Breaking
April 24, 2025

Best PCIe 4.0 SSDs 2025: Top picks from experts | usagoldmines.com

While older computers and storage drives might still use the common SATA or the older PCIe 3.0 interfaces to sling your bits of data around, more recent computing equipment typically supports the far faster PCIe 4.0 protocol. If you’re really lucky (or spent a lot of money), you might even have faster PCIe 5.0. But that’s a subject for another roundup.

We’ve tested nearly three dozen PCIe 4.0 SSDs and our list includes the best of the bunch for various needs. Whether you want to upgrade, or add more storage to your PCIe 4.0 computer, there’s an SSD for you. Read on to learn more, including what to look for in PCIe 4.0 SSD.

Why you should trust us: We’re not called PCWorld for nothing. Our reviewers have been testing PC hardware for decades. Our storage evaluations are exhaustive, testing the limits of every product — from performance benchmarks to the practicalities of regular use. As PC users ourselves, we know what makes a killer product stand out. Only the best SSDs make this list. For more about our testing process, scroll to the bottom of this article.

WD Black SN7100 SSD – Best PCIe 4.0 SSD

Pros

  • Top-notch HMB performance
  • Affordable
  • Sexy name

Cons

  • Slower random performance than DRAM designs




Best Prices Today:
Retailer
Price
Amazon

£70
Product
Price

There can be a trade-off with HMB (host memory buffer) design SSDs, such as the SN7100. They are distinct for using the host system’s memory for primary caching duties, as opposed to packing their own DRAM. But while there may be some specific scenarios where DRAM drives excel over HMBs — such as in the writing of very large amounts of data — in the vast majority of applications, the two designs are very competitive and almost indistinguishable.

Among all HMB SSDs we’ve tested, we were flat-out wowed by the SN7100’s performance. The 2TB version that we looked at was the fastest such SSD that we’ve run through our gauntlet of benchmarks. And when it comes to price, compared to DRAM designs, it’s really no contest. Indeed, the SN7100 is close to $50 less than our previous pick, the Solidigm P44 Pro, for both the 1TB and 2TB capacities.

Combine that with an industry standard five-year warranty / 600TBW rating (terabytes that can be written) per TB, and you’re looking at probably the best PCIe 4.0 SSD for average users as well as gamers.

Read our full

WD Black SN7100 NVMe SSD review

WD SN5000 NVMe SSD – Best budget PCIe 4.0 SSD

Pros

  • Good everyday performance
  • Very affordable
  • Fastest NVMe SSD of any ilk we’ve tested writing 450GB

Cons

  • Top performance requires HMB support




Best Prices Today:
Retailer
Price
WD

$44.99
Overclockers UK

£56.99
Product
Price

With PCIe 5.0 drives finally arriving, we’re finally starting to see companies offer budget PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives at compelling prices. Our previous pick, the WD Blue SN580 NVMe SSD, has just been supplanted by WD’s Blue SN5000. At just $75 for a 1TB model (at the time of writing), and with speedy transfers, you likely won’t find a better value in a PCIe 4.0 drive.

In our testing, this drive proved among the fastest Host Memory Buffer (HMB/DRAM-less) SSDs we’ve tested. And unlike the SN580 before it, the SN5000 didn’t falter during the 450GB transfer test — instead tying the record among all PCIe SSDs.

Read our full

WD Blue SN5000 NVMe SSD review

Crucial P310 (2230) – Best PCIe 4.0 SSD for Steam Deck

Pros

  • Fastest 2230 SSD we’ve tested
  • Available with up to 2TB of capacity

Cons

  • Low TBW endurance rating




Best Prices Today:
Retailer
Price
Amazon

£77.13
Currys

£80.99
Ebuyer

£80.99
Overclockers UK

£80.99
Product
Price

If you need a small form-factor, 2230 (22 mm wide, 30 mm long) NVMe SSD for your Steam Deck or other device, look no further than the Crucial P310. It’s the fastest 2230 SSD we’ve tested, and by a rather large margin.

The P310 bested our previous favorite 2230 drive — the WD Black SN770M — in every benchmark save for the 450GB transfer, where it lost steam (pun intended) at the 85 percent mark after running out of secondary cache. But transfers this large are rare for most users, and unheard of in a Steam Deck.

The P310 is a bit pricier than the SN770M, but only by a tad more than $10 in both the 1TB and 2TB offerings.

If optimum speed is what you’re after, and you don’t foresee regularly moving large amounts of data, the P310 is the 2230 ticket.

