Chill out with a screaming-fast SSD
The Samsung SSD 990 Pro With Heatsink (starts at $149.99 for 1TB; $239.99 for 2TB as tested) is almost the same drive that we reviewed in October 2022, but with the addition of a pre-installed heatsink. The 990 Pro’s price (for all versions) has come down, and the version reviewed here showed slightly improved performance over the non-heatsink version on some tests. Its results on the 3DMark Storage gaming-centric test were middling compared with other high-performance PCI Express 4.0 solid-state drives, however, especially the Editors’ Choice-winning WD Black SN850X. If you’re a gamer, you’ll want to go with the SN850X, but for general-purpose storage upgrades, the heatsink-equipped 990 Pro is a worthy alternative.Cool Runnings
The 990 Pro is manufactured on an M.2 Type-2280 (80mm long) “gumstick” printed circuit board and uses the NVMe protocol over the PCIe 4.0 bus. It combines Samsung MLC 3-bit V-NAND flash memory with a homegrown controller that Samsung says is the first on a consumer SSD to employ 8-nanometer architecture. This controller, the company claims, improves power efficiency by up to 50% compared to the 980 Pro. (Unfamiliar with M.2 and PCIe jargon? Check out our guide to SSD terminology.)
The heatsink, coupled with Samsung’s own nickel-coated controller, delivers effective thermal control and prevents sudden performance drops from overheating, according to the company. Indeed, our PCMark 10 and 3DMark Storage benchmark results (below) would seem to bear that out. The heatsink-equipped 990 Pro is slim enough to fit in a Sony PlayStation 5, and it easily fits Sony’s criteria for use with the PS5. Samsung does not recommend that the heatsink be removed from the 990 Pro (it’s held in place by four tiny setscrews), as it could damage the drive.
The list prices for the 990 Pro’s various configurations have dropped since we reviewed the non-heatsink version nearly a year ago, although prices of many of its competitors have dropped as well. You can see the available options below; a 4TB version of the SSD is also in the works.
The 990 Pro’s durability ratings (expressed in terms of lifetime write capacity in total terabytes written or TBW) equal those of several other PCIe 4.
