With the release of its new 990 Pro NVMe SSDs, Samsung is pushing the limits of the PCIe 4.0 interface. The M.2 SSDs can read sequentially at speeds of up to 7,450MB/s and write at speeds of up to 6,900MB/s. Samsung claims this is "the highest speed currently available from the PCIe 4.0 interface." Since the theoretical limit for reading speeds over PCIe 4.0 is 8,000MB/s, it seems unlikely that anyone will be able to beat the 990 Pro if it does reach those speeds in real-world testing.
These new drives are made for gamers and creative professionals. KyuYoung Lee, Vice President of the Memory Brand Product Biz Team at Samsung Electronics, said, "The 990 Pro is the best choice for gamers and creative professionals who want to work and play without interruptions because it has the best balance of speed, power efficiency, and reliability."
You will have to be patient to access these fast SSDs, though. Samsung plans to make the 990 Pro in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB sizes, but not immediately. The 1TB version will cost $179, and the 2TB version will cost $309. The 4TB version doesn't have a price yet and won't be available until next year.
Samsung rates the 1TB drive as being able to write 600TB, the 2TB drive as being able to write 1,200TB, and the 4TB drive as being able to write 2,400TB. When used on a PC, all three drives come with the Samsung Magician software and 256-bit AES full-drive encryption. All of them can be put in a PS5 to add more storage space, and a version with a heatsink will be made available for better thermal management.
