Samsung launched its new, very fast 9100 Pro PCIe Gen 5 SSD last week, and the prices are pretty high, starting at $199.99 for the 1TB model without a heatsink pre-installed. This had me looking at prices for its predecessor, the still-very-fast 990 Pro, and I was happy to see that its 4TB model is currently selling for $279.99 at Walmart and at Amazon as part of its Big Spring Sale — more or less half off the price of the 9100 Pro’s 4 TB version ($549.99).
Why buy the 990 Pro over the 9100 Pro? Well, the 9100 Pro requires PCIe Gen 5-ready hardware to take advantage of its speeds, and that tech is far from being affordable or mainstream at the moment.
As we wrote when the 990 Pro launched in 2022, that SSD came close to PCIe Gen 4’s theoretical speed limit, making it among the quicker options out there for PC (its faster speed is wasted on the PS5, though it’ll work fine in one). It’s still a great value today, especially as prices for all storage configurations have dropped considerably. Considering that a 2TB version of the 990 Pro is $170 and doubling the storage costs just about $100 more, we think that the 4TB is the one to get right now. As game install sizes continue to increase, it’ll be a great addition to any PS5, or in any desktop or laptop that supports PCIe Gen 4 speeds.
Given that the 990 Pro we’re recommending doesn’t have a heatsink (one’s suggested for use in the PS5, and it’s never a bad idea on PC), it’s cheaper to buy and install your own instead of paying Samsung a $20 premium for the heatsink edition of the 990 Pro.
