Samsung 9100 Pro review: The fastest gaming SSD we’ve ever tested

Samsung has turned up fashionably late to the PCIe 5.0 SSD get together, however it’s largely been definitely worth the wait. Fairly than speeding out a brand new drive as quickly as the primary motherboards got here on the scene, the corporate has been in a position to see the place different drives have failed, and refine its PCIe 5.0 SSD components. Meet the Samsung 9100 Professional, the quickest SSD on the block.

This new Samsung drive isn’t simply the quickest M.2 SSD I’ve ever examined, however it additionally doesn’t run ridiculously scorching. You continue to want a heatsink for it, however not a comically outsized one with a fan in it. Actually, the slimline cooler hooked up to the heatsink variations of the drive has no hassle protecting it in verify with out throttling. It may not be low-cost (extra on that later), however by way of nailing the temporary, the Samsung 9100 Professional is the very best SSD for gaming by way of uncooked efficiency.

I’ve examined two of the brand new drives to see how they get on in various totally different situations, from gaming to uncooked sequential efficiency, and utilizing one in every of them as the primary drive in my gaming PC for a few weeks. The primary is a 2TB mannequin with a heatsink, and the second is a 4TB drive with no heatsink.

Specs

Because of its use of the 4x PCIe 5.0 interface, the efficiency of the Samsung 9100 Professional is nicely forward of the corporate’s last-gen PCIe 4.0 drives, such because the Samsung 990 Professional. Technically, this isn’t the corporate’s first PCIe 5.0 drive both, because the Samsung 990 Evo and Evo Plus ostensibly used this interface too.

Nevertheless, these drives may solely use two PCIe 5.0 lanes, which means they had been successfully no sooner than 4x PCIe 4.0 drives. This time, Samsung has performed it correctly, with a 4x PCIe 5.0 SSD that the corporate says can hit a prime sequential learn velocity of 14,800MB/s on the 4TB drive, and 14,700MB/s on the 1TB and 2TB fashions, beating the Essential T705’s claimed prime velocity of 14,500MB/s.

The drive is predicated on Samsung’s Eighth-gen triple-level cell (TLC) V-NAND, and it additionally includes a model new Samsung in-house controller, which the corporate has constructed on a 5nm manufacturing course of. Comparatively, the Phison E31T controller utilized by quite a lot of the competitors is constructed with TSMC’s 7nm course of, and even the brand new Phison PS5028-E28 controller is made with a 6nm course of.

Samsung says its personal customized controller design allows the brand new drive to be 49% extra power-efficient than the previous PCIe 4.0 Samsung 990 Professional, and likewise describes the heatsink model of the drive as “cooler” and “longer lasting.” In the meantime, every drive has an LPDDR4X cache that corresponds on to the capability, so the 1TB drive has 1GB of cache, the 2TB drive has 2GB, and so forth.

Capability is one other sturdy level of this vary of drives, which spans from 1TB all the way in which to 8TB. We’ll have to attend a short time for the 8TB drives, which Samsung says will likely be launched later in 2025, however the firm is launching the 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB fashions on the similar time now.

Lastly, the endurance ranking of every drive additionally correlates with the capability, with the 1TB drive rated to 600 terabytes written (TBW), going up in increments of 600TBW with every additional terabyte of capability. This matches the competitors, with the identical figures claimed for the Essential T705.

Software program

One of many options I actually like about Samsung’s drives is the Magician software program package deal you may obtain for its SSDs from Samsung’s web site. The software program is nicely laid out and simple to make use of, and it already helps the brand new Samsung 9100 Professional drives. My favourite a part of it’s the Information Migration part, which takes all the trouble out of upgrading your system drive. You don’t want to fret about reinstalling Home windows, or discovering free ghosting software program, because the Samsung package deal will do all of the laborious be just right for you – drivers, software program installs, Home windows – the lot.

You simply must put your new drive in a spare M.2 slot in your motherboard concurrently your present system drive, format it, go to the Information Migration part, and choose your new drive. Clicking the Begin button will then do the entire job of cloning your current system drive onto the brand new drive (from any SSD, not essentially a Samsung one). When you’re performed, you may carry out a Safe Erase in your previous drive (a characteristic that’s additionally handily accessible in Magician), and also you’re all able to go.

Different options accessible right here embrace efficiency benchmarking, and diagnostics checks, in addition to the flexibility to set how a lot capability your drive makes use of for over-provisioning – a characteristic that locks off a specific amount of the capability drive from Home windows, which might doubtlessly enhance efficiency and endurance throughout in case your drive is prone to undertake quite a lot of write-intensive workloads.

How we check

To evaluate SSD efficiency, I run a mixture of artificial checks utilizing CrystalDiskMark and AS SSD, to gauge peak sequential and random efficiency. I additionally run the PCMark 10 full system drive benchmark to get an concept of real-world efficiency as a system drive, and run the 3DMark storage benchmark to evaluate gaming efficiency, which is the precedence for our evaluations as a gaming web site.

