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Samsung is releasing its latest internal SSD today and has launched the 990 EVO, which is now available in a variety of storage capacity options. Think of the 990 EVO like the 990 Pro in that it has a huge increase in performance compared to previous models. If performance is your main concern, then the 990 EVO won’t steer you wrong. It offers a 43% increase in performance compared to the 970 EVO Plus SSD that came before it.
This is going to be a noticeable difference no matter what you’re doing on your PC. As it should cut down on the time it takes to access your data by almost half. From a moment-to-moment perspective, it might not seem like that would matter much. But think about all the things you might do on your PC on a given day. How many files you might open or how many GB of images or other data you might transfer from folder to folder. Over the course of the day this time you spend waiting will add up. So a faster SSD like this one is going to save you time in the long run and allow you to be more efficient.
Not to mention get back a few minutes so you can do something else. In terms of gaming, the performance boost is going to help immensely with load times. And we all know you’d rather spend more time playing the game than waiting for stuff to load. Because who wouldn’t?
The Samsung 990 EVO SSD is available starting today
If it’s time for an SSD upgrade you can snag Samsung’s 990 EVO starting today. Samsung will sell it directly through its online store but you can also pick it up at Amazon and other retailers. The SSD comes in two storage capacities — 1TB and 2TB. The 1TB model can be picked up for $124.99 while the 2TB model bumps the price up to $209.99. This is pretty reasonable pricing and matches what Samsung charges for the 990 Pro in the same sizes. At least when it comes to the model without the heatsink.
The 990 EVO SSD would be a great option for desktop PCs but it’s also an excellent idea for laptops if you have one that allows access to the SSD for upgrade. That’s because the 990 EVO has improved power efficiency over the previous model. According to Samsung, it sips power compared to the 970 EVO Plus and is up to 70% more efficient with power. The reason this matters for laptop users is that you’re going to use it off the charger from time to time. Maybe you only use it off the charger. And in those situations, you want every possible advantage in extending battery life.
With the SSD using less power to do its tasks, your laptop can last longer before it needs to be plugged in. Additionally, the 990 EVO delivers read speeds of up to 5,000 megabytes-per-second (MB/s) and write speeds up to 4,200 MB/s. It also comes with a heat spreader label for better thermal regulation. SSDs don’t get as warm as CPUs and GPUs but they can still produce heat. And the improved thermal regulation in the 990 EVO is going to ensure better-sustained performance over longer periods of use.
You’ll be able to keep this thing for a while
Aside from all the other really good improvements, the 990 EVO has another trick up its sleeve. It’s future-proof. Samsung designed it to be compatible with PCIe Gen 4 and PCIe Gen 5. It supports both PCIe 4.0 x4 and PCIe 5.0 x2 interfaces. So eventually when applications start coming out that require the PCIe 5.0 2x interface, you’ll get the benefits this drive offers with those applications. The main benefit here is going to be the ability to keep performance at optimal levels even with PCIe 5.0 apps.
So you won’t need to replace this SSD for quite some time.