Samsung 990 Evo 2TB M.2 Internal NVMe PCIe SSD
Speed That Stays Ahead The 990 EVO offers enhanced sequential read/write speeds up to 5,000/4,200 MB/s, and random read/write speeds up to 700K/800K IOPS, reaching 43% faster than the 970 EVO Plus. Wait less for games and access big files quick. Improved Power Efficiency A 70% improvement in power efficiency over the previous model* helps to preserve battery life whilst using your computer. Plus, it supports Modern Standby, letting you stay connected to the internet and still receive notifications even in the low-power state. Smart Thermal Solution The 990 EVO's heat spreader label helps to control the temperature of the NAND chip. Samsung's cutting-edge thermal control algorithm, paired with Dynamic Thermal Guard, ensures both consistent and reliable performance. Keep your performance red-hot, not your drive. Versatile To Suit Your Needs Designed to meet the demands of gaming, business and creative work. Supported by the latest PCIe 4.0 x4 and PCIe 5.0 x2 interfaces, it offers flexibility for current computing and what's to come. Stay on top with this all-around player. Samsung Magician Software Make your SSD works like magic. Samsung Magician software's optimisation tools ensure the best SSD performance. It's the safe and easy way to migrate all your data for a Samsung SSD upgrade. Protect valuable data, monitor drive health, and get the latest firmware updates. Bringing Innovations To Life For decades, Samsung s NAND flash memory has powered groundbreaking technologies that have changed every part of our daily lives. This NAND flash technology also powers our consumer SSDs, making room for the next big push of innovation.
Speed That Stays Ahead The 990 EVO offers enhanced sequential read/write speeds up to 5,000/4,200 MB/s, and random read/write speeds up to 700K/800K IOPS, reaching 43% faster than the 970 EVO Plus. Wait less for games and access big files quick. Improved Power Efficiency A 70% improvement in power efficiency over the previous model* helps to preserve battery life whilst using your computer. Plus, it supports Modern Standby, letting you stay connected to the internet and still receive notifications even in the low-power state. Smart Thermal Solution The 990 EVO's heat spreader label helps to control the temperature of the NAND chip. Samsung's cutting-edge thermal control algorithm, paired with Dynamic Thermal Guard, ensures both consistent and reliable performance. Keep your performance red-hot, not your drive. Versatile To Suit Your Needs Designed to meet the demands of gaming, business and creative work. Supported by the latest PCIe 4.0 x4 and PCIe 5.0 x2 interfaces, it offers flexibility for current computing and what's to come. Stay on top with this all-around player. Samsung Magician Software Make your SSD works like magic. Samsung Magician software's optimisation tools ensure the best SSD performance. It's the safe and easy way to migrate all your data for a Samsung SSD upgrade. Protect valuable data, monitor drive health, and get the latest firmware updates. Bringing Innovations To Life For decades, Samsung s NAND flash memory has powered groundbreaking technologies that have changed every part of our daily lives. This NAND flash technology also powers our consumer SSDs, making room for the next big push of innovation.
Speed That Stays Ahead The 990 EVO offers enhanced sequential read/write speeds up to 5,000/4,200 MB/s, and random read/write speeds up to 700K/800K IOPS, reaching 43% faster than the 970 EVO Plus. Wait less for games and access big files quick. Improved Power Efficiency A 70% improvement in power efficiency over the previous model* helps to preserve battery life whilst using your computer. Plus, it supports Modern Standby, letting you stay connected to the internet and still receive notifications even in the low-power state. Smart Thermal Solution The 990 EVO's heat spreader label helps to control the temperature of the NAND chip. Samsung's cutting-edge thermal control algorithm, paired with Dynamic Thermal Guard, ensures both consistent and reliable performance. Keep your performance red-hot, not your drive. Versatile To Suit Your Needs Designed to meet the demands of gaming, business and creative work. Supported by the latest PCIe 4.0 x4 and PCIe 5.0 x2 interfaces, it offers flexibility for current computing and what's to come. Stay on top with this all-around player. Samsung Magician Software Make your SSD works like magic. Samsung Magician software's optimisation tools ensure the best SSD performance. It's the safe and easy way to migrate all your data for a Samsung SSD upgrade. Protect valuable data, monitor drive health, and get the latest firmware updates. Bringing Innovations To Life For decades, Samsung s NAND flash memory has powered groundbreaking technologies that have changed every part of our daily lives. This NAND flash technology also powers our consumer SSDs, making room for the next big push of innovation.
