Samsung Responds To Fan Demand For A 4TB Capacity 990 Pro SSD
It took a little while but Samsung has confirmed that it will indeed add a 4TB capacity option to its flagship 990 Pro solid state drive (SSD) series. That's great news for a couple of reasons, one of which is that the 990 Pro is compatible with the PlayStation 5. Additionally, these kinds of additions can help drive down SSD prices in general, as we've seen over the past couple of years.
Samsung's 990 Pro is not only the company's fastest SSD series, it's one of the best-performing SSD lineups of any manufacturer. We saw this first-hand in our 990 Pro review last year. We analyzed the 2TB model, which is rated to deliver up to 7,450MB/s of sequential read performance and up to 6,900MB/s for sequential writes. While it didn't lead the pack across the board in our tests, it delivered strong performance and did very well where it matters most—at lower queue depths and in the real-world, trace-based testing. At the time of our review, it posted the best PCMark Storage score we had ever seen.
There are plenty of other high-speed options, but the 990 Pro remains a solid choice and oft-recommended drive, both for PC and PS5 gamers. And now it's getting a big capacity upgrade.
You wanted it so badly, we had no choice but to deliver. The 4TB 990 PRO by #SamsungSSD is coming. Same blazing-fast storage with double the max capacity for gaming, video, 3D editing, and more. Stay tuned for more details. pic.twitter.com/B3iRso9Q3p
— Samsung Semiconductor (@SamsungDSGlobal) August 24, 2023
"You wanted it so badly, we had no choice but to deliver. The 4TB 990 PRO by #SamsungSSD is coming. Same blazing-fast storage with double the max capacity for gaming, video, 3D editing, and more. Stay tuned for more details," Samsung stated on X.
The timing of Samsung's announcement comes as drive makers have started to encroach into PCIe 5.0 territory. There are not a ton of PCIe 5.0 options, though, and the ones that do exist carry a pricing premium that makes them a tough sell.
Meanwhile, pricing on PCIe 4.0 and 3.0 models have fallen quite a bit over the past year or so. As for the 990 Pro series, here's where things are at...
- 1TB Samsung 990 Pro: $74.99
- 1TB Samsung 990 Pro w/ Heatsink: $84.99
- 2TB Samsung 990 Pro: $149.99
- 2TB Samsung 990 Pro w/ Heatsink: $149.99
Our best guess is that the 4TB model will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 to $350. That's about where it needs to be in order to remain competitive with other blazing-fast PCIe 4.0 options, such as...
- 4TB WD Black SN850X: $299.77
- 4TB Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus: $349.99
- 4TB XPG Gammix S70 Blade: $229.99
- 4TB Seagate FireCuda 530: $379.99
- 4TB PNY XL48: $269.99
- 4TB Kingston Fury Renegade: $381.46
Pricing is kind of all over the place, but there are some $300 and even sub-$300 options that offer similar speeds (based on rated specs) to the 990 Pro. It will be interesting to see where exactly Samsung's upcoming 4TB model lands.
