Wednesday, September 6th 2023

Samsung Announces 4 TB SSD 990 PRO Series

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced the release of a new 4-terabyte (TB) offering in its SSD 990 PRO series. The 990 PRO series is a lineup of high-performance PCIe 4.0 SSDs powered by Samsung's eighth-generation V-NAND (V8) technology and enhanced proprietary controller. Offering blazing-fast speeds and ultimate power efficiency, the 990 PRO series is optimized for massive data volumes, such as 3D/4K graphics work, data analytics and high-quality games, making it the ideal SSD for today's PCs, laptops, game consoles and computing systems. With improved total bytes written (TBW) ratings of up to 2,400 TB, the 990 PRO series ensures increased SSD reliability and longevity, ideal for those with highly demanding workloads and large storage capacity needs.

"Today's gamers and creative professionals require high-capacity, high-performance SSDs and Samsung's new 4 TB SSD 990 PRO is the perfect storage solution to meet their needs," said Hangu Sohn, Corporate Vice President of the Memory Brand Product Biz Team at Samsung Electronics. "As the demand for high-resolution content and ultra-fast data-processing speeds continues to grow, high-performance NVMe storage has become a core requirement."
Best-in-class Performance and Capacity
Featuring Samsung's V8 technology and improved controller, the 4 TB 990 PRO offers near-max performance in a PCIe 4.0 interface, with sequential read speeds of up to 7,450 megabytes-per-second (MB/s) and write speeds of up to 6,900 MB/s. The newly expanded capacity of 4 TB delivers boosted random read and write speeds of up to 1,600K and 1,550K IOPS respectively, making it the ideal solution for gamers, creative professionals and tech enthusiasts seeking top-tier performance and storage space.

With the fastest random read performance among PCIe 4.0 interface consumer SSDs on the market, the 4 TB 990 PRO significantly reduces mid-game stalls and accelerates the loading of high-quality videos, increasing gamers' enjoyment and immersion. For high-end games that support the latest in game-loading technology, the 990 PRO series can help reduce lag, allowing users to enjoy real-time gameplay experiences with consistently high frames per second (FPS).

Enhanced Power Efficiency and Reliable Thermal Control
The 990 PRO series achieves breakthrough power efficiency, with an up to 50% performance improvement in comparison to the previous 980 PRO series. It also incorporates a nickel coating on the controller and features a heat spreader label on the back side of the SSD, ensuring optimal temperature level maintenance and minimal performance fluctuations over time. The 990 PRO with Heatsink is equipped with an effective, slim heatsink, giving users the full experience in sustained high-performance computing and gaming capabilities. Furthermore, the drive is compatible with the latest game consoles, so it can speed up game installation and loading times, while also preventing performance drops that can result from overheating.

Single-Sided 4 TB SSD for Ultra-Slim Laptops
Thanks to Samsung's V8 1 Tb high-density NAND and the company's memory stacking technology, the 4 TB 990 PRO was designed with a single-sided M.2 form factor, which makes it slimmer than other double-sided M.2 SSDs. This frees users from the concerns that double-sided M.2 SSDs can cause when installed into ultra-thin laptops, such as an inability to install the SSD or the risk of damaging other components. With a single-sided M.2 form factor, the streamlined design provides abundant storage capacity and sustainable performance.

Samsung Magician Software and Availability
The Samsung Magician software ensures optimal performance in SSDs by keeping firmware, drivers and other settings up to date, while also offering the flexibility to customize power and performance optimisation, according to user preferences. Moreover, the software supports RGB functionality for the 990 PRO with Heatsink, so gamers have the option to customize color and LED effects. Set to be released in September 2023, the new version of Magician 8.0 will be an integrated software solution for SSDs, portable SSDs, memory cards and USB flash drives.
Source: Samsung
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31 Comments on Samsung Announces 4 TB SSD 990 PRO Series

#1
Chaitanya
have they fixed the premature death issue of these drives? Also it took a very long time to release 4TB drives after being announced earlier in the year.
Posted on Reply
#2
fevgatos
Chaitanyahave they fixed the premature death issue of these drives? Also it took a very long time to release 4TB drives after being announced earlier in the year.
There was no such thing. It was a software issue, the drive was fine.
Posted on Reply
#3
AsRock
TPU addict
Chaitanyahave they fixed the premature death issue of these drives? Also it took a very long time to release 4TB drives after being announced earlier in the year.
Only had mine around 20 days but had no issue's with them.

