Side-by-side: Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB ($249) vs Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB ($244). $/TB winner, specs, real-world picks for July 2026.
Gen 5 at 1 TB is one of the most contested SSD segments in 2026, and Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB versus Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB captures that competition well. The decision rarely comes down to peak speeds — both drives saturate typical workloads.
Hardware-wise, the Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB runs on Samsung's in-house Presto controller, designed specifically for the 9100 PRO series. The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB pairs the dual-mode Samsung Piccolo silicon that uniquely runs PCIe 5.0 x2 or PCIe 4.0 x4.
Read speeds favor the Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB: 14,700 MB/s versus 7,250 MB/s for the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB, a 51% advantage. Sequential-heavy workloads notice; transactional workloads don't.
The Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB writes about 53% faster (13,400 MB/s vs 6,300 MB/s). Whether that matters depends entirely on what you write to the drive — gameplay capture and large project saves benefit, browsing and gaming do not.
The DRAM-vs-HMB question divides opinion: Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB's on-board DRAM theoretically helps under sustained workloads, while Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB's HMB approach has matured enough that most users won't see the difference. Pick on price if everything else is similar.
PS5 owners get no measurable benefit from either drive's peak speed because Sony's internal NVMe controller throttles to ~5,500 MB/s; treat Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB and Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB as interchangeable here and let price decide. Heavy write workloads — video editing, RAW photo libraries, backup operations — favor the Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB's 13,400 MB/s sustained write speed. Both drives use the 2280 form factor, which is too long for Steam Deck or ROG Ally — you'd need a 2230 variant if either manufacturer offers one, or a dedicated handheld-format drive instead.
How do these two fit the wider Gen 5 1 TB field? Out of 6 tracked drives, the Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB is #4 on $/TB and the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB is #3. 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 Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB and Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB on $/TB:
Go with the Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB for meaningfully faster reads (14,700 MB/s), higher sustained writes (13,400 MB/s), and a dedicated DRAM cache chip. Samsung's PRO line has the longest track record for firmware reliability — over a decade of consumer SSDs with global RMA support.
Go with the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB for the lower retail price ($244 vs $249), and better $/TB economics ($244.00/TB). Among Samsung's lineup, the 990 EVO Plus is the only consumer drive that physically supports dual-generation PCIe — same hardware, different bus speed depending on platform.