Model: Samsung 990 PRO 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe Solid State Drive
Manufacturer: Samsung Electronics
Provided By: Samsung America

Samsung Electronics has been a leader in the electronics industry for more than 30 years. Since the introduction of their first television in 1970, this Korean company has grown to become one of the world's leading electronics manufacturers, offering everything from tiny semiconductors to large home appliances. Samsung is no stranger to the storage industry either. Along with an assortment of DVD and Blu-ray Disc drives, the company offers both hard drive and flash based storage solutions for the portable and desktop computer markets.

Samsung recently launched its latest consumer NVMe SSD, the 990 PRO. Optimized for graphically demanding games and other intensive tasks including 3D rendering, 4K video editing, and data analysis, this compact, M.2 form factor SSD is powered by Samsung's new, in-house "Pascal" controller and is available with up to 4TB of their latest 7th generation V-NAND flash. The 990 PRO is also available with or without an RGB-enabled heatsink and is equipped with an ultra-fast PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe 2.0 interface to deliver up to 7,400 MB/s read and 6,800 MB/s write speeds. To top it all off, the drive is optimized for Microsoft’s DirectStorage API software technology, which allows games to load much faster by leveraging the full speed of NVMe SSDs.

The 990 PRO is available in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB (coming in 2023) capacities. For this review, Samsung sent us the heatsink-less 2TB version of the drive, which is capable of delivering up to 7,450 MB/s sequential read and 6,900 MB/s sequential write speeds as well as up to 1,400K random read and 1,550K random write IOPS.

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what the 990 PRO has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect, we'll take a closer look at Samsung's new NVMe SSD and then see how well it performs. Does the 990 PRO have what it takes? Can it deliver the performance and features that we've come to expect from Samsung? Keep reading as we find out.



 

The 990 PRO comes in a small black box. Along with a picture of the drive, the packaging advertises a number of its key features including its 2TB capacity, PCIE 4.0 NVMe interface, maximum read speed and 5 year warranty. Inside, you'll find the SSD as well as a small installation guide and warranty statement.

Physical Features:

The 990 PRO uses the 2280 form factor for M.2 (NGFF) SSDs. It measures 80 x 22 x 2.3 mm and tips the scales at a mere 9.0g. The drive also has an "M key" edge connector which provides PCIe SSDs with up to 4x lanes of bandwidth.

The 990 PRO is the first drive to utilize Samsung's "Pascal" controller. As usual, the company hasn't provided a lot of specifics regarding the controller's technical specs. What we do know, though, is that the Pascal has been manufactured using an extremely fine 8nm process and is designed with low-power architecture that increases low power mode. The controller also uses a nickel coating and a cutting-edge thermal control
algorithm to manage heat.

For the 2TB version of the 990 PRO, Samsung has used their own 7th-generation V-NAND flash chips. Looking at the pictures above, you can see that there are two 1TB NAND flash packages on the top of the PCB. The drive also has a single 2GB LPDDR4 DRAM memory chip that is used for caching.


The test system used in this review is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 5 3700x CPU, MSI B550 GAMING PLUS motherboard, 16GB (8GB x 2) of Crucial Ballistix 3200 MHz DDR4 memory, Crucial P5 1TB SSD and a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1060 WINDFORCE OC 6G graphics card. For the operating system, I used the latest version of Windows 10 Pro.

To test the performance of Samsung's 990 PRO SSD, I ran a series of benchmarks using CrystalDiskMark, HD Tach RW, ATTO Disk Benchmark, AS SSD, HD Tune Pro, Anvil's Storage Utilities, Iometer and PCMark. For comparison, I've also included test results from the ADATA LEGEND 960, Crucial P3 Plus, SK hynix Platinum P41, Silicon Power XS70, WD_BLACK SN770, ADATA XPG ATOM 50, ADATA XPG GAMMIX S70 Blade, Crucial P5 Plus, Plextor M10PY, ADATA XPG GAMMIX S70, Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, WD_BLACK SN850, Silicon Power US70, ADATA XPG GAMMIX S50 Lite, ADATA Elite SE880, Kingston XS2000, ADATA XPG ATOM 30, Samsung 980, Silicon-Power UD70, Crucial P2, SK hynix Gold P31, Crucial P5, ADATA SWORDFISH, ADATA FALCON, Lexar NM610, Silicon Power P34A60, Patriot P300, Plextor M9PG Plus, Plextor M9PY Plus, Crucial X8, ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro, Western Digital WD_BLACK SN750, Samsung 970 EVO Plus, ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro, Crucial P1, ADATA XPG SX8200, Western Digital WD_BLACK NVMe, Samsung 970 EVO, Samsung 970 PRO, Plextor M9Pe, Plextor M8Se, Patriot Hellfire, ADATA XPG SX8000, Samsung 960 PRO, Toshiba OCZ RD400, Samsung 950 PRO, ADATA Ultimate SU670, Lexar NQ100, Samsung 870 EVO and Samsung 870 QVO.

As I mentioned earlier, the 990 PRO uses Samsung's Pascal controller chip. Looking at the screenshot above, you can see that it performs equally well with both incompressible (0%) and compressible (100%) data.

