Samsung 990 Pro 4TB Review – Too Little, Too Late?

Review of the Samsung 990 Pro 4TB NVMe SSD

Samsung 990 Pro SSD Review – Quick Conclusion

When it comes to the performance numbers stated by Samsung for their 990 Pro 4TB SSD, they pretty much live up to the hype. To reach these dizzying heights, you will, of course, need a peak-level machine. However, even on more common PC architectures and, in particular, the PS5, you’re going to see numbers that come quite close. Additionally, the Samsung 990 Pro SSD upholds its high reputation in terms of 4K random performance. It’s evident that Samsung has prioritized this both commercially and for consumers, leading to this SSD showcasing impressive early random IO numbers right from the start. The main concern for many will be the price point. At launch, it’s slightly more expensive compared to other Gen 4 SSDs that offer similar performance. Yet, due to its longer market presence and wider availability, it’s priced 10 to 15% lower! There’s also the emerging Gen 5 tier of SSDs to consider. While they’re still somewhat challenging for most PC architectures to fully utilize in terms of the lofty performance numbers they promise, their prices are starting to drop. If your system supports Gen 5 right off the bat, would it be wiser to opt for a Gen 5 SSD? The Samsung 990 Pro 4TB SSD might have performed even better if it had launched simultaneously with the 1TB and 2TB versions in October 2022. Moreover, this SSD tends to run hot, even with a decent heatsink attached. Peculiar choices in NAND distribution and consumer concerns earlier this year—due to firmware issues identified on several Samsung products—all contribute to the perception that the Samsung 990 Pro had a somewhat shaky launch.

In conclusion, the Samsung 990 Pro SSD is a high-performing drive that delivers as promised. It’s a high-quality product engineered by SSD market professionals and comes with support and a warranty that is nearly unparalleled when compared to cheaper vendors. However, be prepared to pay a premium. It’s priced at a point that the market, which is beginning to view it as “last-gen,” may not be quite ready to accept.

SPEED - 9/10

HARDWARE - 9/10

PERFORMANCE - 9/10

PRICE - 6/10

VALUE - 6/10

7.8

PROS

👍🏻High Performance, even in mid-range PC hardware
👍🏻Excellent improvements in Write Performance vs the 980 PRO
👍🏻4TB option is finally available in the Samsung series (long overdue)
👍🏻New 990 Pro entry into the Samsung PCIe4 family will improve price structure positively for the  980/980 Pro
👍🏻Industry-leading Gen4 IOPS rating
👍🏻Fantastic performance, yet single-sided!

CONS

👎🏻Still runs quite hot, much like the 980 pro, so heatsink is essential here
👎🏻Gen5 is slowly becoming more affordable, yet this arrives quite spicy (even for 4TB)
👎🏻The durability, though good, is still not quite as high as other SSDs in the market
👎🏻The 990 Series suffered firmware issues at the start of 2022

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Samsung 990 Pro SSD Review – Packaging

The external packaging of the Samsung 990 Pro SSD is near enough identical to that of the Samsung 980 Pro, with Samsung’s stylized branding for the series out in full force.

The retail packaging also makes plenty of noise about the promised performance on the 990 Pro, with information on the front about the promised maximum 7450MB/s Seq Read and further details on the back regarding the durability, IOPS and further hardware specifications. Again, all this will be massively familiar to anyone who has purchased a Samsung SSD previously.

The contents of the retail package are pretty light, with the 990 Pro SSD arriving on its own in a plastic protective shell and just a document regarding the 5-year inclusive warranty. If you were to purchase the heatsink-equipped version (slightly more expensive), that arrives pre-attached at the factory level.

On its own, the Samsung 990 Pro is quite a modest-looking drive and even in the 4TB capacity module that was featured for this review, only a single side of the SSD is occupied by chips/components on the PCB – something I will touch on later.

That is really all you can say about the packaging and presentation of the Samsung 990 Pro. It is quite a modest kit and most of the value/impression of this device is left to the hardware onboard and how that translates to performance. Let’s take a closer look at the drive itself.

