Samsung 990 PRO 1 TB vs WD SN530 (OEM) 256 GB
Short answer: which is best?
Samsung 990 PRO 1 TB is 112.3 % stronger than WD SN530 (OEM) 256 GB. Samsung 990 PRO 1 TB ranks #5 of 100 measured system drives at WhatFPS (15,790 Drive score over 2 verified runs). WD SN530 (OEM) 256 GB ranks #66 of 100 measured system drives at WhatFPS (7,437 Drive score over 1 verified runs). The numbers are measured in 3 verified WhatFPS runs — not estimated, not self-reported.
Measured comparison
| Metric | Samsung 990 PRO 1 TB | WD SN530 (OEM) 256 GB |
|---|---|---|
| Drive score (the drive's own performance: sequential read + 4K IOPS) | 15,790 | 7,437 |
| Best rig (GAMING — whole PC) | 11,193 | 2,811 |
| Sequential read | 4,131 MB/s | 1,766 MB/s |
| 4K IOPS | 21,210 | 10,994 |
| 4K latency, median (lower is better) | 41 µs | 74 µs |
| Type | NVMe SSD | NVMe SSD |
| Size | 1 TB | 256 GB |
What the numbers mean
The drive score is the system drive's measured performance in the rigs it sat in — sequential read and 4K IOPS, unbuffered. PCIe generation, fill level and driver affect it. GAMING is the whole rig's score. We show both and never mix them.
All numbers come from our benchmark suite, the same test on every PC, written in Rust with no middleware. The methodology is open at https://whatfps.com/metodik
All measurements for Samsung 990 PRO 1 TB · All measurements for WD SN530 (OEM) 256 GB