Posted on Reply
#4
Cheeseball
Not a Potato
Chaitanyahave they fixed the premature death issue of these drives? Also it took a very long time to release 4TB drives after being announced earlier in the year.
That was for the 980 Pro, I believe. The 990 Pro didn’t experience this (at least mine didn’t, and I had a 2TB since it was launched, so I believe it was still the initial firmware).
Posted on Reply
#5
A&P211
I stopped caring about Samsung some time ago. I used to have x2 970 evo 2tb. Since Samsung never bothered to release larger SSDs any 2tb, I moved on to other companies, and their quality control has been lacking for a few years now. I still have an external SATA drive 8tb samsung 870 qvo thats only used for long term storage of video projects.
Posted on Reply
#6
notaburner
Is there any pricing info available yet? The prices of the 4tb drives don't seem to be dropping at the same rate relative to the 2tb options. Just picked up an sn850x 4tb this weekend for $300 where the 2tb version of that drive are currently going for $120 (ran out of m.2/pcie slots so buying multiple 2tb wasn't really an option). Other manufactures comparable options seem to be in the $300-$350 range as well. Hopefully a little more competition in the high end pcie 4.0 4tb space pushes these prices down a bit.
Posted on Reply
#7
bonehead123
This seems to be old/recycled news, as I seem to recall seeing this announcement at least a month or 2 ago...but maybe they're just now getting around to getting them out into the sales/distribution channel though...

But, as a side note, WD.com & da Zonner currently have the 4TB 850X listed @$299, which were in the upper $350 range only a month ago, so hopefully they will continue dropping like the smaller sizes have :)
Posted on Reply
#8
Garrus
Sadly Samsung is no longer the fastest, no longer the best value, and no longer even offering large enough drives. They are irrelevant in the SSD market again.
Posted on Reply
#9
mechtech
Well hopefully it goes for $310 usd ish like the competition.

(not holding me breath)

"With improved total bytes written (TBW) ratings of up to 2,400 TB, the 990 PRO series ensures increased SSD reliability and longevity" Not that great for 4TB - Kingston KC3000 is saying "4096GB – 3.2PBW"
Posted on Reply
#10
Chaitanya
mechtechWell hopefully it goes for $310 usd ish like the competition.

(not holding me breath)

"With improved total bytes written (TBW) ratings of up to 2,400 TB, the 990 PRO series ensures increased SSD reliability and longevity" Not that great for 4TB - Kingston KC3000 is saying "4096GB – 3.2PBW"
Generally those TBW ratings are to be taken with grain of salt and given its Kingston(king of bait and switch) those claims needs to be taken with metric tonne of salt.
Posted on Reply
#11
Prima.Vera
GarrusSadly Samsung is no longer the fastest, no longer the best value, and no longer even offering large enough drives. They are irrelevant in the SSD market again.
THIS!
Posted on Reply
#14
bobsled
fevgatosAgain, the drive is fine. It's a software issue. You could let it drop to 0% and the drive would still work.
Yet wouldn’t you be refused warranty based on (false) TBW?
Posted on Reply
#15
fevgatos
bobsledYet wouldn’t you be refused warranty based on (false) TBW?
I have no idea but why would you need warranty if it's just the software misreporting?
Posted on Reply
#16
TheLostSwede
News Editor
Official US pricing.
The 990 PRO 4TB (MSRP: $344.99) and 990 PRO with Heatsink (MSRP: $354.99) will be available for purchase at Samsung.com and select retailers in October 2023.
Posted on Reply
#17
chrcoluk
Chaitanyahave they fixed the premature death issue of these drives? Also it took a very long time to release 4TB drives after being announced earlier in the year.
Might be why they releasing this, no one buying them anymore so they grabbing the 4TB market. :D

On a more serious note, looking at the pricing is it allows them to get their margins back as its a higher price per gig compared to 2TB.
Posted on Reply
#18
Chaitanya
TheLostSwedeOfficial US pricing.
So quite reasonable and in line with competition.
Posted on Reply
#19
bobsled
fevgatosI have no idea but why would you need warranty if it's just the software misreporting?
Uh, if the drive fails? :wtf:
Posted on Reply
#20
kapone32
chrcolukMight be why they releasing this, no one buying them anymore so they grabbing the 4TB market. :D

On a more serious note, looking at the pricing is it allows them to get their margins back as its a higher price per gig compared to 2TB.
Kingston already owns the 4TB market. The NV2 is right now $264 fpr the 4 TB ($193 US) on Newegg.
Posted on Reply
#21
CrAsHnBuRnXp
GarrusSadly Samsung is no longer the fastest, no longer the best value, and no longer even offering large enough drives. They are irrelevant in the SSD market again.
So then what is?
Posted on Reply
#22
GabrielLP14
SSD DB Maintainer
Damn a new Revision, at least they're using newer flash, i though they'd use V-NAND V7 1Tb dies
Posted on Reply
#23
chrcoluk
Just had a look at that heatsink, not a fan of it, I think the SN850X is an example of a clean looking heatsink.
Posted on Reply
#24
Dr_b_
chrcolukJust had a look at that heatsink, not a fan of it, I think the SN850X is an example of a clean looking heatsink.
Agreed, its typical asian over-styling for no functional reason
Posted on Reply
#25
trsttte
chrcolukJust had a look at that heatsink, not a fan of it, I think the SN850X is an example of a clean looking heatsink.
Clean looking yes, but in practise it does about as much as this one :D

Real heat sinks have curves fins
Posted on Reply
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