The 990 EVO Plus is the drive the 990 EVO should have been: near-flagship Gen4 speed from a power-sipping, single-sided, DRAM-less design that fits laptops and desktops alike. Tom's Hardware's 3.5/5 launch verdict centered on pricing, not performance, and street prices have since dropped. Check the current price on Amazon.
— THE VERDICT · JUDGEANY EDITORSWhat the 990 EVO Plus is
Samsung launched the 990 EVO Plus on September 25, 2024, as the do-over the 990 EVO needed. It keeps the unusual dual-mode interface — four lanes of PCIe 4.0 or two lanes of PCIe 5.0, both topping out around 8 GB/s — but pairs it with Samsung's 236-layer V8 TLC NAND and the 5nm Piccolo controller. The 1TB model is rated at 7,150 MB/s reads and 6,300 MB/s writes, with 850K/1,350K random read/write IOPS. There is no DRAM cache; like its predecessor it leans on Host Memory Buffer. Samsung rates the 1TB at 600 TBW under a five-year warranty, and every capacity is single-sided, which matters for laptops and handhelds. This review centers on the 1TB model (MZ-V9S1T0B/AM). Everything below comes from manufacturer specs, published reviews, and owner reports — JudgeAny runs no lab and measured nothing itself.
The "hybrid" PCIe 5.0 interface, decoded
The headline trick is the dual-mode link: PCIe 4.0 x4 or PCIe 5.0 x2, NVMe 2.0 either way. In practice both modes share the same bandwidth ceiling, and XDA Developers tested the 2TB model in each mode and measured no speed difference. So the 990 EVO Plus is effectively a top-tier Gen4 drive that can also slot into x2 Gen5 M.2 sockets in some laptops and RAID cards — a niche compatibility win that Tom's Hardware flagged as well. It is not a true four-lane Gen5 drive (those reach 14,000 MB/s), and XDA argued Samsung shouldn't market it as a PCIe 5.0 product at all. In short, it saturates the Gen4 interface with Gen5 efficiency, not Gen5 speed.
Measured performance: near the Gen4 ceiling, with a cache caveat
Tom's Hardware's October 2024 review (3.5 out of 5) called the drive "Samsung's real answer to the booming DRAM-less SSD market" and found Samsung's rated speeds essentially spot-on. CDRLabs measured the 2TB model at 7,284 MB/s sequential reads — a touch above the rating — though its sequential writes landed just past 5,800 MB/s, short of the 6,300 MB/s headline. Samsung's brochure claims a 45% speed gain over the 990 EVO, which checks out on paper: the old drive topped out at 5,000/4,200 MB/s.
The caveat is the write cache. TechPowerUp's SSD database sizes the 1TB's pseudo-SLC cache at 114 GB and reports that the 2TB writes at around 1,800 MB/s once its 226 GB cache fills. Tom's Hardware likewise warned that sustained writes can dip under giant file transfers, and verified owners on idealo report speed drops during very long copies. For bursty desktop and gaming workloads the rated speeds hold; for hour-long raw video exports they don't. The DRAM-less design also shows in random performance: PC Gamer's 74/100 verdict (listed on TechSpot's aggregate page) cited weak random 4K against DRAM-equipped rivals.
Efficiency and thermals
Efficiency is where the Plus earns its name. Samsung claims 73% better MB/s-per-watt than the 990 EVO, and Tom's Hardware named power efficiency one of the drive's two strengths. Samsung rates average active power at 4.3 W reading and 4.2 W writing on the 1TB, with 60 mW at idle — low enough for a laptop. CDRLabs' 2TB test peaked at 73°C reading and 71°C writing with no throttling, helped by the copper heat-spreader label, and idled around 40°C. Even so, it isn't a cool drive under load: several idealo owners note it runs noticeably warm when pushed. The nickel-coated Piccolo controller helps, but a motherboard heatsink is still worth having on a desktop.
Don't mix up the three 990s
Samsung's naming is the real hazard. The 990 EVO (January 2024) introduced the dual-mode interface but only reached 5,000/4,200 MB/s on older 133-layer V6P NAND, launched at $125 for 1TB, and disappointed. The 990 EVO Plus (September 2024) is the same formula on faster 236-layer V8 flash: 7,150/6,300 MB/s on the 1TB, a 4TB option, and a lower $110 launch price. The 990 PRO is a different animal: PCIe 4.0 x4 only, with a dedicated DRAM cache, rated 7,450/6,900 MB/s and stronger random performance — the pick for sustained mixed-write work, usually at a higher price. If you want the Samsung drive that maxes out the Gen4 interface without DRAM, the Plus is the one; if you need DRAM, step up to the PRO.
Who should buy it
Buy the 990 EVO Plus for a laptop, handheld, or desktop where you want near-flagship Gen4 speed with low power draw — the single-sided layout and dual-mode interface make it unusually flexible, and Samsung Magician (Windows and macOS, per Tom's Hardware) remains the best SSD toolbox around. Skip it for sustained heavy writes, where the 990 PRO or a DRAM-equipped rival holds speed better, and don't buy it expecting true four-lane Gen5 performance. Tom's Hardware's launch complaint was pricing, not performance — it called the 1TB about $15 too expensive — but street prices have fallen well below launch since, which is why later verdicts run warmer: TechSpot's aggregate of launch reviews spans Tom's Hardware's 70/100 to HotHardware's 90/100, the high end calling it an easy recommendation for mainstream buyers. Check the current price on Amazon before deciding.