Review Samsung 980 Pro M.2 NVMe SSD Review: Redefining Gen4 Performance

dmitche31958

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Aug 13, 2019
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I would have liked to see how this compares to the Corsair MP600. No need to compare these to SATA SSDs but other PCI 4.0 are. While it's nice to see comparisons of this type they can lead one to believe that the items are better than they truly are.
 

seanwebster

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Aug 30, 2018
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I would have liked to see how this compares to the Corsair MP600. No need to compare these to SATA SSDs but other PCI 4.0 are. While it's nice to see comparisons of this type they can lead one to believe that the items are better than they truly are.
The Team Group Cardea Ceramic C440 and Corsair Force MP600 are the same hardware and near-identical firmware save for AES 256-bit encryption being unlocked on the MP600. You can basically just swap names since the performance figures are comparable. I wish I had a 500GB E16-based SSD to compare, but for now, the 1TB and up is all I got with that controller.
 
Sep 22, 2020
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I'm surprised the Sabrent pcie 4.0 TLC drive wasn't in the compared list, unless it's just so bad there wasn't a reason to add it?
 
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mattkiss

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Sep 22, 2016
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Why is the WD SN550 random read 4K QD1 iops so much lower than it's outstanding random write 4K QD1 iops? Just curious b/c I'm interested in the 1 TB version of the SN550.
 
Jul 2, 2020
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No mention in the article, but current, other 7,000+ MB/s read-speed SSDs include:

1) Gigabyte's AORUS Gen4 AIC 2 TB & 8 TB RAID card, with read speeds of up to 15,000 MB/s (via Phison’s 3D TLC PS5016-E16 controller), and

2) ADATA's XPG GAMMIX S70 PCIe 4.0 SSD -- up to 7,500 MB/s.

"Just sayin'..."
 

AgentLozen

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May 2, 2011
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It's neat to read about the 980 PRO topping the charts in performance metrics but, realistically, it doesn't mean anything to 99% of users. No one can feasibly appreciate the difference between the fastest NVMe SSDs and the slowest ones tested here today.

The most telling benchmark is the Final Fantasy XIV load time. There wasn't more than a second between flash SSDs. What if you're copying a 50GB dual layer blu ray ISO from one high speed source to the drives tested here today? Enjoy the 1.9 seconds that you saved by using the 980 PRO.

I'm not saying the 980 PRO is a bad drive. What you should take away is that as long as you have an NVMe SSD then you're getting all the performance you could feasibly use in 2020. Maybe I'll change my opinion on this in a few years.

Regardless, thank you for the review.
 
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NP

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No mention in the article, but current, other 7,000+ MB/s read-speed SSDs include:

1) Gigabyte's AORUS Gen4 AIC 2 TB & 8 TB RAID card, with read speeds of up to 15,000 MB/s (via Phison’s 3D TLC PS5016-E16 controller), and

2) ADATA's XPG GAMMIX S70 PCIe 4.0 SSD -- up to 7,500 MB/s.

"Just sayin'..."

Yeah, and you do what with those sustained, sequential reads? Nothing. That is an utterly useless metric. Excluding total outlier cases and faulty hardware, QD1 IOPS is the metric that tells you everything you need.
 
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Giroro

Splendid
This seems like a pretty neat yet overpriced consumer-grade drive... Maybe they should have branded this the Samsung Galaxy Drive S980 Ultra.

I mean, most of the 970 pro's target market probably stopped reading at 600TBW... but Samsung lost the 'pro' fight hard to first-gen Optane years ago. So the most disappointing part of Samsung dropping the 980 Pro down into a mass-market TLC consumer drive is that it will do absolutely nothing to convince Intel to improve optane pricing/performance.
 

Metteec

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I am going to have to pass on the 980 Pro. I have a 1TB 970 EVO Plus that I am up to 40 TB written in under a year (streaming and video compression). With only 150 TBW warranty on the 980 Pro, I might have drive health issues well before my warranty expired. I was surprised to see the 970 EVO Plus load faster in application loading, as well. The 970 EVO/Plus is a really great value. Hopefully the future will see a 980 EVO that improves upon it.
 

Makaveli

Splendid
The Team Group Cardea Ceramic C440 and Corsair Force MP600 are the same hardware and near-identical firmware save for AES 256-bit encryption being unlocked on the MP600. You can basically just swap names since the performance figures are comparable. I wish I had a 500GB E16-based SSD to compare, but for now, the 1TB and up is all I got with that controller.

And what about the SLC cache?

The SLC cache on this Samsung drive is good until about 120GB

The E16 controller SLC cache is good until about 333GB on the 1TB drive.
 
Sep 22, 2020
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I'm surprised the Sabrent pcie 4.0 TLC drive wasn't in the compared list, unless it's just so bad there wasn't a reason to add it?
Once Sabrent launches their Rocket 4 Plus, which is claimed to reach speeds of 7,000 Mb/s akin to the 980 Pro. So we just have to wait.
 

Soaptrail

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The Team Group Cardea Ceramic C440 and Corsair Force MP600 are the same hardware and near-identical firmware save for AES 256-bit encryption being unlocked on the MP600. You can basically just swap names since the performance figures are comparable. I wish I had a 500GB E16-based SSD to compare, but for now, the 1TB and up is all I got with that controller.
@seanwebster why does this review show four pages at the bottom navigation? There are only three.
 

Soaptrail

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There are four pages in total - Specs and features, 500GB, 1TB, and Conclusion

The links to go directly to the pages, 2,3 and the bottom had a bug initially and i already forgot which one did not work page 2 or 3 but one of them initially went to the wrong page then. Glad it was resolved.
 
Nov 2, 2020
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I would have liked to see how this compares to the Corsair MP600. No need to compare these to SATA SSDs but other PCI 4.0 are. While it's nice to see comparisons of this type they can lead one to believe that the items are better than they truly are.

I have the Corsair MP600 and a Samsung 970Pro. The Samsung 970 Pro is faster than the Corsair Mp600. I'd imagine 980Pro will crush Corsair Mp600. My Corsair MP600 is using some Phison SSD. Corsair doesnt make their own SSDs, they just repackage them and add a heatsink and some software. Pay more for Samsung if you have OCD about getting best performance.

Most high end motherboards have a built in heatsink now too so the Corsair MP600 is not worth the premium for putting a chunk of metal on it. I ended up taking off the heatsink on MP600 and using the built in one for the motherboard.
 
to put the 'questionable endurance' into perspective, even the 500 GB variant has 300 TB of writes; my 960 EVO has but 32 TBW in 3.5 years, making 300 TB roughly a 30 year lifetime for the 'average user' by my estimates.