Read our full

Crucial P310 NVMe SSD (2230) review

Seagate Game Drive – Best PCIe 4.0 SSD for PS5

Pros

  • Very good overall performance
  • Excellent 4K performance
  • Low-profile heatsink
  • Twice the TBW rating of the competition

Cons

  • A bit pricey
  • No 4TB model




Best Prices Today:
Retailer
Price
Argos

£97.99
Currys

£99
Amazon

£114.99
Product
Price

The Seagate Game Drive is a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD aimed specifically at next-gen game consoles — the PS5 in particular. It doesn’t disappoint, with DRAM for primary caching duties, which is almost essential to wring top performance out of Sony’s console system. The PS5 doesn’t support HMB, so without DRAM you’re relying solely on an SSD’s slower secondary caching. The Game Drive ships in 1TB and 2TB capacities, so you’ll have plenty of space to store all of your games.

While the Seagate Game Drive is optimized for a PS5, it’s perfectly viable for any computer. It did remarkably well in our performance testing, earning the spot as the second-fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD to date with random ops. Seagate provides a generous five-year warranty with the drive and it has an astounding 1,275TBW rating—more than double the industry norm. PS5 owners simply can’t go wrong with the Seagate Game Drive.

Read our full

Seagate Game Drive PS5 NVMe SSD review

Corsair MP600 Micro 2242 SSD – Best 2242 form-factor SSD

Pros

  • Direct fit for Lenovo 2242 M.2 slots
  • Good performance
  • Priced affordably

Cons

  • Too long for 2230 slots




Best Prices Today:
Retailer
Price
Amazon

£88.99
Corsair

$99.99
Product
Price

The Corsair MP600 Micro fills the niche of devices that can accommodate an SSD that’s larger than the 2230 form factor used by game consoles, but can’t accept a standard 2280 modules that are used in most PCs and laptops. We’re talking about the 2242 form factor — meaning 22mm wide by 42mm long.

Lenovo set off the 2242 trend with its Legion Go and Thinkpad portables and there are now some respectable options for storage upgrades — the best of which is the Corsair MP600 Micro.

The MP600 Micro isn’t the fastest PCIe 4.0 drive we’ve tested, but for its class of truncated drives, it churned out a very competitive test performance. Currently, you’ll only find the MP600 Micro in 1TB capacity. For shoppers who want more space, see the Crucial P310 above, which is a 2230 drive in up to 2TB — though it will require an adapter.

Read our full

Corsair MP600 Micro 2242 SSD review

Our latest PCIe 4.0 SSD reviews

  • Addlink A93/S93: A solid-performing PCIe 4.0, DRAM-less NVMe SSD that can save you a few bucks. But the A93 with its heatsink faces heavy competition from many similarly priced and often faster SSDs.
  • WD SN850X 8TB SSD: This 8GB version of the SN850X is far faster than the previously tested 2TB version, but you pay a slight premium for it.
  • 990 EVO Plus: This is an update to Samsung’s 990 EVO hybrid drive that can use either the PCIe 4.0 or PCIe 5.0 interface — although the latter is limited to PCIe 4.0’s theoretical bandwidth. The purpose is flexibility, and the update brings improved performance to boot, albeit at a higher-than-average price for HMB drives.
  • Teamgroup T-Force A440 Lite: A decent performer but only 14th overall in a pool of 21, and at times slower than it’s less expensive sibling, the T-Force G50 below.
  • T-Force G50: If you’re looking to stretch your SSD dollar, this drive should be on your short list. It’s an inexpensive, solid performing PCIe 4.0 drive for everyday tasks.
  • Lexar Play 2280: This is an interesting drive. It’s marketed at PS5 users, but it features a Host Memory Buffer (HMB) design, which the PS5 doesn’t support. Still it’s a fine drive for PC, just very pricey currently.
  • Kingston NV3: This PCIe 4.0 SSD is proof that DRAM-less drives — those use a Host Memory Buffer (HMB) as cache — can offer competitive performance, while also saving the consumer some money. The NV3 would be even better with a more generous warranty.
  • Sabrent Rocket Nano 2242: Featuring a smaller form factor (22mm x 42mm), this good-performing drive was tailor-made for Lenovo’s Legion Go and Thinkpads — but it can also be used in a standard slot as well.

What to look for in an PCIe 4.0 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 with bargain drives, but nicer models are generally guaranteed for up to five years. And unlike the early days of SSDs and NAND, 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.

