Solid state drives are essential for your computer. Not only do they store your information, but they are designed to produce high speeds without compromising capacity or longevity. Whether you are a creative professional or a gaming enthusiast, the latest Samsung 9100 Pro PCIe 5.0 M.2 internal SSD is the epitome of next-generation performance with multiple capacity options out there for your games and projects alike. But how does this particular drive hold up? Join me and let’s take a look at how the Samsung 9100 holds up.
For a while, I felt like the PCIe 5.0 standard wasn’t fast enough to make the leap from the previous PCIe 4.0 drives. The performance comparison was not substantial enough to legitimize spending more for such a negligible increase. But good things come to those who wait, and for the first time in a while I feel like we have truly hit the point where PCIe 5.0 technology makes the upgrade worth it. I can confidently state that the 9100 Pro is an incredibly fast drive, and I cannot recommend it enough.
Performance Profile
Samsung is known for producing some of the most reliable SSDs out there and the 9100 Pro definitely lives up to that legacy. Not only is the SSD equipped with Samsung’s V-NAND chipsets, but it also has a dedicated DRAM module that operates alongside a nickel-coated controller, both working together to enhance the speed of the drive. It is important to note because both the DRAM and controller organize the data coming through the drive.
I love the inclusion of the DRAM module that leverages 2GB of LPDDR4X cache memory, which works similarly to your standard computer memory. This assists the controller by storing the data temporarily while the controller figures out exactly where your content should go. This optimization really sets the 9100 Pro apart from other drives, enabling it to reach the proverbial sequential read and write speeds of 14700 and 13400 MB/s, respectively.
In my findings, the 9100 Pro delivers. When conducting a cloning process between an older Samsung 970 (a PCIe 3.0 drive), I moved around 2TB of data in about 30 minutes, which isn’t too bad considering the amount of data that is being moved and the interface the 970 is based on. You will always have some sort of differential here when jumping generations. When moving data between the Samsung 990 EVO Plus and the 9100 Pro, I was moving around 150GB of data in as little as a minute, reaching the average data transfer speed of 3 GB—which is fantastic! Granted, the 990 EVO Plus is a PCIe 5.0 x2 drive that doesn’t include a dedicated DRAM module and it still managed to provide some level of optimization.
To really test the storage to its fullest, I decided to run the 3D Mark storage benchmark on the drive. I ran through three loops of seven tests that used several scenarios to see how well it would operate in real world circumstances. This test would recreate various applications like recording gameplay and test full installations of some of the largest games out there. The results rank the 9100 Pro with a score of 3840 with the average user score of all other systems at 2247, making it punch well above its class.
Diving deeper into the average bandwidth throughput, we see games like Battlefield V and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 running at 1636 and 1150 MB/s, respectively. Media recording averaged 181.64 MB/s and game installations were around the 252.30 MB/s mark. Considering my processor—an AMD Ryzen 7 9700X—this is great performance! If you are running a processor like an Intel Core i9, Intel Ultra 9, or an AMD Ryzen 9 series, you’re going to get some serious performance.
Technical Requirements
In my experience, reaching speeds this fast can be quite difficult, as you need the right system configuration, particularly something that is more up to date. A processor like the ones mentioned operating with a proper motherboard chipset will allow you to easily reach these performance levels. Taking this drive and inserting into an older system with a processor or chipset that doesn’t support PCIe 5.0 will not enable this drive to reach this max potential. Instead, you will be kicked down to the highest performance profile that is supported by your hardware. It is important to note this because PCIe 5.0 technology is still catching on and this is the first time I have experienced it at this incredibly fast speed. Even if you are not running PCIe 5.0 in your system, you’re still getting an incredibly fast drive that is also reliable. If you are looking for a bit of future proofing, this is the drive to get.
I was able to review a 2TB model as well as a 4TB model with an included heatsink. While the heatsink is nice to have, I must note that the heatsink is preinstalled on the SSD. It makes the installation process easier, especially if your motherboard doesn’t have one built in, or you are looking to install it in your PlayStation 5 gaming console. If you need to remove the heatsink for any reason, it will void the warranty of the SSD, so make sure you grab the right model for your needs.
The 9100 Pro is an easy recommendation. From the second I put the drive in, I saw an increase in performance over my older drive. While the price of the 9100 Pro might be a little steep, I feel like the performance profile validates the cost especially with wider adoption of PCIe 5.0 technology. I believe that purchasing a drive like this for longevity and performance is way better than grabbing an older drive that lacks the DRAM and controller. If you want to know more about the SSD, make sure you check the product page for the 9100 Pro.