Speed That Stays Ahead The 990 EVO offers enhanced sequential read/write speeds up to 5,000/4,200 MB/s, and random read/write speeds up to 700K/800K IOPS, reaching 43% faster than the 970 EVO Plus. Wait less for games and access big files quick. Improved Power Efficiency A 70% improvement in power efficiency over the previous model* helps to preserve battery life whilst using your computer. Plus, it supports Modern Standby, letting you stay connected to the internet and still receive notifications even in the low-power state. Smart Thermal Solution The 990 EVO's heat spreader label helps to control the temperature of the NAND chip. Samsung's cutting-edge thermal control algorithm, paired with Dynamic Thermal Guard, ensures both consistent and reliable performance. Keep your performance red-hot, not your drive. Versatile To Suit Your Needs Designed to meet the demands of gaming, business and creative work. Supported by the latest PCIe 4.0 x4 and PCIe 5.0 x2 interfaces, it offers flexibility for current computing and what's to come. Stay on top with this all-around player. Samsung Magician Software Make your SSD works like magic. Samsung Magician software's optimisation tools ensure the best SSD performance. It's the safe and easy way to migrate all your data for a Samsung SSD upgrade. Protect valuable data, monitor drive health, and get the latest firmware updates. Bringing Innovations To Life For decades, Samsung s NAND flash memory has powered groundbreaking technologies that have changed every part of our daily lives. This NAND flash technology also powers our consumer SSDs, making room for the next big push of innovation.
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The lowest price for Samsung 990 Evo 2TB M.2 Internal NVMe PCIe SSD right now is $270.00 at Umart, compared across 4 retailers.
The all-time low was $270.00 on 29 May 2026. That's the lowest price we've ever tracked — a great time to buy.
Prices last updated 4 June 2026.
Last updated at 04/06/2026 00:26:54
2TB Samsung 990 Evo PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD MZ-V9E2T0BW
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
2TB Samsung 990 Evo PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD MZ-V9E2T0BW
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
Samsung 990 Evo 2TB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe SSD (MZ-V9E2T0BW)
30-day returns
[MZ-V9E2T0BW] Samsung 990 EVO 2TB PCIe Gen4/5 NVMe SSD
Delivery between Sat – Wed $10
Factory Sealed Samsung 990 Evo Ssd 2tb Speeds Up-to 5,000mb/s For Pcs
Free delivery
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
originally posted on bestbuy.com
I wanted to upgrade the boot drive on my Dell XPS desktop that I use for AutoCAD and Graphics. An initial requirement of my need was for a larger capacity drive that could load the programs at start up quickly. Features of the Samsung SSD 990 EVO seemed more advanced than the recommended upgrade that a software program I used to help me determine what would work in that model computer recommended. The read/write speeds of 5,000 MB/s and 4200 MB/s was another feature that made me interested in this Samsung drive and the results are spot on or close to it. With the design of this SSD, I knew that I would be able to open more than one large file at the same time, which is often a requirement of my work. Another feature of this drive that appealed to me was the ‘heat ... MoreI wanted to upgrade the boot drive on my Dell XPS desktop that I use for AutoCAD and Graphics. An initial requirement of my need was for a larger capacity drive that could load the programs at start up quickly. Features of the Samsung SSD 990 EVO seemed more advanced than the recommended upgrade that a software program I used to help me determine what would work in that model computer recommended. The read/write speeds of 5,000 MB/s and 4200 MB/s was another feature that made me interested in this Samsung drive and the results are spot on or close to it. With the design of this SSD, I knew that I would be able to open more than one large file at the same time, which is often a requirement of my work. Another feature of this drive that appealed to me was the ‘heat spreader’ label which has been designed to help control the thermal aspects of the NAND chip. Being built on the M.2 2280 Form Factor seemed to be another plus. The SSD also uses an interface protocol of either PCIe 4.0 x 4 or 5.0 x2 / NV Me 2.0. The 2000 gigabyte or 2 TB capacity added to these other features made this the logical choice.It is well known in the industry that Samsung has some of the best software available and the software that they provide to set up the drive is no exception. The Samsung Magician was an immense help in setting this drive up. I was initially concerned about the SSD having no DRAM, but the design of the hardware uses a HMB (Host Memory Buffer) of 64 MBs to link to the host processor’s DRAM, and the design of the SSD achieves optimum performance without even a DRAM cache. This allows for faster loading speeds and for accessing larger files, which is what I needed. The Samsung SSD 990 EVO 2 TB Internal drive does not use a device driver, but instead is equipped with the Samsung Piccolo controller which interfaces with a 133-layer TLC NAND flash.Installation was smooth as the desktop does not have the screws to contend with that the laptop computer design has and the disk was extremely easy to install. I did have to move files from the old disc onto an external drive temporarily and reload programs on the newer drive as well as transport the files back to the new disk. I am pleased with the results and with the price of the drive compared to others of similar or lessor quality, I would recommend this specific drive as an upgrade without any hesitation at all.