A few handy definitions:

  1. SATA: This older, slower technology is both a connection type and a transfer protocol, 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.)
  2. PCIe: This interface taps into four of your computer’s PCIe lanes and blows away SATA speed, to the tune of nearly 4GBps over PCIe gen 3 and well over 10GBps when you reach PCIe 5.0. The transport technology pairs nicely with the NVMe protocol (see the next entry) used by all modern M.2 PCIe SSDs. Both the PCIe slots in your motherboard and the M.2 slot in your motherboard are generally wired to support the PCIe interface, and you can buy adapters that allow you to employ “gumstick” (2280) M.2 drives in a PCIe slot. 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.
  3. NVMe: Non-Volatile Memory Express technology takes advantage of PCIe’s bountiful bandwidth and the unique properties of NAND to create blisteringly fast SSD performance. Check out PCWorld’s “Everything you need to know about NVMe” for a nitty-gritty deep-dive.
  4. M.2: You might assume M.2 drives are PCIe/NVMe. You might not know, however, that before NVMe was a thing, some M.2 slots and SSDs were SATA. If you’re shopping to upgrade an older computer make sure which technology you need — NVMe or SATA.
  5. mSATA and U.2: You may also stumble across mSATA in older equipment, and U.2 SSDs for enterprise-grade servers and the like, but consumer motherboard support is almost nil for the latter.

Speed matters, of course, but most modern SSDs, even the slower ones are ridiculously fast. Also, don’t overbuy. A PCIe SSD will only perform as fast as the generation of the device it’s installed in. In other words, don’t expect a PCIe 5.0 SSD to perform at its rated speed on a PCIe 3.0 computer.

Speaking of which, you can expect roughly 3.5GBps max from PCIe 3.0, 7.5GBps max from PCIe 4.0, and somewhere just north of 12GBps with PCIe 5.0 under optimal conditions — i.e., using benchmarks or software that supports NVMe’s multiple queues. Single-queue Windows limits all flavors to under 4GBps during normal transfers. Again, don’t overbuy in terms of performance.

How we test SSDs

Drive tests currently utilize Windows 11, 64-bit running on an X790 (PCIe 4.0/5.0) motherboard/i5-12400 CPU combo with two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 4800MHz modules (64GB of memory total). Both 20Gbps USB and Thunderbolt 4 are integrated to the back panel and Intel CPU/GPU graphics are used. The 48GB transfer tests utilize an ImDisk RAM disk taking up 58GB of the 64GB of total memory. The 450GB file is transferred from a 2TB Samsung 990 Pro which also runs the OS.

Each test is performed on a newly formatted and TRIM’d drive so the results are optimal. Note that in normal use, as a drive fills up, performance may decrease due to less NAND for secondary caching, as well as other factors. This can be less of a factor with the current crop of SSDs with far faster late-generation NAND.

Caveat: The performance numbers shown apply only to the drive we were shipped and to the capacity tested. SSD performance can and will vary by capacity due to more or fewer chips to shotgun reads/writes across and the amount of NAND available for secondary caching. Vendors also occasionally swap components. If you ever notice a large discrepancy between the performance you experience and that which we report, by all means, let us know.

To learn more about our testing methodology see PCWorld’s article on how we test internal SSDs.

 

This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak

All rights reserved to : USAGOLDMIES . www.usagoldmines.com

You can Enjoy surfing our website categories and read more content in many fields you may like .

Why USAGoldMines ?

USAGoldMines is a comprehensive website offering the latest in financial, crypto, and technical news. With specialized sections for each category, it provides readers with up-to-date market insights, investment trends, and technological advancements, making it a valuable resource for investors and enthusiasts in the fast-paced financial world.

Recent:

Apple Explains How AI-Generated App Store Review Summaries Work in iOS 18.4 Juli Clover | usagoldmin...

Apple's Secret Robotics Team Gets New Leadership Juli Clover | usagoldmines.com

Act fast – if you're lucky, you can get a free limited-edition Apple Watch pin at the Apple Store to...

Shopping for a Nintendo Switch 2 on eBay? Beware of deals that aren't worth the paper they're printe...

20 years of YouTube - here are 20 of our all-time favorite memes and moments josephine.watson@future...

PC makers are planning plants in Saudi Arabia to try and avoid US tariffs | usagoldmines.com

Slow USB flash drives set to be replaced by external SSD-type portable storage as Teamgroup launches...

NSF director resigns amid 55% budget cut, mass layoffs from Trump admin Beth Mole | usagoldmines.com

New Android spyware is targeting Russian military personnel on the front lines Dan Goodin | usagoldm...

