Samsung 990 Pro PCIe 5 M.2 NVMe SSD Uncovered

Last updated on 24 Aug 2022 📧 Subscribe
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1 Samsung 990 Pro PCIe Gen 5 SSD Coming Soon
2 What do we know about the Samsung 990 Pro NVMe M.2 SSD?
3 Why Would They Release a Samsung 990 Pro PCIe5 SSD when the PCIe4 Generation is still Available?
4 When Will the Samsung 990 Pro Be Released and How Much Will It Cost?
5 Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

Samsung 990 Pro PCIe Gen 5 SSD Coming Soon

UPDATE – More information has arrived on the Samsung 990 Pro SSD that confirms that this drive will be PCIe Gen 4 x4. You can read the FULL UPDATE HERE.

Good news for anyone that has been waiting for Samsung to make their next BIG move in the commercial SSD sector, with the recent accidental leak this week by the PCI-SIG website that disclosed the submission of a new Samsung 990 Pro SSD. For the unaware, PCI-SIG (Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group) is an electronics industry consortium responsible for specifying the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), PCI-X, and PCI Express (PCIe) computer buses. In ‘human speak’, they are effectively a submission index/database that classifies the latest hardware releases of brands in order to identify the components standards and revisions (i.e speeds and bandwidth) and typically results are submitted by the brands themselves (who register for access) and/or connected company. But what does this leak show and should we start getting excited about this yet? Let’s discuss.

What do we know about the Samsung 990 Pro NVMe M.2 SSD?

First things first, the initial information on the Samsung 990 Pro leak comes from  @harukaze5719 on twitter, who spotted model IDs MZ-V9P1T0 and MZ-V9P2T0, a 1TB and 2TB model of a 9th Gen Samsung Pro series SSD. See below:

Now the Samsung Pro series of SSDs has always been the brand’s flagship prosumer series, with the model name of ‘Samsung 9×0 Pro’ being considered the highest/best release in that family (which also includes PLUS, EVO and no identifier at all, which signify sub revisions), with each revision’s entrance normally being the most current/cutting-edge revision of M.2/NVMe in the last few years. Now that PCIe Gen 5 x4 m.2 SSDs are starting to appear at tradeshows, preview news and very, VERY gradually arriving with particular end-user partners, it was always a question of time before Samsung entered a Pro series drive into this arena. It is worth highlighting that Samsung has already provisionally released (in closed circles) the Samsung PM1743 for enterprise users, a PCIe5 NVMe SSD (first formally revealed at CES 2022), which was a U.2 / e3.s) drive for data center use. Here are its specs below:

PM1743

(1.92TB to 15.36TB
Form Factor U.2 or E3.S
Interface PCIe 5.0 x4, NVMe
Controller Unconfirmed Samsung PCIe 5.0
NAND Flash Samsung 128L TLC (Massively TBC)
Sequential Read 13000 MB/s
Sequential Write 6600 MB/s
Random Read
IOPS		 2500k
Random Write
IOPS		 250k
Power TBC
TBC
Write Endurance TBC

Now, what is intriguing is that there are a few areas that seemingly highlight PCIe4 (possibly for reasons of compatibility) but in most locations involving this leak via PCI-SIG, it is displayed as a PCIe 5.0 / 32GT/s listing.

Source: PCI-SIG (via @KOMACHI_ENSAKA) and VideoCardz site that broke this news first.

Below is the information in its original form:

CEM Add-in Cards
Company Product Name Identifier Spec Revision Max Lane Width Tested Function Date Added
SAMSUNG Electronics 990PRO M.2 PCIe SSD PCIe 5.0 at 32GT/s x4 SSD Endpoint Card Aug 05, 2022
SAMSUNG Electronics 1743 U.2 PCIe SSD PCIe 5.0 at 32GT/s x4 SSD Endpoint Card Apr 26, 2022
SAMSUNG Electronics 1743 U.3 PCIe SSD PCIe 5.0 at 32GT/s x4 SSD Endpoint Card Aug 05, 2022
SAMSUNG Electronics 1743 E3.S PCIe SSD PCIe 5.0 at 32GT/s x4 SSD Endpoint Card Aug 05, 2022

Unfortunately, there is ZERO further information at this time regarding it’s architecture or performance, but we will likely see a similar/identical controller to the PM1743, which is reported to be capable of 13-4GB/s sequential read speed and an astounding 2.5 MILLION IOPS. Write speeds and durability are still unconfirmed on any Samsung PCIe 5 SSD and are likely to be a pinch lower. So, why are Samsung suddenly gearing up for a PCIe Gen 5 SSD, despite the popularity of PCIe Gen 4 x4 drives, such as the Samsung 980 Pro?

