Released in October 2022, the 990 PRO was Samsung’s flagship consumer SSD, utilizing the company’s latest V-NAND technology and custom controller design to deliver strong performance in a variety of workloads such as gaming, content creation, and professional workloads.
Controller and Architecture
The Samsung 990 PRO utilizes Samsung’s proprietary Elpis controller, an 8 nm chip made for PCIe 4.0 interface speeds. It includes dedicated hardware acceleration for encryption and error correction. Elpis manages up to 8 NAND channels simultaneously for maximum performance potential across all capacities.
Additionally, the drive incorporates LPDDR4 DRAM cache that varies by capacity: 1 GB for the 1 TB model, 2 GB for the 2 TB model, and 4 GB for the 4 TB variant. This substantial cache allocation ensures consistent performance during intensive workloads and helps maintain responsiveness during multitasking scenarios. The DRAM cache serves as a buffer for frequently accessed data and metadata, significantly improving random access performance and reducing latency.
NAND Flash Memory Type
The 990 PRO uses Samsung’s seventh-generation 176-layer V-NAND TLC (Triple Level Cell) technology. This 3D NAND structure provides improved density, performance, and reliability compared to the previous generation used in the 980 PRO. Layered V-NAND design allows for better charge retention and reduced cell-to-cell interference, contributing to strong endurance ratings and consistent performance over time.
Power Consumption
The 990 PRO consumes approximately 6.8 Watts during maximum performance operations, with idle power consumption as low as 30mW. The 990 PRO supports multiple power states including L1.2 low-power mode, making it suitable for laptop applications where battery life is important. Advanced power management features automatically adjust performance and power consumption based on workload requirements.
Write Endurance
The Samsung 990 PRO offers industry-standard endurance ratings at 600 TBW (Terabytes Written) for the 1TB model, 1,200 TBW for the 2TB model, and 2,400 TBW for the 4TB variant. This is achieved through advanced wear leveling algorithms, over-provisioning, and the inherent durability of Samsung’s V-NAND technology..
Encryption Support
Security features include AES 256-bit hardware encryption and support for TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 standards. The drive supports both software-based and hardware-based encryption methods, with minimal performance impact when encryption is enabled. Additional security features include secure erase functionality and support for Microsoft eDrive for BitLocker integration.
Performance and Features
The Samsung 990 PRO uses practically all of the available bandwidth in the PCIe Gen4 interface, with read speeds up to 7,450 MB/s and write speeds up to 6,900 MB/s, making it one of the fastest consumer SSDs on PCIe 4.0. Random performance reaches up to 1.4M IOPS.
Specifications
| Samsung 990 PRO Specifications | 1TB | 2TB | 4TB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| Interface/ Protocol | PCIe 4.0 x4/ NVMe 2.0 | PCIe 4.0 x4/ NVMe 2.0 | PCIe 4.0 x4/ NVMe 2.0 |
| Controller | Pascal | Pascal | Pascal |
| DRAM | 1GB LPDDR4 | 2GB LPDDR4 | 4GB LPDDR4 |
| Memory | 176-layer 3D TLC | 176-layer 3D TLC | 176-layer 3D TLC |
| Sequential Read | 7,450 MB/s | 7,450 MB/s | 7,450 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 6,900 MB/s | 6,900 MB/s | 6,900 MB/s |
| Random Read | 1.2M IOPS | 1.4M IOPS | 1.4M IOPS |
| Random Write | 1.55M IOPS | 1.55M IOPS | 1.55M IOPS |
| Endurance | 600 TBW | 1,200 TBW | 2,400 TBW |
| Warranty | 5-Year | 5-Year | 5-Year |
Market Impact
The 990 PRO received nearly universal acclaim from tech media and has been recognized as one of the top-performing consumer SSDs in its class.
Professional Reviews
The Samsung 990 PRO delivers flagship performance that sets a new standard for PCIe 4.0 SSDs, with exceptional speeds across all workloads.
… the drive claims top spots in the rankings, showing considerably better performance than the Samsung 980 Pro.
With blazing fast speeds and rock-solid reliability, the Samsung 990 PRO earns our highest recommendation for high-end systems.
There is no doubt that the Samsung 990 PRO is a really speedy SSD and was likely the best M.2 NVMe SSD on the planet at the start of 2023
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