Samsung 9100 PRO Gen5 NVMe SSD With Heatsink Evaluation

The Samsung 9100 PRO (with Heatsink) arrives in minimalist packaging. Inside, you’ll uncover the SSD with the heatsink glued straight out of the sector. The drive feels reassuringly robust no matter its lightweight 30g improvement, and the assemble prime quality conveys premium engineering.

What struck me first was merely how compact this drive stays no matter packing cutting-edge PCIe 5.0 experience. At most dimensions of 80.15 x 22.15 x 8.88mm, it maintains the standard M.2 2280 type subject that matches practically any fashionable system along with laptops.

System Specs

Listed under are my system specs that I’m using to verify and evaluation the drive:

PCIe 5.0 Effectivity That Actually Points

On paper, the numbers are pretty spectacular – as a lot as 14,700MB/s sequential be taught and 13,400MB/s sequential write speeds for the 2TB storage functionality that I’ve proper right here. That’s roughly twice as fast as a result of the 990 PRO nonetheless how does that translate to precise life?

In real-world testing, huge file transfers that used to take minutes could possibly be achieved in seconds. I examined transferring a 500GB of my total Video video games assortment (spherical 17,000 data) and the excellence as compared with my earlier PCIe 4.0 drive was immediately noticeable. This drive merely has very good tempo and the CrystalDiskMark performs properly on every Sequential and Random data.

Gaming effectivity is the place the random be taught/write speeds of as a lot as 2,200K/2,600K IOPS truly shine. Sport loading cases are noticeably faster as compared with older know-how of SSDs, considerably in titles with huge open worlds or frequent loading screens.

Discover nonetheless that in all honesty, gaming effectivity simply isn’t significantly faster as compared with an excellent Gen4 PCIe SSDs nonetheless in the event you’re moreover engaged on huge data and heavy content material materials enhancing, you’re going to get the whole thing squeezed out of Gen5 NVMe similar to the Samsung 9100 PRO.

DirectStorage-enabled video video games will revenue rather more significantly though not all video video games help this in the intervening time – nevertheless it certainly’s undoubtedly the long run.

As soon as extra, content material materials creators will acknowledge further on how the drive handles demanding workflows. Video enhancing with 4K and 8K footage turns into smoother, with a lot much less stuttering all through scrubbing and faster render cases.

Vitality Effectivity and Thermal Administration

One house the place Samsung has made vital enhancements is power effectivity. The superior 5nm controller delivers as a lot as 49% greater power effectivity as compared with the 990 PRO. In observe, this means a lot much less heat know-how and better battery life in laptops.

All through intensive workloads, I monitored temperatures rigorously with HWMonitor. The same old 9100 PRO remained properly inside acceptable limits, and though it did get warmth under sustained plenty, the heatsink truly carried out properly in defending the temperature in an ideal place (and I’ve in no way seen thermal throttling so far). For patrons planning on doing heavy workloads, the heatsink mannequin is a ought to as a result of it provides additional thermal headroom and maintains peak effectivity for longer intervals. Plus, it’s solely A$20 additional to grab.

The drive was principally idling at 45-48 ranges of Celsius. When writing spherical 500 GB of data consisting of 17,000 data, the drive temperature went up and stayed in spherical 55-60 ranges. All through regular heavy load akin to working the CrystalDiskMark benchmarking app a lot of cases, the driving force temperature in no way obtained over 70 ranges – and that was actually pretty very good. The newer Gen5 NVMe SSD I reviewed from Kingston (the Kingston Renegade G5) went to 80 ranges of Celsius – though it doesn’t have a heatsink like Samsung does.

Whereas collaborating in Stellar Blade for just a few hours, the temperature in no way went previous 52 ranges with all graphics maxed out so I’m super impressed with the thermal administration on this drive.

The heatsink model’s slim profile maintains compatibility with most laptops and as well as the PlayStation 5 whereas providing important thermal benefits. This consideration to type subject reveals Samsung understands that high-performance storage isn’t just for hardcore desktop avid players anymore. These which can be on gaming laptops and consoles will revenue from the heatsink as properly.

Functionality Decisions and Future-Proofing

Samsung is offering the 9100 PRO with Heatsink in 1TB (A$279), 2TB (A$439), and 4TB (A$819) capacities at launch, with an 8TB model deliberate for the second half of 2025. The pricing positions these drives as premium selections, nonetheless the price-per-gigabyte turns into further low-cost at bigger capacities. For those who want to save A$20, you’ll be capable of seize the model with out the heatsink nonetheless I wouldn’t advocate. It’s solely A$20 distinction and likewise you’ll get cooler drive so it’s a no brainer.

The 4TB model is particularly compelling for content material materials creators and professionals who need substantial native storage. Having 4TB of blazing-fast storage eliminates the mounted juggling of data that many creators face with smaller drives.

Nevertheless the upcoming 8TB model shall be groundbreaking – no totally different NVMe SSD at current presents this functionality as far as I’m aware. For video professionals and data-intensive capabilities, this would possibly eradicate the need for a lot of drives or exterior storage choices.

Samsung Magician Software program program Integration

Samsung Magician software program program provides full monitoring of drive properly being, temperature, and effectivity metrics. The optimisation devices genuinely help protect peak effectivity over time, and the migration utility makes upgrading from older drives easy. The software program program moreover permits firmware updates and provides early warning of potential factors. Discover that you simply simply don’t wish to put in it in case you don’t have to.

PlayStation 5 and Gaming Console Compatibility

As I mentioned, Samsung has confirmed that the 9100 PRO sequence is suitable with PlayStation 5 consoles. The same old fashions match inside Sony’s prime requirements, whereas the heatsink variations current further thermal administration for sustained gaming durations.

Minor Considerations

For PC clients, the precept limitation is that you simply simply’ll need a PCIe 5.0-compatible motherboard to understand the entire effectivity benefits. Whereas the drive works fully in PCIe 4.0 slots, you’re paying a premium for speeds you’ll be capable of’t completely utilise. So don’t get this besides you’ve got a supported motherboard like my GIGABYTE Z790 AERO G or planning to enhance to a extra moderen motherboard eventually.

Samsung 9100 PRO (with Heatsink) Evaluation Conclusion

The Samsung 9100 PRO represents an actual leap forward in SSD experience. The PCIe 5.0 effectivity isn’t solely a numbers recreation – it delivers real-world benefits that clients can actually really feel. Whether or not or not you’re a content material materials creator dealing with big data, a gamer wanting the quickest attainable loading cases, or educated working AI workloads, the drive delivers.

The combination of blistering effectivity, improved power effectivity, wonderful thermal administration, and Samsung’s confirmed reliability makes the 9100 PRO a compelling enhance for anyone with a applicable system.

The upcoming 8TB model may be considerably useful in case you need as rather a lot storage as you’ll get in an NVMe type subject. It’ll be useful for a lot of preferring to edit 4K or 8K video data, or avid players who don’t like having to uninstall older video video games as new video video games come alongside.

If in case you could have a PCIe 5.0-compatible system and need the right in storage effectivity, the Samsung 9100 PRO deserves extreme consideration. Moreover it’s cheaper than the Kingston Fury Renegade G5 I’ve merely reviewed and runs cooler.

Disclosure: Samsung 9100 PRO with Heatsink evaluation sample was outfitted for reviewing