Compare the Samsung 980 to the Samsung 980 PRO

With a read speed of 3500MB/s and a write speed of 3000MB/s, the Samsung 980 is up to 3.5 times faster than an SATA SSD. Let's use Call of Duty Warzone of 90GB as an example. The 980 will boot your game within 28 seconds, while the SATA SSD will take about 3 minutes to do so. You can transfer 1TB of data within 6.5 minutes. Despite the high speeds, the 980 doesn't stand a chance next to the 980 Pro.

Thanks to the 7000MB/s read speed and 5000MB/s write speed, the 980 Pro is almost twice as fast as the regular 980. You'll mostly notice this when you work with large files. Call of Duty Warzone now boots in 22 seconds, which is a small differences of 15 seconds. Transferring 1TB of data will now only take 4 minutes. This means you'll win 2 minutes, which is a lot if you do this a couple of times a day. That's why the 980 Pro is more suitable for larger and more demanding work.

Thanks to the PCIe 3.0 support, you can use the Samsung 980 on every motherboard from PCIe 3.0. PCI-Express, as the technique is called, has a backwards compatibility. That's why this SSD works on the latest PCIe 5.0 motherboards too. The disadvantage is that you're limited to the PCIe 3.0 speeds. And, the regular 980 uses more power due to the PCIe 3.0 support.

Besides the read and write speed that are almost twice as high, the PCIe 4.0 support ensures faster performance as well. PCIe 4.0 has a bandwidth that's twice as high as PCIe 3.0. Thanks to this, you can transfer files twice as fast, no matter their size. The 980 Pro also works more energy-efficiently and it becomes hot less quickly when under a lot of pressure. The most important condition is that your PC of laptop supports PCIe 4.0. Check this in the manual of your computer.

You can open frequently used files faster with cache memory, because this memory stores components. The regular Samsung 980 doesn't have cache memory, which makes this SSD less suitable for an environment where a lot of data is being used. The term 'frequently used' means demanding data transfers or transferring very large files. Think about a 2-hour long 4K company film. In this case, cache memory is a useful extra.

The 980 Pro offers a total of 512MB of cache memory. This doesn't seem like a lot at first, but you'll notice the difference in a demanding situation. The cache memory stores up to 512MB in frequently used files, so there's more room for opening other applications. This reduces loading times for the most important files and programs, so you can get started faster. You won't need cache memory for general use, but it's an interesting option for business use.

The Samsung 980 fits in every desktop and laptop with an M key on the motherboard. In the manual of your computer, you can see which key your motherboard has. Your PC is a lot faster and your programs, files, and games will boot fast thanks to the high write and read speed. The Samsung 980 is a very suitable M.2 SSD for general use or gaming. Check out the 980 Pro for more demanding use.

Since November 2021, it's possible to install this SSD into your PS5. The Samsung 980 Pro offers an extra option that way, in addition to the installment in a desktop or laptop. The 980 Pro is about 5% faster than the standard PS5 SSD, which means your games will load even faster. This makes the Samsung 980 Pro an interesting option for console gaming. Other than for gaming, this SSD is suitable for demanding work too. This is partially because of the PCIe 4.0 support and 512MB cache memory.