Solid-state drives, or SSDs, keeping getting quicker and quicker. If you’ve recently upgraded your PC with a motherboard that supports PCIe 4.0, then you have access to some of the fastest drives out there. This includes Samsung’s new 980 Pro, which could be fast enough to be used as expandable storage for the PlayStation 5, pending Sony’s confirmation that it will fit in the next-gen console.
The NVMe M.2 drive is Samsung’s new flagship storage option, boasting sequential read/write speeds of up to 7,000MB/s and 5,000MB/s, respectively. To put that into perspective, that’s already twice as fast as the maximum capabilities of PCIe 3.0, as well as 13 times faster than the more popular SATA SSDs that have become incredibly cheaper over the last few months.
Starts at $90
The Samsung 980 Pro releases October 12 and comes in three sizes: 250GB for $90, 500GB for $150, and 1TB for $230. Samsung says a 2TB model is coming later this year but has not shared its price yet.
Of course, you’ll need a motherboard that supports PCIe 4.0 to really bring the best out of the 980 Pro, and Samsung is seemingly aware that most of its customers won’t have that yet. The 980 Pro is still compatible on PCIe 3.0 boards and features some impressive speeds on the more limited interface. With sequential read/write speeds of 3,500MB/s and 3,450MB/s respectively, this could be a great drive to use now and future-proof your PC for the years to com.
These types of PCIe 4.0 speeds are also in the ballpark of what PlayStation 5 architect Mark Cerny cited as a requirement for PS5 expansion. Sony will be allowing PS5 players to use consumer NVMe SSDs, but did warn that they will release a list of compatible drives in the future. This isn’t only about raw speed but also the form factor, so that you can rest assured the drive you buy fits into the console.
