Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4000GB

The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4000GB uses a proprietary Samsung in-house controller built on a 5nm process and follows a DRAM-less NVMe design that relies on Host Memory Buffer (HMB) to cache the translation layer in system memory. It leverages Samsung 8th Generation V-NAND (TLC) to push near-saturation of the PCIe 4.0 bus, supports a hybrid interface capable of PCIe 4.0 x4 or PCIe 5.0 x2 operation, and the 4TB model retains a single-sided PCB for thin-laptop compatibility. Thermal management includes a nickel-coated controller and a heat-spreading label, though sustained write workloads can reveal the limitations of a DRAM-less architecture compared to DRAM-equipped drives.

Key Specifications

• Interface: PCIe 4.0 x4 / PCIe 5.0 x2 (Hybrid Compatibility)
• Sequential Read/Write: 7,250 MB/s / 6,300 MB/s
• Controller: Samsung Proprietary (5nm)
• NAND Type: Samsung 8th Gen V-NAND TLC
• Cache Architecture: DRAM-less with Host Memory Buffer (HMB)
• Encryption Support: AES 256-bit Full Disk Encryption, TCG/Opal 2.0
• PCB Layout: Single-sided (Components on top only)

Hardware Alternatives

• Samsung 990 PRO: The immediate internal alternative. It features a dedicated LPDDR4 DRAM cache and the "Pascal" controller, offering lower latency and higher sustained write speeds for heavy workstation use compared to the EVO Plus.
• Lexar NM790: A direct functional competitor in the "Max-Performance DRAM-less" category. These drives utilize the Maxio MAP1602 controller paired with 232-layer NAND to achieve similar sequential speeds (approx. 7100 MB/s) without dedicated DRAM.
• TEAMGROUP MP44: Grouped with the Lexar NM790 as a DRAM-less high-performance alternative using similar controller/NAND approaches to target high sequential throughput.
• WD_BLACK SN770: A comparable proprietary design from Western Digital that shares a DRAM-less, in-house controller architecture, though the 990 EVO Plus offers higher peak sequential throughput than the SN770.