Roku tech, patents prove its potential for delivering “interruptive” ads Scharon Harding | usagoldmi...

Best laptops for college students 2025: Top picks and expert advice | usagoldmines.com

Razer’s first vertical mouse is for office domination | usagoldmines.com

How to Use Lighting to Improve Your Home's Sale Price Jeff Somers | usagoldmines.com

How I’ve Been Reducing My Salt Intake With Soy Sauce and MSG Allie Chanthorn Reinmann | usagoldmines...

You Can (Once Again) Use Classic PlayStation Themes on Your PS5 Jake Peterson | usagoldmines.com

iOS 19 Rumored to Add Stage Manager Support to USB-C iPhones Joe Rossignol | usagoldmines.com

iPadOS 19 Rumored to Show Mac-Like Menu Bar When Connected to Magic Keyboard Joe Rossignol | usagold...

OnePlus 13T is Super Official, But Launch Outside of China Remains Mystery Kellen | usagoldmines.com

Galaxy Note 20 Still Seeing Updates, Gets April Security Patch Kellen | usagoldmines.com

'I’m just Clippy with a makeover and a caffeine problem,' says ChatGPT when I asked it to roast itse...

T-Mobile is giving away free Smart VPN and satellite broadband with its business plans: here's how i...

Bone collector caterpillar adorns itself in insect body parts Jennifer Ouellette | usagoldmines.com

Eufy’s new security NVRs will boast crime-detecting AI agents | usagoldmines.com

Pokemon TCG Pocket Gets “Celestial Guardians” Expansion on April 30, Rayquaza Ex Too Kellen | usagol...

What's New on Paramount+ With Showtime in May 2025 Emily Long | usagoldmines.com

You Can Run iPhone Apps on Your Mac (but You Probably Shouldn't) Justin Pot | usagoldmines.com

iPhone 16 Ad Highlights a Key Advantage Over Android Smartphones Joe Rossignol | usagoldmines.com

Apple Stores Giving Away a Limited-Edition Pin For Free Today Joe Rossignol | usagoldmines.com

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 release date rumors: when might the new phone launch? | usagoldmines.com

Hacking groups are now increasingly in it for the money, not the chaos | usagoldmines.com

Everything leaving Netflix in May 2025, including one of my top rated movies on Letterboxd rowan.dav...

Speed up your Windows 11 PC: 12 must-do tweaks | usagoldmines.com

Save $170+ on this budget-friendly Asus laptop with 16GB of RAM | usagoldmines.com

Save up to 33% on SanDisk’s high-speed microSD cards | usagoldmines.com

Pixel 7a Gets Free Battery Replacement for Swelling Issues Tim | usagoldmines.com

Metro by T-Mobile’s Best New Flex Unlimited Plan Gets Better and the Price Dropped Kellen | usagoldm...

Google Will Replace Your Pixel 7a Battery for Free Pranay Parab | usagoldmines.com

My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The Google Pixel 9 Daniel Oropeza | usagoldmines.com

Razer resumes some of its laptop sales in the US after tariff scare | usagoldmines.com

Breach at health insurance giant Blue Shield of California leaked health data of millions to Google ...

Your Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order might not arrive on release day, Nintendo warns | usagoldmines.com

Garmin Instinct 3 Tactical Edition drops with Stealth Mode, Kill Switch, extra metal and ballistics ...

Apple will reportedly offer more RAM than ever before in the iPhone 17 as it catches up to the Galax...

Motorola reveals three new super-colorful Razr foldables Ryan Whitwam | usagoldmines.com

Keep your graphics driver fresh and your games will thank you | usagoldmines.com

You can now play Xbox games on LG smart TVs — without a console | usagoldmines.com

Tech manufacturers are suspending US shipments amid tariff woes | usagoldmines.com

You Can Now Create a Shortcut to Open Your Favorite iMessage Thread on Your iPhone Khamosh Pathak | ...

iPhone 17 Air Now Rumored to Feature 12GB of RAM Like the Pro Models Joe Rossignol | usagoldmines.co...

iPhone 17 Air Launching Later This Year With These 16 New Features Joe Rossignol | usagoldmines.com

Netflix wants to turn Saturday morning cartoons upside down with a new animated Stranger Things spin...

Android 16 could give the lock screen on your Pixel phone a revamped design | usagoldmines.com

Hori is releasing another Nintendo Switch 2 camera intended for handheld mode | usagoldmines.com

Everything new on Netflix in May 2025, catch my favorite animated movie of 2024 and more rowan.davie...

