Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB SSD Review - Lab Champion at 1TB

TweakTown Rating: 97%

Our Verdict

Samsung's 9100 PRO 1TB drive is the best 1TB SSD we've ever encountered.

Pros

• Efficiency
• Sequential throughput performance
• Most powerful 1TB
• Real-world performance

Cons

• None

Should you buy it?

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Buy at Amazon for $235 USD

Buy at PC Case Gear for $389 AUD

Introduction & Drive Details

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Samsung's 9100 PRO 1TB as factory spec'd would seem to be less powerful than the 4TB model or the 8TB model, however, as we will thoroughly demonstrate, sequential performance is equivalent or even better than both those models and actual performance; real-world performance, is significantly better than the 8TB model and virtually on par with the 4TB model.

As we see things, this is quite a remarkable accomplishment and speaks directly to the technical prowess of the storage giant. Additionally, as we view things from our admittedly biased enthusiast storage perspective, we think the 1TB segment is often ignored by many purveyors of solid-state storage, as evidenced by most delivering far less throughput at 1TB. For those that still prefer performance over capacity, we see the 9100 PRO 1TB being ideal as a cost-effective way to get just enough capacity and all the performance that PCIe Gen5 storage can deliver at a reasonable price point.

Samsung's 9100 PRO series is built around its own 8-channel PCIe Gen5 controller. Codenamed "Presto", this super-efficient controller is built on Samsung's own 5nm process node, making it the most efficient of its kind currently in circulation. The DRAM-enabled Samsung Presto controller features a 5-core ARM 32-bit Cortex-R8 architecture with 8-flash channels @ 2,400MT and four chip enables. Samsung arrays its 9100 PRO 1TB with two 512GB flash packages of its 2,400MT V8 V-NAND, along with a 1GB package of its own LPDDR4X DRAM.

This advanced hardware configuration enables our 1TB test subject to deliver not only the highest sequential rates for its capacity point that we've encountered to date, but also, and much more importantly, deliver the most powerful real-world performance we've encountered at 1TB to date. Impressive.

Now, let's get into this review so we can show you firsthand what Samsung's 1TB 9100 PRO SSD can do for you by the numbers.

Drive Details

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The drive we have in-hand is Samsung Presto controlled, and Samsung V8 V-NAND arrayed, along with a 1GB package of LPDDR4X DRAM. The drive is a preferred single-sided design.

Further SSD Reading – Our Latest Reviews

• SK hynix Platinum P51 2TB SSD Review - A Powerful Gen5 Alternative
• Biwin Black Opal X570 Pro 8TB SSD Review - Massive Capacity with Elite Performance
• Biwin Black Opal X570 Pro 2TB SSD Review - Powerful and efficient single-sided goodness

As always, when you buy a Samsung SSD, you get free supporting software that makes maintenance and system migration simple and free. Click HERE to download it.

Note: We have enabled full power mode using Samsung Magician for the purposes of this review.

Jon's Test System Specifications

Intel Test System

AMD Test System

Please note: We employ an M.2 AIC for testing on our Intel Core Ultra 9 285K platform.

Best Deals: Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB SSD

	Today	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$235 USD	$226.60 USD	$159.99 USD	Buy
	-	-	$269.50 CAD	Buy
	$235 USD	$226.60 USD	$159.99 USD	Buy
	$235 USD	$226.60 USD	$159.99 USD	Buy
	$389 AUD	$339 AUD	-	Buy
* Prices last scanned 1/12/2026 at 9:06 pm CST - prices may be inaccurate. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We earn affiliate commission from any Newegg or PCCG sales.

Sony PlayStation 5 - M.2 Storage Expansion

PS5 Read Performance

With Sony's wildly popular PlayStation 5 console now enabled for M.2 NVMe SSDs to be used as fast storage expansion, we are including results for PS5-compatible SSDs we test as a part of our reviews going forward.

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For SSDs that don't have an adequately sized PS5 compatible heatsink or other SSDs where the heatsink provided doesn't fit right and can be removed, we both use and recommend Sabrent's unparalleled PS5 heatsink available HERE.

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We only chart SSDs that can deliver a minimum of 5,500 MB/s read, which is Sony's original recommendation.

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Our 1TB contender slots in exactly with its higher capacity brethren at the bottom of this chart, demonstrating that while it is among the best choices for PC, it, while plenty good enough to make the cut, isn't the best overall choice for PS5 M.2 storage expansion.

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, Max IOPS, ATTO

CrystalDiskMark

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We employ CDM as our standard measurement for both sequential throughput and Q1T1 random read. In terms of sequential throughput, the 9100 PRO 1TB delivers exactly as advertised and then some, even in our more demanding user state. Impressive.

