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Samsung 9100 Professional: Two-minute assessment
It’s totally onerous to say {that a} drive that sequentially reads practically 12,500MB a second would not stay as much as expectations, particularly not when its efficiency in all places else is best than the rest I’ve examined, however that sticker on the field of the Samsung 9100 Professional that guarantees as much as 14,800MB/s sticks within the craw of an in any other case excellent M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSD.
Beginning at $199.99 for a 1TB capability drive (about £155/AU$315), the 9100 Professional is Samsung’s first ‘true’ PCIe 5.0 SSD after the Samsung 990 EVO and Samsung 990 EVO Plus. Each these drives are PCIe 5.0, however they solely use two PCIe 5.0 lanes, which limits their sensible speeds to PCIe 4.0 requirements.
The 9100 Professional, in the meantime, is a full-fat PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 drive, which means its theoretical max velocity for sequential reads is upwards of roughly 15,000MB/s and 14,000MB/s for sequential writes (this quantity has been edging up over the previous 3-5 years, so take that theoretical most with a grain of salt at this level).
Samsung promises that its newest drive can hit as much as 14,800MB/s sequential learn and 13,400MB/s sequential write, and the Samsung 9100 Professional will get there considerably. It clocks in a max sequential write fee of 13,066MB/s in my testing, however the 9100 Professional’s most sequential learn velocity solely hit 12,427MB/s. That is nonetheless extremely quick—however, it isn’t what’s promised on the field.
Might that change with BIOS or firmware updates, positive. Probably. Nevertheless it’s not like different PCIe 5.0 drives just like the Crucial T705 aren’t hitting near 14,500MB/s. The T705 hits a max sequential learn velocity of 14,390MB/s in CrystalDiskMark 8 on the identical testbench with a Gigabyte Aorus X870E motherboard, AMD Ryzen 9 9950X processor, and 32GB Corsair Dominator DDR5 working at 6,600MT/s and built-in graphics, so there is not any interference from a graphics card.
In the meantime, in comparison with its predecessor, the Samsung 990 Pro, the 9100 Professional is a a lot better total drive, however there are circumstances the place the 990 Professional nonetheless manages to outperform its successor reminiscent of similar and secondary drive copy time and random learn and write speeds.
On steadiness, the Samsung 9100 Professional is not the undisputed best SSD you should purchase, and for some customers (reminiscent of avid gamers or general-use fanatics), you’ll seemingly be happier with different PCIe 5.0 and even PCIe 4.0 drives in the marketplace, lots of which will likely be cheaper than the 9100 Professional.
That mentioned, it is a drive for skilled customers and for many who want to avoid wasting or in any other case write massive information to disk commonly, and for that, the Samsung 9100 Professional is the best M.2 SSD in the marketplace.
Players will not discover a lot right here well worth the funding, sadly, with even the 990 Professional outperforming the 9100 Professional in 3DMark’s SSD benchmark, which is a gaming-exclusive check. It additionally falls about 17% behind the Corsair MP700 Elite PCIe 5.0 SSD on this benchmark as effectively.
For normal enterprise customers, the 9100 Professional is best than its predecessor however lags behind the Essential T705 in PCMark 10, which exams normal productiveness velocity and efficiency in addition to its efficiency as an information drive somewhat than your important system drive.
Given all this, you’d assume that the 9100 Professional ought to rating decrease, nevertheless it actually is available in robust on sequential write efficiency, which is a really huge deal for skilled customers who may want to avoid wasting media tasks which might be many, many gigabytes massive.
Nothing disrupts a workflow greater than a undertaking autosaving for as much as half a minute or extra, and that is the place the 9100 Professional shines. Providing as much as 39% sooner sequential write efficiency than the Essential T705, its nearest competitor on this class, the Samsung 9100 Professional actually leans into its professional branding right here.
The 9100 Professional unit I examined didn’t include a built-in heatsink, so its thermal efficiency is basically an element of the superb PCIe 5.0 heatsink on the Gigabyte Auros X870E motherboard I used for testing (I additionally used the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and 32GB of Corsair Dominator DDR5 RAM at 6,600MT/s), so I can not communicate a lot to the heatsink’s high quality on this assessment.
