Samsung has introduced its new 9100 PRO Series solid-state drives (SSDs), which include the company’s first consumer-grade 8TB NVMe SSD. These latest models utilize the fast PCIe 5.0 standard, which, unless you are in the business of training AI models, is likely more power than what your PC needs.
The Samsung 9100 PRO series offers double the storage capacity of its predecessor, the 990 PRO line. It is available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB models, with the 8TB versions scheduled for release later in the year. Each tier comes with options for models with or without a heatsink, depending on whether your motherboard already has one for NVMe drives.
According to the company, the 9100 PRO SSDs boast impressive sequential read speeds of up to 14,800 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 13,400 MB/s. Their random read speeds can reach up to 2,200K IOPS (input-output per second), with random write speeds of up to 2,600K IOPS. Samsung claims that the 9100 PRO SSDs are up to 49 percent more power-efficient than the 990 PRO line and have a slim profile of just 0.35 inches (around 8.9mm).
However, as highlighted by Engadget’s Igor Bonifacic in our SSD buying guide, very few real-world scenarios actually require such high speeds, mainly reserved for individuals working on large-scale AI models. In most cases, PCIe 4.0 drives already exceed the performance needed by gamers and other consumer applications, at around half the cost.
The initial 9100 PRO SSD models are set to be released in March, with prices starting at $200 for the 1TB version, $300 for the 2TB version, and $550 for the 4TB version. Models with a heatsink will cost an additional $20. The 8TB tier, for which Samsung has not yet announced pricing, is expected to launch in the second half of the year.
The article was originally published on Engadget at .
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