Side-by-side: Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB ($898) vs Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB ($585). $/TB winner, specs, real-world picks for July 2026.
Gen 5 at 4 TB is one of the most contested SSD segments in 2026, and Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB versus Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB captures that competition well. The decision rarely comes down to peak speeds — both drives saturate typical workloads.
Hardware-wise, the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB runs on the proprietary Samsung Presto silicon found only in the 9100 PRO line. The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB pairs Samsung's Piccolo — a DRAM-less controller with flexible PCIe generation support.
Money matters here — $146.25/TB on the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB versus $224.50/TB on the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB. That's enough of a spread that for budget-conscious builders, the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB becomes the default unless reviews of your specific workload prefer the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB.
In the read department, the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB leads by roughly 7 GB/s. The difference is more academic than practical for typical use, but it does matter for video editors moving multi-GB project files.
Write performance separates them too. The Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB sustains 13,400 MB/s writes versus 6,300 MB/s for the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB — a real advantage for video editors and anyone doing heavy file operations.
The DRAM-vs-HMB question divides opinion: Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB's on-board DRAM theoretically helps under sustained workloads, while Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB'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 4TB and Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB as interchangeable here and let price decide. For content creators routinely rendering 4K or 8K video, the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB's 13,400 MB/s sustained write is the deciding factor — multi-GB project files land noticeably faster than on the alternative. Note for handheld gamers: M.2 2280 is the desktop/laptop standard. Steam Deck and the ROG Ally line need 2230 drives — neither Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB nor Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB fits without modification.
Zoom out from this pair for a moment. Among the 6 Gen 5 4 TB drives we track, the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB ranks #5 by $/TB and the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB ranks #1. One of them is genuinely among the cheapest options in its class, so this matchup includes a real value pick.
As of July 27, 2026, these tracked drives undercut both the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB and Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB on $/TB:
Go with the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB for meaningfully faster reads (14,800 MB/s), higher sustained writes (13,400 MB/s), and a dedicated DRAM cache chip. Among consumer SSD makers, Samsung's PRO series consistently scores highest on long-term reliability surveys (Backblaze, Puget Systems Q1 2026 data).
Go with the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB for the lower retail price ($585 vs $898), and better $/TB economics ($146.25/TB). Samsung designed the 990 EVO Plus around the Piccolo controller's dual-PCIe support — a hedge against both Gen 4 holdouts and Gen 5 early adopters.