Samsung SSD 9100 PRO Review (vs. 990 EVO Plus): A Fast and Relatively Cool PCIe Gen 5×4 SSD

The SSD 9100 PRO, announced on February 25, 2025, and available to purchase today, is Samsung’s third attempt at PCIe Gen 5 NVMe storage, and in a way, it’s a charm.

The new drive is Samsung’s first SSD to feature the PCIe standard’s full four-lane (x4) speed grade. The previous two, the 990 EVO and 990 EVO Plus, only had half of the PCIe Gen 5’s storage bandwidth.

Here’s the bottom line: The new 9100 PRO indeed proved faster than its older cousins and a formidable rival to other PCIe Gen 5×4 drives. So, for Samsung fans wanting top performance, the SSD has enough to justify its price, which starts at $199.99 (1TB)—add $20 more for the heatsink version. However, like all PCIe Gen 5 SSDs, this Samsung SSD 9100 PRO is not a must-have.

The Samsung SSD 9100 PRO is available in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB capacities. You can purchase the first three today, but you will have to wait until late 2025 for the 8TB version.

Samsung SSD 9100 PRO: Joining the PCIe Gen 5×4 crowd without the extreme heat

It’s a long-established fact that PCIe Gen 5×4 NVMe SSDs produce a lot of heat, especially the first round released in 2023. The Crucial T700, for example, would crash after a short while when used without a heat-dissipating method, such as a heatsink.

This excessive heat generally makes this type of SSD not suitable for laptops where the heatsink version doesn’t fit, and there’s generally no metal cover for the M.2 slot.

For this reason, Samsung approached PCIe Gen 5 gingerly via “hybrid” SSDs. The 990 EVO and 990 EVO Plus are designed to be PCIe Gen 4×4 or PCIe Gen 5×2 drives. They don’t offer the top speed of the later PCIe standard, but PCIe Gen 4×4 is plenty fast, as noted in the table below.

PCIe Gen	Commercially Available	Rate per lane (rounded)	x1  Speed	x2 Speed	x4 Speed	x8 Speed	x16 Speed
1	2003	2 Gbps	250 MB/s	0.5 GB/s	1.0 GB/s	2 GB/s	4.0 GB/s
2	2007	4 Gbps	500 MB/s	1 GB/s	2.0 GB/s	4 GB/s	8.0 GB/s
3	2010	8 Gbps	984.6 MB/s	1.97 GB/s	3.94 GB/s	7.88 GB/s	15.8 GB/s
4	2020	16 Gbps	1969 MB/s	3.94 GB/s	7.88 GB/s	15.75 GB/s	31.5 GB/s
5	2023	32 Gbps	3938 MB/s	7.88 GB/s	15.75 GB/s	31.51 GB/s	63 GB/s

Nonetheless, folks have been waiting for Samsung to release its first full PCIe SSD, and this 9100 PRO is where it’s at. Featuring PCIe Gen 5×4, it has much higher specs than the previous models, as shown in the table below.