IBM says multiple contracts cancelled following US government DOGE probes - but it's not worried | ...

DeepSeek is "a profound threat" to national security and privacy, according to the US Congress chia...

China is helping Pakistan build a Great Firewall-like internet censorship system – here's what you n...

2025 VW Golf GTI: Buttons are back on the menu, smiles never went away Jonathan M. Gitlin | usagoldm...

Nintendo Switch 2’s gameless Game-Key cards are going to be very common Andrew Cunningham | usagoldm...

Samsung’s super-fast 2TB M.2 SSD is on sale for its best-ever price | usagoldmines.com

Don’t pay Max for an ‘extra member’ until the service forces you to | usagoldmines.com

Spacetop’s gigantic virtual laptop screen is ready to launch | usagoldmines.com

Grab this Intel Core i5 mini PC with 24GB RAM on sale now for $319 | usagoldmines.com

Microsoft 365 Copilot app gets ChatGPT’s impressive image generation | usagoldmines.com

This App Automatically Switches Your Mac to Dark Mode When You're in a Dark Room Justin Pot | usagol...

Apple Watch Launched 10 Years Ago Today Joe Rossignol | usagoldmines.com

Apple Watch SE Hits $169.97 Low Price on Amazon Mitchel Broussard | usagoldmines.com

Wix just launched a tool that aims to take website personalization to the next level | usagoldmines...

Diablo series head says 'there's opportunity' for Diablo 4 on Nintendo Switch 2, but 'live services ...

When does Doctor Who season 2 episode 3 come out on Disney+ and BBC One? tom.power@futurenet.com (To...

Asus patches security flaw which could have bricked servers | usagoldmines.com

Cyberattacks surged in 2025, with third party attacks seeing a huge rise | usagoldmines.com

Quordle hints and answers for Friday, April 25 (game #1187) | usagoldmines.com

NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, April 25 (game #418) | usagoldmines.com

NYT Connections hints and answers for Friday, April 25 (game #684) | usagoldmines.com

Sustainability Week: Infrastructures makes circularity a reality – not devices | usagoldmines.com

Ransomware cost US victims $16.6 billion in 2024, FBI warns | usagoldmines.com

Sustainability Week: Lean manufacturing: the missing link in sustainable tech | usagoldmines.com

Sadly for China, rare Earth elements aren’t actually all that rare Zeyi Yang, wired.com | usagoldmin...

Laptop makers, I’m begging you to add another USB-C port | usagoldmines.com

Today’s best laptop deals: Save big on work, school, home use, and gaming | usagoldmines.com

This Multi-Platform Gaming Headset Is at Its Lowest Price Ever Right Now Pradershika Sharma | usagol...

How to Search and Summarize With Gemini in Google Drive David Nield | usagoldmines.com

White House Hits Back at Apple's Massive EU Fine Hartley Charlton | usagoldmines.com

7 ‘Helpful’ Things You Actually Shouldn’t Do for Your Neighbor Jeff Somers | usagoldmines.com

iPhone 16e Sales Outperform SE in First Quarter YoY, Pro Models Decline Tim Hardwick | usagoldmines....

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion’s original game designer thought the remaster was going to be ‘a textu...

iRobot just launched a new 'flagship' Roomba, but it's less impressive than its existing models – an...

Microsoft Edge browser could put Copilot AI front and center – but that might just be a good thing ...

It looks like 8K movies are finally coming, including from 70mm prints – but the biggest piece of th...

Vantrue's versatile E360 dash cam shoots true 360-degree video in 5.2K, plus it doubles up for handh...

Best online backup 2025: iDrive, Backblaze, Livedrive, and more | usagoldmines.com

Best laptops: Our experts pick the top 12 models | usagoldmines.com

Best VPN services: 8 top picks for every VPN need | usagoldmines.com

Asus ProArt PA32UCDM review: A 4K OLED monitor for creative pros | usagoldmines.com

Apple Partner TSMC Unveils Advanced 1.4nm Process for 2028 Chips Tim Hardwick | usagoldmines.com

The iPhone 16 Pro is now less popular than the base iPhone 16, according to new report – and I’m not...

Nintendo Switch 2 demand seems huge in Japan, with Nintendo claiming 'approximately 2.2 million peop...

Your Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses just became an even better travel companion thanks to live translati...

Roku's new streaming stick lineup is needlessly confusing | usagoldmines.com

Leave a Reply