Samsung 9100 Pro 8TB SSD Review: High Capacity, Blistering-Fast Storage
HDTune Pro v6.1 Benchmarks
HD Tune Pro had the 8TB Samsung 9100 Pro trading blows for first or second place in terms of transfer speeds, but its latency results were just a notch below the fastest drives in this test group.
CrystalDiskMark x64 Benchmarks
CrystalDiskMark is a synthetic benchmark that tests both sequential and random small and mid-sized file transfers using incompressible data. It provides a quick look at best and worst case scenarios with regard to SSD performance, best case being larger sequential transfers and worse case being small, random transfers.
CDM's sequential tests had the 8TB Samsung 9100 Pro technically finishing in the middle of the pack, when sorted by write speeds, but we're talking about some miniscule deltas separating the fastest drives in these tests. And in the sequential read test, the 8TB Samsung drive was actually the fastest overall.
The Samsung 9100 Pro drives, however, dominated the 4K random write tests in this benchmark. Random reads at QD32 didn't lead, but were still very good. At QD1, however, the Samsung drives finish at the top.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Game Level Load Times
We also tested game level load times using the Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail benchmark. This tool loads an array of different game levels during its graphics benchmark and outputs the average result when complete.
Level load times in Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail were very good with the 8TB Samsung 9100 Pro, but it was just a notch behind the fastest 4TB drives. The Phison-based MSI drive (with massive heatsink) technically pulled off the overall victory, but this one couldn't have been closer, and falls within the margin of error for this benchmark.
UL's 3DMark Gaming Storage Benchmark
UL recently added a gaming-centric storage benchmark to 3DMark that leverages trace-based tests of actual PC games and gaming-related activities (such as streaming with OBS) to measure real-world gaming performance in a variety of scenarios. The tests include things like loading Battlefield V, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and Overwatch from the initial launch to the main menu, recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS while playing Overwatch, installing The Outer Worlds and saving game progress. And finally, copying the Steam folder for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive from one drive to another.
The trace-based game tests in 3DMark's suite ran exceptionally well on the 4TB Samsung 9100 Pro, but the 8TB drives drops down the stack a few rungs. Performance is still excellent, but the lower latency of the single-sided 4TB drive gives it an edge here.
UL's PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Storage Test
We like PCMark 10's new quick storage benchmark module for its real-world application measurement approach to testing. PCMark offers a trace-based measurement of system response times and bandwidth under various scripted workloads of traditional client / desktop system use cases.
In PCMark's trace-based tests, the 8TB Samsung 9100 Pro also performed very well and led all of the other drives that are currently available. Phison E28-based drives are due to hit the market soon, but aren't on store shelves just yet.
Samsung 9100 Pro 8B SSD: Closing Thoughts
Put simply, the 8TB Samsung 9100 Pro is a killer SSD, that currently offers the best overall performance at this capacity. Although it's not quite as fast as the 4TB model we recently evaluated, this drive is still plenty fast and its relatively low power makes it suitable for a wide array of systems, unlike Phison E26-based drives which have dominated the high-performance Gen 5 NVMe SSD market for the last couple of years. The Samsung 9100 Pro 8TB also offers a competitive 5 year warranty and it’s built and backed by one of the biggest names in the semiconductor industry.
Although we expect street prices to eventually come down somewhat, the Samsung 9100 Pro 8TB drive's MSRP is the only real gotcha. This SSD is currently priced at $999 on Samsung's webstore, which is more than double the price of the 4TB model (currently on-sale for $389). If you do that math, that's about a 30% premium over a pair of 4TB drives. We sure for some folks, capacity is king, and they won't care, but that is a significant premium worth mentioning.
Ultimately though, Samsung 9100 Pro 8TB rocks. This drive is capacious and fast and is currently the king of the 8TB hill, amongst consumer Solid State Drives at least.
