Samsung 9100 PRO PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD Review

Samsung returns to form

The first Gen5 SSD from Samsung has arrived, with the 9100 PRO offering performance that could just make it the fastest available NVMe drive. And by fastest, we mean an advertised up to 14,800 MB/s in peak sequential reads (if you get the 4TB model), with an impressive 13,400 MB/s sequential write capability.

“The 9100 PRO SSD boasts lightning-fast PCIe 5.0, enabling the drive to achieve up to 14,800/13,400 MB/s sequential read/write speeds – moving data twice as fast as the previous generation. Plus, with random read/write speeds of up to 2,200K/2,600K IOPS, you can tackle massive files or access your favorite games and apps faster than ever before.”

Of course, straight line speeds – aided by the latest generation of motherboard PCI-E M.2 connectivity – aren’t everything, and while the new 9100 PRO may offer 2x faster sequential speeds, there may be some impressive random performance as well (but we need to see some benchmark results).

Before moving on, this wouldn’t be a storage review without (Allyn?) a look at some specs, so here those are:

Samsung is using an in-house controller for the new 9100 PRO series, and with its 5nm process the power consumption numbers look pretty good for a Gen5 SSD with this level of performance. Our 2TB sample is rated for power consumption of up to 8.1W read/7.9W write. This compares very favorably to the Crucial T705 (which makes use of a Phison PS5026-E26 (PDF) controller) with its 11.5W max power consumption – though it is the fastest Gen5 drive we have tested to date.

Now, on to the testing.

Benchmark Results

Using the same system that has become the defacto GPU testbed around here – namely a Ryzen 7 9800X3D powered system on AMD’s X870E platform, I set to work testing the new 9100 PRO, along with the previous-gen 990 PRO and Crucial’s T705. All were 2TB capacity models. A full rundown of the test platform is in the table below.

First, here is a comparison of a default CrystalDiskMark run with an empty drive (left), and then after the drive was filled to approximately 50% capacity (right):

We were definitely able to achieve the advertised 14,700 MB/s read, 13,400 MB/s write speeds for our 2TB model (remember, only the 4TB and above can reach 14,800 MB/s), and some of the numbers actually seemed to improve with the drive conditioned to 50% capacity (though run-to-run variance is likely the culprit).

Next we will get into more controlled testing with the 9100 PRO, we we break down performance into the sequential and random 4K categories, and at four queue depths. First, a look at sequential read and write performance at QD1, QD2, QD4, and QD8 (all single-thread):

We looked first as sequential reads and while the new 9100 PRO falls behind the T705 at QD1, it overtakes the E26-powered drive at QD2 and builds its lead from there. Also, it is quite evident that Samsung’s previous generation was being held back by the interface, as the 990 PRO begins to hit a wall at QD2. The marketing claim of 2x previous gen performance is accurate, as we are seeing about a 97% improvement in sequential read speeds when comparing the 9100 PRO t0 the 990 PRO.

In the sequential write tests the 9100 PRO is effectively tied with the T705 at QD1, and is over 800 MB/s faster at QD2 and above. The 990 PRO is nearly half the speed of the new drive in sequential writes, with the 9100 PRO about 96% faster than the 990 PRO at its peak.

On to 4k random results:

While the 990 PRO came out slightly ahead in random 4k reads at QD1, the 9100 PRO is quite a bit faster in overall 4k random read performance, and also outclasses the Crucial T705 in this test.

The random 4k writes are a bit of a different story, with the T705 and older 990 PRO pretty evenly matched at all queue depths tested, and the 9100 PRO only catching up by QD8.

Let’s see how all of this translated into the more “real-world” scenario of PCMark’s full system drive benchmark:

This is a fantastic result for the new Samsung SSD. With an average bandwidth of 684 MB/s the 9100 PRO was over 100 MB/s faster than the T705, soundly beating Crucial’s drive in this crucial test. The 990 PRO has a respectable showing, and it more competitive with the T705 than I would have guessed in this test, but the 9100 PRO is just in another league here.

Final Thoughts

While this review is by no means as comprehensive as it could be if my name was Allyn Malventano, I still think it’s safe to say that Samsung has a winner on its hands with the 9100 PRO. Their in-house controller is very impressive compared to E26-based Crucial drive we tested, though there is room for some firmware tweaking to catch up in some QD1 workloads.

Bottom line, Samsung has released the fastest SSD we have ever tested, and if the fast sequential speeds weren’t enough to persuade you, that fantastic showing in PCMark certainly should.

As to pricing, here is the breakdown in USD:

• 1TB 9100 PRO SSD – $199.99
• 1TB 9100 PRO with Heatsink – $219.99
• 2TB 9100 PRO SSD – $299.99 (as tested)
• 2TB 100 PRO with Heatsink – $319.99
• 4TB 9100 PRO SSD – $549.99
• 4TB 9100 PRO with Heatsink – $569.99

Samsung states that the 8TB models will be available in the second half of 2025, and pricing has not been announced just yet.