originally posted on bestbuy.com
Samsung’s newest entry in the 990 line up is not a performance-oriented part, but rather one focused on efficiency and value. The 990 EVO meets the performance needs of all but the most extreme content creators while being more efficient at a lower price point than the performance oriented “Pro” line. This is a great drive for games and everyday use, especially as a second drive in a system, or to replace an undersized OEM drive in a laptop. Laptop use seems to be a target market for this drive, as it does boast power efficiency as a key selling point.Installation is as easy as any other m.2 SSD. Fit it in the slot, push it down gently, and either screw it in or flip a latch on your motherboard. It comes completely unformatted so you will need to create a ... MoreSamsung’s newest entry in the 990 line up is not a performance-oriented part, but rather one focused on efficiency and value. The 990 EVO meets the performance needs of all but the most extreme content creators while being more efficient at a lower price point than the performance oriented “Pro” line. This is a great drive for games and everyday use, especially as a second drive in a system, or to replace an undersized OEM drive in a laptop. Laptop use seems to be a target market for this drive, as it does boast power efficiency as a key selling point.Installation is as easy as any other m.2 SSD. Fit it in the slot, push it down gently, and either screw it in or flip a latch on your motherboard. It comes completely unformatted so you will need to create a partition and format it in your OS of choice before it will get a drive letter and be useable. If you need to clone a drive to upgrade to this one, Samsung offers excellent drive cloning software. You may need to purchase an m.2 external SSD enclosure to do the drive clone, and then replace your old drive with this new one.In testing, the drive performed well for an EVO line model. I was able to move a 120GB game from a 980 Pro SSD to this one in about a minute, for a 2GB/sec (2,000 megabytes per second) sustained write rate. Read rates are also fast, coming in at around the advertised 5GB/sec, which is more than enough for most users. One little note here, while the drive advertises as “PCIe 5.0” in places, it’s only x2, so this drive is not any faster than a PCIe 4x4 drive, and is slower than the 980 Pro 2TB PCIe 4x4 model. It does cost less and use less power than that drive however.Another perk for Samsung drives is the excellent Samsung Magician software. This software lets you manage all installed Samsung drives in your system, keep them up to date, and measure their health and usage over time.Overall, the 990 EVO drive will meet the needs of almost every user, and is especially well suited for laptops that cannot generally take advantage of more expensive and power hungry performance drives like the Pro line. In a desktop, this drive performs well enough in every day real-world tasks to offer a cheaper option for those who don’t need to stare at synthetic benchmarks all day. If you are just looking to add some fast storage, or upgrade an undersized drive in a laptop, this one should be on your list.
originally posted on bestbuy.com
I recently needed to upgrade the internal storage on my Sony PS5, so be forewarned that my review of this drive is based on my particular use case. I opted for the 2TB Samsung 990 EVO SSD, and the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. For one, it reaches the read and write speeds promised by Samsung, with a read speed test nearing 5,000 MB/s.Performance-wise, the Samsung 990 EVO SSD delivers exceptionally. Games load significantly faster compared to the built-in PS5 SSD, and the increased storage capacity means I can keep all my favorite games installed at once without worrying about space. Transitioning between games and navigating the console's interface feels snappier, enhancing the overall user experience. The SSD supports the latest PCIe 4x4 and PCIe ... MoreI recently needed to upgrade the internal storage on my Sony PS5, so be forewarned that my review of this drive is based on my particular use case. I opted for the 2TB Samsung 990 EVO SSD, and the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. For one, it reaches the read and write speeds promised by Samsung, with a read speed test nearing 5,000 MB/s.Performance-wise, the Samsung 990 EVO SSD delivers exceptionally. Games load significantly faster compared to the built-in PS5 SSD, and the increased storage capacity means I can keep all my favorite games installed at once without worrying about space. Transitioning between games and navigating the console's interface feels snappier, enhancing the overall user experience. The SSD supports the latest PCIe 4x4 and PCIe 5x2 interfaces, evident in the speed and efficiency improvements over its predecessor, the 970 EVO Plus.However, there are a few considerations to keep in mind. The SSD does get quite warm during extended gaming sessions, necessitating the purchase of a separate heatsink. This is an additional cost and a step in the installation process that Sony strongly recommends to maintain optimal performance and longevity of the drive. Once the heatsink is attached, the SSD drive runs cool during lengthy gameplay sessions.In conclusion, the Samsung 990 EVO SSD 2TB is a fantastic choice for PS5 users looking to enhance their gaming setup. The pros of speedy load times and high power efficiency far outweigh the cons of needing an extra component for temperature control. If you're ready to upgrade your console, this SSD might be the perfect fit. Just remember to factor in the cost and effort of adding a heatsink - which isn't more than a few bucks but important to maintain the longevity of this drive.
