Samsung finally announced the features of the SSD 990 EVO, the first SSD with a hybrid PCIe interface. Among other things, it’s the first SSD M.2 supporting x4 PCIe 4.0 or x2 PCIe 5.0 modes. The bandwidths remain the same with 5000/4200 MB per second of sequential read/write speed, and 700K/800K IOPS of random read/write speed.
The 990 EVO features a 5nm controller and 133-layer V6P TLC NAND memory. Samsung doesn’t state clearly what are the advantages of x4 PCIe 4.0 or x2 PCIe 5.0 modes.
Samsung states that working with only two PCIe 5.0 lanes may provide the same level of performance, while the energy efficiency may improve, which will make this a good option for laptops and consoles.
The price of the Samsung 990 EVO is expected to be $124 and $210 for 1TB and 2TB models respectively, although it may eventually be lower than expected.