The latter runs traces from actual video games, together with Battlefield V, The Outer Wilds, and Overwatch, to measure efficiency for recreation installs, saves, and loading occasions. All of the SSDs within the graphs under had been examined on the identical check rig, which has the spec listed under. All checks are carried out in a full PC construct inside a Cooler Grasp MasterCase H500P case with two 200mm entrance consumption followers and one 140mm exhaust fan, with the glass aspect panel hooked up, to get a practical concept of thermal efficiency and throttling.

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
• CPU cooler: Corsair H100X Elite
• Motherboard: MSI X870E Carbon WiFi
• RAM: G.Ability TridentZ RGB 6,000MT/s, CL28
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080
• SSD (system drive): WD Black SN850X heatsink 2TB
• PSU: Corsair RMX1000 Shift

Benchmarks

On to the large query, then. Can the Samsung 9100 Professional actually stay as much as its producer’s claims in terms of efficiency? Let’s begin with these sky-high sequential learn velocity claims, of 14,700MB/s for the 2TB drive and 14,800MB/s for the 4TB drive. To place this to the check, I ran CrystalDiskMark on each drives, and whereas neither check fairly hit Samsung’s claims, they weren’t far off, and are considerably greater than the Essential T705.

As you may see within the graph above, the 4TB drive hits 14,725MB/s, and the 2TB drive can handle 14,645MB/s. These are large numbers that actually see Samsung pushing the restrict of what’s attainable with the PCIe 5.0 interface, however it’s at all times value taking into account that you simply’ll solely see this efficiency in large-scale file transfers. The graph above makes it look as if the Samsung 9100 Professional is nicely over double the velocity of the WD Black SN850X, however that is the one situation the place you’ll see that scale of efficiency distinction.

Sequential write speeds are additionally stable for the Samsung drives. The 2TB drive hits 13,450MB/s on this check, with an analogous (although ever so barely decrease) consequence for the 4TB drive, being nicely forward of the 12,718MB/s achieved by the Essential T705. Samsung has completely nailed the uncooked efficiency of this drive in terms of sequential reads and writes.

Random learn efficiency can also be a robust level for the Samsung 9100 Professional, as proven in our AS SSD check 4K 64-queue-depth outcomes, the place the 9100 Professional tops out at 979,640 IOPS, in comparison with 889,149 IOPS for the Corsair MP700 Professional and 882,724 IOPS for the Essential T705.

This check does present how the waters get muddied when you get away from sequential efficiency, although, as each the Corsair and Essential drives are a little bit faster than the Samsung in terms of random writes. Whereas the PCIe 4.0 WD Black SN850X is on the backside of the graph on this check, you too can see that it’s not wherever close to as far behind as it’s within the sequential checks, displaying that these flagship figures don’t inform you the entire story.

Certainly, switching to the CrystalDiskMark random 4K (32-queue-depth) checks reverses the image, with the WD Black SN850X being barely faster than all of the PCIe 5.0 drives on check, and the Samsung 9100 Professional sitting on the backside of the graphs. The variations are small throughout the board right here, although. Mainly, shopping for a brand new PCIe 5.0 SSD doesn’t assure you a efficiency increase in each single situation.

Transferring onto the all-important recreation checks reveals the place the Samsung 9100 Professional is basically sturdy, which is in terms of recreation load occasions. When loading Battlefield V it hits a implausible velocity of 1,526MB/s, in comparison with 1,404MB/s for the Essential T705 and 1,216 for the Corsair MP700 Professional.

Likewise, in Overwatch, the Samsung 9100 Professional once more sits on the prime of the graphs, loading the sport at 571MB/s, faster than any of the opposite PCIe 5.0 drives on check, and nicely forward of the 407MB/s from the WD Black SN850X. One issue to think about with the latter drive can also be that WD has sadly now discontinued its WD Dashboard software program, which enabled you to modify on WD’s Sport Mode to enhance load occasions. Even then, although, the load occasions we recorded with the previous Sport Mode enabled (1,154MB/s in Battlefield v) are nicely behind the Samsung 9100 Professional.

Curiously, although, the Samsung 9100 Professional fares much less nicely within the set up check for The Outer Wilds, the place it hit 236MB/s. It’s nonetheless faster than the WD Black SN850X right here, however the Corsair and Essential drives are a good bit faster, with the T705 even operating at 290MB/s.

The traces for this recreation instructed an analogous story in terms of saving your recreation in The Outer Wilds, the place the Samsung 9100 Professional’s 178MB/s result’s once more forward of the WD Black SN850X, however falls behind the opposite two PCIe 5.0 drives on check. This simply goes to indicate that these peak sequential figures on the field don’t at all times inform you the entire story in terms of real-world gaming efficiency.

