Samsung Introduces 9100 PRO Series SSDs, Its First Fully-Fledged PCIe 5.0 SSD

After a brief leak, Samsung has now announced the launch of the 9100 PRO series SSDs, in both bare and heatsinked versions; the model is also the first to full feature PCIe 5.0 protocol with all four lanes utilized. Previously, models like 990 EVO Plus technically runs on PCIe 5.0 x2, which is effectively PCIe 4.0 x4 in terms of bandwidth.

Samsung 9100 PRO SSD Announced

Now fully utilizing the PCIe 5.0 speeds, the Samsung 9100 PRO SSD achieves sequential read and write speeds of up to 14,800 MB/s and 13,400 MB/s, respectively; random read and write speeds reach up to 2,200K and 2,600K IOPS – a big jump over its predecessor, the 990 PRO. At its maximum, the drive can pull up to 9 watts of power in the 4TB version, though lower capacities consume slightly less power at their peak.

This performance improvement is done through a new 5nm controller, delivering up to 49% improved power efficiency compared to its predecessor, and that means the heatsinked version is considerably smaller than its competition that often feature gigantic heatsinks or active cooling. This model also features DRAM to maintain high transfer speeds, with 1TB version featuring 1GB LPDDR4X module, up to 8GB for the 8TB version; this is coupled with SLC cache utilizing roughly 12% of the capacity for high sustained write performance.

No local pricing has been announced yet, but the Samsung 9100 PRO SSD will be available starting in March 2025 in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities, with prices beginning at $199.99 (~RM885) in the US market; the 9100 PRO with Heatsink will also be available in the same capacities, starting at $219.99 (~RM974). Samsung says the 8TB models are expected to launch in the second half of 2025.

Pokdepinion: Now that’s a properly fast SSD.