Samsung has announced a 4TB 990 Pro SSD targeting users seeking top-notch speeds and reliability on an ubiquitous PCIe 4.0 M.2 interface.
Following the well-received 2TB 990 Pro and by popular demand, Samsung will belatedly add a 4TB variant for users needing higher capacity alongside great transfer speeds.
A welcome addition given the tumbling cost of competing drives, and a perfect upgrade for PC or PS5, especially with ever-growing game sizes. Starfield, for instance, which is releasing in a couple of days for early access members, asks for nearly 140GB on PC, and that’s not even counting upcoming patches or DLC.
Powered by PCIe Gen 4 x4, Samsung’s upcoming flagship boasts 4GB of LPPDR4 cache alongside 4TB of Samsung’s TLC V-NAND flash driven by an in-house controller. This combo allows the drive to reach up to 7,450MB/s sequential read and 6,900MB/s sequential write, plus 1,400,000 read and 1,550,000 write IOPS. The exact same performance delivered by its 2TB sibling, but offering more storage space.
As expected, with double the NAND capacity, comes double the durability, now sitting at 2,400TBW, meaning years and years of data shuffling – further accentuated by Samsung’s five-year warranty.
The 4TB 990 Pro will also be available in two versions, with and without heatsink, giving users the choice of cooling solution. A welcome arrangement as nowadays motherboards include integrated SSD heatspreaders that do not interfere with nearby components.
While no pricing has been announced for the 4TB 990 Pro, we could like to see somewhere below £250 for Samsung to remain competitive with what’s on the market. The 2TB version which Club386 reviewed was recently slashed by 29 per cent from £192 to £137.