Additionally, I examined a 9100 Professional with a 4TB capability, whereas each different drive I examined had a 2TB capability. This, in itself, should not affect baseline scores an excessive amount of, if in any respect, nevertheless it’s value stating that whereas I nonetheless think about this an apples-to-apples comparability, it is extra of a Cosmic Crisp-to-Pink Scrumptious comparability, so your precise skilled efficiency may range barely from mine.
All that mentioned, the opposite main downside with this drive is its worth. It is an costly drive, and for lots of avid gamers and people who are extra concerned about sooner loading instances for his or her applications and information, the Essential T705 is just a greater possibility with comparable write speeds however close-to-max learn speeds for a lower cost.
When you’re in search of a drive that you need to use in additional of knowledgeable capability with frequent saves of very massive information like video tasks or online game packages in Unreal Engine, the Samsung 9100 Professional is the most effective SSD you are going to get for that goal and it’ll completely velocity up your on a regular basis workflow significantly.
Samsung 9100 Professional: Worth & availability
- How a lot does it value? Beginning at $199.99 (about £155/AU$315)
- When is it obtainable? Accessible now
- The place are you able to get it? Accessible within the US, UK, and Australia
The Samsung 9100 Professional is on the market within the US, UK, and Australia beginning on March 18, 2025, for $199.99 (about £155/AU$315) for a 1TB drive.
Increased capacities will value you extra, with the 2TB capability going for $299.99 (about £230/AU$470)and the 4TB capability going for $549.99 (about £425/AU$865).
The 9100 Professional 8TB capability drive is predicted to launch in H2 2025, although its worth hasn’t been launched but.
This places the 9100 Professional roughly 30% costlier to begin over the Essential T705 1TB, and barely costlier than the launch MSRP of the Samsung 990 Professional it replaces.
Samsung 9100 Professional: Specs
Header Cell – Column 0 |
Samsung 9100 Professional |
Samsung 990 Professional |
Samsung 990 EVO |
---|---|---|---|
Interface |
PCIe 5.0 x4 |
PCIe 4.0 x4 |
PCIe 5.0 x2 |
Heatsink? |
Elective |
Elective |
No |
Accessible capacities |
1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB |
1TB, 2TB, 4TB |
1TB, 2TB |
Kind issue |
M.2 2280 |
M.2 2280 |
M.2 2280 |
Endurance score |
600TBW – 4800TBW |
600TBW – 2400TBW |
600TBW – 1200TBW |
Guarantee |
5-year restricted guarantee |
5-year restricted guarantee |
5-year restricted guarantee |
Must you purchase the Samsung 9100 Professional?
Worth |
The Samsung 9100 Professional is not low-cost, and its worth soars as its capability will get bigger, although its total performance-for-price stays low. |
3.5 / 5 |
Specs |
Between PCIe 5.0 speeds, very excessive capability choices, and wonderful guarantee, this drive has way more to supply than most in the marketplace. |
4.5 / 5 |
Efficiency |
This drive guarantees 14,800MB/s sequential learn speeds, however I did not fairly hit that prime. Whereas nonetheless quick total, its greatest efficiency is in its sequential write efficiency, making it implausible for professionals. |
4 / 5 |
Closing score |
It is a very professional-specific drive in ways in which earlier Samsung Professional SSDs weren’t. When you’re not knowledgeable person, there are higher PCIe 5.0 drives on the market, however for professionals, there’s none higher than the 9100 Professional. |
4 / 5 |
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
Samsung 9100 Professional: Additionally think about
If my Samsung 9100 Professional assessment has you in search of different choices, listed below are two extra M.2 SSDs to contemplate…
How I examined the Samsung 9100 Professional
- I spent about two weeks testing this SSD
- I used it for gaming, content material creation, and normal storage use
- I used my customary suite of SSD benchmarks in addition to every day use
To check the 9100 Professional, I ran it by way of our customary benchmark suite, together with CrystalDiskMark 8, PassMark, PCMark 10, 3DMark, and our proprietary 25GB file copy check.
I used this drive as my important system storage (C:) drive for over per week on my check bench, the place I used it extensively for loading video games for graphics card benchmarking functions, content material creation, and extra. This included loading video games and enormous batches of photographs for enhancing in Lightroom and Photoshop for numerous evaluations.
I have been testing {hardware} parts for TechRadar for over three years now, together with a number of main SSD evaluations from Samsung, PNY, and others, so I do know what the newest SSDs are greatest for and whether or not they’re value your hard-earned cash.
First reviewed March 2025