Samsung 990 Pro 4TB SSD drops to $799.90 as memory prices ease from AI-driven peaks
The 4TB Samsung 990 Pro, once commanding $1,099, now sells for $799.90 following a 27% price cut that reflects cooling demand in the memory market after the AI boom.
Samsung's 990 Pro 4TB was once the fastest PCIe Gen 4 storage device available, though newer PCIe 5.0 alternatives have since emerged. Despite its aging generation, the drive continues to deliver substantial performance and capacity in a compact M.2 2280 package. The pricing environment has shifted dramatically: after artificial intelligence drove memory and storage costs to record levels, the 990 Pro has now fallen from $1,099 to $799.90—a reduction exceeding $300 that translates to approximately 20 cents per gigabyte.
In testing, the 4TB model demonstrated exceptional speed across multiple benchmarks. The drive achieves sequential read speeds of 7,450 MB/s and sequential write speeds of 6,900 MB/s, with random read and write performance reaching 1.6 million and 1.55 million IOPS respectively. The manufacturer rates endurance at 2,400 TBW, and the single-sided design makes it suitable for systems with limited physical space.
Samsung employs 236-layer TLC V-NAND to reach the 4TB capacity while maintaining the single-sided form factor. When benchmarked against competitors, the 990 Pro performed consistently well across nearly all test scenarios. In 3DMark's storage evaluation, it produced the lowest latency measurements, a characteristic that benefits gaming load times and system responsiveness.
The drive excels at maintaining write performance over extended periods. During IOMeter sustained sequential write testing, the 4TB variant sustained 6.2 GB/s for 75 seconds by leveraging its 10GB pSLC cache layer. Once data exceeds this cache, write speed drops to 1.6 GB/s as it moves to the TLC portion. Power efficiency represents another strength: the 990 Pro delivers 421.1 MB/s per watt, surpassed only by the Addlink A93 4TB and Lexar NM790 4TB in this metric.
The current price remains substantially higher than storage costs from previous years, and a return to those historical lows appears unlikely in the near term. For buyers seeking 4TB capacity today, the 990 Pro represents a capable option, particularly when purchased during promotional periods offering maximum discount depth.