no PCI Express 5.0, but still a significant performance plus: Samsung presents the SSD 990 Pro with a new controller.
Samsung lets the cat out of the bag and introduces its fastest SSD for desktop PCs and notebooks. Contrary to earlier speculation, the SSD 990 Pro does not yet support PCI Express 5.0 – nevertheless, according to the manufacturer, it is significantly faster than the previous top model, the 980 Pro. In particular, a new, self-designed controller should improve performance when operating the SSD 990 Pro in an M.2 slot with four PCIe 4.0 lanes.
With sequential transfer speeds of 7450 MB/s reading and 6900 MB/s writing, the writing performance of the SSD 990 Pro primarily increases. Samsung takes on the fastest competitor models that achieve similar values ​​with the Phison E18 controller. The predecessor SSD 980 Pro ends at 7000 or 5000 MB/s.
More IOPS
Samsung also gives significantly better values ​​for random access: Instead of one million IOPS as with the SSD 980 Pro, the SSD 990 Pro should have 1.4 million IOPS reading and 1.55 million writing, provided the controller handles access with a queue depth from 32 can sort. QD1 values ​​are not yet known.
According to Samsung, it solders the latest NAND flash memory from its own production without naming the specific generation. The devices store three bits per cell (Triple Level Cells, TLC). In addition, as usual, there is an LPDDR4 cache, which is 1 GB in the 1 TB model and 2 GB in the 2 TB model. With the controller of the SSD 990 Pro, Samsung states “up to 50 percent better energy efficiency”, which speaks for a newer manufacturing process.
predecessor in sale
In October 2022, Samsung wants to start pre-sales of the SSD 990 Pro. The recommended retail price for the 1 TB model is 175 euros; 2 TB should cost 325 euros. A 5-year guarantee is still included. A variant with 4 TB will follow next year, and models with heat sinks are also planned again – this time with RGB LEDs.
The price recommendations for the SSD 980 Pro were similarly high, but the series is now significantly cheaper. The 1 TB model costs a little more than 110 euros, the 2 TB variant around 200 euros.