CrystalDiskMark 8.0.4:

First, I ran a few quick tests using CrystalDiskMark. This benchmark measures the performance of a storage device by testing its sequential and random read and write speeds. For this test, we're using the peak and real world profiles.

According to Samsung, the 2TB version of the 990 PRO is capable of reading at 7,469 MB/s and writing at 6,869 MB/s. While the drive had no problems reaching its rated read speed, it came up a bit short in CrystalDiskMark's sequential write speed test. The most impressive number here, though, is the 990 PRO's sequential transfer rate when using a mixed (read and write) load. With most drives, this number falls somewhere in between the maximum read and write speeds, but in this case, it was faster than when reading alone, reaching a whopping 8,133 MB/s.

As you'd expect, the 990 PRO wasn't as fast when tested with the "real world" profile which uses a single thread and a much lower queue depth. Nevertheless, it was still able to read at 4,154 MB/s and write at more than 5,711 MB/s.

HD Tach RW 3.0.4.0:

Next, I used HD Tach to test the 990 PRO's read, write and burst speeds as well as its random access time and CPU usage.

Looking at the screenshot above, you can see that the 990 PRO had average read and write speeds of 2,730.3 MB/s and 2131.7 MB/s respectively, as well as a burst speed of 2,482.4 MB/s. The screenshot also shows the transition from TurboWrite to what Samsung calls "After TurboWrite" speeds. The 990 PRO starts writing at about 2,600 MB/s and then drops to about 1,800 MB/s when the consecutive write operation exceeds the size of the SLC buffer.

ATTO Disk Benchmark 4.01:

I also used ATTO Disk Benchmark to test the 990 PRO's sequential read and write speeds. The tests are run using blocks ranging in size from 512B to 64 MB and the total length set to 256MB.


Samsung 990 PRO 2TB
 
SK hynix Platinum P41 2TB

When tested with ATTO, the 990 PRO's read speeds topped out at about 6.98 GB/s and its write speeds at 6.44 GB/s.


AS SSD:

AS SSD is a benchmark designed specifically for solid state drives. The application contains five synthetic tests used to determine the sequential and random read and write performance of a drive.


Samsung 990 PRO 2TB
 
SK hynix Platinum P41 2TB

AS SSD also includes a copy benchmark. This test copies an ISO (two large files), program (many small files) and game (small and large files), returning the speed and duration of each.


Samsung 990 PRO 2TB
 
SK hynix Platinum P41 2TB

HD Tune Pro 5.75:

Next, I ran a series of tests using HD Tune Pro. This hard disk utility measures a drive's performance by testing its sequential read and write speeds as well as its access time, burst rate and CPU usage. For this review, I'm also going to use it to benchmark the 990 PRO's random read and write speeds, random access times and the number of operations per second.


Samsung 990 PRO 2TB - Read Benchmark
 
SK hynix Platinum P41 2TB - Read Benchmark


Samsung 990 PRO 2TB - Write Benchmark
 
SK hynix Platinum P41 2TB - Write Benchmark

The 990 PRO performed relatively well when benchmarked with HD Tune. The drive had average read and write speeds of 5565.2 MB/s and 2,363.7 MB/s, respectively.


Samsung 990 PRO 2TB - Random Access Read
 
SK hynix Platinum P41 2TB - Random Access Read


Samsung 990 PRO 2TB - Random Access Write
 
SK hynix Platinum P41 2TB - Random Access Write

When writing 4KB blocks, the 990 PRO reached 55,500 IOPS and had an average speed of 216.797 MB/s. The drive was slightly faster when reading, reaching 55,859 IOPS with an average speed of 218.202 MB/s.


Anvil's Storage Utilities:

Anvil's Storage Utilities is another benchmark designed with SSDs in mind. The standard storage benchmark measures a drive's performance by testing its transfer speeds, access times and IOPS.

Iometer:

Lastly, I ran a series of tests using Iometer. This tool can be configured to benchmark a number of things. In this case, I used it to measure the 990 PRO's read and write speeds and the number of operations per second. The tests were run using random bytes and a queue depth of 3.

The 990 PRO's performance was very similar to what we saw in our other tests. The drive was able to read at 7129.76 MB/s and write at a blazing 6549.12 MB/s.

The 990 PRO also performed very well when doing random reads and writes. In our tests, the drive was able to read at 463.21 MB/s and write at a blazing 757.45 MB/s.

According to Samsung, the 2TB 990 PRO is capable of 1,400k IOPS when reading and 1,550K IOPS when writing 4K blocks with sixteen threads and at a queue depth of 32. With two threads and a queue depth of three, the drive reached 118,583 random read IOPS and 193,907 random write IOPS.

As with most drives, the 990 PRO performed better with more threads and at higher queue depths. With sixteen threads and the queue depth set to 32, it reached 922,035 random read IOPS and 715,502 random write IOPS. 


PCMark 8 - Storage Test:

PCMark 8 is a complete benchmark for Windows. It includes five benchmark tests, each designed around a specific scenario. The storage benchmark measures drive performance using real-world traces recorded from Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office and a selection of popular games.

