"same as" or "the same as"?

What is the correct use of "same as" in the following sentences?

Additionally, records have shown that increasing the data size to 1MB and keeping the access latency the same as a small data set, reduces the throughput

Additionally, records have shown that increasing the data size to 1MB and keeping the access latency, same as a small data set reduces the throughput

"the" is almost always used with "same". I think this sentence can be rephrased in a better way as follows:

Additionally, records have shown that increasing the data size to 1MB and keeping the access latency reduces the throughput the same as a small data set (does).