Samsung 990 PRO

The Samsung 990 PRO 4TB is a top-tier PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD with 7450 MB/s read speeds, MLC NAND, and a DRAM cache. It's one of the best Gen4 drives for gaming and video editing, with excellent thermal management and Samsung's polished software. The main downside is the price, especially when the WD_BLACK SN850X offers similar performance for less.

Sequential speeds are the headline here: 7450 MB/s read and 6900 MB/s write. That's essentially maxing out the PCIe 4.0 x4 interface, and in our database the speed score lands in the 93rd percentile. In practice, that means game loads feel instant, large file transfers finish before you can grab a coffee, and scrubbing through 4K timelines stays smooth. Random performance is solid too, sitting around the 80th percentile, which matters more for everyday responsiveness than those big sequential numbers.

The MLC NAND and DRAM cache help keep things consistent under sustained writes. Some cheaper drives fall off a cliff after their cache fills, but the 990 PRO holds its own. The 2400 TBW endurance rating is decent, though it's actually the weakest relative metric here at the 68th percentile. For most people that's still years and years of heavy use, but if you're writing hundreds of gigabytes daily, there are drives with higher endurance ratings.

The WD_BLACK SN850X is the most direct competitor. It matches the 990 PRO on sequential speeds, has a similar feature set, and usually costs less. The SN850X also has a slightly higher endurance rating in some capacities, which matters if you're doing heavy video work. The Crucial T710 is another strong option, often priced aggressively, though its random performance can trail the Samsung in our testing. The Kingston Fury Renegade is a solid budget alternative that gets you most of the way there for less money.

Where the 990 PRO stands out is consistency and polish. The Samsung Magician software is genuinely useful for firmware updates, drive health monitoring, and performance optimization. The Dynamic Thermal Guard and heat spreader keep temperatures in check even under sustained load, which multiple owners mention in reviews. The Seagate FireCuda 530R is also worth a look if you want a drive with a longer warranty and higher endurance, but it typically costs more than the Samsung.

At $1,125 USD, the 990 PRO 4TB is not a budget drive. You're paying a premium for the Samsung name, the MLC NAND, and the proven reliability track record. The WD_BLACK SN850X 4TB often sells for less and delivers nearly identical real-world performance. The Crucial T710 and Kingston Fury Renegade also undercut it in many markets. But value isn't just about the lowest price. Samsung's Magician software, the consistent firmware updates, and the sheer volume of positive user experiences count for something. If you catch this on sale, it's an easy recommendation. At full retail, you're paying a brand tax.

The Samsung 990 PRO MZ-V9P4T0BW is a 4TB M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD aimed squarely at gamers, video editors, and anyone who wants top-tier internal storage without jumping to PCIe 5.0. It sits at the high end of the Gen4 market, and our database puts its feature set in the 97th percentile for this category. That's not marketing talk, it's just what the numbers say. You get 7450 MB/s read and 6900 MB/s write, MLC NAND, a DRAM cache, and 256-bit AES hardware encryption.

If you're searching for the best 4TB SSD for gaming or a reliable drive for 4K video editing, this one keeps showing up for good reason. The 4TB capacity means you can stop juggling game installs or offloading footage to external drives every week. Samsung claims it holds up to a million songs, which is a fun stat, but the practical takeaway is simpler: it's a lot of space on a very fast drive.

Pricing is a bit odd right now. We only see one US listing at $1,125, which is steep for a Gen4 drive in 2025. But street prices fluctuate, and this drive has been around long enough that deals pop up. We'll dig into whether it's worth that asking price below.

Skip this drive if you're just browsing the web, checking email, or doing light office work. A budget SATA SSD or a cheaper Gen3 NVMe drive will feel just as fast for those tasks and cost a fraction of the price. Also skip it if you're on a tight budget and don't need 4TB, the 1TB or 2TB versions of the 990 PRO are more affordable, or you could look at the Kingston Fury Renegade for similar speed at a lower cost. And if you're building a new PCIe 5.0 system and want maximum future-proofing, a Gen5 drive like the Crucial T710 might make more sense, assuming your motherboard supports it and you can handle the extra heat.

Should you buy the Samsung 990 PRO 4TB? If you want a fast, reliable, high-capacity Gen4 SSD and you find it at a reasonable price, yes. It's one of the best PCIe 4.0 drives ever made, and the 4TB capacity solves real problems for gamers and content creators. The performance is top-tier, the software support is excellent, and the thermal design means you won't need to worry about throttling.

But if you're paying full retail at $1,125, take a hard look at the WD_BLACK SN850X first. You can often get the same real-world experience for less. And if you're building a new system with a PCIe 5.0 motherboard, you might want to consider a Gen5 drive instead, though those come with their own price and heat considerations. For most people, the 990 PRO is still more than fast enough.