Why Would They Release a Samsung 990 Pro PCIe5 SSD when the PCIe4 Generation is still Available?

It’s a valid point. Even now, we are seeing top-tier brand such as Western Digital release new and improved PCIe Gen 4 SSDs, such as the WD Black SN850X this month – so why would Samsung want to release a consumer PCIe 5 gen SSD like the Samsung 990 Pro? Well, ORIGINALLY, the PCIe Gen 5 commercial availability was set to take off around now/Autumn, with several high-profile SSD and motherboard manufacturers having released their hardware in Spring of 2022. However, hardware shortages and the on-going effects of the pandemic on the supply chain and consumer demand have resulted in the PCIe5 generation taking a small back step, resulting in alot of the PCIe5 NVMe SSDs that were revealed at CES 2022 and Computex 2022 being delayed. The feeling now seems to be that Autumn/Winter 2022 is more likely to be the launching pad for PCIe5 commercially (although a small range of motherboards and high-priced cards have arrived on the market). PCIe Gen 5 M.2 NVMes are already predicted to comfortably crack the 8TB 2280 length barrier, alongside the significant bandwidth improvements allowing double the read performance of PCIe4 and around 30-50% improvements in write performance in the first generations. But why would Samsung be so keen to get into this market so early?

From CES 2020:

Source: https://hothardware.com/news/samsung-980-pro-pcie-40-ssd-65gbsec-performance

Alot of the reasoning comes down to how they approached the PCIe 4 generation of SSDs. When PCIe 4 M.2 SSDs arrived commercially, Samsung was NOT one of the first to hit the shelves (unlike the Samsung 960 years before. In fact, they arrived on the scene with an SSD (the Samsung 980 Pro) around 1-1.5 years after everyone else (depending on where you were in the world and availability). They did this because unlike the first gen of PCIe4 drives that had 5000/3500MB/s performance, the Samsung 980 had an incredible 7000/5000MB/s performance. In their words, they used the extra time to make the ultimate PCIe4 SSD. At the time, only WD rivaled them (with their WD Black SN850) and it would take a while before this performance level was challenged (about 7 months and thanks to the Phison E18 controller development). Now fast forward about 2 years since the 980 Pro arrived and it is by no means one of the fastest in the market and I think (looking back over this time) this was a gamble by Samsung that might not have been as conclusive or lucrative as they would have liked. Therefore it makes sense that in the PCIe Gen 5 generation, they would want the Samsung 990 Pro to arrive right at the front of the pack this time!

When Will the Samsung 990 Pro Be Released and How Much Will It Cost?

No details on the release date or Price of the Samsung 990 Pro PCIe5 SSD have been confirmed at the time of writing and Samsung has not officially commented on the leak. I will continue to monitor this SSD and update you will more information as it appears.

 

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      94 thoughts on “Samsung 990 Pro PCIe 5 M.2 NVMe SSD Uncovered”

      1. I have to agree with this except I would add that these M.2 SN850X likes to operate in a temperature envelope of 0c to 70c or 32F to 158F
        At least according to the spec sheet.
        The M.2 SN850X also records every evil thing you do and reports it to your mom even when you perform an unsafe shut down and shall punish you for it.
        I suggest idle temp of 35c to 45c and not a drop over 120F
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      2. This drive sucks. Every single game crashes

        The game mode is so stupid I can’t even believe it if game mode is off game stutter if game mode is on games crash

        Rtx4090 i9 14900ks

        Rog Maximus Apex motherboard

        I have a 980 pro Samsung and every time I suffer from crashing problems on the WD black