Lastly, we come to the PCMark full system drive check, which sees the Samsung 9100 Professional return to the throne, averaging 637MB/s throughout the system drive checks. That’s sooner than the opposite two PCIe 5.0 SSDs, by 90MB/s within the case of the Corsair MP700 Professional, and it’s nicely in entrance of the 404MB/s from the WD Black SN850X.

Equally, the typical entry time of 39μs is a good consequence for the Samsung 9100 Professional on this check, being nicely forward of the WD Black SN850X, and a little bit in entrance of the opposite PCIe 5.0 SSDs. This can be a snappy SSD to make use of as a Home windows system drive, though it’s additionally value noting that each one these figures are extremely small.

Temperature

For me, although, it’s the thermals of the Samsung 9100 Professional that actually promote it to me. PCIe 5.0 SSDs have had a troublesome begin in terms of working temperatures, with drives operating so scorching they find yourself throttling in some instances. Producers have give you numerous concepts to get round it, from the small lively fan contained in the Corsair MP700 Professional’s air cooler, to the large passive heatsink on the MSI Spatium.

Samsung has actually received to the guts of the difficulty with its personal pure in-house design, although, and made a super-fast drive that doesn’t run as scorching because the competitors. That doesn’t imply you will get away with no heatsink for it, although. I ran a number of back-to-back runs of CrystalDiskMark on every drive to push then to their restrict, and the 4TB Samsung 9100 Professional can’t deal with this workload with no heatsink. The drive hit 84°C, and entered a crucial warning standing, with the height sequential write velocity throttling all the way in which right down to 9,250MB/s.

Nevertheless, attaching the PCIe 5.0 SSD heatsink that comes with the MSI Carbon X870E WiFi introduced the temperature right down to a way more affordable 70°C with no throttling. Impressively, although, Samsung’s personal little heatsink retains the 2TB drive remarkably cool, with a peak temperature of 68°C and no throttling, which is outstanding for such a slim design, and solely barely hotter than the PCIe 4.0 WD Black SN850X heatsink mannequin.

Comparatively, the Essential T705 heatsink mannequin peaks at 76°C on this check, displaying that Samsung has the sting on cooling. In the meantime, the undisputed king of this graph is the Corsair MP700 Professional, which has a tiny lively fan inside its tall cooling meeting. That’s nice for cooling, however you additionally must hook it as much as a SATA energy connector and tidy the cable out of the way in which. I favor Samsung’s solely passive method right here – it’s a lot cleaner and tidier, and it nonetheless retains this quick drive cool.

Value

The Samsung 9100 Professional worth is $199.99 / £169.99 for the 1TB mannequin, $299.99 / £245.99 for the 2TB drive, and $549.99 / £469.99 for the 4TB drive, with the heatsink fashions including an additional $20 to those costs. These costs look affordable in comparison with the unique MSRPs of competing drives such because the Essential T705, however if truth be told, the T705 is now commonly discounted, usually going for $159.99 for the 1TB drive and $229.99 for the 2TB mannequin, for instance.

Samsung SSDs have a historical past of getting excessive launch costs at MSRP earlier than getting knocked down just a few months later, nevertheless, with the aforementioned Samsung 990 Evo vary being a working example. At MSRP, the Samsung 9100 Professional’s efficiency doesn’t justify the additional outlay, but when the worth comes right down to the identical degree because the competitors, then it’s a no brainer.

Alternate options

Essential T705

After a shaky launch with excessive costs, the commonly discounted Essential T705 is now undoubtedly value contemplating. It’s not as quick because the Samsung 9100 Professional, and it will get scorching too, however it provides higher worth for cash than the brand new Samsung drives proper now.

Learn our full Essential T705 evaluation.

WD Black SN850X

Whereas this last-gen SSD can’t match the large sequential speeds of Samsung’s new flagship, it’s not massively behind the tempo in different checks, and it’s considerably cheaper. This drive remains to be loads fast sufficient for many players’ wants, and it’s now additionally very moderately priced.

Learn our full WD Black SN850X evaluation.

Verdict

The Samsung 9100 Professional is a implausible SSD, and if it weren’t for the excessive worth, it will have been a slam dunk. It’s the quickest SSD I’ve ever examined in terms of uncooked efficiency benchmarks, and its system drive and recreation load velocity tops the charts too. In the meantime, Samsung’s in-house controller and thermal design have resulted in a super-fast drive that doesn’t run at extraordinarily excessive temperatures and throttle underneath load.

If you would like the perfect M.2 SSD that cash should buy, and also you’re completely happy to pay the worth, then the Samsung 9100 Professional is the drive to purchase. Nevertheless, provided that the real-world efficiency advantages aren’t at all times clear reduce, and that the Samsung 9100 Professional MSRP is relatively excessive at launch, I’d advocate ready a few months earlier than taking the plunge, simply to see if the worth drops first.

Whereas the Samsung 9100 Professional is the brand new sort of efficiency SSDs, although, don’t fear if you happen to can’t afford its asking worth – most players will nonetheless be completely proud of the efficiency of a less expensive drive.