Samsung Takes Unexpected Step: New DRAM-less SSD Appears in 990 Series

14:55 / 04.07.2026·50·Technology

South Korean technology giant Samsung is preparing to introduce a new product belonging to its most popular family of storage devices. The company has developed a new SSD that will be part of the 990 series but differs fundamentally from its predecessors, the 990 EVO and 990 PRO models. The main distinctive feature of this device is the absence of DRAM cache memory. Ixbt.com reports this.

According to information that appeared ahead of schedule on Samsung Canada's official website, the new model operates on the PCIe 4.0 NVMe interface. According to IXBT.com, since the drive lacks dedicated fast memory (DRAM), it uses HMB (Host Memory Buffer) technology. This system temporarily borrows a portion of the computer's RAM for data caching, which significantly reduces manufacturing costs.

Technical specifications and performance metrics

The new SSD device is built on Samsung's own controller and high-quality V-NAND memory chips. The product is expected to come in 1 TB and 2 TB capacity versions. Their speed metrics remain quite high despite the absence of DRAM cache:

1 TB model: sequential read speed up to 7150 MB/s, write speed up to 6450 MB/s;
2 TB model: sequential read speed up to 7250 MB/s, write speed 6450 MB/s;
Performance: up to 850 thousand IOPS for reads and up to 1.2 million IOPS for writes.

It should be noted that this new model falls slightly behind the 990 PRO flagship in terms of endurance. Specifically, 400 TBW is guaranteed for the 1 TB version, and 800 TBW for the 2 TB version. While these figures are sufficient for regular users and gamers, they may be somewhat lacking for professional video editors.

The company has set a 3-year warranty period for this model, whereas in the upper segment, this period is typically 5 years. This also indicates that the new SSD model is aimed more at the budget-friendly segment. In the Uzbekistan market, such devices typically gain popularity very quickly due to their price-to-quality ratio.

For now, Samsung has not announced the official release date and price of the new product. Although the information was quickly removed from the official website, the SSD has already started appearing in some retailers' catalogs. Most likely, this model will appear in global markets, including the Central Asian region, in the coming months.