        I transferred the game over to the 980 and it works and doesn’t crash

        I’m sending the stupid drive back to Newegg

        Piece of garbage do not buy

        Tried tested and true okay maybe I have a faulty drive

        But my Samsung drive wasn’t faulty I’m had it with this stupid WD black 8 50x garbage
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      7. i have ben saving for a pc good gaming pc for the past 6 years now and yea the wd black sn850x 4TB ssd is something i will have as my C drive. whenni first found out about the drive it was a bit too expensive but now the prices has dropped to acceptable levels which is a relief as my budget is at around 4k$ which means yes i will have a RTX 4k series GPU but also get the benefits of high read and write speeds with that ssd. which is required as not only do i do a lot of modded gaming.. but i also do 3d modeling in blender and coding and such things and yea that ssd together with a RTX 4080 16GB will be a huge upgrade from the 10+ year old setup i currently am working with. not to mention that the new pc will have a much better cpu (a Ryzen 9 7950x 4.5 GHz 81 MB so even better then the one used in the benchmark testing of that ssd) then my current one.. as my current one do not have AVX support.. which has become a big problems when i wanna play games like subnautica BZ and slime rancher 2 as now game devs assume that all computers that ppl are using has that as standard.. but nope.. my current pc do not.. nor do my current motherboard support a newer cpu either due to how old everything is.. so yea i am looking forward to finally getting a new modern gaming pc
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      10. Regarding WD Black SN850X vs. Crucial P5 Plus, I’m a little confused regarding the random read speeds.
        In the 1st random read test, the SN850X is 3 times faster than the P5 Plus.
        In the 2nd random read test, the SN850X is 3 times slower than the P5 Plus.
        So which one is more likely to be faster overall?
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      22. I have the 4TB version and can only get 3475 MB/s on CrystalDiskMark. I have a Dell Latitude 5591 laptop with an Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8850H CPU @ 2.60GHz, 2592 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s), and 32 GB of RAM. Is something wrong, or is this a reasonable speed?
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      24. Hi! I have a quick question: would this WD Black SN850X with the heatsink fit in my laptop Predator Helios 300 (2022 version) or should I buy the model without heatsink? Your reviews are always so helpful, thanks! 🙂
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      29. Good review thank you Heat likely killed mine..had a heat sink. Installed as a drive to house simple data for VST libraries used in audio software. Installed retail box version on Nov 28, 2022. Dead March 6, 2023. BIOS no longer sees any drive in the allocated M. 2 slot on a Z390 Gigabyte MOBO. Original Intel 2TB M2 and Samsung Ssd SATA from Dec 2019 still there no issues. This is shameful. Some Amazon users rated this drive as 1 star listing failure after failure. In IT for 30 years, this is a first in this short of timeframe. Avoid.
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      33. Stuck it into a PCIe 3.0 with half the max speed, and still faster than high quality fastest PCIe 3.0 drive with similar max speeds. Due to bigger faster DRAM on WD drive, random read writes are faster.
        Always buy WD, quality and reliability not found in any other. Not Samsung, not Kingston, not Seagate.
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      34. Hey Nas!
        I just bought this m2 but i am unable to install windows.

        I installed the harddrive, and using the windows on my SSD it’s possible to see it in diskmanagement and as storage in “computer”
        However, i am unable to see it in my windows installation (USB bootable)

        I have tried just about everything and i searched google thin without hope, even asked on a forum but no luck..