| Application | Client PCs |
| Form Factor | M.2 (2280) |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4 / 5.0 x2 NVMe 2.0 |
| Dimension (WxHxD) | 80 × 22 × 2.38 mm |
| Storage Memory | Samsung V-NAND TLC |
2TB Samsung 990 Evo PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD MZ-V9E2T0BW
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
2TB Samsung 990 Evo PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD MZ-V9E2T0BW
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
Samsung 990 Evo 2TB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe SSD (MZ-V9E2T0BW)
30-day returns
[MZ-V9E2T0BW] Samsung 990 EVO 2TB PCIe Gen4/5 NVMe SSD
Delivery between Sat – Wed $10
Factory Sealed Samsung 990 Evo Ssd 2tb Speeds Up-to 5,000mb/s For Pcs
Free delivery
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
I wanted to upgrade the boot drive on my Dell XPS desktop that I use for AutoCAD and Graphics. An initial requirement of my need was for a larger capacity drive that could load the programs at start up quickly. Features of the Samsung SSD 990 EVO seemed more advanced than the recommended upgrade that a software program I used to help me determine what would work in that model computer recommended. The read/write speeds of 5,000 MB/s and 4200 MB/s was another feature that made me interested in this Samsung drive and the results are spot on or close to it. With the design of this SSD, I knew that I would be able to open more than one large file at the same time, which is often a requirement of my work. Another feature of this drive that appealed to me was the ‘heat ... MoreI wanted to upgrade the boot drive on my Dell XPS desktop that I use for AutoCAD and Graphics. An initial requirement of my need was for a larger capacity drive that could load the programs at start up quickly. Features of the Samsung SSD 990 EVO seemed more advanced than the recommended upgrade that a software program I used to help me determine what would work in that model computer recommended. The read/write speeds of 5,000 MB/s and 4200 MB/s was another feature that made me interested in this Samsung drive and the results are spot on or close to it. With the design of this SSD, I knew that I would be able to open more than one large file at the same time, which is often a requirement of my work. Another feature of this drive that appealed to me was the ‘heat spreader’ label which has been designed to help control the thermal aspects of the NAND chip. Being built on the M.2 2280 Form Factor seemed to be another plus. The SSD also uses an interface protocol of either PCIe 4.0 x 4 or 5.0 x2 / NV Me 2.0. The 2000 gigabyte or 2 TB capacity added to these other features made this the logical choice.It is well known in the industry that Samsung has some of the best software available and the software that they provide to set up the drive is no exception. The Samsung Magician was an immense help in setting this drive up. I was initially concerned about the SSD having no DRAM, but the design of the hardware uses a HMB (Host Memory Buffer) of 64 MBs to link to the host processor’s DRAM, and the design of the SSD achieves optimum performance without even a DRAM cache. This allows for faster loading speeds and for accessing larger files, which is what I needed. The Samsung SSD 990 EVO 2 TB Internal drive does not use a device driver, but instead is equipped with the Samsung Piccolo controller which interfaces with a 133-layer TLC NAND flash.Installation was smooth as the desktop does not have the screws to contend with that the laptop computer design has and the disk was extremely easy to install. I did have to move files from the old disc onto an external drive temporarily and reload programs on the newer drive as well as transport the files back to the new disk. I am pleased with the results and with the price of the drive compared to others of similar or lessor quality, I would recommend this specific drive as an upgrade without any hesitation at all.
Samsung’s newest entry in the 990 line up is not a performance-oriented part, but rather one focused on efficiency and value. The 990 EVO meets the performance needs of all but the most extreme content creators while being more efficient at a lower price point than the performance oriented “Pro” line. This is a great drive for games and everyday use, especially as a second drive in a system, or to replace an undersized OEM drive in a laptop. Laptop use seems to be a target market for this drive, as it does boast power efficiency as a key selling point.Installation is as easy as any other m.2 SSD. Fit it in the slot, push it down gently, and either screw it in or flip a latch on your motherboard. It comes completely unformatted so you will need to create a ... MoreSamsung’s newest entry in the 990 line up is not a performance-oriented part, but rather one focused on efficiency and value. The 990 EVO meets the performance needs of all but the most extreme content creators while being more efficient at a lower price point than the performance oriented “Pro” line. This is a great drive for games and everyday use, especially as a second drive in a system, or to replace an undersized OEM drive in a laptop. Laptop use seems to be a target market for this drive, as it does boast power efficiency as a key selling point.Installation is as easy as any other m.2 SSD. Fit it in the slot, push it down gently, and either screw it in or flip a latch on your motherboard. It comes completely unformatted so you will need to create a partition and format it in your OS of choice before it will get a drive letter and be useable. If you need to clone a drive to upgrade to this one, Samsung offers excellent drive cloning software. You may need to purchase an m.2 external SSD enclosure to do the drive clone, and then replace your old drive with this new one.In testing, the drive performed well for an EVO line model. I was able to move a 120GB game from a 980 Pro SSD to this one in about a minute, for a 2GB/sec (2,000 megabytes per second) sustained write rate. Read rates are also fast, coming in at around the advertised 5GB/sec, which is more than enough for most users. One little note here, while the drive advertises as “PCIe 5.0” in places, it’s only x2, so this drive is not any faster than a PCIe 4x4 drive, and is slower than the 980 Pro 2TB PCIe 4x4 model. It does cost less and use less power than that drive however.Another perk for Samsung drives is the excellent Samsung Magician software. This software lets you manage all installed Samsung drives in your system, keep them up to date, and measure their health and usage over time.Overall, the 990 EVO drive will meet the needs of almost every user, and is especially well suited for laptops that cannot generally take advantage of more expensive and power hungry performance drives like the Pro line. In a desktop, this drive performs well enough in every day real-world tasks to offer a cheaper option for those who don’t need to stare at synthetic benchmarks all day. If you are just looking to add some fast storage, or upgrade an undersized drive in a laptop, this one should be on your list.
