After encountering numerous negative reviews, including from Amazon Vine reviewers who seemed unfamiliar with how to assess an SSD or handle it properly, I decided to purchase two Samsung 990 Evo Plus 2TB drives. I intended to use them in both of my Intel NUC 12 Extreme systems, specifically in the rear slot, which tends to get quite hot due to limited ventilation and its proximity to other high-heat components on the PCB. I wanted to ensure optimal temperatures for these drives under real-world conditions. First, to address a common misconception: NO, the Samsung 990 Evo Plus does NOT include a screw. NVME SSDs do not come with screws, and the screws must be provided by your laptop or PC. Additionally, it’s important to note that for both the 1TB and 2TB variants of this drive, there must be only one NAND chip. This isn’t an issue of quality control; the number of NAND chips correlates directly with the capacity of the drive. Now, on to the performance. Samsung has finally developed a DRAM-less SSD that avoids previous pitfalls. Unlike its predecessors, the Samsung 980 and 990 Evo, the new 990 Evo Plus is a strong competitor in the PCIe 4.0 SSD market, going head-to-head with drives utilizing controllers from Phison, Maxio, or Innogrit. This success is largely due to the integration of modern eighth-generation flash memory. The 990 Evo Plus delivers notable improvements over the 990 Evo, outperforming it under most conditions and, in some cases, approaching the performance of the Samsung 990 Pro. That being said, it’s not flawless. The performance of the 990 Evo Plus can be hindered by the lower-spec Piccolo controller, particularly during file copying. In these instances, it behaves similarly to QLC-based drives, which detracts slightly from its overall appeal. Still, the Samsung 990 Evo Plus stands as a capable DRAM-less SSD, excelling in demanding professional applications. There are, however, some concerns regarding the temperature management of the 990 Evo Plus. The controller runs quite hot, which could lead to potential issues. Based on practical testing, I observed possible flaws in the temperature protection system. Therefore, it is recommended to use this SSD with a heatsink, and avoid installing it in thin laptops where heat dissipation may be inadequate. The SLC cache in the Samsung 990 Evo Plus operates dynamically. With a 2TB drive, you can write 216 GB in SLC mode. The drive reserves some cache for future use, so the increased speed is sometimes still noticeable even after writing the initial 216 GB. Importantly, the 216 GB of SLC cache remains available even on a drive partially filled with files. However, when the drive is 75% full, the available cache drops to 108 GB. During load tests, the highest temperature recorded with an thermal imager was 85°C, while the flash memory temperature stayed below 70°C. However, there were inconsistencies in temperature monitoring. The 990 Evo Plus features two sensors, one for the NAND chip and one for the controller, which allow for detailed tracking of the drive’s internal temperatures. Unfortunately, Samsung's Magician software fails to display the higher of the two temperatures, which is linked to the controller. Using third-party tools like HwInfo64, I observed that while the memory temperature reached 70°C, the controller temperature reached 92°C. When the controller hits 85°C, throttling is activated, resulting in a notable performance drop. However, this protective mechanism only triggers once: after the temperature cools and the system resets, throttling doesn’t re-engage, even if temperatures rise again. This suggests a potential issue with the firmware’s handling of throttling. I was using latest firmware 2B2QKXG7. In CrystalDiskMark tests, the 2TB version of the 990 Evo Plus delivered linear read speeds of 7.1 GB/s and linear write speeds of 5.8 GB/s, with random IOPS of 1,000,000 and 1,250,000, respectively. Actual performance was around 8% lower than the rated specifications. Nonetheless, the Samsung 990 Evo Plus still significantly outperforms its predecessor, with linear speeds that are close to the theoretical limits of the PCIe 4.0 x4 or PCIe 5.0 x2 interface. In other words, when a drive with an eight-channel flash memory array and local DRAM memory seems excessive or too expensive, the Samsung 990 Evo Plus can serve as a suitable alternative. However, the price of the new model currently appears to be somewhat inflated.