Image: Corsair
Most computers and storage drives still use the common SATA or PCIe 3.0 interfaces to sling your bits of data around, but if you’re lucky enough to own a relatively modern PC, you might be able to upgrade to a solid-state drive (SSD) built on the insanely fast PCIe 4.0 protocol.
We’ve tested several PCIe 4.0 SSDs and the best one to cross our labs thus far is the WD Black SN850X in a field of tough contenders, though it’s neck-and-neck with the rival Seagate FireCuda 530. Ultimately, due to its better overall performance, the WD Black SN850X takes our top spot.
Read on to learn more, including what to look for in PCIe 4.0 SSD.
Updated 06/20/2023: We’ve added the Sabrent Rocket Q4 as our new pick for best SSD for the Steam Deck. It’s a 30mm long SSD which provides 2TB of capacity and amazingly fast speeds. Read more about this great small form factor SSD in our summary below.
WD Black SN850X – Best PCIe 4.0 SSD
Pros
Excellent performance
Decently affordable given its speed
Available up to 4TB
Optional heatsink for 1/2TB models
Cons
Pricey per gigabyte
Somewhat parsimonious TBW ratings
The WD Black SN850X is a screaming-fast drive and ranks right up next to the FireCuda 530 at the top in terms of speed. The reason we chose the WD Black SN850X at the best PCIe 4.0 is that it offers better value for the money—not only does it give you the same great speed as the FireCuda, but it does so at a lower price per GB.
Also, in terms of overall performance, the SN850X stands out with its excellent real-world transfer rates and outstanding random write performance. In the crowded field of great PCIe 4.0 SSDs, the WD Black SN850X holds it own at the top despite stiff competition.
Read our full
WD Black SN850X review
Seagate FireCuda 530 – Best PCIe 4.0 SSD runner-up
Pros
Fastest NVMe PCIe 4 SSD we’ve tested to date
Very high TBW (longevity) rating
Five-year warranty with three-year data recovery for free
The FireCuda 530 is a fast drive. We’re talking The Fast and the Furious hit the NOS kind of fast. It’s still the only drive to write our 450GB test file in less than 200 seconds. Not only that, but it is the fastest drive in both synthetic benchmarks as well as real-world transfers. It also comes with a very high TBW longevity rating, which means you can write more for longer at those breakneck speeds.
The only reason it doesn’t take our top spot is that it’s a bit pricey compared to the WD Black SN850X which comes close to the FireCuda’s speed. Still, if you’re main concern is speed and you have some money to burn, the extra cash will give it to you in droves.
Read our full
Seagate FireCuda 530 (2TB) review
Crucial P3 Plus – Best budget PCIe 4.0 SSD
Pros
Super affordable
Good PCIe 4 performance
Excellent PCIe 3 performance
Cons
Second-tier performance overall
Extremely low TBW ratings
Cutting-edge PCIe 4.0 SSDs don’t come cheap. Thankfully the technology is becoming more widespread, allowing for several models to be sold at compelling prices. The best of the affordable bunch? The Crucial P3 Plus.
At just $100 for a 1TB model, the price can’t be beat. It also delivers solid overall performance. The P3 Plus isn’t the fastest PCIe 4.0 drive, but it has decent real-world transfer rates and in the end, it’s still an NVMe. It might be slower than our top-pick PCIe 4.0 SSDs, but it will be a huge improvement if you’re upgrading from a SATA drive. If you are looking for a good amount of NVMe storage for cheap, then the Crucial P3 Plus is your best bet.
Read our full
Crucial P3 Plus NVMe SSD review
Adata Legend 850 – Best budget PCIe 4.0 SSD runner-up
Pros
Great real-world performance
Very affordable
Attractive designer-styled heat spreader available.
Cons
512GB capacity is a relatively slow writer
If you don’t need a 1TB capacity drive like the Crucial P3 Plus above, or you’re just looking to get your hands on a blazing-fast PCIe 4.0 for as little money as possible then the 512GB Adata Legend 850 is worth considering. For only $50 at the time of this writing, you can get the solid Legend 850. The drive scored very well in synthetic benchmark numbers for read scores, and in our real-world 48GB reading and writing test, it scored better than a lot of its peers. The 512GB capacity probably isn’t enough to be the main drive in a high-end gaming or content creation PC, but for the average budget gaming PC or laptop it would be a solid foundation or great upgrade.
Read our full
Adata Legend 850 512GB SSD review
Sabrent Rocket Q4 NVMe SSD – Best for Steam Deck
Pros
Half-sized 2230 (22mm wide, 30mm long) form factor fits a variety of devices
Amazingly fast at real-world tasks
Decently affordable
Unmitigated five-year warranty
Cons
Writes slow to a crawl when secondary cache is depleted
In the past, you were out of luck if you wanted to upgrade your storage in a smaller-sized device such as a handheld gaming console where the longer 2280 NVMe SSDs wouldn’t fit. Luckily, Sabrent has set out to change all of that with its line of Rocket half-sized 2230 small form-factor SSDs, and its latest Rocket Q4 is our favorite. It comes with up to 2TB of capacity and shockingly excellent real-world performance. Its unique feature is that it’s only 30mm long, meaning you’re able to use it in small devices such as a Steam Deck.