Samsung 990 Pro 4TB SSD Review – Design

The Samsung 990 Pro SSD is a PCIe Gen 4×4 M.2 Key NVMe SSD that is completely backwards compatible with PCIe Gen 3×4 SSD slots where necessary (though crucially not M.2 SATA) that improves upon the architecture of the Samsung 980 Pro in a few key areas to produce a higher performance point in most of the key areas you want/need. Running on NVMe 2.0 architecture, the drive is reported to be the fastest PCIe m.2 SSD that Samsung has ever produced and manages to saturate a maximum 7,450MB of the potential 8,000MB of PCIe 4×4 lanes.

The top of the SSD has the large ‘Samsung 990 Pro’ label that you do NOT need to remove when in operation (with or with a heatsink). Removing this label shows us a tightly packed arrangement of components/cells on the SSDs PCB. An SSD is not unlike a PC in it’s architecture, with a Controller (CPU), DRAM (Memory) and NAND (storage space). There are additional power/transistors in place to aid smooth operation, but ultimately these are the key components we need to focus on.

As mentioned earlier, if we flip the SSD over, we can see that this 2TB SSD is single-sided (i.e just a bare board on the back). Most 4TB Gen4 SSDs are double-sided, arriving with 4x 1TB NAND modules and an additional DDR4 Memory module, but this 4TB does an excellent job of keeping things nice and compact, whilst allowing much more direct, manageable and efficient heat dissipation. Something we will DEFINITELY touch on later. The base of the SSD also has an additional heat should/spreader to assist the heat that is passing through the PCB effectively. This is of particular use for users looking to install a more compact 4TB Gen4 SSD, such as a laptop. Having everything on a single side does result in other factors though to approach, which we will get into in a bit.

The 990 Pro also benefits from being a completely first-party/in-house SSD. Many PCIe 4 SSDs that have arrived on the scene in the last two years can be broken down into two strict camps. The larger one is made up of brands such as Seagate, Sabrent, ADATA, Patriot and more who rely on 3rd party companies such as Phison and Innogrit to provide components (eg SSD controllers). The other smaller camp in the world of SSDs is comprised of brands such as Western Digital, Samsung and Crucial who tend to rely much more (often exclusively) on first-party controllers and NAND for their drives, allowing them to craft media that is much more precise in it’s execution, as well as allows them better quality control, supply and pricing. There are benefits to either approach in SSD design, but many users like the idea of a near complete or near enough completely in-house designed SSD.

Samsung 990 Pro 4TB PCB	Samsung 980 Pro 2TB PCB

So that is the physical design of the Samsung 990 Pro SSD. But what about the hardware components themselves? Does the Samsung 990 Pro SSD change things up much from the S980 Pro? Let’s find out.

Samsung 990 Pro 4TB SSD Review – Hardware Specifications

The Samsung 990 Pro SSD is highly comparable to the older Samsung 980 Pro, but with a few improvements along the way. Here is how the SSDs stack up in initial hardware specifications vs smaller capacities:

I know the above might seem needlessly technical, so below we can bring the most important considerations into sharper focus.

Hardware Focus of the Samsung 990 Pro SSD

The onboard SSD controller of the Samsung 990 Pro is a little bit of a mystery (at least at the time of writing this article). Arriving with the the Samsung Pascal controller, this is practically no 100% official information online currently about this component. This is not unusual, as Samsung are famously secretive about the make-up of its components (compared with the bulk of SSD brands that rely on controllers developed by Phison or Innogrit). At best guess, this SSD controller is an improvement/variation of Samsung Elipsis Controller found in the SN980 Pro. Almost certainly further information on this controller will arrive as this SSD enters circulation and I will update this area of the review with more (with references etc). In terms of performance (covered in more detail later) it still maintained a similar level of sustained Read activity as the WD Black SN850X throughout testing, but with a clear and substantial increase in write performance in our modest test machine.