Hardware specifications: Samsung SSD 9100 PRO vs. 990 EVO Plus vs. 990 EVO

	Samsung SSD 9100 PRO	Samsung SSD 990 EVO Plus	Samsung SSD 990 EVO
Interface	PCIe 5.0×4	PCIe Gen 4×4, PCIe 5×2
NVMe Version	NVMe 2.x
Older PCIe Backward-Compatible	Yes
Form Factor	M.2 2280
Heatsink Option	Yes	No
Storage Memory	Samsung V NAND TLC (V8)	Samsung V-NAND 3-TLC
Controller	Samsung In-house Controller
Capacity	1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB	1TB, 2TB, 4TB	1TB, 2TB
DRAM (LPD DDR4)	1GB per TB	Dram-less
Sequential Read Speed (up to)	14,700 MB/s	1TB: 7,150 MB/s 2TB, 4TB: 7,250 MB/s	5,000 MB/s,
Sequential Write Speed (up to)	13,300 MB/s	6,300 MB/s	4,200 MB/s
Random Read Speed (QD32) (up to)	1TB, 2TB: 1,850K IOPS 4TB, 8TB: 2,200K IOPS	1TB: 850K IOPS 2TB: 1,000 IOPS 4TB: 1050 IPS	1TB: 680K IOPS 2TB: 700K IOPS
Random Write Speed (QD32) (up to)	2,200K IOPS	1TB, 2TB: 1350 IOPS 4TB: 1400 IOPS	800K IOPS
Management Software	Samsung Magician 8
Data Encryption	Class 0 (AES 256), TCG/Opal v2.0, MS eDrive (IEEE1667)
Endurance	.6 DWPD 600GB per 1TB in TBW
Warranty	5-year
US Launch Price (check street prices)	1TB: $199.99 2TB: $299.99 4TB: $549.99 8TB (TBD) (add $20 for the heatsink version)	1TB: $109.99 2TB: $184.99 4TB: $344.99	1TB: $124.99 2TB: $209.99

As shown in the table above, the most notable is the fact that the new SSD 9100 PRO now has built-in DRAM for cache and features a 4-lane PCIe Gen 5. As a result, it has almost double the performance on paper compared with the previous version.

It’s worth noting that per Samsung’s fine print, the claimed improved performance has some big quantifiers. You’ll have to use certain motherboard and CPU combos, running the Linux operating system, to achieve the outputs. In real-world testing with Windows, like the case of previous PCIe Gen 5×4 SSDs, the SSD 9100 PRO was fast but far from what the vendor claims.

A typical Samsung SSD

Despite the higher specs, the SSD 9100 PRO will have a similar experience to previous Samsung SSDs. The drive comes with Samsung Magician dashboard software with lots of features, including the ability to handle its overprovisioning, firmware updates, and performance tuning.

The software also comes in handy when you need to monitor the SSD’s heat. During my trial, Samsung’s claim of its energy efficiency was proved to be true. The drive hardly ever became hotter than 55^oC (130^oF).

Samsung SSD 9100 PRO’s performance: A fast SSD without heat issues

I tested the naked 2TB version of the Samsung SSD 9100 PRO for over a week, using both “Standard” and “Full Power” modes, and it proved to be a satisfying experience. The first thing to note is that even when used with PCIe 5, the SSD was much more superb than the Crucial T700 or T705 counterparts.

In fact, I stress-tested for over 24 hours without adding a thermal solution, and it never crashed. The drive felt a bit hot to the touch, but it was far from alarming hot. So, on the heat front, the Samsung SSD 9100 PRO proved to be one of the coolest among its peers, and that’s never a bad thing.

In terms of performance, the 9100 PRO wasn’t the fastest I’ve seen during testing, as shown in the charts below. However, it was plenty fast and was clearly faster than the 990 EVO and Evo Plus. It also performed consistently without throttling, even during heavy loads.

In real-world electoral testing, I put it on the same computer as the Crucial T705, which had higher performance numbers in tests, and alternated between the two as the primary storage device and didn’t notice any difference in terms of performance. However, the T705 definitely produced significantly more heat and needed to be used with a thermal solution—you’d need to use the heatsink version or use it with an M.2 slot with a heat-dissipating metal cover.

The point here is that the Samsung SSD 9100 PRO, even the naked version, has a much better balance of performance and heat. And that’s a critical combo. It’s the first PCIe Gen 5×4 SSD I’d consider for a laptop.

Conclusion

The Samsung SSD 9100 PRO is not a must-have. However, if you’re adamant about getting a PCIe Gen 5×4 SSD, it’s one of the best, thanks to the reliable performance and low heat. So, consider one today if you have a computer that features PCIe Gen 5.

On the other hand, if you’re using the Samsung 990 EVO Plus or even the 990 Pro, keep them. There’s no need to upgrade.