The Rocket drive has great everyday performance and truly impressive real-world transfer speed. During our testing, it cruised through the 48GB and 450GB transfer tests, beating out other zippy full-sized PCIe 4.0 drives. While the Rocket Q4 provides decent enough capacity-to-cost, if your device is able to handle the longer, standard-sized 2280 drives, you’ll likely have more options to choose from and might be able to find even better price-for-performance. Regardless, we love this compact SSD and the Sabrent Rocket expertly fits a niche that is only likely to grow more common with devices such as the Steam Deck in the future.
Read our full
Sabrent Rocket Q4 NVMe SSD review
Crucial T700 – Best PCIe 5.0
Pros
Breathtaking performance
Available with or without heatsink
Up to 4TB in capacity
Cons
Extremely pricey
Requires the still rare PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot
Sure, PCIe 4.0 is great and all, but what if you want to upgrade to PCIe 5.0? If your system features a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot, and you can afford it, then there is no question you’ll get significantly faster read and write speeds. And if you do decide to upgrade, there is currently no better PCIe 5.0 SSD than the Crucial T700. It practically shattered all of our benchmarks for both synthetic and real-world tests. How fast is it? Well, in a side-by-side comparison with the WD Black SN850X, our top pick for best PCIe 4.0, the Crucial T700 almost doubled it in sequential read and write benchmarks, was around 30 percent fast in the 48GB transfer test, and about 25 percent faster in the 450GB transfer tests. Currently, the T700 is undoubtedly the king of the hill by a fair margin when it comes to PCIe 5.0. So if and when you decide to make the change, the Crucial T700 is your best bet.
Read our full
Crucial T700 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD review
What to look for in an SSD
There are a few things to look out for, but most importantly you’ll want to focus on capacity, price, and warranty length. Three-year warranties are standard, but some nicer models are guaranteed for up to five years. And unlike the olden days of SSDs, modern drives won’t wear out with normal consumer usage, as Tech Report tested and proved years ago with a grueling endurance test.
Another crucial thing to watch out for is the technology used to connect the SSD to your PC. For more details and buying advice you can read our in-depth guide on which type of SSD you should buy.
SATA: This refers to both the connection type and the transfer protocol, which is used to connect most 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch hard drives and SSDs to your PC. SATA III speeds can hit roughly 600MBps, and most—but not all—modern drives max it out. (More on that in the next section.)
PCIe: This interface taps into four of your computer’s PCIe lanes to blow away SATA speeds, to the tune of nearly 4GBps over PCIe gen 3. Those sort of face-melting speeds pair nicely with supercharged NVMe drives. Both the PCIe lanes in your motherboard and the M.2 slot in your motherboard can be wired to support the PCIe interface, and you can buy adapters that allow you to slot “gumstick” M.2 drives into a PCIe lane. PCIe 4.0 drives are significantly faster, but require an AMD Ryzen 3000-series or Intel Core 11th-gen (or newer) processor, along with a compatible PCIe 4.0 motherboard.
NVMe: Non-Volatile Memory Express technology takes advantage of PCIe’s bountiful bandwidth to create blisteringly fast SSDs that blow SATA-based drives out of the water. Check out PCWorld’s “Everything you need to know about NVMe” for a nitty-gritty deep-dive.
M.2: This is where things get tricky. Many people assume M.2 drives all use NVMe technology and PCIe speeds, but that’s not true. M.2 is just a form factor. Sure, most M.2 SSDs use NVMe, but some still stick to SATA. Do your homework. Many modern Ultrabooks rely on M.2 for storage.
U.2 and mSATA: You may also stumble across mSATA and U.2 SSDs, but both motherboard support and product availability are rare for those formats. Some older Ultrabooks included mSATA before M.2 became popular, and drives are still available if you need them.
Speed matters, of course, but as we said most modern SSDs saturate the SATA III interface. Not all of them, though.
How we test SSDs
We test SSDs using a variety of synthetic benchmarks (such as CrystalDiskMark 6’s various tests) and real-world tests, including 48GB transfers that showcase how a drive performs during common tasks, and also a demanding 450GB transfer test that pushes an SSD’s cache performance to the limit.
The PCIe 4.0 testing was done on an MSI MEG X570 motherboard socketing an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-core CPU, using the same Kingston DRAM, cards, and software. All testing is performed on an empty, or nearly empty drive. Note: performance will decrease as the drive fills up.
>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : PCWorld – https://www.pcworld.com/article/394512/the-best-pcie-40-ssd.html