I recently needed to upgrade the internal storage on my Sony PS5, so be forewarned that my review of this drive is based on my particular use case. I opted for the 2TB Samsung 990 EVO SSD, and the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. For one, it reaches the read and write speeds promised by Samsung, with a read speed test nearing 5,000 MB/s.Performance-wise, the Samsung 990 EVO SSD delivers exceptionally. Games load significantly faster compared to the built-in PS5 SSD, and the increased storage capacity means I can keep all my favorite games installed at once without worrying about space. Transitioning between games and navigating the console's interface feels snappier, enhancing the overall user experience. The SSD supports the latest PCIe 4x4 and PCIe ... MoreI recently needed to upgrade the internal storage on my Sony PS5, so be forewarned that my review of this drive is based on my particular use case. I opted for the 2TB Samsung 990 EVO SSD, and the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. For one, it reaches the read and write speeds promised by Samsung, with a read speed test nearing 5,000 MB/s.Performance-wise, the Samsung 990 EVO SSD delivers exceptionally. Games load significantly faster compared to the built-in PS5 SSD, and the increased storage capacity means I can keep all my favorite games installed at once without worrying about space. Transitioning between games and navigating the console's interface feels snappier, enhancing the overall user experience. The SSD supports the latest PCIe 4x4 and PCIe 5x2 interfaces, evident in the speed and efficiency improvements over its predecessor, the 970 EVO Plus.However, there are a few considerations to keep in mind. The SSD does get quite warm during extended gaming sessions, necessitating the purchase of a separate heatsink. This is an additional cost and a step in the installation process that Sony strongly recommends to maintain optimal performance and longevity of the drive. Once the heatsink is attached, the SSD drive runs cool during lengthy gameplay sessions.In conclusion, the Samsung 990 EVO SSD 2TB is a fantastic choice for PS5 users looking to enhance their gaming setup. The pros of speedy load times and high power efficiency far outweigh the cons of needing an extra component for temperature control. If you're ready to upgrade your console, this SSD might be the perfect fit. Just remember to factor in the cost and effort of adding a heatsink - which isn't more than a few bucks but important to maintain the longevity of this drive.
Samsung has been a mainstay in the storage industry for quite some time. With a 5 year warranty and gold standard reliability and performance, the only thing that will steer me away is a good deal. Luckily Samsung has the EVO series to help with that.Don’t think this is a slouch because it carries the EVO moniker. You’re still looking at an advertised 5,000 MB/s read speeds and 4,200 MB/s write speeds. Real life speeds are actually right on the money. CrystalDiskMark gave me 5,072 MB/s reads on a 1GiB test and clocked in a bit lower on the reads at 3,714 MB/s. The reads do fall a bit short of advertised speed, but synthetic loads are just that, synthetic. Real world is a bit different.Before running this through the PCIe slot on my desktop PC, I wanted to export ... MoreSamsung has been a mainstay in the storage industry for quite some time. With a 5 year warranty and gold standard reliability and performance, the only thing that will steer me away is a good deal. Luckily Samsung has the EVO series to help with that.Don’t think this is a slouch because it carries the EVO moniker. You’re still looking at an advertised 5,000 MB/s read speeds and 4,200 MB/s write speeds. Real life speeds are actually right on the money. CrystalDiskMark gave me 5,072 MB/s reads on a 1GiB test and clocked in a bit lower on the reads at 3,714 MB/s. The reads do fall a bit short of advertised speed, but synthetic loads are just that, synthetic. Real world is a bit different.Before running this through the PCIe slot on my desktop PC, I wanted to export the data off my old drive into my new one. Using high speed USB 3.2 port and an external enclosure, I was easily maxing out the 10Gbps that my enclosure can handle, with speeds tapping out just below 1 GB/s on both read and write. If you plan to use this as an external drive for your PC or mac to handle video footage or move around your media library from one PC to another, you likely won’t be held back by the drive.It's also worth checking out Samsung Magician software that you can use to update, monitor, and manage your drive. From the dashboard you get feedback such as drive health (TBW or terabytes written), temperature, and the latest updates from your most recent scans. If you’ve setup your drive with an NTFS or RAW partition, you can also setup over provisioning which helps with performance and drive health. Most people may end up using the built in data migration that comes with the software to move data from an older drive to their new 990 EVO drive. It would be nice to see companies provide compatibility with other drives and more advance disk management tools with their software, but it’s easy enough to use for the every day person to monitor drive health and transfer from their old drive to the new one.All in, this is a great drive if you don’t need bleeding edge speed out of your SSD, but still want the reliability and warranty that comes with buying Samsung. Also support for PCIe 5.0 provides some future proofing as well as the industry will inevitably move towards this newer standard over the years.
