Storage is forever growing, both in terms of capacity and speed, but prices of flagship SSDs thankfully are on the decline. Where once PCIe Gen 5 drives felt out of reach to all but enthusiasts with the deepest pockets, you can pick up the likes of 9100 Pro for far less than launch.
Samsung 9100 Pro
“A class-leading SSD.” Read our review.
On Amazon, you’ll find 9100 Pro 1TB for $129.99 and the 2TB model for $199.99. Relative to list price, these costs make for respective discounts of 29% ($70) and 13% ($30), respectively. Whichever capacity you choose, you’ll grab the SSD at its best ever price.
I’d go for the 2TB option if possible. You gain better bang for your buck with this 9100 Pro, with each GB costing just under $0.10. Compare this to the 1TB variant, and you’re paying closer to $0.13. Either SSD will serve you well, but your cash will go further opting for the larger drive.
You can expect blisteringly fast sequential read speeds of 14,700MB/s out of 9100 Pro. Sequential writes differ slightly depending on capacity, with 1TB clocking in at 13,300MB/s and 2TB going slightly faster at 13,400MB/s. These credentials make it one of the fastest PCIe Gen 5 SSDs on the market, making short work of whatever workload you throw at the drive.
Of course, you’ll need a PCIe Gen 5 M.2 slot to achieve these speeds with 9100 Pro. The drive will work in older slots but it will run at about half of its full capabilities. This shouldn’t be an issue for most modern motherboards, but I’d sooner point owners of older boards towards less-expensive Gen 4 SSDs.
Despite running so fast, 9100 Pro doesn’t run particularly hot. PCIe Gen 5 storage has classically struggled with thermals but Samsung’s 5nm controller keeps the storage cool and efficient under load. You’ll still want to slap some kind of heatsink on the drive for optimal performance, but any thermal pads or heatsinks that come with your motherboard or laptop will do the job.
Drive endurance is expectedly solid, with Samsung quoting 600TBW per TB for 9100 Pro. Good luck achieving such a feat, as that’s like installing all 150GB of Baldur’s Gate 3 more than 4,000 times over. Instead, you’ll want to pay more heed to the warranty period, which lasts a welcome five years.
Compatibility with Samsung Magician software puts yet another feather in 9100 Pro’s proverbial cap. This application suite has remained my favourite storage management tool for decades, as it makes it easy to get the most of out your storage. From the dashboard you can track drive health, update firmware, engage overprovisioning, and other useful features.
Deals like this don’t last forever, so snatch up a 9100 Pro at these prices while you can. To make sure you get some discounts while the getting’s hot, make sure to follow Club386 on Google News and other corners of the web.
