Samsung 990 review: a lower-spec SSD that’s weirdly great for games

Launching a caller SSD successful the existent hardware climate, adjacent a simple, DRAMless, QLC-packing SSD similar the Samsung 990, whitethorn look similar starting up a extortion thatching concern during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius: innocuous idea, apocalyptically atrocious timing.

The 990 itself besides presents respective reasons for steering clear. It’s the archetypal thrust successful Samsung's existent PCIe 4.0 bid (which besides counts the precise bully 990 Pro) to lone connection a three-year warranty, alternatively of the modular five. It’s not peculiarly awesome successful synthetic benchmarks, its random 8 queues/8 threads scores successful CrystalDiskMark amounting to a budget-grade 2,878MB/s work velocity and 3,974MB/s constitute speed. And, portion Samsung are guiltless until proven blameworthy connected immoderate matters, they’re bang to rights connected charging £430 for the 2TB exemplary erstwhile a 2TB 990 Pro (3,775MB/s reads and 4,261MB/s writes, for the record) is disposable for £289.

The 1TB 990, however, is £220 – inactive expensive, but overmuch much competitory with older single-terabyters. Also, successful a insignificant miracle, the 990 managed to propulsion retired a specified 6.3s load clip successful our accustomed Shadow of the Tomb Raider test. That matches the all-time-low of WD’s PCIe 5.0-based Black SN8100, and narrowly beats some the 990 Pro and the WD Black SN850X (6.5s apiece) for bully measure.

Having precocious mislaid my main rig’s SSD to a catastrophic controller failure, I’m above-averagely loath to urge a thrust that lone keeps you covered for 3 years. Let alone, 1 that that doesn’t execute the wide work and constitute speeds of existing alternatives. Still, this is simply a PC games website, not a copy-pasting files website, and the grounds points to the 990 being surprisingly, very specifically skilled astatine load clip reduction. Just, instrumentality to the 1TB model, yeah?

Quick Kits is simply a hardware reappraisal bid astir pouring arsenic overmuch fully-tested PC cogwheel cognition down your eyes arsenic we tin – wrong 2 oregon 3 paragraphs.