Samsung's SSD lineup can be confusing, but the important thing to know is that drives in the EVO series typically lack a few high-end performance features compared to the PRO drives in exchange for a lower price. That trend continues with the 990 EVO, which still hits a great balance of price and performance - but it might be best to ignore the "Gen 5" terminology in the specs and marketing.===PROS===- The 990 EVO is a "hybrid" drive, meaning it can run in both PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 modes depending on the capabilities of your computer. I tested the 990 EVO on a high-end gaming desktop that supports PCIe 5.0, as well as a new ASUS Zephyrus G16 laptop that supports PCIe 4.0. What I found was that speeds were nearly identical -- there was no benefit gained with the drive ... MoreSamsung's SSD lineup can be confusing, but the important thing to know is that drives in the EVO series typically lack a few high-end performance features compared to the PRO drives in exchange for a lower price. That trend continues with the 990 EVO, which still hits a great balance of price and performance - but it might be best to ignore the "Gen 5" terminology in the specs and marketing.===PROS===- The 990 EVO is a "hybrid" drive, meaning it can run in both PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 modes depending on the capabilities of your computer. I tested the 990 EVO on a high-end gaming desktop that supports PCIe 5.0, as well as a new ASUS Zephyrus G16 laptop that supports PCIe 4.0. What I found was that speeds were nearly identical -- there was no benefit gained with the drive running in a PCIe 5.0 slot. Still, speeds are very fast, though not as fast as top-of-the-line NVMe SSDs. On this 2 TB model, sequential read speeds top out at over 5,000 MB/s, and sequential write speeds land at about 3,800 MB/s. See the attached benchmark screenshot for more details. Random read/write speeds are significantly slower, but that is simply the nature of this drive since it does not have on-board DRAM (more on this below). For gaming and day-to-day computing tasks, these speeds are still incredible and infinitely better than a standard mechanical drive or even a 2.5-inch SATA-based SSD.- The 2 TB model of the 990 EVO has endurance rating of 1,200 TBW (terabytes written), which is right in line with the high-end 2 TB Samsung 990 PRO.- For the past week, I've been using the 990 EVO as my primary game storage drive in my new ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 gaming laptop. I've loaded several games to it so far including Cyberpunk 2077, Horizon Forbidden West, and Alan Wake 2. Load times are excellent and indistinguishable from a higher-end Samsung PRO drive I have in my desktop PC.===CONS===- Like some other Samsung EVO drives, the 990 EVO does not have on-board DRAM, which causes a hit to performance in some scenarios. Having DRAM basically provides a map of the drive for your computer so it can quickly find the data it needs to access. Without DRAM, this "map" is stored on the SSD's flash storage itself, which is slower than DRAM. In real-world usage, this slowdown should only be noticeable in the largest of workflows (like 4K video editing).- Interestingly, the Samsung Magician software reported that my drive already had nearly 400 GB of data written to it out of the box. I received this drive brand new, so it's unclear how or why it may have been used before I received it. Maybe during factory quality control testing?===OVERALL===For the average gamer and home user, there are practically no downsides to this drive. It is perfect to use as a boot drive for Windows or to store games and other media. However, don't buy this drive looking to get true PCIe 5.0 performance - it's basically a 4.0 drive with 5.0 support. For those who frequently work with very large files and transfer a ton of data every day, you will probably want to look for a true Gen 5 drive or a faster Samsung PRO drive. But for everyone else, the 990 EVO drive will last a very long time and provide plenty of speed.
I needed a bigger drive for a newer tower gaming rig and decided to try this one out. I have a spare M.2 slot on the motherboard and figured this would be an easy way to add storage without adding another actual drive to the case.Packaging was easy to open and the drive is about as straightforward as can be expected.I set it up in an external enclosure first to get some readings. My SSK external enclosure works very well and I have been happy with the speed of several M.2 drives I've used in it. I had a 980 PRO 2TB drive in it until not long ago and ran CrystalDiskMark 8 to see how they compared. To my surprise, the drives had very similar numbers, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised since the USB-C is the bottleneck! I found out very quickly that the USB is ... MoreI needed a bigger drive for a newer tower gaming rig and decided to try this one out. I have a spare M.2 slot on the motherboard and figured this would be an easy way to add storage without adding another actual drive to the case.Packaging was easy to open and the drive is about as straightforward as can be expected.I set it up in an external enclosure first to get some readings. My SSK external enclosure works very well and I have been happy with the speed of several M.2 drives I've used in it. I had a 980 PRO 2TB drive in it until not long ago and ran CrystalDiskMark 8 to see how they compared. To my surprise, the drives had very similar numbers, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised since the USB-C is the bottleneck! I found out very quickly that the USB is nowhere near the speed of the motherboard slot!Once installed in the machine, the speed of the PRO was very apparent. Not that the EVO wasn't fast, but the PRO really knocked everything else out of the water! I started working on computers when a hard drive was optional and a luxury for most machines, so even a decent 7200rpm drive is still pretty fast compared to those old 10MB Seagates we would put on IBM XT's and Wyse 286 machines!The EVO is quite fast and can handle large sets of data easily. It copied 64GB of files in just above a minute, making it more than fast enough for my needs. So far, I have seen nothing that would make it a bad deal for the price. We are seeing such a huge jump in speed and drop in price on these drives and it truly is getting to the point that you can have the capacity you need without breaking the bank and still enjoy speed never before seen at this level.Unless you NEED the ultimate speed of a PRO drive, spending a lot less will give you amazing results and without running them side-by-side, you will probably not know the difference.
