Samsung has simply launched its first Evo-branded finances SSD because the 970 Evo Plus got here out 5 years in the past, which you’d suppose can be excellent news for budget-conscious PC builders. In any case, the brand new Samsung 990 Evo has PCIe 5 compatibility listed in its specs, and it’s cheaper than the Samsung 990 Professional. Nonetheless, there are a few catches that mark this SSD as one to keep away from for desktop PC customers.
With loads of silicon experience at its disposal, Samsung has maintained an excellent repute within the land of SSDs. Two of its drives are listed in our greatest gaming SSD information, and the Samsung 990 Professional dominated benchmarks within the PCIe 4 period. Nonetheless, the brand new Samsung 990 Evo has a number of purple flags.
Let’s begin with that declare of PCIe 5 compatibility. “It’s designed to be appropriate with each PCIe 5.0 and PCIe 4.0 interfaces,” says Samsung, “making certain it may be put in into all kinds of methods whereas sustaining optimum efficiency.”
Nonetheless, once you dig deeper it turns into obvious that it solely makes use of two lanes in PCIe 5 mode, giving it precisely the identical bandwidth as 4 PCIe 4 lanes. That may technically be PCIe 5 compatibility, however the finish result’s no totally different from placing a typical 4x PCIe 4 SSD in a PCIe 5 M.2 connector – you continue to get a most throughput of 8GB/s.
All of which is educational anyway, as the highest sequential learn velocity of the 990 Evo is simply 5,000MB/s anyway, with a prime sequential write velocity of 4,200MB/s. That’s not solely considerably slower than the Samsung 990 Professional, which shares the identical mannequin quantity, but additionally manner slower than the getting old Samsung 980 Professional. In my very own assessments, the Samsung 980 Professional learn velocity tops out at 6,843MB/s in CrystalDiskMark, with a write velocity of 4,984MB/s, with each figures a good manner in entrance of the numbers Samsung claims for the 990 Evo.
And that brings us to the following drawback with Samsung’s new drive – its value. The 990 Evo has launched at $124.99 for a 1TB drive, and $209.99 for a 2TB drive, and each these costs are greater than you’ll pay for the quicker Samsung 980 Professional in the intervening time, which at present goes for $84.99 for a 1TB drive. Not solely that, however the 990 Evo costs are manner greater than these of the WD Black SN850X proper now, which tops our greatest SSD information and reads at as much as 7,300MB/s, with costs additionally beginning at simply $84.99 for the 1TB mannequin.
On the plus facet, Samsung is making some good claims for the vitality and thermal effectivity of this drive, saying that it it improves “energy effectivity of as much as 70% when in comparison with the 970 Evo Plus.” That’s excellent news for laptops, the place energy and thermal envelopes are tight, however it’s largely irrelevant for desktops.
All of which is a disgrace, as there’s undoubtedly room for a keenly priced PCIe 4 SSD in the intervening time, which might take over the reins from the Samsung 980 with its PCIe 3 interface. Within the meantime, be sure you learn our greatest SSD information should you’re looking out for a brand new storage improve.
