NVMe SSDs are the norm these days, but it’s rare to find one that balances price, performance, and long-term value like this. Samsung's 990 EVO is a relatively fresh entry in its legendary storage lineup, boasting PCIe Gen4 support at a reasonable price point. Normally hovering around $176, it’s now available for just $113.99 during Amazon’s Prime Day sale—a massive drop on a 2TB drive that can stand its ground against top-end models. That's shaving off around 36% from its list price, making this the lowest price we’ve tracked for this model since its release last year.
The 990 EVO Plus delivers lightning-fast sequential read/write speeds: up to 7,250 read and 6,300 MB/s write, thanks to Samsung's V‑NAND TLC and Intelligent TurboWrite 2.0 technology. It's a DRAM-less SSD powered by Samsung's proprietary Picolo controller, but that doesn't mean it's less performant. It takes advantage of HMB (Host Memory Buffer) to use your system memory as a temporary buffer, still providing you with a speedy drive that loads games as fast as possible.
We’ve already reviewed the 990 EVO Plus 2TB and found it to be excellent for mixed workloads. It might not beat the 990 Pro in synthetic benchmarks, but in real-world usage, the gap is minimal enough to the point where you won't notice it. We found Samsung's claim of read and write speeds to be pretty much spot on. And since it's built on Samsung’s latest V-NAND and controller tech, you’re also getting lower idle power draw, making it perfect for laptops or compact builds. Across every benchmark, it performs admirably, including file transfers and more comprehensive testing suites like 3DMark and CrystalDisk.
The 990 EVO is also one of the first consumer SSDs to support both PCIe Gen 4x4 and Gen 5 with 2 lanes, meaning it's made for today with tomorrow in mind. Furthermore, the Samsung Magician software adds another layer of polish, offering real-time health monitoring, firmware updates, and performance tuning. Is it perfect? Not quite. There’s honestly not much to complain about here; write speeds under sustained load may dip if you’re hammering it with giant 8K video files, but unless you’re a professional editor doing daily raw exports, that won’t matter. Oh, and did we mention that its controller is coated with nickel to keep thermals under control?
If you want a lot of storage, speedy read/write throughput, and future PCIe 5 readiness without the pro price tag, Samsung's 970 EVO Plus is a clear standout. Content creators moving around large files, or gamers installing dozens of large titles, will feel the benefit of the 2TB size, while enjoying powerful performance at a not-so-powerful price. We recommend this drive for both console and PC users looking to bump up their systems with a meaningful upgrade.
We are working hard to find the best computer hardware deals for you this Amazon Prime Day. We cover the hottest deals in real-time at our Best Amazon Prime Day Deals Live page. If you're looking for more savings, check out our Amazon Prime Day deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, or CPU Deals pages.