Solid-state drives (SSD) are almost standard offerings now when buying a new PC, having one instead of a spinning disk is a no brainer. When upgrade a hard drive in an older laptop or computer, it increases performance and breathes new life into the device. Part of the reason iPads, tablets and mobile devices start “instantly” or restart quickly is because they do not use spinning disks, they use solid state memory. Just the fact that you are getting much quicker read and write file operations on an SSD leads to a large performance gain. The Samsung EVO 990 2TB PCIe 4.0x4/5.0 x2 NVMe M2 SSD literally was simple to install in my laptop. Now if you are not comfortable with opening a PC (or laptop) and getting into the innards of a device then this is not a ... MoreSolid-state drives (SSD) are almost standard offerings now when buying a new PC, having one instead of a spinning disk is a no brainer. When upgrade a hard drive in an older laptop or computer, it increases performance and breathes new life into the device. Part of the reason iPads, tablets and mobile devices start “instantly” or restart quickly is because they do not use spinning disks, they use solid state memory. Just the fact that you are getting much quicker read and write file operations on an SSD leads to a large performance gain. The Samsung EVO 990 2TB PCIe 4.0x4/5.0 x2 NVMe M2 SSD literally was simple to install in my laptop. Now if you are not comfortable with opening a PC (or laptop) and getting into the innards of a device then this is not a self-installable item. Especially if you want to replace the existing hard drive which contains the operating system (Windows). Within the SSD drive packaging there is information on how to download the imaging utility that can “clone” your existing drive to your new SSD. The Samsung Magician Software is fairly easy to use, however it does require some additional equipment to clone a device (an enclosure for M.2 PCIe NVMe/SATA SSD which attaches via USB). Again, if you are a novice, don’t expect to purchase a new SSD and successfully tackle this type of project.The performance of the drive is good and is rated 5,000mb/second read speeds and slightly less for writes. It sits fairly in the middle of the performance range for this type of SSD, with Samsung’s Pro line providing better performance. However, for the price, the Samsung EVO 990 2TB drive is a decent value and is a relatively easy way of increasing performance of your PC or laptop. I did not get the rated read/write speeds due to some limitations of the system I installed the Samsung EVO 990 2TB in apparently, only getting 1394.515 MB reads and 1143.434 MB/s writes.Pros:- Decent price- Substantial performance improvement over traditional spinning hard drives- Samsung Magician Software is available (although has to be downloaded) to help clone or backup your existing driveCons:- Installation can be tricky- Performance in relation to other SSDs in this class is decent, but not the best – it delivers speeds as advertised.- Understanding of cloning, backups and Operating System fundamentals is required (recommend professional installation for non-technical users)
The reason I acquired this SSD is that I needed to upgrade a 10-year-old computer system that I use as a Digital-Audio Workstation. I had been using a Samsung SATA drive in this system, but I wanted the increased read/write capability and storage space with this Samsung 990 SSD. I have upgraded other computers with Samsung SSDs, and these upgrades have always worked out very well.My upgrade process was a little complex in that my old OS was Windows 10 in an Intel environment (which did not meet the specs to upgrade to Windows 11), and I wanted to create a build based on AMD. I was hesitant to simply relocate the old SATA drive onto the new ASRock board because I worried about hardware changes messing everything up. So, I cloned the old drive onto another (Toshiba) ... MoreThe reason I acquired this SSD is that I needed to upgrade a 10-year-old computer system that I use as a Digital-Audio Workstation. I had been using a Samsung SATA drive in this system, but I wanted the increased read/write capability and storage space with this Samsung 990 SSD. I have upgraded other computers with Samsung SSDs, and these upgrades have always worked out very well.My upgrade process was a little complex in that my old OS was Windows 10 in an Intel environment (which did not meet the specs to upgrade to Windows 11), and I wanted to create a build based on AMD. I was hesitant to simply relocate the old SATA drive onto the new ASRock board because I worried about hardware changes messing everything up. So, I cloned the old drive onto another (Toshiba) SATA drive, put it on the ASRock board, and successfully updated to Windows 11. The reason I tell you all this is that I hit a small stumbling block after I placed the Samsung 990 SSD into the new motherboard: the Samsung Magician software could not deal with my temporary Toshiba SATA drive, so I could not use the Magician software to transfer everything to the new Samsung 990 SSD.The solution, if you have a similar situation with a noncompatible drive, is to use an older version of the Samsung Data Migration Tool. This tool has been integrated into Samsung Magician, but apparently will not work on non-Samsung drives. Fortunately, I had a copy from my earlier upgrades, and it flawlessly copied everything from my Toshiba SATA drive to the Samsung 990 SSD.My system runs beautifully now, and the upgrade effort was definitely worth it. Read/write speed is extremely fast, and the 2 TB capacity means I will not have to worry about space for a long time. Samsung SSDs just keep getting better and better, and in my opinion you just can't go wrong when you upgrade to their drives.
