The downside is its durability. The 970 EVO Plus has the lowest durability as measured by MTBF, rating only 1,500,000 hours, and its TBW rating at 2TB is 1200, matching the SN750, but lagging the XPG SX8200. At 256GB, it scores a rather low 150, the lowest of the three PCIe 3.0 contenders.

It's slightly more expensive than similar capacity SSDs, but it definitely compensates for this with its performance and durability, as well as the included "heatshield" options. These work exceptionally well, and this SSD has the lowest recorded max temperature (about 57℃) of any of the high-end PCIe 4.0 SSDs we've tested recently, including those on this list. Chris Fetters said:Spends much of the review (& most of the conclusion) talking about how the 2TB model is able to get significantly more performance out of the new Phison E18 controller and as such, THAT'S the one you should buy... to then go and EXCLUSIVELY only show benchmark results of the 1TB drive in the review itself... -_- ... I am not amused.The Samsung 980 Pro is quoted at reaching sequential read speeds of up to 7,000 MB/s and we found in our testing that this model came within striking distance achieving 6,783 MB/s. That's more than fast enough for file transfers and pushes far beyond the recommended 5,500 MB/s that the console requires.

You want outstanding sequential read and write speeds: The Samsung 990 Pro caps out what's technically possible out of the Gen 4.0 NVMe technology. All other products will be delivered via the fastest available method (excluding bank holidays and weekends) and generally within 3-5 days, depending on customer location. You're on a strict budget: There's no getting around the fact that the Samsung 990 Pro is pricey, meaning the older 980 Pro could be a better buy if you've got limited funds. The Kingston Fury Renegade excels across the board and can easily be considered one of the best SSDs for PS5. That's because this model, which comes with a dedicated heatsink to ensure compatibility with the console, delivers high sequential performance that we haven't seen from many other drives at the price point. As rated, the SN850 boasts a read speed of 7,000MB/s and a write speed of 5,300MB/s, and our tests showed the SN850’s read speed nearing its advertised limit at 6,992MB/s with write speeds at 5,160MB/s. This makes it adept at handling rigorous tasks like video editing, game loading, and more.To test the M.2 SSDs on this list, perform a number of benchmark tests on them to measure their sequential and random read speeds and their sequential and random write speeds. These include PassMark's PerformanceTest Disk benchmark, CrystalDiskMark 8, 3DMark and PCMark 10, as well as our own, in-house SSD operation scripts to simulate and time the SSD's speed when copying files. A standout feature: the 990 Pro's sequential writes significantly outpace both its predecessor and competitors. Additionally, it showcases impressive read speeds, nearing PCIe 4.0's maximum of 8,000MB/s.

You’re considering 2TB or above: If you want to go bigger with your storage, you may be better served with a higher-end alternative as the prices become less aggressive.Its random read/write operations aren’t the best among PCIe 4.0 SSDS, so this SSD is best suited for loading very large files like video games, large media files, or as a boot drive. While PCIe 4.0 SSDs have a theoretical maximum speed of 8,000MB/s, the PNY XLR8 CS3140 pushes right up to that line with a rated sequential read speed of 7,500MB/s, along with a 6,850MB/s sequential write rating for its 2TB and 4TB capacities (5,650MB/s for 1TB).

John (He/Him) is the Components Editor here at TechRadar and he is also a programmer, gamer, activist, and Brooklyn College alum currently living in Brooklyn, NY. You want the absolute fastest SSD for PS5: The Samsung 980 Pro is no longer the flagship Gen 4 drive it was once, and has since been replaced by the 990 Pro. You’re thinking of going for lower capacity: You can really only get the most out of the Seagate FireCuda 530 with 1TB and up, so if you’re gunning for a 500GB SSD, you can get a cheaper one that does the same job. The Corsair MP600 Pro LPX's great performance and reasonable price make it a leading choice. The heatsink has been specially made with the PS5 in mind to help vent excess heat. seanwebster said:I typically review one capacity at a time and then release another capacity at a later date because it takes longer to test. The 2TB's results were mostly done when I wrapped up the review, but I was having a little trouble with something, hence the delay. But, since the 2TB results will be published soon, and again, I already had the majority of my data, I wrote the conclusion based on both capacities from the getgo.Thanks for the explanation and glad to hear it was something completely understandable. You keep making good articles and I'll keep reading!

My interest in this SSD was at least in part because I was planning to run it in a laptop (MacBook Pro 2015) and being PCIe 3.0 was hoping that even though it's overkill and has more cores driving high performance for PCIe 4.0, that being a 12nm finfet design fabbed at TSMC that it might pull off nicely reduced overall power than other solutions for PCIe3.0. Available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, the VP4300 offers rated speeds of up to 7,400MB/s read and 6,800MB/s write, which are pretty much spot on in our testing (where we recorded 7,389MB/s and 6,799MB/s sequential read and write speeds, respectively). Ultimately, this SSD is about delivering fast, consistent performance for the entirety of its very long life, so if you're looking for an SSD to perform constant data operations rather than just load up the best PC games that you'll never actually uninstall, than the Patriot Viper VP4300 is the M.2 SSD you've been looking for. How we tested the best M.2 SSDs