After Samsung’s earlier product web page snafu, the corporate is formally launching their next-generation mainstream consumer SSD right now. The 990 EVO will probably be obtainable in each 1TB and 2TB capacities, and affords an fascinating mixture of each PCIe Gen 5 and PCIe Gen 4 assist by permitting as much as 2 lanes of PCIe connectivity at Gen 5 speeds, or as much as 4 lanes at Gen 4 and under.
The discharge of the 990 EVO marks the return of the EVO SSD model after it was quietly put apart through the 980 technology, when Samsung’s sole non-PRO drive was the vanilla 980 SSD. Consequently, Samsung’s personal efficiency comparisons for the brand new drive are in opposition to the newest EVO, the 970 EVO Plus, although just like how the vanilla 980 was successfully the 970 EVO successor, in some ways that is the successor to the 980.
The drives can be found instantly from Samsung. The corporate has set the retail costs of the drives at $125 for the 1TB mannequin, and $210 for the 2TB. These are stiff costs for a drive debuting within the highly-competitive mainstream SSD market, although admittedly commonplace for a Samsung drive launch.
Our unique story (with up to date technical specs) follows as under:
Initially Printed: 01/09/2024
Samsung’s launch of the 990 EVO M.2 2280 SSD seems to be imminent, as official product pages with specs went dwell in sure areas a number of days again earlier than getting pulled down.
Probably the most fascinating facet the 990 EVO will not be the claimed speeds, however the truth that it might probably function in both Gen 4 or Gen 5 modes with completely different variety of lanes. The just lately launched cellular platforms from each AMD and Intel use Gen 4 lanes for the storage subsystem. Nevertheless, with progress in expertise it’s inevitable that this may transfer to Gen 5 sooner or later. In the intervening time, thermal constraints in cellular methods could forestall pocket book producers from entering into for desktop Gen 5 speeds (8 – 14 GBps). A pretty choice for such instances could be to maneuver to a two-lane Gen 5 implementation that will assist in retaining the identical Gen 4 x4 bandwidth functionality, however reduce down on the BOM value by lowering the variety of pins / lane depend on the host aspect. It seems that Samsung’s 990 EVO is a platform designed with such a situation in thoughts.
PCIe PHYs / controllers have backward compatibility, and the 990 EVO’s SSD controller incorporates a 4-lane Gen 5 controller and PHY. In the course of the coaching section with the host, each the hyperlink bandwidth and lane depend might be negotiated. It seems that the SSD is configured to promote Gen 5 speeds to the host if solely two lanes are lively.
Samsung seems to be advertising and marketing solely 1TB and 2TB capacities of the 990 EVO. Primarily based on the product photographs on-line, the fashions look like single-sided models (making them appropriate with a greater variety of cellular platforms). The flash packages look like 1TB every, and the EVO moniker / commercial of Host Reminiscence Buffer assist / controller package deal markings within the product photographs factors to a DRAM-less SSD controller – the Piccolo S4LY022. The quoted efficiency numbers seem low for a 176L / 236L V-NAND product. TechPowerUp believes that these SSDs are utilizing an up to date V6 (133L, termed V6 Prime) with higher effectivity and yields in comparison with the common V6.
| Samsung 990 EVO Specs | ||||
| Capability | 1 TB | 2 TB | ||
| Controller | Samsung S4LY022 Piccolo | |||
| NAND Flash | Samsung Up to date 6th Gen. V-NAND (133L 3D TLC) | |||
| Kind-Issue, Interface | Single-Sided M.2-2280, PCIe 4.0 x4 / 5.0 x2, NVMe 2.0 | |||
| Sequential Learn | 5000 MB/s | 5000 MB/s | ||
| Sequential Write | 4200 MB/s | 4200 MB/s | ||
| Random Learn IOPS | 680K | 700K | ||
| Random Write IOPS | 800K | 800K | ||
| SLC Caching | Sure | |||
| TCG Opal Encryption | Sure | |||
| Guarantee | 5 years | |||
| Write Endurance | 600 TBW 0.3 DWPD |
1200 TBW 0.3 DWPD |
||
Samsung can also be touting much-improved energy effectivity, with switch charges being 2 – 3x per Watt in comparison with the 970 EVO. The Piccolo controller’s 5nm fabrication course of and the V6 Prime’s effectivity enhancements have a big say in that facet.
Pricing and concrete launch dates for the 990 EVO usually are not obtainable but. The delta in specs for the 1TB and 2TB fashions will probably be up to date within the desk above as soon as the drives are formally introduced. The 1TB mannequin is priced at $125 and the 2TB model at $210. Each SKUs can be found for buy right now.
