New

Samsung PM981

★★★★☆ 4.0 (78)
Capacity 512GB
Form Factor M.2 2280
Interface PCIe 3.0 x4
Read Speed 3,000 MB/s
Samsung PM981 ssd
37 Overall Score

No current retailer price

Also available in:

Snapshot

Pros & Cons

Pros

Cons

  • Below average feature (14th percentile)
  • Below average endurance (15th percentile)
  • Below average user sentiment (29th percentile)
  • Below average capacity (34th percentile)

What owners think

How owner sentiment changed over time

Exclusive

Based on when customers actually wrote their reviews - so you can see whether early praise held up.

Owner sentiment has cooled since launch
72/100Our AI sentiment readmedium confidence · 12 sources · Nov 2026
1★2★3★4★5★Q2 '19: 4.0★ · 1 reviewQ1 '20: 5.0★ · 1 reviewQ2 '20: 5.0★ · 2 reviewsQ3 '20: 5.0★ · 1 reviewQ4 '20: 3.0★ · 1 reviewQ1 '21: 4.0★ · 3 reviewsQ2 '23: 5.0★ · 1 reviewQ2 '24: 4.0★ · 1 reviewQ1 '26: 1.0★ · 1 review112113111Q2 '19Q1 '20Q2 '20Q3 '20Q4 '20Q1 '21Q2 '23Q2 '24Q1 '26
Avg ratingHappy (4-5★)Unhappy (1-2★)Bar height = number of reviews

Based on 12 dated customer reviews, grouped by calendar quarter. Period analysis is in English.

The proof

Performance

Performance Percentiles

Speed 54.5
Random 60.3
Feature 14.2
Capacity 34
User Sentiment 28.5
Endurance 14.5
Social Proof 58.1

Specifications

Full Specifications

Drive

Capacity 512
Form Factor M.2 2280
Interface PCIe 3.0 x4
Protocol NVMe
PCIe Generation 3
External No

Performance

Sequential Read (MB/s) 3000
Sequential Write (MB/s) 1800

vs Competition

Spec Samsung PM981 Western Digital WD_BLACK SN850X Crucial T710 Kingston Fury Renegade SFYRDK/2000G Seagate FireCuda 530R SanDisk Optimus GX PRO 8100 8100
Capacity 512GB 4TB 4TB 2TB 4TB 8TB
Form Factor M.2 2280 M.2 2280 M.2 2280 M.2 2280 M.2 2280 M.2 2280
Interface PCIe 3.0 x4 PCIe 4.0 x4 PCIe 5.0 x4 PCIe 4.0 x4 PCIe 4.0 x4 PCIe 5.0 x4
Seq Read 3,000 MB/s 7,300 MB/s 14,500 MB/s 7,300 MB/s 7,400 MB/s 14,900 MB/s
Nand Type - TLC TLC TLC TLC TLC
Dram Cache - true false true false false
Endurance - 2400 TBW 2400 TBW 2000 TBW 5050 TBW 4800 TBW
Compare Compare Compare Compare Compare
Product SpeedRandomFeatureCapacityUser SentimentEnduranceSocial Proof
Samsung PM981 54.560.314.23428.514.558.1
Western Digital WD_BLACK SN850X Compare 87.994.893.792.894.681.296.4
Crucial T710 Compare 98.798.785.392.8086.282.5
Kingston Fury Renegade SFYRDK/2000G Compare 92.593.393.778.566.59496.4
Seagate FireCuda 530R Compare 92.196.153.392.864.795.790.3
SanDisk Optimus GX PRO 8100 8100 Compare 98.79988.798.2088.152.2

Usage Scores

Overall (36.8)Budget (43.5)Gaming (34.8)Laptop (46.2)Console (16.8)Portable (10.8)Workstation (36.1)

A full written review is coming soon. The specs, scores, prices and charts above are always up to date.

Other Configurations1

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