Samsung 2TB 990 Evo NVMe Review

Conclusion

Conclusion

We’ve been reviewing drives here at OC3D for many years. Heck when we started even 2.5″ SSDs didn’t exist. It was a fat old HDD or nothing. How times have changed. Usually it’s clear what a particular product is aiming to do. There are drives which compromise all out speed for reliability, or capacity. Drives that have middling capacity but go all-in on raw speed. We’ve even seen some Enterprise based storage solutions.

Until now Samsung have usually been at the peak of the performance end of the spectrum. From their first 830 256GB SSD we reviewed back in 2011, to their latest 990 Pro we linked to in our introduction, they’ve been incredibly fast. We’re absolutely not averse to trying to make a product more energy and heat efficient. The biggest issue with the PCIe 5.0 drives are those two bits. However, what we gain in heat and energy bills, we also gain in performance. If you want to make a difference to the planet, you can run a Gen4 or even Gen3 drive and go cooler and more efficient.

Wait what?

Which makes the pricing of the Samsung 990 Evo, and it’s place in their range, utterly baffling. All of their 2TB drives are around £180, and the 990 Evo is no exception. Unfortunately the 980 Pro is way faster for those of you with Gen4 systems, and the 990 Pro way way still. We understand that reasoning behind capping the Samsung 990 Evo at 2 PCIe 5.0 lanes. If you’ve got an eight bay RAID then they’ll only get two lanes each anyway, so why not build them that way. All well and good. But Gen5 x2 is on the next generation of Intel products, and we’ve only just seen the launch of the 14th Gen, so that’ll be a while away. Who uses an eight-drive RAID anyway? It’s more efficient and cooler for next gen laptops too, but again those are a year or so away.

Today, right now, this is a solution awaiting a problem. Other Samsung models are faster, or more efficient. Other manufacturers are cheaper. This is an exceptionally niche product, and that niche isn’t likely to even exist until 2025. It’s not objectively bad. It’s just, objectively, not for anyone right now. Even the Mean-Time Before Failure isn’t any longer than their current models, nor is the warranty longer. Curious.

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