Samsung 990: A ‘Budget’ SSD That Costs More Than Faster Drives
Samsung’s 990 SSD is a PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe drive that uses cheaper QLC flash and a DRAM-less design, yet debuts at a price higher than many faster alternatives, illustrating how rising memory costs are distorting the value of consumer storage for PC enthusiasts.
The headline problem is simple: the 2TB Samsung 990 launches at USD 529 (approx. RM2,430)—more than some PCIe Gen5 SSDs offering higher throughput. This is supposed to be the “budget-friendly” sibling to the 990 Pro and 990 EVO, but its hardware cuts and pricing send the opposite message. Sequential reads top out at 7,250MB/s and writes at 6,450MB/s for the 2TB model, which are fine Gen4 numbers but still several hundred MB/s slower than the older 990 Pro. When the slower, QLC-based drive costs more than last generation’s TLC flagship, enthusiasts notice—and they feel punished rather than served.
QLC, DRAM-Less Design, and Shrinking Value for Enthusiasts
Under the skin, the 990 shows exactly where Samsung has cut to keep margins alive. It swaps to QLC NAND, storing four bits per cell instead of three, and drops DRAM altogether, relying on a DRAM-less architecture with the Piccolo-Q controller over PCIe 4.0 x4. That combination saves cost for Samsung but reduces endurance and can hurt sustained performance, especially once the SLC cache is exhausted.
The 1TB model peaks at 7,150MB/s reads and 6,450MB/s writes with up to 700,000 read and 1.1 million write IOPS, rated for 400TBW. The 2TB version nudges reads to 7,250MB/s, hits 850,000 read and 1.2 million write IOPS, and offers 800TBW. Those endurance figures are noticeably worse than TLC-based predecessors like the 990 EVO Plus, which are rated at 600TBW for 1TB and 1,200TBW for 2TB, and Samsung has cut the warranty from five years to three. In other words, you pay more, get less lifespan, and sacrifice some performance—hardly the dream of budget storage solutions.
PCIe Gen5 vs Gen4 Value: When ‘Budget’ Costs More Than Next-Gen
The biggest red flag in the Samsung 990 SSD pricing is how badly it fares in PCIe Gen5 vs Gen4 value comparisons. The 990’s USD 269 (approx. RM1,235) 1TB and USD 529 (approx. RM2,430) 2TB launch prices put it in direct competition with much faster Gen5 NVMe SSDs that offer 10GB/s-class performance. According to one report, “its cost is exponentially higher than similarly-performing storage, and more expensive than PCIe Gen 5 alternatives.”
Worse, the 990 is slower than Samsung’s own 990 Pro by several hundred MB/s, yet the company’s current website pricing for fresh 990 Pro stock is USD 319 (approx. RM1,465) for 1TB and USD 640 (approx. RM2,940), which makes the new 990’s launch tags look almost reasonable in isolation. In the short term, older 990 Pro units bought at previous wholesale prices still appear in NVMe SSD deals at around USD 239 (approx. RM1,095) for 1TB and USD 388 (approx. RM1,775) for 2TB, but those pockets of value are temporary. Once channel stock catches up to today’s NAND costs, the price floor will rise across the board.
AI-Driven NAND Inflation: How We Got Here
Samsung’s launch timing is no accident. The company openly frames the 990 as an entry-level PCIe 4.0 SSD built to handle the current memory market crisis, and that crisis is rooted in the same forces warping DRAM prices. Manufacturers are prioritising NAND flash for AI and enterprise workloads, squeezing supply for consumer SSDs and driving costs up. These are symptoms of a wider NAND shortage that shows no quick fix.
NAND producers have declared that the era of cheap SSDs is over, and at least one major manufacturer has already exited the consumer SSD market entirely. Capacity expansions take years of investment and construction, so this is not a blip—it is a structural change. For now, the 990’s launch outside the US with no firm domestic release date feels like a test balloon: how much will enthusiasts tolerate when a “budget” drive delivers less for more? The answer will inform how aggressive future consumer pricing becomes.
What This Means for Budget Storage Buyers
For ordinary PC builders hunting NVMe SSD deals, the message is bleak: expect prices to climb, especially at the so-called budget end. The Samsung 990 is pitched as an affordable option with acceptable performance, yet it lands as poor-value next to current alternatives and even costs more than another model from the same family. This is not a one-off misstep; it is a market signal.
With NAND makers warning that cheap SSDs are gone and supply constraints likely to last years, budget storage solutions will increasingly mean accepting compromises in endurance, warranty length, and raw speed in exchange for capacity. Enthusiasts still have a short window to grab remaining TLC-based Gen4 drives at old prices, but that window is closing fast. The Samsung 990 shows what the next phase looks like: slower, less durable drives wearing “entry-level” labels, sold at mid-range and even high-end prices. If you value performance per dollar, it is time to be picky, not brand-loyal.