This controller is also accompanied by 4GB of LPDDR4 DRAM that scales alongside the storage capacity of the already released models (i.e 1GB DDR4 > 1TB Capacity, 2GB DDR4 > 2TB Capacity). This already puts it at a tremendous advantage over the Samsung 980 Pro with the additional memory at this capacity. This combined with an improved controller likely results in this drive providing the best sustained performance possible in a Samsung m.2 NVMe SSD yet

The storage NAND used by the 990 Pro is 176L Samsung V-NAND TLC. The older Samsung 980 Pro  arrived at 96L at launch (likely improved over time) and the recently released WD Black SN850X arrived with 112-layer BiCS 3D TLC memory. I’ll revisit this area of the review later and update as more details on this are revealed. But with many Gen5 SSDs in the market now at the 232L NAND layer count, this is ‘good’ for Gen4, but now looking a pinch overshadowed.

While it might seem like a minor point, I want to specifically address the configuration of the 4TB SSDs. I find it somewhat unusual that this drive is equipped with two singular NAND modules, each of 2TB. Most 4TB drives in the market feature a double-sided design with both NAND and DRAM distributed on both sides. This not only aids in more even heat dissipation but also allows for simultaneous reading and writing to multiple NAND modules, often leading to enhanced performance. While having additional NAND modules can sometimes vary I/O numbers, this is largely dependent on the controller and is usually negligible.

Furthermore, some SSDs are manufactured with fewer NAND modules because it’s more cost-effective to produce a smaller number of larger-capacity modules than more numerous lower-capacity modules distributed on both the front and back. This is why it struck me as odd that the Samsung 990 Pro, at 4TB, is single-sided. On the plus side, this design will be a boon for those wanting to install the drive in more compact laptops with limited space, making a large Gen 4 SSD accessible for their systems. However, this configuration likely results in increased heat during operation (an observation we made firsthand, both with and without a heatsink). And even though Samsung has included a heat shield at the base of the drive to facilitate heat dissipation through the PCB components, their decision still surprises me. Yet, what’s even more astounding is that Samsung manages to achieve these high-performance numbers with this specific single-sided NAND layout. So, if it’s effective, should I critique it? Probably not. My primary concern leans more towards the accumulated heat rather than the NAND distribution and performance, especially if the drive consistently delivers the numbers we’ve observed.

Overall, in terms of hardware on board,the Samsung 990 Pro 4TB SSD is unquestionably a high-end M.2 SSD that is designed for client PCs, industry and the PlayStation 5, leveraging the power of PCIe Gen 4.0 x4 and NVMe 2.0 interfaces. Improvements on the hardware side over the 980 Pro might seem small, but they ARE significant. Now, seeing this improved with substantial 4TB capacity with an in-house Samsung controller, V-NAND TLC flash memory, and a whopping 4GB LPDDR4 DRAM cache memory is altogether very pleasing! Its compact form factor and sleek design, with dimensions of M.2 Max 80.0 x Max 22 x Max 2.3 (mm) for the drive itself and an additional heatsink option that slightly increases these measurements, make it suitable for both desktops and more compact laptops. Notably, the SSD achieves exceptional sequential read and write speeds of 7,450 MB/s and 6,900 MB/s, respectively. However, it’s not without its concerns. The decision to implement a single-sided 4TB design with two 2TB NAND modules raised eyebrows, especially given potential heat distribution implications. Yet, despite these reservations and some initial firmware hiccups, the Samsung 990 Pro establishes itself as a performance powerhouse in the SSD market, albeit at a potentially premium price point.

Note, if you need more guidance on SSD terminology and short-hand, here is a handy video on that:

The Samsung 990/980 Pro SSD Firmware Issue – Are Things Safe Now?

