Side-by-side: Sabrent Rocket 5 1TB ($259) vs Samsung 990 PRO 1TB ($239). $/TB winner, specs, real-world picks for July 2026.
This is a generational matchup at 1 TB: the older-gen drive offers proven reliability and better $/TB, while the newer-gen sibling brings raw bandwidth that most users never tap.
Hardware-wise, the Sabrent Rocket 5 1TB runs on Phison's E26 silicon, which kicked off the consumer Gen 5 era and typically requires a heatsink. The Samsung 990 PRO 1TB pairs Samsung's 8nm Pascal controller, the silicon powering the 990 PRO line.
On sequential reads the Sabrent Rocket 5 1TB pulls ahead by 6,550 MB/s (14,000 MB/s versus 7,450 MB/s). That matters for moving large files but rarely shows up in game loads.
Write speeds skew toward the Sabrent Rocket 5 1TB: 11,600 MB/s sustained against 6,900 MB/s. Content creators feel this; gamers do not.
For PS5 expansion, both are PCIe Gen 4 M.2 2280 drives that meet Sony's minimum spec (7,450 MB/s read). The console can't take advantage of speeds beyond that, so save money by choosing the Samsung 990 PRO 1TB. Comparing across generations always invites the same question: does the bandwidth gap convert into user-visible improvements? Honest answer for the Sabrent Rocket 5 1TB vs Samsung 990 PRO 1TB pairing: only for sustained sequential reads of multi-GB files. Video editors will gravitate toward the Sabrent Rocket 5 1TB for its write headroom (11,600 MB/s sustained). Project saves and proxies move faster, which compounds across a workday. Heads-up — these are full-length 2280 drives. Steam Deck and most current handhelds require shorter 2230 modules, so check capacity-specific 2230 variants if that's your target platform.
Market context: the Sabrent Rocket 5 1TB ranks #5 of 6 Gen 5 1 TB drives we track by $/TB, while the Samsung 990 PRO 1TB ranks #3 of 4 Gen 4 1 TB drives. Neither cracks the top of the value table, so it's worth glancing at the alternatives below before picking either.
As of July 27, 2026, these tracked drives undercut both the Sabrent Rocket 5 1TB and Samsung 990 PRO 1TB on $/TB:
Go with the Sabrent Rocket 5 1TB for meaningfully faster reads (14,000 MB/s), and higher sustained writes (11,600 MB/s). Of the Phison E26 drives, Sabrent's Rocket 5 has earned a reputation for consistent thermal behavior with its larger heatsink design.
Go with the Samsung 990 PRO 1TB for the lower retail price ($239 vs $259), and better $/TB economics ($239.00/TB). Samsung's PRO line has the longest track record for firmware reliability — over a decade of consumer SSDs with global RMA support.