Samsung introduces the 980 Pro SSD with PCIe 4.0 support and up to 7,000MB/s speeds

[Karlston]

Samsung introduces the 980 Pro SSD with PCIe 4.0 support and up to 7,000MB/s speeds

Samsung is upping the ante with a new top-tier SSD announced today, the 980 Pro. This is Samsung's first consumer SSD to come with full support for PCIe 4.0, specifically using a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface, which allows for much higher speeds than previous generations.

 

Specifically, the 980 Pro SSD has sequential read speeds up to 7,000MB/s, which is double of what Samsung promised for the 970 Pro SSD. Likewise, sequential write speeds go up to 5,000MB/s, almost doubling the speed of its predecessor, which promised 2,700MB/s for the 1TB version. As for random writes and reads, the 980 Pro promises up to 1,000K IOPS.

 

In addition to improving the performance, Samsung says it has also worked on the SSD's thermals to prolong its longevity. The SSD uses a nickel coating on the controller and a heat spreader label on the back to make heat dissipation more efficient.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that the promised speeds don't apply to every tier. The base version of the SSD has 256GB of capacity, but the maximum speeds are actually lower on this one, maxing out at 6,400MB/s for reads and 2,700MB/s for writes. You'll need to spring for the higher tiers, but speeds are the same starting with the 512GB model.

 

The 980 Pro SSD will be available this month, with a recommended retail price of $89.99 for the 256GB variant. Capacities will go up to 1TB at launch, but a 2TB model will arrive later in the year. The SSD is already listed on Samsung's website, so it should be a matter of time until it goes on sale.

 

 

Samsung introduces the 980 Pro SSD with PCIe 4.0 support and up to 7,000MB/s speeds