Samsung SSD 9100 Pro review: fast, but not fast enough
Samsung is still new to the rapid realms of PCIe 5.0. With the SSD 9100 Pro, the manufacturer is now preparing to seize the throne of the fastest consumer SSD on paper. But they only just miss out.
SSDs with PCIe 5.0 have been around for about two years. Samsung hadn’t offered a fully fledged drive with the fastest standard for consumer SSDs. Until now. With the SSD 9100 Pro, the manufacturer is making a good start. The SSD can reportedly read up to 14.8 gigabytes per second (GB/s). This would make it the fastest SSD currently available for the M.2 slot. However, the device shows weaknesses in practical tests.
The technical specs
I’m testing the 2-terabyte (TB) version, with one gigabyte (GB) of DRAM installed per TB of memory. That’s where the data allocation tables are stored, for example. They record logical blocks and their positions in the memory. So if you buy a different memory size, there may be differences in the specifications.
Samsung manufactures its own controllers, flash memory and DRAM cache. As usual, Samsung remains tight-lipped on the former. All we know is that it’s manufactured using the 5-nanometre process and bears the code name Presto.
For the flash, Samsung relies on a revised eighth generation of its own TLC NAND. NAND is a non-volatile memory technology that doesn’t require power to store data. TLC stands for triple-level cell. This means 3 bits are allocated per memory cell, stacked in 236 layers.
Samsung promises 600 terabytes written (TBW) per TB of memory. This denotes the number of TB an SSD can write in its lifetime. They’re conservative values, as a rule the drives can achieve more. With my test device, I could write 1 TB of data per day for over three years, but that’s an unrealistic scenario. The manufacturer’s warranty covers five years.
Reading: only minor differences
I measure read speeds with the CrystalDiskMark program. It showed that any differences between the PCIe 5.0 SSDs are minor. Compared to the 990 Pro, which still comes in the PCIe 4.0 standard, the new Samsung is significantly faster. With random reading, however, the differences aren’t as big.
The first value in the graphic refers to sequential reading, the second to random reading and writing. If you work with large files, the first bar will be relevant for you, with small files the second.
Writing: disappointing values
My writing results are similar to reading. The new Samsung is only six per cent ahead of the Crucial SSD – at least for sequential writes. The tide really turns with random writes, the 990 Pro even jumps ahead of the two PCIe 5.0 SSDs. Mind you, the 990 Pro isn’t even fast compared to other SSDs of its standard when writing randomly. A WD_Black SN850X, for example, is significantly quicker too. SSDs with the PCIe 4.0 standard seem to handle many smaller files better.
In a practical test, I copy a 10-gigabyte file from a RAM disk to the SSD. The RAM disk ensures that the SSD is the bottleneck, since the disk can achieve a much higher write and read rate. Notice that the 9100 Pro overtakes the 990 Pro here, but still lags far behind the T705.
To test how the SSD behaves when writing data continuously, I repeatedly write the 10 GB test file from the RAM disk to the SSD using a batch command. This allows me to determine when it starts to throttle down. The 9100 Pro hits the brakes for the first time after 100 GB of written data. Instead of 51,000 megabytes per second (MB/s), only 3,000 MB/s are possible after this. After 600 GB of written data, it throttles back to an average of 1,500 MB/s. Pretty disappointing compared to the T705. That model only slows down for the first time after 200 GB of written data, and only to 3,500 MB/s at that. The Crucial even maintains this speed up to around 80 per cent full before throttling back to around 1,200 MB/s.
Copying: the first clear victory
To test copying, i.e. reading and writing to the SSD simultaneously, I duplicate the 10 GB file. Here, the 9100 Pro clearly sets itself apart from the T705. It beats its predecessor too.
Office work: Samsung lags behind Crucial
In Office applications, the 9100 Pro slots in between the T705 and the 990 Pro. Bear in mind, the 990 Pro is already quick as an arrow in these applications. You’ll hardly notice these benchmark differences in everyday life.
Gaming: can’t quite reach the peak
The Samsung 9100 Pro again falls behind the Crucial T705 in the 3DMark gaming benchmark. I expected this based on the PCMark result. It’s probably down to weaker values for random access, which plays a major role in everyday use.
Temperatures: cool as a cucumber
At least the 9100 Pro can claim one other victory. Even in the continuous write test, it didn’t get warmer than 60 degrees Celsius. That’s pretty cool. The T705 reached around 85 degrees Celsius in its test. This is probably also down to the 9100 Pro’s low power consumption of no more than 9 watts. The T705 allows itself 12 watts.
Availability in our store: at the moment, you can only find marketplace offers for the Samsung 9100 Pro. We should have the SSDs in stock next week (starting 24 March 2025).
In a nutshell
Fast SSD that can’t knock Crucial off its throne
In theory, the 9100 Pro should be the fastest SSD out now. This just doesn’t translate into reality. Samsung’s new release mostly lags behind the competition from Crucial in practical tests. What’s more, in certain respects (random access particularly), it even lags behind its predecessor with a PCIe 4.0 standard. Still, the 9100 Pro does better when copying, and the low power consumption results in cooler temperatures.
Due to the steep release price, I’d still recommend the T705 from Crucial at the moment. I’d only go for the Samsung 9100 Pro if you’re dealing with a high-temperature system. Here, the low power consumption comes into its own.
Pro
- High speeds
- Low power consumption and resulting low operating temperature
Contra
- Expensive
- Slower than the competition for random access
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Kevin Hofer
Senior Editor
kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.chFrom big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.
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