Samsung 990 PRO 4 TB: fast PCIe 4.0 SSD for gaming PCs and PS5

The 4 TB Samsung 990 PRO is aimed at anyone who needs lots of space and high speed: gamers with large game libraries, people who edit video, or anyone who wants to make their computer noticeably snappier. It comes in the compact M.2 2280 format and screws directly onto the motherboard.

According to Samsung, the SSD reaches sequential speeds of up to 7,450 MB/s read and 6,900 MB/s write, plus up to 1.6 million random read IOPS. In everyday terms, that means short loading times in games, fast program launches and quick copying of large files. A 4 GB LPDDR4 cache and Samsung's own controller ensure that speeds stay high even under load.

To deal with heat, Samsung uses a nickel-coated controller, a heat-spreading label and Dynamic Thermal Guard. With the free Samsung Magician software, you can update firmware, check the SSD's health and migrate data. Built-in AES-256 encryption (TCG/Opal 2.0) protects sensitive data.

Worth knowing: your motherboard needs a free M.2 slot with NVMe support, ideally PCIe 4.0 for full speed. The SSD will work in older PCIe 3.0 slots, but more slowly. This version has no heatsink of its own. Sony requires cooling for the PS5, so there you need an additional heatsink that fits the expansion slot. Alternatively, the 990 PRO is also available with a heatsink already fitted.