I touched on this earlier, but it warrants further emphasis. In early 2023, reports began surfacing that the Samsung 980 and 990 Pro SSDs were showing signs of degrading health, as indicated by S.M.A.R.T. tests and the Samsung Magician application. It’s not unusual for SSDs to show declining health over time, primarily because NAND flash memory doesn’t possess the same long-term durability as mechanical media. However, to see such degradation, one would typically need to be using the drive intensely and with high storage volumes consistently — much more than the reported warranty and lifespan issued by Samsung. Despite this expectation, users reported that even drives only weeks or months old were showing decreasing health values.

After some back-and-forth with the company, it was eventually identified as a firmware issue. Samsung issued an update that prevented the problem from reoccurring. Yet, many users online have mentioned that while the updated firmware stopped the degradation, it didn’t reverse the existing diminished health values on their drives, as indicated by the Samsung Magician and S.M.A.R.T. tests. Samsung is still addressing this with affected users, in some cases offering replacements and in others providing refunds. It’s essential to note that this is no longer a concern with the current firmware, and any Samsung 990 Pro SSD manufactured in the past six months will have this updated firmware. Nonetheless, this incident might have influenced some potential buyers’ perceptions of future Samsung SSD purchases. I felt it was crucial to mention this in the review for the sake of a balanced perspective. For more details on this issue, you can watch the video below:

Testing the Samsung 990 Pro m.2 PCIE4 NVMe SSD

The Samsung 990 Pro 2TB was provided by Samsung for this test and it was tested using multiple benchmark tools, from a cold boot, in the 2nd storage slot (i.e not the OS drive). Each test was conducted three times (full details of this are shown in the YouTube Review of the Samsung 990 Pro over on NASCompares):

Test Machine:

• Windows 10 Pro Desktop System
• Intel i5 11400 Rocket Lake – 6-Core 2.6/4.4Ghz
• 16GB DDR4 2666MHz Memory
• Intel B560M mATX Motherboard
• OS Storage, Seagate Firecuda 120 SSD
• Test SSD connected to Secondary PCIe Gen 4 M.2 Slot

Here is the Video Review of the Samsung 990 Pro SSD and PC Benchmarks:

Using CrystalDisk, we got a good measure of the drive and verified that this PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD was indeed using the 4×4 lane. Additionally, the temp averaged out around 55C between each test being conducted, with the drive being encased in a sabrent chunky heatsink. Much like the Samsung 980 Pro, this new entry into the Samsung series certainly ran quite hot. Here are the test results throughout the testing WITH a heatsink:

Here is the breakdown of the drive setup using CrystalDiskInfo for guidance:

The first tests were conducted using the ATTO disk benchmark software. The first was a 256MB test file size and below is a breakdown of the transfer rates and IOPS. The 2nd Test was a 1GB test file and finally, the last test was with a 4GB test file. The system was given 1-minute cool downtime between tests, no screen recording software was used (remove overhead) and a heatsink was used throughout (no reboots). Write performance continued to impress throughout, but the read performance was a pinch lower than expected, likely down to the i5 in the system compared with the Xeon/Ryzens that many Manf brands choose to max-benchmark their drives with

ATTO Disk Benchmark Test #1

256MB File PEAK Read Throughput  = 6.75GB/s

256MB File PEAK Write Throughput = 6.30GB/s

ATTO Disk Benchmark Test #2

1GB File PEAK Read Throughput  = 6.73GB/s

1GB File PEAK Write Throughput = 6.31GB/s

ATTO Disk Benchmark Test #3

4GB File PEAK Read Throughput  = 6.71GB/s

4GB File PEAK Write Throughput = 6.30GB/s

Next, although the ATTO tests were quite good, I moved on to the Crystal Disk Mark testing to see how well it would handle our next barrage of tests. The first test was the 1GB file testing, which measured both sequential and random, as well as the read and write IOPS. Test were conducted on a 1GB, 4GB and 16GB Test File. I also included a mixed 70/30 read and write task to give a little bit more of a realistic balanced workload. These tests were conducted with 1-minute cooling break in between. The Samsung 990 Pro did not crack the 7,000MB/s threshold on the mid-range test PC (just in the 1GB test), but once again, the Write performance was very impressive indeed, especially those IO/IOPS!

