Samsung has unveiled the 990 SSD, a new PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive for gamers and content creators who want high-end performance without getting the latest PCIe 5.0 hardware.
Rather than chasing benchmark records, Samsung is positioning the 990 as the “sweet spot” in its SSD lineup. It combines fast transfer speeds, improved power efficiency and competitive pricing for mainstream PC users.
The new drive delivers sequential read speeds of up to 7,250MB/s and write speeds of up to 6,450MB/s, making it one of the fastest PCIe 4.0 SSDs currently available. Samsung also says sequential write performance is more than 50% faster than the previous 990 EVO, thanks to updated NAND technology.
Storage is available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, with Samsung highlighting the larger model as particularly well suited to modern games and creative workloads. For instance, AAA titles regularly exceed 150GB, and 4K video projects continue to grow in size. The company argues that higher-capacity drives help maintain performance by avoiding the slowdowns that can occur when SSDs become nearly full.
Alongside the performance improvements, Samsung claims the 990 is up to 38% more power efficient than earlier models. The company attributes the gains to newer NAND flash technology, which reduces energy consumption during intensive tasks such as writing data. Additionally, it improves energy use during background maintenance and wear levelling.
The 2TB model is also rated for 800TBW (terabytes written) and includes a three-year warranty. Samsung describes it as offering class-leading endurance for its category.
The drive is supported by the new Samsung Magician 9.0 software, which combines firmware updates, health monitoring, performance benchmarking and data migration tools into a single application. Unlike previous versions, Magician 9.0 also supports Samsung memory cards, portable SSDs and USB drives.
Samsung hasn’t yet confirmed retail pricing, but it will open pre-orders on 9 July in 1TB and 2TB configurations.
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