Samsung 990 Evo

The SSD 990 EVO is an excellent-value mainstream M.2 internal SSD, with whizzy performance and the class-leading warranty, software, and security that you'd expect from Samsung.

The Samsung 990 EVO tries to be too many things at once, falling short of the EVO name. Performance isn’t bad, but the drive’s power efficiency leaves something to be desired.

Samsung’s 990 EVO can run at the PCIe 5.0 standard, but it’s constrained to two lanes (x2) and performs strictly like a PCIe 4.0 SSD. A somewhat pricey, and not particularly fast PCIe 4.0 SSD, at that.

The Samsung SSD 990 Evo is not designed to be the fastest NVMe SSD but the coolest PCIe 5.0 drive, and it delivers! And it’s fast enough.

This is a solid upgrade or addition to any setup, and the pricing is competitive. Now, the only thing left to consider, is if you want to personally part with the money Samsung is asking for this. If you have the cash, it’s a solid buy.

The Samsung 990 Evo cannot post the blistering read and write speeds of the 990 Pro, but it can deliver terrific upgrades for portable and console gaming applications, which are sure to make PS5, PC and laptop owners very happy.

The Samsung 990 EVO is a unique drive, ideal for systems with limited PCIe allocation and concerns about heat and power usage. While Samsung’s strategy aims to meet future trends, there are questions about PCIe Gen 5 bandwidth utilization and performance sustainability in modern PC architecture. The 990 EVO, being Samsung’s first DRAMless consumer Gen 5 SSD, offers a decent balance of performance and efficiency in compact systems, but its position in the market might be overshadowed by competitors’ higher-spec Gen 5×4 drives.