        Please be my saviour <3
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      36. Ive Just got this ssd for christmas and have now bought an orico M.2 ssd enclosure with nvme m.2 ssd compatibility, however im unable to initialise the drive and it only appears in disk manager as one that cant be initialised and it appears in device manager but other than that it doesnt work even though its brand new adn it working on some pc’s ive tried but not my own. The conclusion ive come to is either theres something wrong with the drive or my pc having had its operating system upgraded to windows 11 rather than a full clean install and so is having issues detecting it properly, Ive made sure the BIOS is updated and any outstanding updates for my os is installed as windows has a tendancy to disable certain functionality based on if youve updated it or not but low and behold it doesnt work still does anyone know how to fix it?
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      37. Just picked this drive up, installed it in a new build with: i9-13900k slightly OC, 32GB DDR5-6000 and a 3090 OC. I didn’t think I would see much of a difference between my old off brand M.2 and my new SN850x but I’m here to say it was well worth the $199 I picked it up for. Pcie gen 5 is on the horizon so there are some great deals out there for the top drives. 100% would recommend.
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      39. Thank you!
        Can you please expand on why you don’t feel this is a great drive for PS5 application?
        4TB currently $450. Every Amazon review is CONSISTENTLY showing PS5 read speeds of just over 6,500 MB/s; highest I’ve seen registered for PS5 application (i.e., Firecuda PS5 read speeds ranging 5,200 – 6,500 MB/s)
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      42. @NASCopares May you or anyone else could please tell me if you have seen SN850X 4TB in your hand that, is 4TB single sided or it is double sided SSD? I am seeing conflicting comments, some says it is single sided and some saying it is double sided! Even in official data sheet they have mentioned exactly same thickness of SN850X regardless the capacity, that means according to data sheet 1TB and 4TB has same thickness, my laptop cannot accept double sided NVMe that’s why I want to be sure if 4TB is one sided (I know 1 or 2TB are one sided)
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      46. What a difference 2 or 3 months make. In the video the WD Black 1TB SN850X w/o heatsink is selling at $159.99. I just picked up, in a Black Friday special, the 2TB SN850X for $154.99.
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      47. The 4TB version is sold only without a heatsink for a reason: the chips on top are very different in height, so you have to use relatively thick thermal pads to make the heatsink sit properly flat on top. To make it worse: on the bottom, chips are on one half only, which makes it even harder to fit double-sided heatsinks easily, because you can’t use even pressure to make the top side a snug fit.
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      51. good in debt video, thx..
        a bit of a shame that your system isnt powerfull so it can give the true maximum performance ..
        – that is a thing Id like to see, since I do have a 5950X, with a SN750 1TB + SN850 1TB, – and Iam considering upgrading the SN750 to a SN850X 2TB..
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      67. i want to order a 2tb. I have hard time to decided between Kingston KC3000 and this WD SN850X. Today i see they are the exact same price . Both 5 years warranty and similar performance. KC3000 has more TBW at 1.6PBW and 1.2PBW for the SN850X. 36% price drop on SN850X today
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      69. WD’s dashboard app is absolute dogshit. Never use it except for updates or maintenance, other than that uninstall it when you don’t need it. It absolutely destroys your pc’s performance. It maxes out your cpu usage no matter your settings or how good your cpu is. I contacted their customer support and they installed the app on their pc and were shocked at how much it destroyed their cpu usage also. They even had another rep that had a way more powerful pc try it too and same thing. They had no idea what to do about it. Such a weird pathetic issue. Even if you turned off the background process settings for it and didn’t have the program open there was still processes it was doing destroying your usage. You had to uninstall it completely to get your perf back. It’s been a year now so I’m hoping they maybe fixed it? Idk the whole thing seemed so negligent, careless, and ignorant.
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      70. Hi, thanks for the informative videos. Have you checked if the 850x comes with the latest firmware since it impacts performance when using enclosures like orico? I have the 4TB version, I tried to check firmware on pc using dashboard but couldn’t get the software to install properly, blank window, I’ll contact WD for that. I got 2450/2700 with the shipped firmware, on mac mini thunderbolt 3, APFS format. Thanks
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      75. Looking at the fingers, not even it has hit the magical 7000 finger

        I am positive cpu and ram and motherboard have influence in final speeds ,

        ???? even my gigabyte nvme has better stats than your wd .
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      77. WD Black SN850X (2022) over the SN850 we’ll only see an improvement in write output, but otherwise it’s the same. So whatever is at a better price is worth it.
        Firmware – WD Black SN850 – 1TB
        611100WD – 01.2021
        612100WD – 03.2021
        613200WD – 07.2021
        614300WD – 09.2021
        614600WD – 11.2021
        614900WD – 02.2022

        Firmware – WD Black SN850X – 1TB
        620241WD – 06.2022
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      78. Re: specs on the flash modules – I’ve been researching drives for a new build for multiple hours now. I’m in the US, where KIOXIA doesn’t sell their consumer grade stuff, but after looking into it, I’m like 90% sure that this is, essentially, almost a rebrand of the KIOXIA exceria pro. The specs are almost identical, and WD’s flash is made by Toshiba’s (kioxia’s) chip fab. In the rest of the civilized world, you can just buy the kioxia drive if you want the speed, but I think in the US, for … marketing reasons (?), you are expected to settle on the WD Black.
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      80. Great video, i also saw some odd heatsinks on Amazon, the new ineo heatsink w/cover, Graugear heatsink w/cover too, they look…well you’d need to see them, temp test with one of those and this ssd would be something on the Ps5.
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      81. Still be nice in my PS5. I only just got a 2Tb 850 on prime day, but I’ll be looking at the 850X in November. I can offload my 850 to the mrs, mates rates so be both win.
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      89. I have always wondered why is the 4TB the same speed as the 2TB, but the 2TB is faster than the 1TB? The 4TB has more DRAM package on the back so you would think it would also increase speed.
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      93. i personally have never found appealing the value of WD’s ssds. always 10-15% pricier where i live than samsung/crucial/kingston counterparts.
        i like the hdds though
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      94. Hello; thank you for your vidéo and thank you for all of them. What you do is very interesting to compare and chooose the ssd we want for your bugdet.
        And your vidéos about the heat on SSD are very interesting for learning.
        Have a good week and see you soon.
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