Samsung SSD 990 EVO Plus 2TB SSD Review

1. Introduction2. Samsung SSD990 EVO Plus 2TB3. Testing Methodology4. CrystalDiskMark5. ATTO Disk Benchmark6. AS SSD7. 128KB Sequential Performance8. 4K Random Read v QD Performance9. 4K Random Write v QD Performance10. 4K 70/30 Mixed Performance11. 4K Random Performance QD1-QD812. Throughput13. PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark14. 3DMark Storage Benchmark 15. Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker Official Benchmark16. Temperatures17. Real Life File Testing18. Gen 4.0 x4 v Gen 5.0 x2 Performance19. Closing Thoughts20. View All Pages

The SSD990 EVO Plus is the latest SSD to arrive from Samsung. The new drive uses a DRAM-less design controller and Samsung's latest 8th generation 236-layer 3-bit MLC (TLC) V-NAND and it can run at either PCIe Gen 4 x4 or PCIe Gen 5 x2.

Details about the new Piccolo controller are thin on the ground but the 4-channel DRAM-less controller is built on a 5nm process. Although it uses the same controller as the previous SSD990 EVO drive, the more advanced 8th gen NAND and firmware optimisations in the latest drive, see improvements in both power consumption and efficiency (MB/s per Watt). Samsung claims improvements of up to 16% and 11% for read and writes respectively for power consumption while power efficiency sees up to 73% improvement in reads and up to 48% for writes.

At launch, the drive comes in three capacities, 1TB, 2TB (the drive we are reviewing) and a flagship 4TB model.  At the time of writing the 990 EVO Plus comes as a ‘plain' drive (there are no heatsink-equipped versions) and to keep the drive cool in operation it uses a combination of a copper heat spreader built into the label, a nickel coating on the controller and Samsung’s DTG (Dynamic Thermal Guard) algorithm.

The drive features Samsung's Intelligent TurboWrite 2.0 technology to improve write performance. The dynamic TurboWrite region of the 2TB drive supports up to 216GB (double that of the 2TB SSD990 EVO). The 1TB drive supports up to 108GB, and the 4TB model supports 432 GB.

Samsung rates the Sequential performance of the 2TB drive as up to 7,250MB/s for reads and up to 6,300MB/s for writes. When we tested the drive with the ATTO benchmark, the best we saw from the drive was 6,750MB/s for reads and 5,610MB/s for writes. Switching over to the CrystalDiskMark 8 benchmark we could confirm the official read figure with a test result of 7,281MB/s. However, the write result was still short of the official rating at 6,077MB/s.

When it came to 4K random performance, we couldn't get anywhere close to the official figures under testing. Samsung quotes read/write figures for the 2TB drive of up to 1,000,000 IOPS and 1,350,000 IOPS respectively. With our standard 4-threaded tests the best we saw from the drive was 373,769 IOPS for reads and 294,019 IOPS for writes. The best performance figures we saw from the drive came from using the Peak Performance profile in Crystal Disk Mark 8 with reads (default) at 778,923 IOPS and writes (compressed data) at 593.118 IOPS.

We found the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB on Scan at a special offer price of £159.98 (inc VAT) instead of £179.99 HERE

Pros

• Overall performance.
• TCG Opal 2.0 encryption.
• Magician software.
• 5-year warranty.

Cons

• Tested 4K performance couldn’t match the official maximum figures.

Kitguru says: Samsung's SSD990 EVO Plus may have the same controller as the previous EVO drive but thanks to the more modern version 8 NAND it uses and tweaks to the firmware it's a much more power-efficient drive than its predecessor. The Gen5 x2 support and lowish power demands make it an interesting option for mobile devices, but the market segment the drive is entering is highly competitive, to say the least.

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