The Samsung 990 Pro and 9100 Pro are currently only about $10 apart in price. I'm building a primarily gaming-focused PC with a Gigabyte X870 motherboard, so I'll have access to a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot. Is upgrading to the 9100 Pro worthwhile, or would the 990 Pro perform essentially the same for gaming? I'm also wondering whether the motherboard's built-in M.2 heatsink will be enough to keep the 9100 Pro from overheating.
4 Answers
Since you have a PCIe 5.0 slot, spending the extra $10 on the 9100 Pro seems reasonable. The X870 motherboard’s M.2 heatsink should handle it fine as long as the case has decent airflow.
Before choosing either Samsung drive, check current pricing on other PCIe 5.0 models. Drives such as the Sabrent Rocket 5 may offer similar performance for less, while a Samsung 990 Evo Plus could provide practically identical gaming performance to the 990 Pro at a lower price.
Thanks, I’ll compare the Evo Plus and Rocket 5 as well instead of automatically going with one of these two.
For gaming, you probably won’t notice a meaningful difference. Game loading and Steam unpacking times are very similar between these drives, and even a good PCIe 3.0 SSD is often close in real-world gaming performance. I’d only choose the 9100 Pro if the extra $10 is insignificant to you or you want PCIe 5.0 for future workloads.
If the prices really are only $10 apart, I’d lean toward the 9100 Pro, especially since your board supports PCIe 5.0. Just don’t expect a noticeable improvement in ordinary game loading compared with the 990 Pro.
That’s helpful. My main concern was whether the faster drive would run too hot, but it sounds like the motherboard heatsink should be sufficient.