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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| Power Efficiency in MB/s/W | Average Power in W | ||||||||
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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Slash3 - Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - link
Yeah, we may get a few early test case scenarios through an Nvidia demonstration or partner product, but any major release will probably wait to land concurrently with a full fat Directstorage update from Microsoft. I'm looking forward to it, as I've got a pretty fast storage subsystem and very few games take advantage of it even during asset loading.vanish1 - Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - link
no headphone jack, no purchase.racerx_is_alive - Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - link
Do we know enough about the new DirectStorage API to make a prediction about how this will perform against the 4.0 Phison controller next year? Seems like that will be a real world situation that will use lots more queues and shift performance towards the Samsung.KenK74 - Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - link
This product release is a real yawner. I am keeping my 970 Pro's, and will be searching anywhere but Samsung for decent TLC's with Hardware Encryption capability when I need another. Depending on platform, software Bitlocker may not slow the drive down much, or might do so a lot. For laptops, the real problem is the extra CPU power for software encryption that exceeds differences in SSD power among the SSD drives. Yeah, hardware bitlocker has its issues, but it seems the most power efficient option for laptops that need bitlocker. Meanwhile for non-hardware encrypted drives, the SK Hynix P31 looks very good, runs with the PCI4 drives in many aspects,, and has a great price.PopinFRESH007 - Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - link
Which Phision controller are you referencing? They have multiple PCIe 4.0 controllers and most of them are already available. The E16T has been available in multiple products since early in the year and the E18 is the controller for the recently announced Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus which (on paper) looks to offer better performance than the 980 Pro. The Rocket 4 Plus looks like it should also be available this year and there are a couple of other drives that are expected to launch in Q4 that will also likely be using the E18dudlej84 - Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - link
I'm confused by the conclusion claiming it regains the performance crown, but the results seem to show it beaten quite often, even by the 970 pro and 970 evo plus in some cases. What am I missing?XabanakFanatik - Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - link
You're not missing anything, this is just corporate ass-wiping to reward Samsung for their terrible marketing decision to devalue the Pro brand they've been creating for a decade.StrangerGuy - Friday, September 25, 2020 - link
Besides their flagship phones, I can't think of any Samsung product that aren't terrible in terms of value for money in recent years.alexdi - Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - link
This is not a Pro drive. "Pro" means it maintains performance. This is a slightly faster Evo Plus and underwhelming for the price.PeachNCream - Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - link
That is some trash endurance for the price. The performance numbers are okay, but not the slightest bit earth shattering. I guess in the grand scheme of things, there appears to be no really good reason for this drive to even have gone into production for as little as it brings to the table. At least it isn't QLC, but it's pretty obvious that we have reached the end of NAND and need a more durable and higher density storage medium for the solid state side of the equation.