The Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 SSD Review: A Spirit of Hope
by Billy Tallis on September 22, 2020 11:20 AM ESTNote: All our previous testing has been on an Intel test bed. Because of the move to PCIe 4.0, we have upgraded to Ryzen. Devices tested under Ryzen in time for this review are identified in the charts.
Mixed Random Performance
Our test of mixed random reads and writes covers mixes varying from pure reads to pure writes at 10% increments. Each mix is tested for up to 1 minute or 32GB of data transferred. The test is conducted with a queue depth of 4, and is limited to a 64GB span of the drive. In between each mix, the drive is given idle time of up to one minute so that the overall duty cycle is 50%.
Since our mixed random IO test uses a moderate queue depth of 4, the PCIe Gen4 drives don't get much chance to flex their muscle. The overall scores are still generally bound by NAND flash latency, which doesn't vary too widely between current generation drives. There's also a small performance boost when running this test on our newer, faster Ryzen testbed. The Samsung 980 PRO is clearly an improvement over its predecessors, but is merely tied for first place among flash-based drives with the SK hynix Gold P31.
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Both capacities of the 980 PRO turn in good efficiency scores for the mixed random IO test, substantially improving on Samsung's previously mediocre standing. The 1TB 980 PRO's efficiency is second only to the SK hynix Gold P31. The 980 PROs are a bit more efficient running at PCIe Gen3 speeds than on the Gen4 platform, despite the ~10% performance boost on the faster system.
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There are no real surprises in the performance profiles of the 980 PROs. Both capacities show the same general behavior as earlier Samsung drives, albeit with small improvements to performance and power consumption across the board.
Mixed Sequential Performance
Our test of mixed sequential reads and writes differs from the mixed random I/O test by performing 128kB sequential accesses rather than 4kB accesses at random locations, and the sequential test is conducted at queue depth 1. The range of mixes tested is the same, and the timing and limits on data transfers are also the same as above.
The Samsung 980 PROs take the top spots for our mixed sequential IO test, with even the 250GB 980 PRO edging out the 1TB Seagate FireCuda 520. Even when limited to PCIe Gen3, the 980s are a clear step up in performance from eariler high-end drives. The improvement for the 250GB model is the most impressive, since the 250GB 970 EVO Plus is significantly slower than most of the 1TB drives.
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| Power Efficiency in MB/s/W | Average Power in W | ||||||||
The 980 PROs turn in more good power efficiency numbers that place them clearly ahead of everything other than the SK hynix Gold P31. And this time, the P31's efficiency lead relatively small at no more than about 25%.
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The 980 PROs show a drastically different performance profile compared to earlier Samsung drives. The 970s tend to bottom out during the write-heavy half of the test and recover some performance toward the end. Now with the 980 PRO, performance in the write-heavy half doesn't drop precipitously, so we see a steady decline that most closely resembles how the Intel Optane SSD handles this test
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Billy Tallis - Thursday, September 24, 2020 - link
The reviewers guide indicated that Samsung plans to continue using the PRO/EVO/QVO branding, but they don't have any new EVO or QVO drives to announce at this time. That's part of why I expect the EVO to continue on as a more entry-level TLC tier, without switching to QLC.Luke212 - Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - link
Terrible release. No faster after all this time. And to be outclassed by E18 Phisonjtester - Wednesday, October 14, 2020 - link
how is it not faster when on most charts it's well above the last generation? Also, why is MLC going to matter when the 1tb MLC has the same endurance as a 2tb evo plus? So is there no point in anyone having a 970 pro, regardless of their use case?I can either have a 1tb 970 pro for $240 after various discounts and credits or I can have a 2tb 970 evo plus for $270 or a 1tb 980 pro for $190. So how to decide? I already have a 1tb 970 evo plus, but haven't built yet and want at least 2 or 3 samsung drives.
Tom Sunday - Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - link
I just recently purchased a pair of Samsung 2TB 970 EVO Plus NVMe's to basically upgrading my older PC. They are super fast at 3500 MB/s sequential read speed. Its particulary felt in the booting-up process for sure. I question the necessity of the 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 because how fast does one really needs to go. I would think that for a few seconds here and there it's not worth it to graduate up again to the 4.0 world.Oxford Guy - Thursday, September 24, 2020 - link
"I question the necessity of the 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 because how fast does one really needs to go."That's not the point here. The point here is that the "980 Pro" is an EVO masquerading as a Pro. As others have said, it's likely a maneuver to foist QLC junk as the "upgrade" to the EVO line.
Luckz - Thursday, September 24, 2020 - link
To validate your faster booting process claim, did you compare your "super fast 3500 MB/s sequential read speed" to a cheaper 2000 MB/s drive like an A2000, or merely to a HDD from ancient times? And if it's "a pair" and an "older PC", you're going to run out of PCIe lanes anyway, unless it's a reasonably beefy HEDT or you don't (really) need a graphics card.im.thatoneguy - Thursday, September 24, 2020 - link
Thank you for testing last 16GB stats. As someone who uses Nvme drives for offloading TBs of video footage at a time this is actually really helpful to my workflows.Any reason though why there are no Sabrent drives benchmarked? They seem to be the most popular and best selling on Amazon. Seems like a good test to see if they are a value or if they are just cheap.
Billy Tallis - Thursday, September 24, 2020 - link
Sabrent drives are mostly or all Phison reference designs, sometimes with a custom heatsink. So their Rocket and Rocket 4.0 are basically equivalent to the Seagate drives featured in this review.I do have the 8TB Sabrent Rocket Q, but paused testing of that to work on this review. The 8TB review will probably be my next one finished, but those big drives take a while to test.
clieuser - Sunday, September 27, 2020 - link
How fast the 980 pro with PCIE 3.0, not with PCIE 4.0?ballsystemlord - Tuesday, September 29, 2020 - link
Spelling error:"and thus having optimized products to go along with it has always been the case as new generations trump the told."
Excess "t":
"and thus having optimized products to go along with it has always been the case as new generations trump the old."
I'll read the rest when the benchmarks are completed.