I'm generally a fan of Samsung NVME drives, but this one has left me scratching my head. It's like they're intentionally trying to mislead consumers with branding that does not reflect the quality of this drive.Let's start with the PCI-E branding. Packaging and website listings both put this at PCI-E 4.0 x4 /5.0 x2. The problem is that people are going to see PCI-E 5.0 and think this is faster than a 4.0 drive and that's just not the case. Samsung is using some very cheap nand memory on this board that cannot fully load a standard PCI-E 4x4 interface. The write speeds compared to the read speeds are also heavily skewed on this board. Most NVME drives try to come close for read/write, but this one sees a full 20%+ decrease in performance in writes vs reads. This ... MoreI'm generally a fan of Samsung NVME drives, but this one has left me scratching my head. It's like they're intentionally trying to mislead consumers with branding that does not reflect the quality of this drive.Let's start with the PCI-E branding. Packaging and website listings both put this at PCI-E 4.0 x4 /5.0 x2. The problem is that people are going to see PCI-E 5.0 and think this is faster than a 4.0 drive and that's just not the case. Samsung is using some very cheap nand memory on this board that cannot fully load a standard PCI-E 4x4 interface. The write speeds compared to the read speeds are also heavily skewed on this board. Most NVME drives try to come close for read/write, but this one sees a full 20%+ decrease in performance in writes vs reads. This might not be bad if you primarily want to use this for reading from a drive, but I would be disappointed in the throughput if I was any sort of content creator trying to write a project to the drive.Next is the 990 branding. People tend to see the 990 branding and think it will be better than the 980s. However, in testing, I found that my 980 PRO runs laps around this thing and at a price point only a few dollars more. I get that this is an EVO vs a PRO, but your average consumer may not know what those mean and will only look at the numeric value.All in all, this drive feels like they took any leftover chips that didn't pass QC for other product lines, down clocked them on the board, and are trying to sell them to consumers who don't know better. Save yourself the headache and pay the few extra bucks for a PRO series. Or, go look at the multitude of other entry level NVME drives who will offer performance similar or greater to this drive for less money.
I was looking to increase my storage for games, I had a 1TB Samsung 970 EVO as my boot drive and a secondary 2TB SSD already. I was looking to expand my 2TB to a 4TB, for convenience initially, but with the price on those I ended up upgrading my 970 EVO to the Samsung 990 EVO 2TB. It gives me another TB of storage and was the more budget friendly option.The card mentions PCIe Gen 5, but my current motherboard only supports up to PCIe Gen 4. The packaging is simple, carboard with some plastic holding the drive in place for visibility, plus some manuals and other printed information. If you're adding a drive, check your motherboard for the screw or possibly in the box as drives don't include one, just a heads up for those who may need to know. Installation is easy, ... MoreI was looking to increase my storage for games, I had a 1TB Samsung 970 EVO as my boot drive and a secondary 2TB SSD already. I was looking to expand my 2TB to a 4TB, for convenience initially, but with the price on those I ended up upgrading my 970 EVO to the Samsung 990 EVO 2TB. It gives me another TB of storage and was the more budget friendly option.The card mentions PCIe Gen 5, but my current motherboard only supports up to PCIe Gen 4. The packaging is simple, carboard with some plastic holding the drive in place for visibility, plus some manuals and other printed information. If you're adding a drive, check your motherboard for the screw or possibly in the box as drives don't include one, just a heads up for those who may need to know. Installation is easy, slide the drive into to slot at a slight angle, apply light pressure to push it down and screw it in to place. As this is a boot drive and used for offline single player games primarily, I installed this to the slot further away from my CPU.My system detected the drive without any issues and I installed Windows using the USB boot drive I set up beforehand. With Windows 10/11 working the way it does, I didn't mind using the further slot as it wouldn't impact start up too much. I've been running with the drive for nearly a week and everything has been smooth. Running winsat disk on the drive I typically see over 4000MB/s. I had also copied some docs, photos, vids and music to the secondary drive, I moved these all back to my primary drive and these transferred over in no time.As mentioned, I can't speak about the 5th Gen speed, however the 4th Gen is a step up as my 970 Evo only supported 3rd Gen. I ran on the 970 EVO for years without any issues, which made it easy choice going with the 990 EVO knowing that I can rely on the drive to work.
| Application | Client PCs |
| Form Factor | M.2 (2280) |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4 / 5.0 x2 NVMe 2.0 |
| Dimension (WxHxD) | 80 × 22 × 2.38 mm |
| Storage Memory | Samsung V-NAND TLC |
