Aside from hunting down affordable RAM, scoring a fast, roomy NVMe SSD without overpaying has been one of the tougher parts of RAMageddon. Prices still aren’t exactly friendly, but there is at least a decent break on one of Samsung’s newest drives. Amazon is currently selling the heatsink-free Samsung 9100 Pro with 2TB of storage for $302.99, roughly $100 below its typical price. Yes, it dipped all the way to $169.99 in October 2025, so this isn’t an all-time steal. Still, given that the 1TB version costs $250 right now, the 2TB model is the much smarter buy.
The Samsung 9100 Pro is the company’s first PCIe Gen 5 SSD, which makes it especially appealing for anyone with a compatible motherboard and the rest of the hardware needed to take advantage of its top speeds. On paper, its maximum random read and write performance is at least twice as fast as the Samsung 990 Pro SSD it succeeds. It can also run in a PCIe Gen 4 system, where it remains a strong performer, even if it won’t reach the advertised Gen 5 speeds.
You can use this version without a heatsink in a desktop PC or laptop, though adding one is still a sensible move if your system has room for it. PlayStation 5 owners, however, should not skip that step. Sony’s console requires a heatsink for added protection, since excess heat can potentially harm the SSD over time. The good news is that compatible SSD heatsinks are inexpensive and widely available in several designs and price ranges.
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