Samsung releases 990 PRO series PCIe 4.0 high-performance consumer-grade M.2 NVMe SSD

Although PCIe 5.0 is gaining ground in the consumer market, Samsung has decided to bring a higher-performance PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 solid-state storage solution to the PCIe 4.0 platform. In a press release on Thursday, the Korean electronics giant announced the 990 PRO series PCIe 4.0 SSD. WCCFTech speculates that the company may release a new 1000 series PCIe 5.0 SSD during the CES 2023 Consumer Electronics Show early next year.

(Source: Samsung Newsroom)

It can be seen that with the support of self-developed SSD master control, Samsung 990 PRO series PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD brings a 50% performance improvement per watt and a slightly higher transmission rate than the existing product line.

KyuYoung Lee, vice president of Samsung Electronics’ memory business team, said: “With the continuous innovation of applications such as gaming, 4K/8K technology, and AI-driven, consumer demand for high-performance storage is also growing exponentially.”

"The Samsung 990 PRO Series PCIe 4.0 SSD strikes the right balance between speed, energy efficiency and reliability, making it an ideal choice for avid gamers and creative professionals seeking uninterrupted work and entertainment."

With the support of Samsung's latest V-NAND flash memory and proprietary master control solution, the PCIe 4.0 x4 interface enables the 990 PRO SSD to have a continuous read and write performance of up to 7450 and 6900 MB/s, and a random read and write performance of 1400k / 1550k IOPS.

Compared to the previous generation 980 PRO series PCIe SSD, the 990 PRO offers up to 55% random performance improvement, making it better suited for heavy gaming and creative productivity tasks, and is optimized for application scenarios including 3D rendering, 4K video editing, and data analysis.

Samsung's actual testing of Luminous Productions' upcoming action role-playing game "Forspoken", which supports the latest game loading technology, shows that the map loading time has been reduced from 28/4 seconds on SATA HDD/SSD to only about 1 second.

In addition, Samsung provides more advanced performance and thermal control for the 990 PRO series PCIe 4.0 SSD, with energy efficiency improved by 50% compared to the 980 PRO, and uses a nickel coating + a thick heat sink covering the entire disk on the main control.

Dynamic Thermal Guard technology ensures that the SSD is maintained in the temperature range that can best exert its performance, supplemented by distinctive RGB lighting effects.

Whether it is a laptop or desktop platform, the 990 PRO is a great solution for PC upgrades or new builds. While significantly improving performance, lower power consumption also extends battery life and improves thermal management.

Finally, the Samsung 990 PRO series PCIe 4.0 SSD is scheduled to be launched globally in October this year. The suggested retail price of the 1TB/2TB version is US$179/309 (approximately RMB 1228/2119), and the 4TB version will not be available until next year.