CRYSTALDISK MARK 1GB TEST

CRYSTALDISK MARK 4GB TEST

CRYSTALDISK MARK 16GB TEST

Next, I switched to AS SSD benchmark. A much more thorough test through, I used 1GB, 3GB and 5GB test files. Each test includes throughput benchmarks and IOPS that are respective to the larger file sizes (important, if you are reading this and trying to compare against the reported 4K IOPS from the manufacturer).

AS SSD Benchmark Test #1

AS SSD Benchmark Test #2

AS SSD Benchmark Test #3

Ordinarily, I would introduce tests like Magic and AJA into the mix here, but even a short burst of testing on an NVMe like this would over saturate the cache memory on board. Nevertheless, in the short term we still could ascertain the reported performance on 1GB, 4GB and 16GB file testing was:

1GB 5K AJA File Test Results (Peak) = 5694MB/s Read & 5606MB/s Write

4GB 5K AJA File Test Results (Peak) = 5718MB/s Read & 564MB/s Write

16GB 5K AJA File Test Results (Peak) = 5954MB/s Read & 5619MB/s Write

Overall, the Samsung 990 Pro was certainly able to provide some solid performance, as well as potentially exceed the test figures here on a more powerful machine. Given the reported Read and Write statistics that the brand has stated publically, I think there is enough evidence here to back up those claims. IOPs were a little lower than I expected, but again, we were testing very large file types, so this would have to be taken in context. I do wish most SSD brands provided benchmarks for different tiers of systems, rather than only stating the systems at the very, VERY top end. It makes sense, to run the drive in a system without any potential bottlenecks, but a 2nd or even 3rd round of test results that cover more mid-range or domestic systems would give users better scope of the drive’s potential in their own setup. Nevertheless, the peak performance of the Samsung 990 Pro was still exceptionally high AND sustained in my mid tier test machine and certainly a great indication that this drive will consistently live in the 6,500MB/s+ area in read/write in even the most modest setups.

Samsung 990 Pro SSD Review – Conclusion

When it comes to the performance numbers stated by Samsung for their 990 Pro 4TB SSD, they pretty much live up to the hype. To reach these dizzying heights, you will, of course, need a peak-level machine. However, even on more common PC architectures and, in particular, the PS5, you’re going to see numbers that come quite close. Additionally, the Samsung 990 Pro SSD upholds its high reputation in terms of 4K random performance. It’s evident that Samsung has prioritized this both commercially and for consumers, leading to this SSD showcasing impressive early random IO numbers right from the start. The main concern for many will be the price point. At launch, it’s slightly more expensive compared to other Gen 4 SSDs that offer similar performance. Yet, due to its longer market presence and wider availability, it’s priced 10 to 15% lower! There’s also the emerging Gen 5 tier of SSDs to consider. While they’re still somewhat challenging for most PC architectures to fully utilize in terms of the lofty performance numbers they promise, their prices are starting to drop. If your system supports Gen 5 right off the bat, would it be wiser to opt for a Gen 5 SSD? The Samsung 990 Pro 4TB SSD might have performed even better if it had launched simultaneously with the 1TB and 2TB versions in October 2022. Moreover, this SSD tends to run hot, even with a decent heatsink attached. Peculiar choices in NAND distribution and consumer concerns earlier this year—due to firmware issues identified on several Samsung products—all contribute to the perception that the Samsung 990 Pro had a somewhat shaky launch.

In conclusion, the Samsung 990 Pro SSD is a high-performing drive that delivers as promised. It’s a high-quality product engineered by SSD market professionals and comes with support and a warranty that is nearly unparalleled when compared to cheaper vendors. However, be prepared to pay a premium. It’s priced at a point that the market, which is beginning to view it as “last-gen,” may not be quite ready to accept.

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