Zeroing in on the all-important Q1T1 random read speed, our V8 V-NAND arrayed contender is delivering about as good as we've ever seen for its NAND type, indicating that its real-world performance should be excellent.

Max IOPS

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Here, and exactly mirroring our previous encounters with the 9100 PRO series, we have no issues exceeding factory spec when reading data, which is where it matters, but fall short when programming or writing data. This is undoubtedly influenced significantly by our more demanding user state, but again, we don't care that much about write performance in the consumer space.

ATTO

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ATTO gives us a clear picture of what transfer sizes a particular SSD favors in terms of QD4 sequential throughput. We chart 128K transfers. At a queue depth of four, the 9100 PRO 1TB favors sequential transfers of 1MB or larger when serving data to the host (reading) and 128KB or larger when programming (writing) data.

Real-World Testing: Transfers, 3DMark SSD Gaming Test, PCM10 Storage

Transfer Rates

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Our 100GB data transfer test is not your ordinary 100GB of data; ours is a crushing mix composed of more than 62K files. Writing performance, random or sequential, is an infrequent operation, and thus, we do not consider it to be an important performance metric in the consumer space. An example is how many times a game is installed vs. how many times it's played.

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Unlike programming (writing) data, serving data to the host (reading) is typically an important performance metric as it relates to the consumer space. This is where transfer rates matter most, and our 1TB 9100 PRO delivers quite well for a 1TB SSD running on Intel, and exceptionally well running on AMD.

3DMark SSD Gaming Test

UL's newest 3DMark SSD Gaming Test is the most comprehensive SSD gaming test ever devised. We consider it superior to testing against games themselves because, as a trace, it is much more consistent than variations that will occur between runs on the actual game itself. This test is the same as running the actual game, just without the inconsistencies inherent to application testing. In short, we believe that this is the world's best way to test an SSDs gaming prowess and accurately compare it against competing SSDs. The 3DMark SSD Gaming Test measures and scores the following:

• Loading Battlefield V from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Call of Duty Black Ops 4 from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Overwatch from launch to the main menu.
• Recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) while playing Overwatch.
• Installing The Outer Worlds from the Epic Games Launcher.
• Saving game progress in The Outer Worlds.
• Copying the Steam folder for Counter-Strike Global Offensive from an external SSD to the system drive.

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Gaming is a performance metric that matters to most DIY consumers, especially for the enthusiast crowd that TweakTown caters to. Now we've reached the point where results start to matter as they are a direct reflection of user experience.

We consider a score of 6,000 here to be somewhat of a milestone achievement. Our test subject delivers that and a whole lot more. A score of 6,594 is by far the best we've ever recorded for a 1TB SSD. It is right in there with the 4TB model and significantly better than the 8TB model. Impressive.

PCM10 Storage Tests

PCMark 10 Storage Test is the most advanced and most accurate real-world consumer storage test ever made. There are four different tests you can choose from; we run two of them. The Full System Drive Benchmark and the Quick System Drive Benchmark. The Full System Drive Benchmark writes 204 GB of data over the duration of the test. These tests directly correlate with mainstream user experience.

PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark

This test writes 204GB of data and covers a broad range of common consumer tasks, including booting Windows 10, file transfers, Adobe and Office applications, and startup times for games such as Battlefield V, COD Black Ops 4, and Overwatch. Unlike synthetic numbers, this is comprehensive real-world data, which is why we use it to rank SSDs in terms of user experience.

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With a score of over 7,100, our 1TB contender again sets a new lab record for its capacity point. In fact, this is the sixth-best result we've ever attained with our Intel 285 K-based system. It's again running essentially equal with its 4TB sibling and again outpacing its 8TB sibling by a decent margin. Outstanding.

PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark

The Quick System Drive Benchmark writes 23 GB of data over the duration of the test.

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Of all the benchmarks we run, it can be argued that this one offers the best reflection of a typical consumer use case scenario. Here, our 1TB contender shows itself capable of delivering exactly what its higher capacity siblings can.

Final Thoughts

For those of you who value efficiency and performance over capacity, we are of the considered opinion that Samsung's 9100 PRO 1TB is the top choice going right now. The drive is an elegant single-sided SSD that runs cooler and more efficiently than any other we've encountered, including all PCIe Gen 4 SSDs we've tested as well, making it also the best overall choice for laptop DIY storage upgrades. It's truly the best of the best at 1TB.

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We rank SSDs in terms of overall user experience (performance where it matters most) as expressed by PCMark 10 storage and 3DMark gaming storage tests. Currently, we consider a user experience score of 19K or more to verify an SSD as a TweakTown Elite performer. And there you have it, by far the highest performing 1TB SSD we've encountered to date, and overall, the tenth highest performing SSD we've ever tested.

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It's simply the highest performing and most efficient 1TB SSD we've ever tested. Editor's Choice.