PCMark 8 also includes a test which measures the performance consistency and degradation tendency of a storage system. The test reports the performance level at the start, the degraded steady-state and the recovered state as well as the number of iterations required to reach the degraded state and the recovered state. For this test, we are focusing on the Adobe Photoshop (Heavy) trace and will look at both the bandwidth and latency of the drive

The 990 PRO did fairly well throughout PCMark's consistency test. While the average bandwidth dropped below 600 MB/s during the degradation and steady state phases, it was still faster than many of the SSDs we've tested, including the ADATA LEGEND 960 and the SK hynix Platinum P41. More importantly, the 990 PRO had no problems bouncing back during the recovery phase.

PCMark 10 - Full System Drive Benchmark:

PCMark 10's Full System Drive Benchmark uses a wide-ranging set of real-world traces from popular applications and common tasks to fully test the performance of the fastest modern drives. This benchmark produces an overall score as a measure of drive performance. Comparing devices is as simple as comparing scores. The tests also measure and report the bandwidth and average access time performance for the drive.

Thanks to its high bandwidth and low latency, the 990 PRO did very well in PCMark 10's Full System Drive Benchmark. It beat both the Plextor M10PY and the SK hynix Platinum P41 to take the top spot in this test.


Dynamic Thermal Guard:

While Samsung's NVMe SSDs offer impressive performance, they also generate a good amount of heat. To keep them from overheating, Samsung has implemented what they call Dynamic Thermal Guard (DTG). This technology monitors the temperature of a drive and will reduce its performance once it reaches a certain point.

This thermal throttling was a big issue when we reviewed Samsung's first consumer NVMe SSD, the 950 PRO. Even with basic benchmarks like CrystalDiskMark or ATTO, the drive's temperature would reach a point where DTG would kick in and reduce its performance. It got to a point where I needed to position an 8cm fan directly over the 950 PRO so that I could complete the tests.

The 990 PRO is also equipped with Dynamic Thermal Guard. However, Samsung has tried to delay the inevitable drop in performance by dissipating heat more efficiently. The 990 PRO has a copper heat spreader built into the label on the back of the drive as well as a nickel coating on the Pascal controller that helps dissipate heat faster. 

While hotter than the 980 PRO, the 990 PRO's runs cooler than many other, high-performance SSDs. At idle, the drive's temperature hovered around 37 ºC. Under heavy loads, the 990 PRO reached temperatures as high as 69 ºC when reading and writing. These temperatures had no impact on the drive's performance. No matter how hard I pushed it, the 990 PRO did not throttle its read or write speeds in any noticeable way.

Final Thoughts:

While we've only had it in the 'Labs for a short time, it's clear that Samsung has another winner on its hands with the 990 PRO series SSDs. Available with or without a heatsink, this M.2 form factor drive is powered by Samsung's new "Pascal" controller and is available with up to 4TB of the company's 7th generation V-NAND flash. Combine this with Samsung's Intelligent TurboWrite 2.0 technology and a PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe 2.0 interface and you have one of the fastest PCIe 4.0 SSDs on the market today. The 2TB version of the 990 PRO flew through our sequential transfer rate tests, reading at speeds as high as 7,469 MB/s and writing at more than 6,869 MB/s. It also did very well in our random write tests, producing nearly 194,000 IOPS at low queue depths, and took the top spot in PCMark 10's storage benchmark.

Of course, impressive performance isn't the only thing the 990 PRO has to offer. Along with support for Samsung's Intelligent TurboWrite 2.0 technology, the drive features AES 256-bit full disk encryption and is compliant with both the TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE 1667 specifications. Also, in addition to the optional heatsink, it employs a nickel coating on the controller as well as a heat spreader label for efficient thermal management. Last, but not least, the 990 PRO is one of the first drives to be optimized for Microsoft’s DirectStorage API. While games with DirectStorage support are still in development, this new technology is expected to speed up load times immensely, especially with a high-performance NVMe SSD like the 990 PRO.

The 1TB and 2TB versions of the 990 PRO will go up for pre-order beginning November 1, 2022. Prices range from $170 up to $310 with the heatsink-less 2TB version reviewed here retailing for about $290. If you need more storage, Samsung plans to release the 4TB version of the 990 PRO in early 2023. At this point, there is no word on when exactly it will be available or how much it will be.

Highs:

  • PCIe 4.0 x4 interface with NVMe protocol
  • Available in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities
  • Equipped with Samsung's 7th generation V-NAND technology
  • Excellent sequential and random read and write speeds
  • Small M.2 2280 form factor
  • Features Intelligent TurboWrite 2.0 technology
  • Large DRAM cache
  • Supports TRIM and garbage collection
  • AES 256-bit full disk encryption
  • TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE 1667 compliant
  • Available with or without RGB-enabled heatsink
  • Optimized for Microsoft’s DirectStorage API
  • Works with Samsung's Magician software
  • 5 year warranty

Lows:

  • Write speed drops when SLC cache is full
  • Pricey